Name

Kristoff Vernard
Aliases
Kristoff Von Doom, Victor von Doom, Doctor Doom
Origin
Human with enhanced intelligence

History
Origins
On returning to his kingdom of Latveria after a successful revolution against him,
its monarch, Doctor Doom encountered a young boy named Kristoff and his mother, a
Latverian woman still loyal to Doom.[1] A robot under the control of Zorba
Fortunov, the current ruler of Latveria, slew the woman for violating curfew,
thereby outraging Doom, who considered the woman to have been under his protection
and destroyed the robot in retaliation. After regaining the Latverian throne, Doom
took the orphaned Kristoff under his care and had him raised in the royal palace.
[2] Doom became quite fond of Kristoff and decided to make him his heir.

Later, Doctor Doom's body was destroyed by the explosion of cosmic energy in which
the alien Tyros perished.[3] Doom survived by psionically transferring his
consciousness into the body of an onlooker just before Doom's own body was
destroyed.[4]

Becoming Doctor DoomKristoff Vernard (Earth-616) from Mighty Thor Vol 1 410 0001
Back in Latveria, Doctor Doom's robots, believing their master to be dead,
implemented a plan of his by which Doom hoped that his legacy would carry on after
his death. The robots began programming Kristoff's mind with the recorded memories
of Doctor Doom in chronological order.[5] As a result Kristoff came to believe that
he himself was the original Doctor Doom. Upon receiving the memories of Doom's
first partnership with the Sub-Mariner and Doom's theft of the Baxter Building, the
former headquarters of Doom's arch foes, the Fantastic Four, Kristoff commanded
that the programming stop. Seeing where that plan to destroy the Fantastic Four had
gone wrong, Kristoff resolved to try it again, but this time to make it work by
avoiding the mistake of involving the Sub-Mariner.

Kristoff garbed himself in a variant version of the original Doctor Doom's armor.
This armored suit was designed so as to make Kristoff appear to be the size of an
adult. Kristoff decided that the reason he possessed a child's body was that his
consciousness had been transferred into it by an enemy.

Fantastic Four
Using the original Doctor Doom's advanced technology, Kristoff entrapped the
Fantastic Four within the Baxter Building, drew it outside Earth's atmosphere, and
then blew the building up.[6] However, the Fantastic Four survived by means of the
Invisible Woman's ability to generate protective force fields. The Fantastic Four
invaded Latveria and defeated Kristoff. Learning to their astonishment that the
Doctor Doom who had tried to kill them was really a small, brainwashed child, the
Fantastic Four took Kristoff back to New York City with them in the hope of
restoring him to his normal personality.

Eventually, Kristoff, still believing himself to be the original Doctor Doom, was
placed in confinement at Four Freedoms Plaza, the Fantastic Four's new
headquarters. Meanwhile, the entity calling himself the Beyonder restored the real
Doctor Doom to his original body.

Doom vs. Doom

Subsequently, the real Doctor Doom used one of his robots to kidnap Franklin
Richards, the son of Reed and Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four, in order to use
his powers to battle the demon Mephisto.[7] Kristoff summoned the robot and had it
free him from captivity and transport him to Latveria, where he donned a suit of
his special armor. He then confronted the real Doctor Doom as the latter was using
Franklin as a pawn in bargaining with the demon Mephisto for the soul of his
deceased mother, Cynthia. When the real Doctor Doom admitted to a human weakness -
his inability to trust Franklin to defeat Mephisto in combat - Doom's robots
decided that he could not be their true master, and that Kristoff must be the true
Doctor Doom. His robots having turned against him, Doctor Doom was forced to flee
Latveria.

Kristoff, as Doctor Doom, was then ruler of Latveria, and believed that it was the
real Doctor Doom, whom he believed to be an impostor, who had entrapped him within
a child's body. This began a long civil war between the two, as one or the other
were deposed and set up as the true Doom, and often came to blows personally. Then,
during their last encounter, Doom uttered a code word that returned Kristoff’s true
personality. Doom then placed Kristoff into stasis in a Tibetan monastery-lab under
his control.

Joining the Fantastic Four

Much later, Kristoff was awakened by Nathaniel Richards when Reed Richards and
Doctor Doom were presumed dead. Nathaniel was actually after Boris, Doom's former
guardian, in an adjoining stasis chamber, who was, in fact, the Tomorrow Man in
disguise. Kristoff returned with Nathaniel and Sue Richards to the Fantastic Four
and joined them on several adventures, becoming a close, but carefully watched,
associate. Kristoff soon developed a crush on Ant-Man's young daughter, Cassie.

