Doctor Doom and Valeria Richards’ Complicated Relationship, Explained

Doctor Doom doesn’t love many people, but Valeria Richards has always been the exception to that rule. Despite being the daughter of Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) and the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), Valeria has a unique relationship with her godfather, Victor Von Doom. And while the Latverian monarch may be the Fantastic Four’s fiercest rival, Valeria has on occasion convinced her godfather to join her family to face off against bigger threats.

Doom and Valeria share a mutual respect for each other’s intelligence. Even after he replaced Doctor Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme and took over the world, Doom made time for Valeria and sought out her perspective. Now, let’s take closer look at Valeria’s connections to Doom as their relationship takes a drastic turn in ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM #8 by Ryan North and R.B. Silva.

DOCTOR DOOM AND THE FIRST VALERIA

Valeria Richards’ connection to Doctor Doom predates her birth. When Valeria began emitting lethal amounts of radiation in the womb, her immensely powerful brother, Franklin Richards, sent her to another timeline. In that potential future, Valeria grew up as the daughter of the Invisible Woman and a heroic Doctor Doom. As a teenager, Valeria wielded energy-manipulating powers and became the hero known as Marvel Girl. When she made her debut in FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) #15 by Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca, her costume mirrored Doom’s iconic look, cape and armor included.

The teenage Valeria accidentally crossed paths with the main Marvel Universe and encountered Franklin and the Fantastic Four for the first time. Initially, the team hesitated to embrace Valeria due to her connection to Doom, but they gradually accepted her and adventured together. As a team, they fought a cosmic villain called Abraxas, which culminated in a resetting of reality: Valeria was restored as an unborn child in the Invisible Woman’s womb.

DOCTOR DOOM AND VALERIA’S BIRTH

When Valeria Richards was born again, Doctor Doom cemented himself as an integral part of her life. Due to the strange energy Valeria emitted, the Invisible Woman's pregnancy put her in a perilous position. The Human Torch turned to Doctor Doom to help deliver the baby as Mister Fantastic was held captive by a group of Inhumans.

Combining scientific knowledge with mystical mastery, Doom successfully delivered the infant in FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) #54 by Karl Kesel, Rafael Marin, Carlos Pacheco, and Mark Bagley. Doom became the child’s godfather and asked for the right to name the child, choosing to call her Valeria after his long-lost first love.

As Doom cradled the newborn, he quietly cast a spell that turned Valeria into his familiar, allowing him to see through her eyes and channel mystical energy through her. The Latverian monarch taunted the Fantastic Four through Valeria, even going so far as making the child say his name as her first word. With help from Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic defeated Doom and broke the villain’s mystical connection to his daughter by sending him to Hell.

DOCTOR DOOM AND THE FUTURE FOUNDATION 

Much like Doctor Doom and Mister Fantastic, Valeria Richards is one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe. She began showing signs of her genius-level intellect at an incredibly early age and quickly grew up to be smarter than even her brilliant father. Valeria’s intelligence earned her the respect of Doom, her "Uncle."

While snooping around Reed’s laboratory, Valeria found a portal to the Council of Reeds, a ruthless group of her father’s alternate reality counterparts who were being hunted by the rampaging cosmic entitles known as the Mad Celestials. On the advice of a future version of Franklin, Valeria secretly approached Doom for help in dealing with these threats in FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) #583 by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting.

While he welcomed Valeria, Doom had lost his intelligence in a mind-wipe from a villainous group called the Intelligencia. Doom agreed to help Valeria on the condition that she helped restore his intelligence. With the help of her family and a group of young geniuses called the Future Foundation, Valeria figured out how to restore Doom’s mind and invited him to join the Future Foundation in FF (2011) #2 by Hickman and Epting.

After helping the Future Foundation face the Council and the Celestials, Doom traveled through the Multiverse where he gained control over several of his alternate reality counterparts. When Doom was overpowered, Valeria sent her father to save his old nemesis, and the rivals parted on decent terms.

LIVING IN LATVERIA

When the villainous Quiet Man manipulated the Fantastic Four, Valeria accepted Doctor Doom’s invitation to stay with him in Latveria in FANTASTIC FOUR (2014) #3 by James Robinson and Leonard Kirk. She saw this as an opportunity to encourage Doom to be a force for good, which she explained to her family in a handwritten letter.

Valeria influenced Doom to quietly support charitable causes around the world. Meanwhile, the Invisible Woman fell under the influence of her dark persona, Malice. As Malice asserted more control over Sue Storm, she flew to Latveria to try bring her daughter home in FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL (2014) #1 by Robinson and Tom Grummett. However, when the Invisible Woman viciously attacked Doom, Valeria told her mother that she was afraid of her and decided to stay under Doom’s protection in Latveria.

During Valeria’s time in Latveria, a telepathic assault made everyone in the nation more aggressive. Valeria freed Loki from Doom’s prison and the pair saved Latveria from the Red Skull, who used Professor X’s brain to telepathically spread hate around the world.

DOCTOR DOOM AND VALERIA’S AVENGERS

Following the Red Skull’s telepathic attack, Doctor Doom and Valeria Richards became an unlikely driving force behind a new team of Avengers. In AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS, Doom and the Scarlet Witch cast a spell that accidentally inverted the personalities of the battling X-Men, Avengers, and foes, turning the nearby heroes into villains and the villains into heroes. The now-heroic Doom teamed up with Valeria to bring several of the unaffected heroes together to form a new Avengers team in AVENGERS WORLD (2014) #15 by Nick Spencer and Marco Checchetto.

Valeria, battle-ready in one of Doom’s armors, recruited U.S.Agent, 3-D Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Stingray, Valkyrie (Brunnhilde), and Phil Coulson to stop a villainous Scarlet Witch. Once Doom helped restore everyone’s original personalities, Valeria returned to her family and helped them defeat the Quiet Man.

VALERIA AND DOOM’S SECRET WARS

Valeria and Doctor Doom’s connection has survived through multiple world-ending catastrophes, most notably 2015’s SECRET WARS by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić. When the Multiverse collapsed in on itself, Doctor Doom saved small slivers of several realities and fused them to create Battleworld. With his limitless reality-shaping power, God-Emperor Doom even made himself head of the Richards family, with Valeria Von Doom as his daughter.

In Battleworld, Valeria took charge of Doom’s scientific ministry and alerted Doctor Strange about the presence of survivors from the collapsed main Marvel Universe, including her father. However, she eventually joined her family and turned against Doom as they learned how he had reshaped reality.

With reality restored, Valeria spent some time rebuilding the Multiverse with her family. She and Doom eventually reconnected and resumed their close relationship. Without her parents’ knowledge, the pair still spoke, even as the cloaked villain fought the X-Men and Fantastic Four. 

ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM

After the events of BLOOD HUNT (2024), Doctor Doom became the Sorcerer Supreme and took over the world. However, despite his reign, his relationship with Valeria remained grounded in mutual respect and a desire to understand one another.

As her family tried to topple Doom’s rule, Valeria secretly met Doom in ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM (2025) #2 by Ryan North and R.B. Silva. Doom walked Valeria through the logic of bringing every nation under his rule, all while he reaffirming his love and respect for her. Unconvinced by Doom’s plans, Valeria helped her family fight Doom by figuring out how to restore their powers after the Sorcerer Supreme stripped them away.

As the heroes rally to try bring an end to Victor Von Doom’s reign, Valeria stands tall as the last person who can reach the man behind iron mask. 

See what’s in store for Doctor Doom and Valeria Richards in ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM #8, available now!

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