Villains who were right: Dr Doom

so Dr Doom is one of the most popular characters ever created in the history of the comic book industry and while he is often portrayed as a villain his actions motivations in worldview are actually steeped in a deep philosophical ideology that challenges the conventional definition of morality and Leadership and so much like we've done with the videos on Joker Punisher and Magneto in this video I want to argue about how Dr Doom kind of has a point when he says he's the only one capable of actually ruling the world so the first story that I

want to start with here is Books of Doom from 2006 and while Dr Doom has had different iterations of his origin story over the years this is really the most complete and this story is really important in understanding Dr Doom's entire world viiew because in Books of Doom building on previous origin work it was established that he was born into a Romani family within Latveria and that his early life was marked by tragedy and suffering that his father was a Healer who was unjustly persecuted and his mother was a sorceress who made it deal with

Mesto who took her soul when she died but Dr Doom ultimately travels to the United States becomes highly educated and then starts to delve into the world of technology and sorcery ultimately returning to Latveria casting off his existing government and replacing himself as its ruler but Dr Doom's background is crucial in shaping his belief that he alone can create a Utopia his early experiences with the injustices inflicted on his family and even his own physical and emotional scars created this kind of deep-seated mistrust TR of human Frailty and imperfection and so this leads to Dr

Doom's Reliance and belief in his own infallibility and this can be seen through the lens of K and ethics particularly the concept of autonomy and what I mean here is Emanuel Khan emphasized that moral actions must be guided by reason and that individuals must be autonomous acting according to their own rational understanding of moral law and Doom's entire life has been a quest to transcend the limitations imposed on him by fate and to assert his autonomy over his Destiny and so his sense of Duty to his people and his drive to rectify the wrongs of

the world are really what fuel his ambition to control not just Latveria but the entire world this is best showcased in New Avengers volume 3 issue number 24 during a conversation he was having with neyan the Submariner about what it meant to be a king and he makes the statement do you think that if every man woman and child in my country didn't want to take this food from my table that they couldn't tell me which do you think is closer to the truth that they look up at Castle doom and believe its walls are

Beyond being torn down or that they would lay down their very lives to see them stand for all time I love my people I do but they are my people I keep them safe from harm I give them a better life and at night before they sleep to whatever God they pray they give thanks for me it's also one of the most awesome lines in the history of Marvel Comics but moving on here right the next story that I want to talk about is one of the greatest stories ever written for Dr Doom and a

massive missed opportunity for black panther 2 this is Doom War now in this storyline Dr Doom orchestrates a coup d'etat in wakanda to seize control of its vibranium I.E make a lot of noise over here so no one sees what's going on over there and so he does this by orchestrating a nationalist Uprising taking advantage of wakanda's political instability and ultimately he's successful but Dr Doom's in-game is not some mere accumulation of wealth or power for its own sake he believes that with access to vibranium and its ability to amplify magical powers will allow him

to create a global Utopia by enforcing peace and order through Superior technology this is shown when Dr Doom goes to pass the final test to access wak Honda's vibranium reserves this final test requires him to appear before the panther goddess fast and he does so in a humble form stripping off all of his armor and bearing his true self following this he allows the panther goddess vast to look into his soul and to see what is true motivation is and Dr Doom says measure my crimes against what mankind has done to itself and I am

a saint I have looked into the future I have seen how one violent action after another spins the world toward a future where All That Remains of Earth is a burned out Cinder every time I have looked into the future that is what I have seen every time but one in one possible future mankind becomes United cures for all diseases are found global conflicts end Hunger is abolished education is universal and no one goes without in that world there are laws to break even the slightest of these is to suffer immediate and terminal punishment after

a while no one would dare lay hands upon the innocent or commit a crime of hate or steal bread from the table of another 10,000 Futures have I looked at a 100,000 and an only one does mankind finally unite and flourish and survive only one Doom world now Doom more exemplifies Dr Doom's belief in his moral authority to reshape the world and his actions while ruthless are underpinned by a conviction that the ends justify the means a belief grounded in a conent sense of Duty and Russo's idea of the general will and what I mean

