History
Early Life[]
The man known as Boris was a member of the Zefiro clan of Romani people who lived in the nation of Latveria. He was close friends with Werner and Cynthia von Doom. The Von Dooms had a son, Victor,[3] whom was friends with Boris' granddaughter Valeria.[4]
The Zefiro people were much despised by Latveria's ruler King Vladimir Fortunov and so they were forced to be wanderers of the land. Cynthia, a practitioner of witchcraft, soon grew tired of this senseless prosecution and made a pact with the demon known as Mephisto. In exchange for her soul, he promised to give her people the land they deserved and promised that her son would one day become king himself. Cynthia agreed to the pact, but was unable to control the mystical power she was given and ended up slaughtering an entire village including its children. Cynthia later died by the sword of King Vladimir's soldiers. Boris and Werner then buried Cynthia in an unmarked grave.[5] During Cynthia's funeral, the other members of the Zefiro blamed the Von Dooms for what happened and Boris even suggested that they leave the clan. This angered four year old Victor who warned Boris and the others that if they cast him and his father out he would grow to become worse than his own mother and seek bloody revenge against them all. Frightened by this, the Zefiro allowed the Von Dooms to remain among them.[6] Boris and Werner then moved their people away from the scene of Cynthia's slaughter. Werner later tried to dispose of Cynthia's trunk of mystical artifacts but found that no matter how hard he tried to get rid of it, it would always return.[5] Over the years Victor and Valeria's friendship soon grew into a full blown romance.[6]
Eventually, King Vladimir's wife contracted cancer and in order to cure his wife sought out Werner von Doom to cure her. When Werner failed to cure the King's wife he fled the castle and escaped up into the Latverian Alps with his son Victor, leaving Boris and the others to deal with the King's troops who came looking for him. After the troops were gone, Boris went into the mountains looking for the Von Dooms. He found Werner had used his coat to keep Victor warm overnight and was now dying of exposure. Taking Werner and Victor back to the Zefiro camp, Werner had Boris promise to protect the boy.[7] Over the ensuing years, Victor began studying the sciences and also discovered his mother's chest of mystical artifacts and began studying the dark arts. Victor became a famed rebel of King Vladimir's rule, using his knowledge of both trades to help his people defend themselves.[3][8][6] Victor was later sought out by representatives of the United States military to attend State University in the United States. Doom left shortly thereafter to continued education, leaving Boris in charge of the Zefiro in his absence.[9]
While in the United States, Victor suffered an accident that scarred his face while trying to develop a device that would allow him to contact his mother in the after life. This got him expelled from State University.[3] With King Vladimir stepping up his hostilities toward the Zefiro, Boris sent Valeria to find Victor and convince him to return home.[10] When Victor finally returned to Latveria, it was wearing a suit of armor constructed for him by a secret order of Tibetan monks.[3] Now calling himself Doctor Doom, Victor return to Boris and revealed his intentions to liberate his people from King Vladimir.[5][11] Boris watched in horror as Victor strong armed his people into joining his rebellion. Soon Victor had a loyal army of Romani and robots to face off against King Vladimir's army.[11] Victor and his forces stormed the King's castle, and Victor slew Vladimir and took control of the Latverian throne.[12][5] Boris quickly became Doom's royal adviser, he was present when Victor succeeded in summing Mephisto and winning the right to have one chance a year to try and rescue his mother from his domain during the Summer Solstice.[3][13][5][12]
Modern Age[]
In the modern age, Doctor Doom became a regular antagonist of the American heroes known as the Fantastic Four, whose leader Mister Fantastic was Doom's academic rival in school, and whom Victor (incorrectly) blamed for the accident that scarred his face.[14] Boris was present during one of Doom's more recent defeats against his foes in which Doom was convinced he destroyed Mr. Fantastic. Thanks to a court magician, Doom's memories to the contrary were restored and he attempted to get revenge against the Fantastic Four.[15] This attempt at revenge was thwarted by the Fantastic Four and Daredevil.[16]
Boris mostly operated behind the scenes for many years, often taking command of the nation when Doom was absent for short periods that otherwise could not be handled by his Doombot impersonators. During one such lengthy absence, Boris led his army in destroying an Atlantean craft hidden by the Sub-Mariner and the Shroud who were in the nation searching for a cure for a health condition that the Sub-Mariner was suffering from that Doom claimed to have a cure for. When Doom's prolonged absence was noted among his people, Boris activated what he thought was a Doombot to act on his monarch's behalf. Meanwhile, Namor and the Shroud had hidden themselves among the so-called Circus of Crime who were touring in Latveria. Believing that Doom was dead at the time, they blew their cover when they saw "Doom" appear before his people.[17] Boris left the "Doombot" to deal with Namor and the Shroud after they were incapacitated in battle, unaware that he was really former Latverian prince Rudolfo Haasen in disguise trying to overthrow the rule of Doom. He allowed both Namor and the Shroud to leave Latveria.[18]
