Character Spotlight
Doctor Doom has never been hotter. As the Summer of Doom makes way for the Autumn of Doom, Prashaun and I decided to get together and celebrate the armored tyrant. In this article, I'm going to share my favorite Doctor Doom comic stories, explore his history in Snap, and give you a few Doom-centric decks that you can climb with and show off your favorite Doom variants. Prashaun made a killer video covering the lore of Doctor Doom—check it out:
Scosco's Favorite Doom Stories
Fantastic Four Annual #2 is the earliest telling of Doom’s origin and the best Jack Kirby drawn Doom story.
The 80s saw two wonderful Doctor Doom graphic novels. The first was Emperor Doom (find it on Marvel Unlimited by searching ‘Marvel Graphic Novel’), where Doctor Doom harnesses the power of the purple man to establish his first dictatorship over the Earth. But not everything seems so bad under the benevolent hand of Doom…
The Second Graphic Novel starring Doctor Doom teams him up with Doctor Strange in a quest to save his mother from Mephisto. It features wonderful early Mike Mignola art.
The best modern Doom arc is from Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo’s seminal 2003 run and spans five issues, from #67 through the legacy renumbering to #500. Doctor Doom was instrumental in the delivery of the Richards’ second child Valeria, and this storyline kicks off one of my favorite threads that runs through Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, through Secret Wars and into the present day.
This is my favorite single issue Doom story. Ryan North is able to capture what makes Doom tick and drills down to the core of his personality in a single, plus-sized issue.
This Summer’s big Marvel event has been One World Under Doom, written by Ryan North. It all kicked off when Doom was able to steal the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme in the wake of Blood Hunt. Unlike some of Marvel’s big blockbuster events, One World Under Doom has been full of satisfying twists and turns and even a lot of the optional tie-ins have been great, like Doom Academy, Doom's Division, and Doctor Strange of Asgard.
It's available as a reading list on Marvel Unlimited, but don't feel pressured to read everything, just hit what interests you in addition to One World Under Doom and Fantastic Four issues. One World Under Doom is the perfect payoff after reading the Emperor Doom and Triumph and Torment Graphic Novels.
While Doom hasn't yet made his mark on the MCU, but he is coming! Robert Downey Jr. is cast as Doctor Doom, but we don't yet know if it's just Marvel Studios reusing a favorite actor or if there are some kind of multiversal Tony Stark shenanigans going on. Doom is the main antagonist of the Avengers: Doomsday film currently scheduled for December 2026 (SPOILER: you can get a little peek at Doom in the end credits sequence of Fantastic Four: First Steps).
Doctor Doom in Marvel Snap
| Date | Cost | Power | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
2023-09-05 | 6 | ▲ 5 | Doom is supreme! |
2023-06-22 | 6 | ▼ 4 | Doom is supreme! |
2022-06-20 | ▲ 6 | 5 | Doom is supreme! |
2022-05-24 | 5 | 5 | Doom is supreme! |
Once upon a time Doctor Doom was so powerful that he was practically the de facto 6-drop in Snap, competing with America Chavez, who was rarely even played out, and Magneto, who could similarly affect multiple lanes. From launch until June 2023 every player did the math for “Do they have Doom?” on the final turn of each game.
While most players felt like the card was powerful, yet balanced, the DoomBots were nerfed from 5 Power down to 4 Power. Doom's play rate plummeted and the nerf was reverted just 75 days later. In the interim several other powerful cards and strategies were released and Doom never really regained his prior prominence. Doom still saw play, especially in lockdown strategies to be able to reach into Flooded lanes and some ramp decks. I personally played a lot of Doom! Check out these awesome and delightfully quirky decks from the past that I rode to Infinite from February to May 2024!
Then, in December of 2024 Doom got a major boost in the form of Doom 2099. After sitting atop the meta, it took a couple of nerfs to cut Doom 2099 down to size. Fans of the deck felt like the nerfs were too harsh, but after some additional synergy pieces and a small buff, Doom 2099 is currently making a meta comeback.
| Date | Cost | Power | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-01-29 | 4 | ▲ 6 | End of Turn: Add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. |
2025-12-18 | 4 | ▲ 5 | End of Turn: Add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. |
2025-07-17 | 4 | ▲ 4 | End of Turn: Add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. |
2025-03-04 | 4 | 3 | Now: End of Turn: Add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. Was: After each turn, add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. |
2025-02-13 | 4 | ▲ 3 | After each turn, add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. |
Released 2024-12-17 | 4 | 2 | After each turn, add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. |
2024-11-12 | ▲ 4 | ▲ 2 | Now: After each turn, add a DoomBot 2099 to a random location if you played (exactly) 1 card. Was: Unknown |
2024-07-30 | 0 | 0 | Unknown |
Doom's Place in Snap Today
Doom occasionally still sees play as a way to attack all three lanes, but he's more common as a part of a Doom 2099 deck. He's not what he once was. He sports a meta share of about 7%, which puts him right around the middle of the pack. Stardust also puts a real cramp in his style, so beware of turn 4, 5, and 6 Snaps when you don't have priority. The best decks to play Doom in right now are Ramp decks, 2099 decks, Frankie Raye decks, Wong decks, and lockdown decks.
Here are a few of my current favorite Doom decks:
Lockdown Doom
Sue+Victor -Reed
Frankie Boom
C5 Master Doom
Final Thoughts
See sure to check out Prashaun's Doom video and the other lore videos on his channel. What character spotlight would you like to see next? What is your favorite Doom moment? Stay tuned because we may be finding more ways to collaborate with him! Come find me on social media for more Snap and comics talk!
Thank you again to Prashaun and you can find him at his socials!