Versus Match Lex Luthor vs. Dr. Doom vs. Dr. Sivana (silver age)

[johnreiter]

What if the three greatest comic book mad scientists squared off against each other? To make this simple, I'm limiting this to their Silver Age versions.

For Luthor, this is only his appearances from 1955-1986
For Doom, this is only his appearances from 1962-1992
For Sivana, this is only his appearances from 1940-1986

The setting is a distant solar system, with a habitable zone large enough for three planets

Three planets are ISOTed into the system. The first is Venus from the Fawcett universe (jungles, dinosaurs, and several alien species), ruled by Dr. Sivana. The second is Planet Doom (otherwise known as Counter-Earth, a post-apocalyptic copy of Earth), ruled by Dr. Doom from Latveria. The third is Lexor (a fairly arid planet, though nicer now that Luthor terraformed it, and larger than Earth), governed by Lex Luthor.

Each villain has all their inventions their created during the period described above.

Who will win? And what do people think will happen in the battle?

 

[Agent23]

Um, shouldn't Magneto be on here, too?

 

[johnreiter]

Um, shouldn't Magneto be on here, too?

Well, he's a scientist, but he is much more famous for being the master of magnetism

 

[Agent23]

Well, he's a scientist, but he is much more famous for being the master of magnetism

Well, he is on par with Dr. X, which should make him quite capable IMHO.

The same could be said for Luthor, who is iirc also a famous power broker and CEO.

I have no idea who the third pic is, but I really can not decide between Luthor and Doom, my experience with both F4 and Supermen is limited to some of the older animated shows, and tbh Doom impressed me more.

In those Doom rules his own country, whilead Luthor de facto works for Bruce Wayne.

Doom is also classier and allegedly the song Iron Man was made to depict him.

 

[johnreiter]

I'll post some of my own comparisons between the mad scientists.

Alien Knowledge

Doctor Doom mastered all the knowledge of the Ovoids, a species supposedly 1000 years ahead of Earth (Fantastic Four vol. 1 #10). He mastered the technology of the unknown aliens who created "Doombase" on Battleworld (Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars). He also gained a passing familiarity with Galactus' technology during the Secret War. He probably learned a little about Eternal technology by studying the Hulk-android he captured (Incredible Hulk #350). By and large, Doom has little interest in alien civilizations. He encountered nearly all this technology when he was abducted into space on different occasions.

Lex Luthor has mastered the technology of Krypton (Superman #170, World's Finest #100), Roxxas (Action Comics #294), and Lexor (Superman #164), and has also acquired a considerable amount of knowledge of Coluan science from his long association with Brainiac (Superman #167). He has also picked up a smattering of knowledge from many different alien races during his two stints as a space pirate (Action Comics #294, Superman #167). He has spent much more time with alien species than Doom has.

Dr. Sivana conquered an empire of 247 planets, and seized any technology from them he did not previously have (World's Finest Comics #266). Most world that he conquered were inferior to his technology, however, and generally SIvana gained only resources from them. Sivana has also made deals with two alien species to conquer the Earth after he exterminated mankind for them (Captain Marvel Adventures #88, and #116), and wiped out all life on another world to test a weapon before he used it on Earth (Marvel Family #41). Most famously, Dr. Sivana conquered the planet Venus, decades before he first fought Captain Marvel. Dr. Sivana is quite comfortable in space, and often chooses to operate from his empire on Venus. He spends nearly as much time in space as Luthor does.

 

[Him]

On the high-evolutionaries alternate earth Victor was the greatest hero in it's sped-up existence, saving his friend Reed from absolution at the cost of his own life and being forever immortalized in stone by Adam warlock post his death.

It can be said that Adam gains his humanity not from his transcendent father, but Doom and the acts he witnessed that day shaping his moral compass forever.

 

[Him]

 

[Him]

And tbh, the only character here I'm not sure about is Sivana, and I'm not finna go back and read all those captain marvel serials.