When the Fantastic Four seemingly perished fighting the menace known as Onslaught,
Kristoff teamed with Nathaniel Richards in securing the Fantastic Four's equipment
in the Negative Zone before returning to Latveria to assume the vacant throne.
Somehow, Kristoff was blocked from entering by the Dreadknight, and fled with
Nathaniel, vowing to return.[8]

Spider-Man/Fantastic Four
Kristoff appeared again after an unspecified time following the Onslaught Incident.
This time he had studied sorceries as far as time travel. With this power he
traveled throughout history collecting samples of alien technology to gain an
upperhand to kill Doom, while the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man were dealing with
adversaries and problems in the time periods he visited. After completely upgrading
himself, he lured Spider-Man to the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four.
Once Spider-Man arrived, he made his appearance to the family and asked for their
help in killing his adopted father. When the family turned him down and offered
their help in regaining his sanity, he became enraged and attacked them. The
Fantastic Four and Spider-Man retaliated but discovered his defenses to be
unbreakable, and as a result, they were almost vanquished by Kristoff. Amidst the
battle, the Thing ran off to look for something while Spider-Man stalled Kristoff.
While Kristoff was distracted by the Thing, Spider-Man realized what the Thing was
going for and showed Kristoff a family album that included him when he was still a
child. Kristoff was stunned to see they never forgot about him and plead with him
to come back to their family. Kristoff hesitated before rejecting their offer and
returning to his base. He proceeded to destroy everything he gathered, perhaps
regretting his actions and the family he could have belonged to.[9]

Monarch of Latveria
An unspecified amount of time later Doom, suffering from brain damage he had
inflicted upon himself during the Fall of the Hulks, found his ability to rule
impaired, Doctor Doom summoned Kristoff from exile. Kristoff would be crowned the
new Monarch of Latveria with Doom advising from the shadows. When Doctor Doom
regained his intellect, he became the Monarch of Latveria once more.[10]
Multiverse IncursionKristoff Vernard was with his adopted father when they were
attacked by a mysterious group known as The Mapmakers. Kristoff and Doom were able
to fight off The Mapmakers while the Illuminati destroyed the other Earth.[11]
Attributes
Power Grid[14]

Abilities
Super-Genius Intelligence: Kristoff possesses the advanced scientific knowledge and
mystical knowledge rivalling his mentor Doctor Doom.[12]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Doctor Doom's Armor: Kristoff's most important weapon is his nuclear-powered,
micro-computer enhanced suit of iron armor, modeled after the original Doctor Doom.
The armor is an exoskeleton which enables Kristoff, though he is a child, to appear
to be the size of an adult. By moving his legs within the armor, he can move the
armored suits longer legs. He can also manipulate controls within the armor that
enable him to move the suit's arms, hands, and fingers as if they were his own.
For a time Kristoff wore a child-sized version of the original Doctor Doom's armor,
but he has since abandoned this armored suit. Besides his portable armor and its
armaments, Kristoff had access to the vast arsenal of technological weaponry
designed and constructed by the original Doctor Doom, far too large and varied to
be described here.

Kristoff employed a small army of semi-humanoid robots which guard his castles and
Latveria itself. He also commanded a large number of androids that were constructed
by the original Doctor Doom in his own image, and were programmed to think and
behave for the most part as he does. Each of these robot simulacrums believes
itself to be the actual Doctor Doom except when it is in the presence of the being
it believes to be the original Doom or of other robotic Doom simulacrums.
Transportation
A number of advanced means of vehicular conveyance, including vessels capable of
interplanetary travel through hyperspace.

Kristoff Vernard (formerly known as Kristoff von Doom and Dr. Doom) is a fictional
character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The
adoptive son of Victor von Doom and biological son of Nathaniel Richards (and half-
brother of Reed Richards), and direct ancestor of Kang the
Conqueror/Rama-Tut/Immortus/Scarlet Centurion/Iron Lad, he has been involved mainly
with the Fantastic Four, as an enemy, ally and even short-term member.

Publication history
Kristoff first appeared in John Byrne's "back to the basics" Fantastic Four run in
issue #247 in October 1982.[1] Kristoff served as heir to Doctor Doom, occasional
ruler of Latveria, a probationary member of the Fantastic Four, and temporal
adventurer alongside Nathaniel Richards.

The character next appears in Fantastic Four #258-259 (September–October 1983) and
first appears as the second Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four #278-279 (May–June 1985).
After a few scattered appearances, Kristoff Vernard becomes a semi-regular cast
member in Fantastic Four #400 (May 1995). He recently reappeared in FF #2, ruling
Latveria in Doom's absence.

An alternate future version appeared as an adult in the MC2 universe, beginning in

A-Next #5 (1998), followed by scattered appearances, but was only featured
regularly in Fantastic Five #1-5 (September–November 2007).
Doctor Doom received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Update '89 #2, and the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12
(2007).