here is Jean jacqu rouso argued that true freedom is found in obedience to a law that one prescribes to oneself and that the general will should be Sovereign and so Doom sees himself as the embodiment of the general will a leader who knows what's best for the world and is willing to make the hard decisions that others cannot and his seizure of wakanda's vibranium is not just an act of Conquest but a step towards the realization of his utopian Vision where he believes that he can enforce peace and prosperity on a global scale now people

would listen to that and they would likely argue there's no way that would ever actually come to fruition but it did in a story called Emperor Doom where Dr Doom finally gets what he sought all this time which is complete control over the world and he does this by using the Mind controlling powers of the purple man and he imposes his will on Humanity effectively becoming the planet's unchallenged ruler and under his rule the world actually becomes a more orderly Place War ceases crime drops to zero and poverty is eradicated on a global scale but

Doom's Dominion is not one of free will it is a world where individual freedoms are sacrificed for the sake of security and Order and this can be analyzed through the lens of political real ISM particularly the ideas that were put out by Carl Schmidt who was a very controversial philosopher and argued that the primary function of the state is to ensure order and Security even at the expense of personal freedoms because Schmidt believed that the Sovereign must have the ultimate authority to decide in times of Crisis and that the state's duty to maintain security could

justify the suspension of ordinary Democratic processes and civil liberties in Schmidt's view security is the foundation of any stable Society and without it freedom is basically meaningless because society would use that freedom to destroy itself and so Dr Doom's rule in Emperor Doom is a manifestation of Schmidt's principle of The Sovereign decision by taking control of the world Doom eliminates the chaos and conflict that plague human societies imposing a strict order that prioritizes security Above All Else and his rule is an embodiment of the belief that a strong centralized Authority is necessary to maintain peace

and prevent The Descent into Anarchy and so the world under Doom's control while it again is devoid of Free Will is one where the horrors of war and crime are effectively gone fulfilling Schmidt's idea that the state's primary function is to protect its citizens from existential threats what's particularly interesting about Emperor Doom is that Dr Doom ultimately relinquishes his control not because he doubts the effectiveness of his rule but because he realizes that a world without Freedom even one that is secure and peaceful is ultimately Hollow but from the perspective of political realism this could

be seen as Dr Doom's greatest mistake because the story highlights the tension between freedom and security suggesting that the sacrifices Doom made to ensure global stability were necessary even if they came at the cost of personal autonomy but another significant storyline that I want to talk about here is arguably one of the most important stories and human stories for Dr Doom which was called Triumph and torment and this was a story where Dr Doom teamed up with Doctor Strange to free the soul of Dr Doom's mother from Mesto now this story is important because it

highlights Doom's deep-seated sense of Duty and honor as well as his willingness to make personal sacrifices for the sake of others and despite his cold and calculating nature Doom is driven by a profound love for his mother and a desire to write the wrongs that were done to her and so his journey to hell and his eventual triumph over Mesto underscore his belief in his own moral superiority and his willingness to confront the forces of evil even if it's on their own terms and so Triumph and torment can be interpreted through the lens of Emanuel

kant's categorical imperative which basically says in Act is moral if and only if everybody can do it and so Dr Doom's quest to save his mother is driven by a moral imperative that transcends personal gain that he's motivated by a sense of Duty to his family and a desire to uphold his own code of honor but this story also aligns with higgle concept of the absolute Spirit where the realization of freedom and self-consciousness involves a Reconciliation of individual will with universal principles and Doom's confrontation with Mesto is not just a battle of wills but a

