Synopsis | - While the FF deal with some troubles with the Fantasti-Car, Dr. Doom is rescued from deep space by the time-traveling Rama-Tut. Conversing, they somehow illogically theorize that Rama-Tut is perhaps a future version of Dr. Doom. Inspired all the same, Rama-Tut returns Doom to Earth while the ersatz pharaoh resumes his wanderings.
Back on Earth, Doom reaches the Latverian embassy and begins formulating a trap. With the FF unaware that Doom is really the ruler of Latveria, he invites them to a party, putting a drug in their drinks to make them see illusions. He tricks them all into thinking they're being attacked by the others before they eventually realize his machinations.
Regrouping, the team battles at their headquarters. Reed offers Doom a chance to destroy him, providing Victor can use a mentally-powered weapon against Richards before Reed can do likewise. As the contest begins, Reed offers Doom one last drink. Engaging the device, Doom believes he destroys Richards and departs the Baxter Building triumphantly. However, Reed has given Doom a taste of his own medicine by drugging him with his own hallucinogen.
- Pin-ups of The Human Torch, , , , and Alicia Masters
- Reprinted from Fantastic Four #5
- Young Dr. Doom's father fails to heal the monarch of Latveria's ailing wife, sentencing him to death. Escaping before the army comes for him, Werner Von Doom eventually dies of exposure.
Vowing revenge, Victor immerses himself in his deceased mother's gypsy magic as well as learning all he can about modern science, pitting his dual disciplines against those who would attack his people. Accepting a scholarship to State University, Von Doom meets Reed Richards, considering him a general rival, escalating when Richards points out flaws in Victor's experiment to contact the afterlife. Dismissing Richards's cautioning for petty jealousy, Doom proceeds with the experiment literally exploding in his face.
Scarred and expelled from school for reckless endangerment, Doom flees to Tibet, coming under the care of monks in a remote monastery. Creating his infamous armor, Doom dons his mask before it properly cools and further scars his face. Leaving the monastery, he begins his career as Dr. Doom, eventually taking control of the kingdom of Latveria.
- Pin-up gallery of the FF's villains: , , , the Molecule Man, the Infant Terrible, and Diablo
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