These two masters of evil are experts at bending others to their will. But beneath the mask lies the scars of their past- literally.
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. And Doctor Doom, Sovereign Ruler of Latveria.
The twenty-fourth episode of the second season bears witness to the two well-known masked villains that have used a combination of technology and mysticism to achieve their ends. Both of them had a past which set the tone of their villainy and the iconic suits they wear. Wizard and Boomstick examine their weapons, armor and skills as to who would win a death battle.
Wiz and Boomstick first bring us to the background of Darth Vader, a galaxy-renowned killer who started as a junkyard slave in Tatooine, Anakin Skywalker. At nine years old, he already had a prowess in mechanics, having built a podracer from scraps and assembled C-3P0, but when Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi landed there to refuel, they discovered that the boy has a high Midi-Chlorian count, therefore able to use the Force very effectively, and can fulfill a Jedi prophecy to bring balance to the Force. He was freed from slavery when the Jedi won their bet against Watto, and years later he grew into a powerful Jedi that can move starships with just his mind, to an extent that he quickly climbed up the ranks and led the Galactic Republic's 501st Legion in the Clone Wars. However, at the time he was also emotionally slipping, not helped with his mother's death and then fears that his secret wife Padme Amidala would die in childbirth, that he gradually sought advice with Chancellor Palpatine, then betrayed the Jedi Order to seek answers from the dark side of the Force. Now as Darth Vader, he killed most of what was left of the Jedi Order and destroyed what was left of the separatist movement in Mustafar before being confronted by his old master Obi-Wan Kenobi and having his remaining limbs severed, his body severely burned by the lava. He was eventually found in that state and brought back to Palpatine's ship, undergone an excruciating surgery and was given a new suit of armor.
Said armor also doubled as a life support system built to preserve what was left of Anakin's burnt and mutilated body and enhance the senses, as well as to instill fear into whoever he'll face. With his artificial limbs he'll leap several hundred feet and lift hundreds of pounds without needing aid from the Force. While the suit enables Vader to resist blows from lightsabers, it is also cumbersome and can hamper mobility, and several irregularities have caused him constant pain, and it is widely suggested that Palpatine himself deliberately engineered said defects. Vader did learn to cope with all this, and even developed a fighting style in order to get around such inhibitions, and although his life support system can short-circuit with a sufficiently powerful electrical attack, he can use the force to keep himself alive for hours when it has to come to that. Vader wields the dual-phase lightsaber, which can extend itself up to about twice the length of a traditional lightsaber. His force mastery is also robust; he can deflect blaster shots using only his hands, anticipate his opponent's moves, increase his strength and speed, and although he can't actually use Force Lightning like his master would, can condense an electric ball called Kinetite. A move that he favors though was the Force Choke, a telekinetic move which involves gripping his opponent by the neck.
His fighting style is also tied in with his grip on the force, and the angrier he is, the more fiercely he fights. He has killed several Jedi Masters, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, and also fought well against other powerful force users such as his secret apprentice and a Darth Maul doppelganger. He also sacrificed himself killing Palpatine, who was trying to kill his long-lost son Luke Skywalker, dragging the emperor to a nearby ledge and throwing him off, taking a brunt of force lightning while already disarmed and weakened. Darth Vader goes down in Star Wars history as one of its iconic characters, and for good reason.
- Darth Vader: There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you.
The hosts now bring us to the introduction to notorious Marvel villain and Lord of Latveria, Doctor Doom. Before he became what he is, he started off a destitute gypsy and an orphan when his witch mother inadvertently sold herself to the devil and his physician father got exiled before dying of frostbite. In respect to both of their crafts, Victor von Doom took up science and magic and mastered both for beneficial purposes, even showcasing his inventions, including the Doombot with which he can fool his foes and make a getaway. While in college, he invented a device that would in theory send him to Hell in order to rescue his mother, but it malfunctioned and scarred his face. The explosion had him expelled, and with nowhere else to turn he hiked up the Tibetan mountains, where the monks took him in and cared for him, and he talked them into crafting his armor, which included a mask which he first wore long before it was supposed to cool down, therefore disfiguring his face even further. He became detached from the real world and its troubles through his thirst for power and the wearing of the suit, and assumed the name Doctor Doom.
It wasn't long before Doom returned to Latveria, conquered it and ruled it as his own, even granting himself a doctorate there to fit his name. Doom's armor is composed of titanium, but with it he can lift entire buildings, tank blows from reality-benders such as Thanos' infinity gauntlet and quickly subdue the Hulk, and also housing forcefields, jet boosters, energy blasters and a molecular expander, with which he can shoot pebbles and they quickly grow into boulders. The armor can also absorb and manipulate the energy around it, making it capable of controlling whatever machinery's around. It has fragments of the True Cross to protect him from Dracula, and it has the capability of enhancing his already-great sorcery, which includes teleportation, time travel, mind transferring, summoning and arc lightning. With the aforementioned time travel, he can go back in time and train in the various arts, waiting out to the current time in the space of centuries. Even without the suit, he is also rather strong, even killing a lion while buck naked, sent back in time and having already been switched with his archnemesis Reed Richards.