struggle for moral and spiritual Redemption where Dr Doom's belief in his own righteousness is ultimately Vindicated but the final story that I want to talk about here is quite possibly the most important story ever written about Dr Doom of course we're talking about Secret Wars in 2015 where Dr Doom ascends to the level of a god when the Multiverse collapses due to the incursions now during this story Dr Doom seizes the power of the beyonders these Godlike beings responsible for destroying all the cosmic entities and uses this power to salvage what he can of all

of the dying realities he ultimately creates battle World which was basically a patchwork planet made from the remnants of the destroyed universes but he reigns as the omnipotent God Emperor doom and in this new world Doom is not just a ruler but he's a god who's reshaped reality according to his own Vision but Doom's creation of battle world and his absolute rule over it can be understood through the philosophy of Plato in particular the concept of the philosopher king as it was described red in the Republic so Plato argued that the ideal ruler is a

philosopher king an individual who possesses the wisdom to understand what is truly good and the power to implement it and the philosopher king in Plato's ideal state would rule with an iron hand not out of tyranny but out of a genuine understanding of what's best for society as a whole and that such a ruler would create laws and govern not to serve their own interests but to ensure the greater good of all and so in secret Wars Dr Doom takes on the role of a Phil philosopher king but on an unprecedented scale with the power

of the beyonders he reshapes battle world into what he believes is the best possible World given the circumstances he brings order to a Fractured reality ensuring that life continues albeit under his absolute control and Doom's actions are driven by a belief that only he with his vast intellect and experience is capable of maintaining this fragile New Order and he constructs a world where he can oversee every aspect of society ensuring that the chaos that led to the multiversa destruction does not occur again but also provide order to the aftermath of battle world's formation this was

highlighted in Secret Wars issue number six where Susan storm explains to her son Franklin the events that transpired after the creation of battle world but before Dr Doom imposed himself as an absolute ruler and what she says was when it was forged this world was a frightening place a dark and dangerous time it was night and all that seemed to exist was war that was when your grand father died and we would have died as well but there was a light brilliant and blinding it was your father he made a world from nothing he made

a world that was everything that was the day the Fantastic Four died and was replaced with something better your father helped me bury my father and then together we brought order to this world your uncle Johnny even became the son so that there would be less night now referencing back to Plato's philosopher king the philosopher king itself is expected to rule again not just for personal gain but for the benefit of the state and in secret Wars Dr Doom sees himself as this kind of ruler an enlightened being whose knowledge and power give him the

right and the responsibility to govern for the greater good he creates a world where his vision of order and stability ultimately prevails even if it means suppressing dissent and individual freedom and Doom's governance of battle world is marked by strict control but also by a sense of duty to protect the remnants of reality from the forces of chaos and destruction but Doom's rule is ultimately challenged by Reed Richards who along with the other superheroes bring chaos to what was an ordered world and Reed Richards argues that even with all his power Doom's governance is flawed

because it's based on fear and control instead of trust and freedom but from the perspective of platonic philosophy one could argue that Doom's actions were necessary to prevent a greater catastrophe which is to say the end of all things that Plato's ideal ruler does not seek popular approval but instead acts according to a high higher understanding of justice and the common good and in this light Doom's actions in secret Wars can be seen as a necessary albeit imperfect attempt to create a stable and just Society in a reality that is inherently unstable and chaotic and

so wrapping all this back around again and really proving our Point here Dr Doom's worldview is not that of a simple Tyrant seeking power for its own sake instead he's a complex and deeply philosophical figure who genuinely believes that his rule is the only way to achieve a better world and his actions while often ruthless and morally ambiguous are driven by a sense of duty honor and a belief in his own moral and intellectual superiority and through these various stories that we've discussed here there is a common and consistent theme that he alone can create

a Utopia by enforcing order and eliminating the flaws that plague Humanity after all if superheroes and the human race on Earth were capable of making the world better why isn't the the world better yet but with that being said guys we're going to bring this video to an end let me know what you think down in the comments section and let me know if there's any other characters you want me to cover and I will catch you all later peace