 

[johnreiter]

On the high-evolutionaries alternate earth Victor was the greatest hero in it's sped-up existence, saving his friend Reed from absolution at the cost of his own life and being forever immortalized in stone by Adam warlock post his death.

It can be said that Adam gains his humanity not from his transcendent father, but Doom and the acts he witnessed that day shaping his moral compass forever.

Wrong counter Earth. I meant the one from the 1990s

 

[Him]

Wrong counter Earth. I meant the one from the 1990s

You wanna limit doom to showings from 1992 but wanna have him interact with a world that he also existed in four years later?

Make up ur mind homie.

 

[johnreiter]

You wanna limit doom to showings from 1992 but wanna have him interact with a world that he also existed in four years later?

Make up ur mind homie.

"sigh" alright, make it a virgin earth with Latveria on it. I was just trying to keep things even

 

[gina]

Luther will come to winning because of brains but doom will crush all opponents because he is so cunnung.

 

[johnreiter]

More comparison

Knowledge gained through Time Travel

Although Doom used his time machine frequently, he only acquired knowledge from the future when he happened upon it. He was summoned to the year 2093, and before he left took the opportunity to explore that century and record as much data as possible before returning to the present (Iron Man #250). He has spent considerable time in the past, including a long pilgrimage to master the mystical and technologic secrets of many dead civilizations (Fantastic Four #350).

Lex Luthor's primary interest in the future has been concentrated on the 30th century, home to the Legion of Super-Heroes. He has engaged in a prolonged study of the Legion (Adventure Comics #300), and even visited their time period so that he could gather as much scientific and historic data as possible (Adventure Comics #325). Aside from this century, he has rarely used his time machine technology to visit the future. He visits the past only to hide from Superman, and never to gain knowledge. He has little interest in the past.

Dr. Sivana has stole technology from the year 6942, and 10,000 AD (America's Greatest Comics #3, Marvel Family #10), and he also once, gaining some technology in the process (Marvel Family #75). He once blackmailed the government by sending Congress back to the prehistory (Shazam! #26), and once tried to alter history so that America would be a dictatorship still practicing slavery, and thus easier to conquer (Captain Marvel Adventures #85). However, the overwhelming majority of his time-travel plots involve either erasing Captain Marvel from history, or stranding him in another time. He has used time pills, but most of his time machines have a similar design. One variant of his time-travel technology was Suspendium, an element which slows the passage of time around a subject (Shazam! #6).

 

[johnreiter]

Magic

Doctor Doom is one of the most skilled mages on Earth, possibly the second greatest, since he was the runner up in the contest for Sorcerer Supreme, beaten only by Doctor Strange (Marvel Graphic Novel #49). In that contest he created a program to learn the techniques of all the sorcerers present, and also studied under Dr. Strange to rescue his mother's soul. He has studied under the Monks of Doom (Fantastic Four Annual #2), Cagliostro and Morgan le Fey (Iron Man #149).

Lex Luthor is not a mage, and has rarely shown any interest in magic. However, since magic is one of Superman's weaknesses, he at one point designed a Magic Accumulator, a kind of technologic magic wand that would collect magical energy and then enable Luthor to cast "spells" by punching in commands on a keyboard on the base of the wand (Shazam #15).

Although Dr. Sivana is also not a mage, he has extensive experience with magic due to his years of battling Captain Marvel, whose powers come from magic. He has stolen the power of the wizard Shazam (Captain Marvel Adventures #100), siphoned off some of Captain Marvel's power three times (DC Comics Presents Annual #3, Captain Marvel Adventures #144, Whiz Comics #104), redirected his magic lightning bolts twice (Mary Marvel #1, Master Comics #54), blocked them twice (Whiz Comics #52, Marvel Family #10), generates artificial magic lightning once (Whiz Comics #94), and drained his magical energy twice (Captain Marvel Adventures #46, Marvel Family #10).