Doctor Doom vs Galactus: Which Fantastic Four Villain Is the Biggest Threat?

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The Fantastic Four have consistently gone up against two major villains: Doctor Doom and Galactus. The two have proven to be major and powerful threats to not just the Fantastic Four, but the entire Marvel Universe. But between the two of them, it’s hard to say who the most dangerous foe is – until you remember just how conniving Doom can be.

Galactus is one of the most cosmically powerful characters in the entire Marvel Universe. One universe saw Galactus going crazy and wiping out everyone. All the Avengers, every villain, and even the Celestials all fell before the overwhelming power of Galactus.

On the other hand, there is Doctor Doom, a man with one of the strongest intellects in the Marvel Universe. He is an accomplished scientist and a brilliant sorcerer, one of the few characters to merge science and magic. On paper, it should be clear who’s the bigger threat, but things aren’t so simple.

While Galactus Is a Force of Nature, He’s Not Exactly as Malevolent as Doctor Doom

Galactus Only Does What He Needs

While Galactus is often portrayed as the antagonist of the story, he’s not exactly a villain. Originally, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee actually created Galactus as a being who was completely above the concept of good and evil. While Galactus did want to destroy Earth, it wasn’t out of malevolence. It was simply because he felt he had to do it to survive. While Galactus is unimaginably powerful, he’s not invulnerable. He needs to feed on planets to stay alive, or else he will end up starving to death.

Because of this weakness, Galactus roams the universe looking for suitable planets to consume, even employing his herald, the Silver Surfer, to find planets for him. Once a suitable planet is found, he drains it of all energy, destroying the planet, along with anyone who was living on it. It’s a terrible fate, but the only other option Galactus has is to simply allow himself to die. He’s much more a force of nature than he is an actual evil presence, despite the huge number of lives that he has taken. But as long as Galactus is fed, he isn’t a threat.

That Said, Doctor Doom Is Not Nearly as Powerful as Galactus

At Least on the Surface

Doctor Doom is a lot more powerful than people give him credit for. Doom’s strength is so great that he truly believes he could defeat the Hulk with ease. He has taken over the world several times and has even wiped out entire realities with minimal effort. While Galactus is more powerful on average, there have been a few unique situations where Doctor Doom’s power has managed to surpass Galactus’, and that’s where the major difference between the characters lies.

Doctor Doom wants power, and he wants to actively take over the Earth. Doom believes that the world can only reach a utopian state under his rule, and he will do whatever it takes for him to become the undisputed ruler of the world. This end goal makes him significantly more dangerous and a bigger threat than Galactus. While Galactus may hold more power on average, he has never really sought out more power. Doctor Doom is always actively seeking more power, and on many occasions, he succeeds in getting it.

While there are plenty of beings more powerful than Doctor Doom, that only makes the threat Doom poses even greater, as he has stolen the power of those beings on several occasions. One of the most famous was when Doctor Doom stole the power of the Beyonder. In the same story, Doom also managed to steal the Power Cosmic, making him essentially the most powerful being in the entire universe. And of course, once he had these god-like powers, he immediately used them to rewrite reality in his own image.

Doctor Doom Is Totally Capable of Standing Against Galactus

Galactus Is Stronger, But Not by Much

That’s the funny thing about Doctor Doom: that there are so many beings more powerful than him in the universe only makes him more dangerous. Over the years, Doctor Doom has stolen the magical might of Dormammu, a demon lord; the cosmic power of Aron the Watcher; and the Silver Surfer’s Surfboard, an event that was adapted in the Rise of the Silver Surfer movie. Even now, Doctor Doom is the current Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe. No matter what avenue Doom has to take, he will always do whatever it takes to get the most amount of power possible.

When Galactus went insane with hunger and decided to end the universe, no one was able to stand against him. The Celestials were slaughtered, and even the combined might of the Avengers and every villain on Earth was unable to stop Galactus’ onslaught. Galactus killed pretty much everyone, except Doom. The final person standing against Galactus in this universe was Doctor Doom, who created his very own mech to fight against Galactus.

While the comic ends ambiguously on whether Doom survived his final encounter with Galactus or not, the fact remains that Doom was pretty much the only person left to face Galactus at all. Everyone else, except Valeria, died. This proves that while Doctor Doom’s powers may not be quite on the same level as Galactus’, they’re pretty close. This is a concern considering just how often Doom has sought out the powers of god-like beings for him to steal. Doctor Doom has honestly done this a lot.

Doctor Doom Is the Biggest Threat That the Fantastic Four Will Ever Face

Doctor Doom Actively Wants to Rule the Universe

The few times that Galactus has become a universal threat are often in alternate universes or by complete accident. At one point, Galactus attempted to use the Infinity Stones to remove his hunger, making it so he was no longer a threat to the universe. This had the unexpected result of unleashing Hunger, a massive parasite, into the universe. Unless something like that happens, Galactus usually isn’t trying to destroy the universe or take over or anything remotely “evil.” The same can’t be said for Doom.

There has never been a storyline where Doctor Doom tried to use some source of power to make himself less dangerous, as there has been for Galactus. Doom’s lust for power is insatiable, and he has explored just about every possible avenue to get it. He’s used sorcery and made deals with demons, he’s used time travel, and he’s one of the most brilliant scientists in the world. All of these facts work together to make Doctor Doom a far greater threat to the Fantastic Four and the universe than Galactus could ever be.

Readers can see Doctor Doom’s latest grab for power in One World Under Doom #1, available now from Marvel Comics!

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