Who Is The Strongest Marvel Villain?

Thanos’ most famous brush with omnipotence was in “Infinity Gauntlet,” the comic that became the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During the build-up mini-series “Thanos Quest,” Thanos collected the six universe-controlling Infinity Gems (sometimes called the Soul Gems) and placed them together on a metal Gauntlet, allowing him to wield their power simultaneously.

The MCU, of course, turned the Infinity Stones from plot device into a multi-movie MacGuffin fetch quest, giving each individual stone and its powers much more weight. But the end was the same: Thanos collected the six and wiped out half of all life, even if he was doing it for a cosmic “balance” instead of trying to woo Death with a mass offering in her name.

But Victor Von Doom was claiming godhood on the pages of Marvel Comics when Thanos was but a glimmer in the mind’s eye of Mr. Starlin. One of the most famous storylines in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original “Fantastic Four” is in issues #57-60, when he steals the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer and wreaks havoc.

This was adapted, poorly, in the 2007 film “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” (“Let’s all go for a spin!” Doom does not make puns!)

In the original 1984 “Secret Wars” by Jim Shooter, the greatest heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe are brought to Battleworld by a godlike being called the Beyonder, who wishes them to fight for his amusement. Doom ultimately steals the Beyonder’s powers and becomes the series’ ultimate villain. This story, down to God Emperor Doom, is of course the basis for the 2015 “Secret Wars,” even if the latter is much better.

Before the “Secret Wars” remake, Hickman also explored Doom achieving godhood in his run on “Fantastic Four.” In the epilogue to “FF” #16 (drawn by Steve Epting), Doom claims two Infinity Gauntlets from the destroyed interdimensional “Council of Reeds” and builds, instead, a “Parliament of Doom” made up of his own variants.

“Fantastic Four” #611 (by Hickman and Ryan Stegman) followed up on this. Drawn to the universe where the Gauntlet first came from, Doom finds a void and fills it with creation, explicitly invoking the Book of Genesis. Doom’s creations, though, overthrow him.( “It was then, on the seventh day, that Doom realized a mistake had been made. He had made a universe in his own image.”) Doom ultimately needs the Fantastic Four to rescue him, and concludes that ruling as a god was “beneath [him]” anyway.