Doombot

The Doombots are fictional robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

History

The Doombots are robots that are modeled after their creator Doctor Doom. They are exact replicas of the real Doctor Doom and were created to replace Doctor Doom in certain situations and were made with an advanced A.I. program which causes them to believe each is the real Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom designed two different types of replica: fighting Doombots and diplomat Doombots. They are used when Doctor Doom is not confident that he would win. All Doombots are programmed by Doctor Doom and include remote shut off in the case that one should rise against Doom himself. The Doombots first appear where they help to capture the Fantastic Four so that Doctor Doom can send Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, and Thing back in time to retrieve Blackbeard's treasure while he was using Invisible Woman as a hostage.^[1]

The Doombots later help Doctor Doom to capture Spider-Man, but accidentally captured Flash Thompson disguised as him.^[2]

The Doombots were present when Doctor Doom empowered three criminals to be the Terrible Trio.^[3]

During his plan to drive Doctor Doom out of Latveria, Prince Rudolfo has a woman named Ramona (who resembles Doctor Doom's childhood love Valeria) be picked up by a patrolling Doombot. Following the Doomsman that Doctor Doom had created coming to life, Doctor Doom sends the Doombots to deal with Prince Rudolfo and his men.^[4]

A Doombot in the form of Doctor Doom captured Arcade and the families of the X-Men so that the X-Men can come after Arcade. This caused the X-Men's Team 1 (consisting of Angel, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine) to go after Doctor Doom while Banshee, Havok, Iceman, and Polaris head to Murderworld to rescue the captive parents. This turned out to be a trap for Team 1 since the Doombot is actually in an alliance with Arcade.^[5] Arcade and the Doombot have designed the traps that the captive X-Men members are placed in. The captive family members at Murderworld turn out to be robots that attacks the X-Men members that were sent there.^[6] When Storm becomes one with the planet, she attacks the Doombot^[7]

Puppet Master later makes a doll of Doctor Doom as he controls Doctor Doom into sending his Doombots to attack the Fantastic Four.^[8]

Doctor Doom later sends his Doombots to abduct a heavily-damaged "John Doe" from a Manhattan hospital. The "John Doe" turns out to be a depowered Terrax as Doctor Doom offers to help him regain his powers.^[9] While Human Torch and Thing are fighting Terrax, Invisible Woman encounters a Doombot in the form of Doctor Doom and easily destroys it.^[10]

Doctor Doom leads the Doombots into capturing Franklin Richards so that he can trade him to Mephisto in exchange for the soul of his mother Cynthia Von Doom.^[11]

During the Acts of Vengeance storyline, a Doombot was used by Doctor Doom to serve as his proxy at the time when Loki has gathered some criminal masterminds to help in his plot. The Doombot sent The Assembly of Evil to attack the Avengers at a press conference only for them to take on She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger.^[12]

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack fought Doombots that were working for an Imposter Doctor Doom.^[13]

A Doombot later goes on a rampage in the city. When the Fantastic Four and the Avengers cannot be reached to deal with the situation, Code: Blue manages to take it down with help from the Yancy Street Gang.^[14]

A young boy named Billy hires Heroes for Hire to look for his missing robot Victor. Billy's robot Victor is actually a reprogammed Doombot that has fallen under the control of the Headmen where they use it to attack Billy and Humbug.^[15] Victor the Doombot later attacks Heroes for Hire which results in the death of Orka.^[16]

Following the Civil War storyline, Doombot designed to look like Doctor Doom was built to appear at Stilt-Man's funeral.^[17]

During the Dark Reign storyline, Black Panther was meeting with Namor about joining the Cabal (which also consisted of Doctor Doom, Emma Frost, Hood, Loki, and Norman Osborn). When Black Panther refused the offer, he is attacked by Doctor Doom and the Doombots.^[18]

Doctor Doom later refits the Doombots to attack Donald Blake.^[19] Thor later fights a Doombot before he takes on Doctor Doom in a pilotable robot that is modeled after the Destroyer.^[20]