Rudolfo made the grave error of aligning himself with the former Nazi soldier the Red Skull who promptly took over Latveria for himself. Boris and those loyal to Doctor Doom were locked away in a dungeon.[19] Doom eventually returned to his homeland and liberated his people with the help of the Shroud and Captain America. Boris and the other prisoners were freed as a result.[20] Much later, Doctor Doom was driven insane during one of his more recent battles with the Fantastic Four, and was replaced by King Vladimir's son Zorba Fortunov. When King Zorba proved to be unfavorable to the Latverian people, Boris arranged to have Doom broken out of the castle dungeon and his mind restored.[21] At some point after this, Boris and many of those loyal to Doom were captured by Zorba and his men and imprisoned once more. Doom later had to ally himself with his foe the Fantastic Four to liberate his people. With Doom back in control of the country, Boris and the other prisoners were freed once more.[22] Later, Boris brought Doom news that Earth's Sorcerer Supreme was without a disciple at that time.[23]
Boris was later present when Doom activated a particle projector that took away the world's ability to utilize nuclear weapons. He later entertained the heroes Cloak and Dagger and their ally Bill Clayton. The heroes later clashed with Doom, destroying his device in the process.[24] Boris later assisted Doom in his next annual attempt to free his mother from Mephisto. Boris was unaware that Doom intended to sacrifice the life of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's son Franklin Richards as part of the spell. Ultimately, this plan was foiled by the Fantastic Four, who rescued Franklin.[25] During a period Doom was believed to be dead, he was replaced by a successor -- Kristoff Vernard -- who was programmed with Doom's memories. Boris served as Kristoff's advisor during his rule of Latveria.[26] Eventually Doom regained control of his kingdom,[27] when it came time to try and free his mother again, Doom and Boris sought out Doctor Strange to assist them.[5]
Sometime after this, Boris was briefly replaced by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, a time-traveler from the future of Earth-6297 who was sent to spy on Doctor Doom by the powerful Hyperstorm.[28] Boris later resurfaced some time after that wherein he allowed an American reporter to interview a Doombot to learn the past of his master. After the reporter got all their material, Boris had her imprisoned so that she would not reveal Doom's secrets to the world.[12] Most recently, Doctor Doom suffered an accident that caused neurological damage. Feeling he was no longer fit to rule Latveria, he ordered Boris to summon Kristoff to take his place. Boris was later present when Doom made a deal with Mister Fantastic's daughter Valeria to restore his mind in exchange with helping her family.[29]Attributes
See Also
- 20 appearance(s) of Boris Karela (Earth-616)
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Boris Karela (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Boris Karela (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Boris Karela (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Boris Karela (Earth-616)
- 4 image(s) of Boris Karela (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Doctor Doom #7
- ↑ Doctor Doom #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Fantastic Four Annual #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #67
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment #1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Books of Doom #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #2: The retelling of these events in Fantastic Four #278 state that King Vladimir's wife was dying of cancer.
- ↑ Fantastic Four #278
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #2 and Fantastic Four #278 state that it was a representative from State University who came seeking Victor von Doom.Books of Doom #1 states that it was a representative of the United States Army who actually approached Victor.
- ↑ Books of Doom #3
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Books of Doom #5
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Books of Doom #6
- ↑ Fantastic Four #276
- ↑ Fantastic Four #5
- ↑ Fantastic Four #39: Mister Fantastic tricked Doctor Doom that he had destroyed his mortal foe in Fantastic Four Annual #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four #40
- ↑ Super-Villain Team-Up #8: At this point in time, Sub-Mariner and Dr. Doom had begun an uneasy alliance in Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1. This relationship had grown strained because after the events of Sub-Mariner #67 Namor was required to wear a special suit to keep himself alive. In Super-Villain Team-Up #5 Doom used a device that rendered the suit inoperable threatening to kill Namor unless he took a serum to cure himself within 24 hours. Doom was seemingly slain by the Shroud in Super-Villain Team-Up #7 but secretly survived and was hiding out at Hydrobase at the time.
- ↑ Super-Villain Team-Up #8
- ↑ Super-Villain Team-Up #11
- ↑ Super-Villain Team-Up #12
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #15
- ↑ Fantastic Four #247
- ↑ Fantastic Four #258: Doctor Strange's long time disciple Clea left his tutelage in Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #53 to battle her mother Umar in the Dark Dimension. This news came from as the result of the events of Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #57 wherein many came to seek Strange to be Clea's successor.
- ↑ Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #20
- ↑ West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #35: Doctor Doom was seemingly slain battling Terrax in Fantastic Four #260 leading to his Doombots placing Kristoff in his place in Fantastic Four #278. Doom was later restored to normal by the Beyonder in Fantastic Four #288.
- ↑ Fantastic Four #312
- ↑ Boris was replaced around Fantastic Four #409 and was freed sometime after Hyperstorm was finally defeated in Fantastic Four #414
- ↑ Fantastic Four #583: Doctor Doom's mind was damaged in Fantastic Four #582 and was later restored to normal in FF #13
- ↑ Marvel Encyclopedia #Fantastic Four
- ↑ Marvel Encyclopedia Vol 1 Fantastic Four