Marvel vs DC · Cosmic · Mismatch
Lex Luthor vs Doctor Doom
The two greatest villain geniuses in comics meet to negotiate. Neither intends to leave the table second.
Tale of the tape
| DC | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Street level | Tier | Cosmic |
| Genius, money and a warsuit | Strength | Sorcery, science and an armour built for every enemy he has ever studied |
| Ego | Weakness | Pride: Doom cannot accept being second to anyone |
| 1–3 | Record on Versus | 1–2 |
The Arena
Lex Luthor and Victor Von Doom had both discovered the crack between their multiverses, and both had decided, independently, that the other was the only being worth negotiating with. They met in a castle on a mountain halfway between their worlds, at a long stone table, each with a single glass of wine.
“Mr. Luthor,” Doom said, his voice metallic through his mask. “Doctor Von Doom,” Lex said, smiling. “I understand you also have a problem with a man in a cape.” Doom’s eyes narrowed behind the iron. “Doom has a problem with an entire family of them. And with everyone who will not kneel.”
Lex raised his glass. “Then let us discuss an alliance.” Doom did not raise his. “Doom does not have allies. Doom has servants.” Lex’s smile froze.
Round One
The negotiation lasted eleven minutes, and both men spent all of it trying to outmanoeuvre the other. Lex proposed a partnership. Doom proposed that Lex serve him. Lex suggested that Doom consider who had more resources. Doom reminded him who ruled an actual country. Neither of them blinked.
Then Lex pressed a button under the table, and his green-and-purple warsuit assembled around him from hidden compartments. Doom had expected it. His own armour was already on. Before the warsuit finished locking into place, Doom fired a blast of sorcery that threw Lex across the hall.
Lex rose in his warsuit, his systems online. “You struck first,” he said. Doom raised his gauntlets. “Doom always strikes first.”
The Turn
Lex’s warsuit was a masterpiece, armed with kryptonite weapons and engineered to take on a Kryptonian. He hit Doom with a blast that would have dropped Superman. Doom’s armour absorbed it. He hit him with a kryptonite beam. Doom was not from Krypton. It did nothing.
Doom answered with something Lex had never planned for: magic. Mystic bolts, binding spells, a curse that caused the warsuit’s systems to misfire. Lex was the greatest scientific mind of his world, and science had no answer to sorcery. His suit began to fail, piece by piece.
Lex tried to adapt, rerouting power, firing everything he had. But every weapon he owned had been designed for a different enemy.
The Finish
Doom combined his science and his sorcery in a single attack: a technological pulse wrapped in a mystic seal. It hit the warsuit, and every system shut down at once, the armour locking into place around Lex like a statue. He stood frozen in the middle of the hall, glaring through the faceplate.
Doom walked around him slowly, examining the warsuit with professional interest. “Impressive engineering,” he said. “But you built it to fight one man. Doom builds his armour to fight everyone.” Lex, unable to move, said through gritted teeth, “I will remember this.” Doom tilted his head. “Doom is counting on it.”
He left Lex frozen in the castle and returned to Latveria. It took Lex six hours to reboot his suit. When he finally walked out of the castle, he found a note on the table, written in perfect, elegant handwriting: “The offer of servitude remains open. — Doom.” Lex burned it, then kept the ashes.
The verdict
Doctor Doom wins
Lex Luthor is every bit Doom’s equal as a scientist and his warsuit could fight Superman, but Doom combines science with sorcery, and Lex’s anti-Kryptonian arsenal is useless against him.
- SorceryLex’s science has no answer to Doom’s magic.
- Wrong preparationLex’s warsuit was built to fight Superman, not Doom.
- RuthlessnessDoom always strikes first.
How the rematch could go differently: A Lex who prepared a warsuit specifically for Doom, with time to study his magic, would make it an even contest.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Lex Luthor and Doctor Doom?
Doctor Doom wins. Lex Luthor is every bit Doom’s equal as a scientist and his warsuit could fight Superman, but Doom combines science with sorcery, and Lex’s anti-Kryptonian arsenal is useless against him.