Of the many beloved rivalries in superhero comics, none are as iconic or as understandable as the one between Reed Richards and Doctor Doom. While it might be easy to side with Reed Richards – after all, he is the “good guy” of the Fantastic Four – I can’t help but understand where Doctor Doom is coming from.

Doctor Doom and Reed Richards have been at odds with one another for decades, even though they both technically want the same thing. Both of these characters have been trying to make the world a better place. They’ve just been going about it in different ways.

I fully understand why Doctor Doom would hate Reed Richards, since, from Doctor Doom’s point of view, he’s the one who can save the world. He believes that he is the only one who can save the world, and yet, time and again, his plans are foiled by Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, who only view Doctor Doom as a brutal tyrant.

Doctor Doom Truly Believes That He Is Humanity’s Only Hope

But Reed Richards Won’t Get Out of His Way

Doctor Doom didn’t have an easy upbringing. He was born in a Romani camp to a single mother, who later died after making a deal with the literal devil. Decades later, when Doctor Doom managed to get through college, he tried to create a machine that would allow him to communicate with his dead mother. It was a brilliant and deeply personal undertaking on his part, but he had made a mistake in his calculations, a mistake that Reed Richards pointed out. Doctor Doom ignored the warning, and his machine exploded, scarring his face.

Doctor Doom was far too proud to believe that he had made a mistake in his calculations, and I honestly think that’s understandable. The comic frames it as Victor von Doom being too arrogant to assume he could have made a mistake, but try looking at it from Doom’s perspective: he grew up poor in a Romani camp while Reed was the son of a wealthy physicist. Doom had to work hard to make it to college. Reed could have gone to any college in the world due to his privilege, yet Reed thought he could advise Doom about an experiment that he had spent years developing.

Reed Richards Isn’t Always the Marvel Universe’s Ideal Hero

There Are So Many Evil Reeds in the Multiverse

Everyone always paints Doom as the villain and acts like Reed is the good guy in every situation, but that hasn’t always been the case. Doctor Doom wants to save the world, just in his own way. I think it makes sense that Doom would then be naturally opposed to someone who has ended the world several times. Doctor Doom had plenty of experience exploring the multiverse, and he would likely have seen all the different versions of Reed Richards who are evil across that multiverse. Plenty of worlds have ended due to Reed – a lot more ends-of-the-world than Doom ever caused.

In the Marvel Zombies ​​​​​​universe, for example, Reed intentionally infects the Fantastic Four before allowing himself to be transformed into a zombie. Losing Reed’s intelligence to the zombie virus was a major blow to humanity and practically killed any hope of a cure being discovered. Over in the recently-updated Ultimate Universe, Reed Richards ultimately becomes the villain known as the Maker, a brutal mastermind who is responsible for meddling in the history of several alternate universes. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that Doctor Doom would know of these events, considering his experience with the multiverse.

Doctor Doom’s Dislike of Reed Richards Is Totally Justified

I’d Also Dislike Him in the Same Situation

Imagine truly believing that you could save the world, that you’re the only person who can, and yet every time you try, someone stops you. It’s completely justified that Doctor Doom would hate Reed Richards, especially since there’s proof that living in a world ruled by Doom would be a utopia. During a visit to Wakanda, the Panther God of Wakanda looked deep into Doom’s soul and determined that the only future in which humanity survives into the long term, the only future that is a utopia, is the one that Doom rules over.

With that kind of pure-hearted belief in how righteous his cause is, I really can’t blame Doctor Doom for hating Reed. There’s no certain future where Reed ultimately saves the world and brings humanity into a new era, but there is such a future with Doom. While Reed Richards would never admit it, everything that Doom has done has been because he believes it’s the only possible path towards saving humanity. Yes, it’s also due to his unbelievable ego, but two things can be true at once. That’s why, as brutal as Doom is, and despite what a hero Reed Richards is, I can’t blame Doctor Doom for hating him.

Readers can see a world with Doom as its “leader” in One World Under Doom #1, which is available now from Marvel Comics!