During the Siege storyline, Doctor Doom uses a Doombot to attend a meeting of the Cabal and speaks through it to demand that Norman Osborn ceases his campaign against Namor. When the Doombot is taken down by Taskmaster, it releases a robotic swarm that is unleashed upon Avengers Tower. Norman Osborn finds a way to shut down the robotic swarm as Sentry destroys the Doombot.^[21]

During the Infinity storyline, some Doombots are shown to work at the Latverian School of Science as teachers. There's even a female version of a Doombot that works there as well.^[22]

Avengers A.I.'s Doombot

Following the Age of Ultron storyline, Hank Pym was seen with the head of a Doombot as he starts to work on it.^[23] The Doombot that Hank Pym was working on ends up joining Henry Pym's Avengers A.I. alongside Monica Chang, Victor Mancha and Vision.^[24] This Doombot is shown as ruler of Earth in a possible future, where it summons various Avengers from different time periods together to defeat Ultron's conquest of the world before taking control itself. However, the Avengers are able to defeat Doom's armies by rescuing the forces of Asgard from imprisonment, followed by Vision convincing the Doombot to explore its own identity and acknowledge Doom's more positive traits rather than just blindly following the original Victor von Doom's example and cheapening his legacy by letting another define his path.^[25]

Powers

The Doombots are heavily armored robots that are resistant to mental, emotional, and illusion attacks. All Doombots can shoot lightning from their gauntlets similar to Doctor Doom's attack.

The Doombots sport jetpacks which can enable them to fly.

There are small mechanic limbs and tools in the head of every Doombot that allows them to re-construct the rest of the body. This allows the robot to infiltrate in enemy fortresses....The pieces are sent through a different way, and the head builds the body in minutes.

Doombots can be set to self-destruct whenever they are in risk of being captured or defeated, or at Doom's whim.

Doombot models

There were different models of the Doombots:

• Diplomatic Doombots - These Doombots have a higher intelligence and normal armor levels. They lack the strength and reinforcement of the Fighting Doombots. Diplomatic Doombots are used in diplomatic meetings such as the United Nations and when dealing and/or seducing with potential allies.
• Fighting Doombots - These Doombots are enhanced with super strength and reinforced for direct combat, even being able to hold their own temporarily with Thing. Doctor Doom sends a fighting Doombot whenever he considers a fight probable, as they are equipped with heavier weaponry and more weapon systems than the diplomatic models. Most of these combat Doombots are so strong that enemies quickly realize they are not fighting the real Doom, a non-enhanced human.

In other media

Television

• The Doombots made unnamed appearances in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "The Fantastic Mr. Frump".
• The Doombots are merely the name of his robotic soldiers in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. They are armed with weapons designed to counter the powers of the Fantastic Four (i.e. ice cannons for the Human Torch, concussion lasers for the Invisible Woman, etc.). Eventually, Doom constructs a bot running on a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence to the point it patterns on how organic brains operate. Aimed at adapting and learning how to defeat the FF, The Thing befriends the Doombot naming him "Bruiser".
• The Doombots appear in The Super Hero Squad Show voiced by Charlie Adler.
• The Doombots were mentioned as a joke in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "The Might of Doom". A real Doombot was used in "Doomsday".
• The Doombots appear in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "The Private War of Doctor Doom".
• The Doombots appear in Ultimate Spider-Man.
• The Doombots appear in the Avengers Assemble episode "The Serpent of Doom".
• The Doombots appear in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "Days of Future Smash: The Dino Era". They are seen in the Latverian embassy guarding it while Doctor Doom is away. The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. fight through the Doombots at the time when Leader infiltrates the Latverian embassy to get to Doctor Doom's experimental time belts.

Video games

• The Doombots appear in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
• The Doombots appear in Marvel Super Hero Squad.
• The Doombots appear in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• The Doombots appear in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

Toys

• A Doombot was a playable character in the Galactic Guardians set of Marvel Heroclix.

References

External links

• Doombot at Marvel Wiki
• Doombot at Comic Vine