Fictional character biography

Heir
After being ousted as leader of Latveria, Dr. Doom returned to the country with the
Fantastic Four to overthrow its then-leader, Zorba. Doom met the young Kristoff and
his mother. While conversing with them, Kristoff's mother was killed by one of
Zorba's robots for violating curfew.[2] Furious at the death of a woman who was
standing in his presence and therefore should have been regarded as being under his
protection, Doom destroyed the robot and defeated Zorba. Dr. Doom adopted Kristoff
as his heir and took him to live in Castle Doom.[3]

Second Coming of Doom

Kristoff explaining his origin. Art by Paul Ryan and Dan Bulanadi.
Following the apparent murder of Dr. Doom by Terrax, Doom's robots took Kristoff
and brainwashed and implanted within him Doom's mental patterns and detailed
memories. However, he stopped the process before all of Doom's memories could be
implanted (after his intellect had been duplicated).

Now believing that he was the real Doom, Kristoff's first action was attempting to
destroy the Fantastic Four by blowing up the Baxter Building,[4] a plan drawn from
memories of the real Dr. Doom's plot to kill the FF while he was teamed with the
Sub-Mariner. The FF survived the explosion thanks to the force fields of Sue
Richards, something Kristoff had not anticipated because he had stopped the memory
transfer at a point before Sue Richards had fully developed her force field
abilities. The FF quickly traveled to Doomstadt and defeated their adversary. To
the team's surprise, the armor held not Doom but a child, whom the team took with
them.

Kristoff would be imprisoned in Four Freedoms Plaza, the new home of the Four,
following his destruction of the Baxter Building.[5] He was still convinced that he
was Doom and Mister Fantastic hoped to restore him to his normal personality. At
this time the real Dr. Doom "returned from the dead".

Kristoff would free himself with the aid of a Doombot sent to kidnap Franklin
Richards, son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman,[6] by the recently
resurrected Dr. Doom. Doom wanted to use Franklin as a bargaining chip for the soul
of his mother which was held captive by Mephisto. Although still a child of about
four or five, Franklin had powerful psychic powers which had enabled him to defeat
Mephisto in a previous encounter.[7] This time, Doom's power inhibitors prevented
Franklin from fighting the demon, who agreed to the bargain. But at that very
moment, Kristoff, in full armor, burst in with an army of Doombots and challenged
Doom, whom he thought to be an impostor.

The FF, who had followed Kristoff to rescue Franklin, intervened and Mister
Fantastic used a device of his own to enable his son to fight back against
Mephisto. As the two Dooms battled, the Doombots stood by, unsure which to aid
since they both claimed to be Doom and the brainscans seemed to confirm this.

The battle soon ended but Doom's mother was still not free. Her imprisonment in the
nether realms was one of the few failures that Doom would admit to and he said as
much to those present. The robots perceived this as doubt and a lack of confidence
meaning Kristoff could only be the real ever-confident Dr. Doom. The Doombots
turned on their creator and Dr. Doom was forced to flee.
Kristoff ruled Latveria as Doom [6] once again, where he would encounter the West
Coast Avengers. To their surprise, he let them leave Latveria.[8] He stayed the
regent until the original infiltrated the Castle and uttered a codeword that
reverted Kristoff to his original personality.[9] Doom reclaimed his throne while
Kristoff was sent as a decoy to battle Mr. Fantastic. He was killed[10] and placed
in stasis in a Tibetan Monastery.

Life After Doom

Nathaniel Richards revived Kristoff [11] along with Boris, Doom's former guardian,
who was actually the Tomorrow Man in disguise. The former dictator returned with
Richards and the Invisible Woman, where he became a closely monitored member of the
Fantastic Four, and close friends with Cassandra Lang, daughter of Ant-Man (Scott
Lang) who had also joined the team following the "death" of Mister Fantastic. He
eventually took his leave from the group to go with Nathaniel Richards. He was
reunited with Doom [12] when the alternate future offspring of Franklin Richards
and Rachel Summers called Hyperstorm, attacked the Fantastic Four [13] where he
chose to help them instead of attacking them at their weakest. The group defeated
Hyperstorm.

Following the Onslaught saga, Kristoff and Nathaniel tried to collect the now-
missing FF's equipment located in the Negative Zone. They then returned to
Latveria, Kristoff with hopes of assuming the throne once again, but they were met
with resistance by the Dreadknight and found Doombots in charge. The duo were then
tricked by S.H.I.E.L.D. into defeating them.[14]

Kristoff and Nathaniel were later displaced by Stryfe after his ship crashed into
Castle Doom.

Nathaniel Richards has hinted that he is Kristoff's father, which gives something
of an irony that Doctor Doom chose, as his heir, the half-brother of his most hated
rival.

At the start of Fantastic Four: Three, Doom was making plans to abdicate his throne
and give it to Kristoff, who is referred to as living in "exile".