Doctor Doom is a very strong leader, seeing his native Latveria prosper and widely beloved by his own people, though the rest of the world takes objection to his goals to take over the world. While he did have his share of unpleasantries, he still managed to make good his goal to retrieve his mother from Hell. He had also gone to the future and examined the earth through its multiple dimensions, coming to the conclusion that only his future will end all suffering. Sure enough, at one point he did take over the world, and true to his word he actually did bring order and peace. That said, his weakness amounts to arrogance, which often cost him his bid for world domination and godhood. So long as he can keep his arrogance in check, Doom can quite possibly be an unstoppable force.
- Robot: Your plan to destroy them has failed, master.
Doctor Doom: "Failed"... (causes the robot to malfunction and explode) Doctor Doom does not fail!
The overview of our visionary villains has been accounted for, and without much further ado, it's time for a death battle!
At an Empire base, a Viper probe droid appeared to Darth Vader with a transmission from one of the officers. They have failed to capture Luke Skywalker again, and Vader would naturally have none of that, so he force choked that officer from across the transmission. Just then Doctor Doom appeared and gripped him by the neck, finishing off what the Sith Lord started and annoying him. Doom then appeared in the base, sending a blast to destroy the droid and confronting Darth Vader, who drew his lightsaber.
FIGHT!
Doctor Doom sent a few quick blasts then proceeded to charge towards Vader, who deflected all the shots and can see him coming, pushing him pretty far back by use of the force. Regaining composure, Doom lunged at Vader again, locked in combat between fist and lightsaber before knocking Vader back with a quick burst of energy and using a Foot Dive to knock the Sith Lord even further back. Vader used an even firmer force push to knock Doom off his feet before cloaking himself in preparation for the next attack, but Vader can sense the cloaked Doom and threw him around with telekinesis before lifting an entire TIE Fighter and crushing his opponent under its force.
Turns out that the "Doom" Vader faced was a Doombot, and the real Doctor Doom appeared, sitting on his throne. Vader sent pieces of that TIE Fighter to knock his opponent down, but Doom initiated a forcefield, causing the bits to bounce off, before jumping off his throne and initiating thunder strikes while levitating just above the floor. Vader gathered some of that energy into a dense Kinetite ball and attempted to send it at Doom, who teleported away just in time and was about to unleash another one of his powers and...
We are no longer at the Empire base, the fight having been moved to a prehistoric jungle as Doom sent both fighters back in time then grappled Vader, when the fight got interrupted by the presence of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Doom tossed Vader to it, but Vader effortlessly sliced the Tyrannosaur's head in two before landing back on the ground. Doom then charged Vader through the jungle and brought him atop a volcano, where Vader threw his lightsaber and attempted to Force Choke Doctor Doom. However, the Lord of Latveria was unfazed by such attempts and simply walked towards Vader and shortcircuited Vader's life support system before kicking him into the volcano. Doom stood and gloated when Vader's lightsaber returned, driving through his back and forcing him down. The two now face each other down the shaft of the volcano, and Vader brought back his lightsaber and attempted to send boulders towards Doom, who shattered all of them then positioned himself right above Vader. He sent a pebble and had it expanded by way of the molecular expander, and flew to safety as his nemesis gets crushed between a boulder and the lava pool below.
K.O.!
Doctor Doom is back on his throne in Latveria, with Imperial Stormtroopers now swearing fealty, while Vader was being consumed by the lava. Darth Vader would have little trouble destroying a Doombot, but an opponent such as Doctor Doom is a different league entirely; the combination of magic and science that Doom mastered was just too much for Darth Vader's abilities in the Force, and while Vader led an elite army for twenty years, Doom managed to rule an entire country and eventually the whole planet. While Vader's armor was no slouch, Doom's armor is of far better craftsmanship and can protect Doom from reality-warping powers such as that of Thanos, which is more than enough to handle whatever Darth Vader can send out. Even when Vader's Force attacks can penetrate the armor though, Doom's mind is protected by sheer willpower, nullifying the effects of most such attacks while leaving the effects of much of the rest dubious.
- Boomstick: Unfortunately, Vader was forced to meet his doom!
Wiz: The winner is Doctor Doom!
Darth Vader vs. Doctor Doom contains examples of:
- Hidden Depths: Boomstick complained that Doctor Doom's self-granting of a doctorate is unfair to other doctors like him, who got his in poultry science (with a specialty in frying). Wiz is surprised.
- Tin Tyrant: The unifying theme of both combatants
