Fantastic Four Annual #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four Annual #2 is the definitive origin story of Doctor Doom — one of the most consequential villain backstories in the history of superhero comics. Where Fantastic Four #5 (1962) offered only a handful of panels sketching Doom's past from Reed Richards' perspective, this annual devoted a full 12-page new story to tracing Victor Von Doom's Romani childhood in Latveria, his father Werner's tragic death, his dual mastery of science and sorcery, his expelled-in-disgrace stint at State University, and his impatient donning of the still-hot iron mask — the moment that cemented his disfigurement as an act of ego rather than pure accident. The issue also introduced Boris, Doom's loyal manservant, and Werner Von Doom, Victor's father, as named, characterized figures whose introductions gave the villain a family and a genuine emotional wound to carry. That combination of tragic backstory, wounded pride, and ruthless ambition elevated Doom from a recurring foil into a genuinely complex antagonist whose portrait drawn here has served as the canonical template for virtually every subsequent Doom story, retcon, and adaptation.
In Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964), a 25-cent marvel from Marvel’s early years, Doctor Doom traps the Fantastic Four in his American castle and sends the Torch, the Thing, and Mr. Fantastic on a time-traveling quest to recover Blackbeard’s lost treasure. Written by Stan Lee and brought to life with dynamic art by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, and vibrant colors by Stan Goldberg, this classic tale features Kirby’s legendary cover art, with inks by Sol Brodsky.
In "Part 2 Back to the Past!" from Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964), Doctor Doom traps the Fantastic Four in his American castle stronghold and sends the Torch, the Thing, and Mr. Fantastic hurtling through time to recover Blackbeard’s long-lost treasure—before they can even catch their breath, the past awaits.
In "The Final Victory of Dr. Doom!", the tyrannical ruler launches a sudden assault on the Fantastic Four during a diplomatic reception at the Latvian Embassy, testing their resolve and unity. With Reed's intellect at the forefront, the team faces their most cunning foe yet in a battle of wits and wills that pushes them to their limits.
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The annual was produced by writer Stan Lee and penciler Jack Kirby — the same partnership that had created Doom in 1962 — with inks by Chic Stone and lettering by Sam Rosen, as recorded by the Grand Comics Database and confirmed on the Marvel.com issue page. It was published in September 1964, cover-priced at 25 cents for 72 pages, at a moment when Marvel was still building its annual format almost entirely around new material because, unlike DC and Archie, it lacked the deep reprint backlog to fill oversized issues cheaply; CBR's 2024 retrospective notes this structural pressure was precisely what pushed Marvel to deliver ambitious new content in its annuals rather than purely reprinted fare. To reach its page count, the issue also reprinted the first story from Fantastic Four #5, giving readers who had missed Doom's debut a second chance at it alongside the new origin. Kirby conceived Doom visually as a figure of approaching death — armored, masked, inhuman — an idea he articulated in a 1987 interview quoted on Wikipedia, and the annual gave both men the extended page count to finally flesh out the psychology behind that image.
Trivia · 9 facts
- Published September 1964 by Marvel Comics, written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Chic Stone, lettered by Sam Rosen — 72 pages total, cover-priced at 25 cents.
- Contains the first detailed origin of Doctor Doom (Victor Von Doom), titled 'The Fantastic Origin of Doctor Doom!' — a 12-page new story that expanded on the brief origin sketch in Fantastic Four #5.
- First appearance of Boris (Boris Nachman), Doom's devoted manservant, who appears both in the origin flashback and in the present-day framing sequence.
- First appearance of Werner Von Doom, Victor's father, depicted as a Romani healer whose death at the hands of Latveria's ruling baron drives Victor's lifelong vendetta against the world.
- The origin story establishes that Doom wore his iron mask before it had fully cooled, worsening his disfigurement beyond what the laboratory explosion alone caused — a detail later confirmed and elaborated in Fantastic Four #278 and Books of Doom #4–6.
- Also contains a brand-new 25-page story, 'The Final Victory of Doctor Doom!', in which Doom attacks the FF at a Latverian Embassy reception and is defeated by Reed Richards' superior mental energy; this story features the character Rama-Tut and was later reprinted in Fantastic Four Annual #7 (November 1969).
- Reprints the first story from Fantastic Four #5 ('Prisoners of Doctor Doom!'), Doom's debut appearance, providing readers a single Doctor Doom-focused volume.
- Includes 11 pages of pin-up art by Kirby featuring the Fantastic Four and their greatest foes.
- The origin story has been reprinted widely, including in Bring on the Bad Guys: Origins of the Marvel Comics Villains (Simon and Schuster, 1976), Marvel Masterworks #21 (1992), Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2 (2007), and Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 2: The Master Plan of Doctor Doom (2017), among many international editions.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Fantastic Four #5 (1962)
Reprinted in Los 4 Fantásticos Anuario #2 (1965), The Fantastic Four #72-111 (1966), The Fantastic Four Return #72-169 (1967), Fantastic! #17 (1967), Fantastic Annual #1970 (1969), Fantastic Four Annual #7 (1969), I Fantastici Quattro #27 (1972), I Fantastici Quattro #28 (1972), The Mighty World of Marvel #16 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #17 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #22 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #30 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #63 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #64 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #65 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #66 (1974), Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 (1975), Bring on the Bad Guys: Origins of the Marvel Comics Villains #[nn] (1976), Bring on the Bad Guys: Origins of the Marvel Comics Villains #[nn] (1976), Captain Britain #18 (1977), Captain Britain #39 (1977), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #24 (1981), Nova #63 (1983), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #30 (1983) + 31 more
Key issues in Fantastic Four Annual
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