Kristoff was then revealed to be the villain in the Spider-Man/Fantastic Four

miniseries, setting up an elaborate plan to depose Doom and take his place- such as
setting up a riot at the Latverian embassy in the past so that he could read some
books of magic that Doom had lost in the present,[15] acquiring samples of the
Venom symbiote to create a 'symbiote bomb'[16] that he could secretly 'sell' to
Doom[17] to take him out of the picture[18]- culminating in him seeking the aid of
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four to help in his final plan, regarding them as
Doom's greatest enemies. Spider-Man was an 'honorary' member of the FF as he is
invariably the first person the team turns to when they require either general
outside assistance or just someone to socialise with. Although Kristoff attacks
them when they turn him down, claiming that they were willing to just 'forget' him
after the Onslaught incident, Spider-Man and the Thing discover an old family photo
album which includes pictures of Kristoff's time with the team, the Thing
explaining that they have actually never stopped trying to find Kristoff but had
long ago run out of ideas about where to actively look. Their original search had
failed because Kristoff was hiding away in training. Despite this, Kristoff rejects
the team and departs in anger, swearing to destroy Doom himself.[19]

At one point, Doom loses part of his intelligence during "Fall of the Hulks". In
turn, he calls in Vernard from exile to rule Latveria for him while he advises in
the shadows. With the help of the Fantastic Four, Doom regains his full
intelligence by transporting a part of Doom's backup memories that are contained in
Vernard's head.[20]
He is subsequently living in Latveria with Doctor Doom, who continues to groom him
to be his heir.[21]

For a point, Vernard and Valeria seem to both be living in Latveria at the same
time.[22]

Kristoff Vernard assists his father in preparing for the events of Secret Wars,
including having dinner with Reed[23] (in an attempt to gather information),
fighting off an incursion, having dinner with Namor, and observing Doom's
preparations.[24]

Kristoff Vernard then hired She-Hulk as his lawyer to apply for political asylum in
the United States, but end up facing a small army of Doombots. After defeating the
Doombots, She-Hulk succeeds in granting him political asylum only for Doctor Doom
to break into the courthouse and kidnap him. She-Hulk then goes to Latveria to
rescue Kristoff only for him and Doctor Doom to have a pep-talk, where he expresses
his desire to follow his own path in life. After the talk, Doom allows Kristoff and
She-Hulk to leave Latveria.[25]

Later on, after Doom is momentarily deposed from his throne, Kristoff is summoned
back among others to test his loyalty to Doom. He passed immediately, but was then
told to "never call [him] father again".[26]

Vernard may have been present during the confrontation against Ionela Novothy, the
Symkarian "ringleader" of the coup against Doom. When the war concluded and
Symkaria was annexed into Latveria, Doom installed Kristoff as governor of what is
now the southern region of Latveria.[27]

Powers and abilities

Kristoff Vernard has no superpowers but he's a skilled scientist and magician. He
has also worn a suit of armor that grants him some degree of superhuman strength
and durability, flight and energy projection.

History
After regaining the Latverian throne from Zorba, Doctor Doom took the orphaned
Kristoff under his care and had him raised in the royal palace. He then adopted him
and made him his heir. He has since been both an ally and enemy of the Fantastic
Four.

When Doom seemingly died at the hands of the Fantastic Four, one of Doom's failsafe
plans was set in motion. His Doombots implanted Doom's memories into Kristoff. This
caused Kristoff to believe that he was Doctor Doom. When Doom returned, Kristoff
believed him an imposter and put Doom vs Doom. Eventually, Kristoff's identity was
returned.

After the death of Onslaught and the Heroes Reborn era, Kristoff disappeared. He
secretly began searching for ways to take control of Latveria. He created his own
limited-use time machine and began his plot, first pitting Namor against his father
long enough for Kristoff to sneak into Castle Doom and teach himself the sorcery
Doom never taught him. Dabbling in the Black Arts without a mentor caused damage to
his sanity.

It is later revealed that he manufactured the Venom Bomb in an attempt to get Doom
incarcerated and replace him as despot. After Norman Osborn released him he plotted
to recruit the FF to assassinate Doom. Kristoff believed that the members of his
surrogate family had abandoned him and attacked them when they declined to help
him. Kristoff eventually realized that the Fantastic Four truly cared for him, but
still chose to go alone in his mad plan to destroy Doctor Doom and supplant him on
Latveria's throne.

Powers
Power Suit - His nuclear-powered, micro-computer enhanced armored suit contains an
electrically powered exoskeleton which enables him to lift 2 tons; the endoskeleton
lets him move easily while wearing this armor. Through the study of a not fully
matured Inorganic Technotroid, Kristoff has developed a nearly indestructible suit
of armor claimed to be more powerful than Doom's.

Weapons - access to technological weaponry and vehicles.

Magic - Kristoff has the same mystical knowledge of the original Doctor Doom.
Unlike Doom he is willing to use Dark Arts and physical combat against his foes.
Doom prefers to use his intellect.