For over fifty years, the Fantastic Four have struggled against the tyrant Doctor Doom, but the Marvel villain is closer to their family than the heroes would like to admit. Doom has tangled with the Fantastic Four over everything from used car ownership to the fate of the multiverse. Despite the intensity of Doom's hatred of the Fantastic Four and of their distrust of him, one member of the Fantastic Four thinks of Doctor Doom as a close relative. That's because without Doctor Doom she would never have been born.

The Fantastic Four has expanded beyond the core four superheroes in the decades since their first appearance. Besides the many temporary guests the FF have taken on, from She-Hulk and Medusa to Spider-Man and Wolverine, Marvel's First Family have also officially recognized their two kids as part of the team. Franklin Richards, the oldest, is one of Earth's most powerful mutants thanks to their parents' cosmic-ray-empowered genes. His labor was difficult and required the Invisible Woman and her husband to travel to the Negative Zone. The second child, Valeria, had an even more difficult birth.

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In 2002's Fantastic Four #54, Susan Richards was in labor during a battle with a mysterious enemy called the Hidden Ones. Only Reed Richards had the expertise to save her and her unborn child, but he was imprisoned by the Hidden Ones. In desperation, the Human Torch flew to Latveria and asked the next smartest person he knew: Victor Von Doom. When Johnny begged for his help, the evil genius used magic and sorcery to drain away the cosmic radiation that was threatening Sue's life. Reed escaped and rushed to his wife's aid, only to discover Reed's nemesis holding his newborn daughter in his armor-plated arms.

a fantastic four doctor doom and valeria richards comic panel

Doom took two things in exchange for the favor: one, the satisfaction of knowing that he was there for Reed's wife when he couldn't be; two, naming the Fantastic Four's new daughter. He chose Valeria, after his childhood love, and promised that she would always be under his protection. Reed and Sue were just happy Valeria was alive.

As Valeria got older, she didn't develop mutant powers, but she was a genius inventor, set to outpace her father by the time she was a teenager. Reed saw it as taking after himself... but she had another role model too. In Fantastic Four #383, the youngest Fantastic Four member discovers that Mister Fantastic secretly built a machine to enter other dimensions and parallel-universe versions of himself had used it to break through to her own Earth. With the rest of the family off-world, Valeria rigs a teleporter to sneak out and repeat the Human Torch's move twelve years ago: visit the dictator of Latveria. She appears on his throne and tells him that, when she saw the problems her dad had created, she'd asked herself: "What would Uncle Doom do?"

As much as Reed may not like it, Doctor Doom is a member of the Fantastic Four's family, thanks to his daughter's attachment. Valeria takes inspiration from both her father and her "uncle", constantly questioning the respective methods each man uses in their drive to solve all the world's problems. In a possible future from the series Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme, Valeria takes up the mask and becomes Doctor Doom herself. Knowing that her brother is destined to become the next Galactus, it's hard to say which one has the bigger potential to go bad.

More: The Fantastic Four's Daughter Just Built Marvel's Greatest Invention