When someone has the opportunity to become a superhero or supervillain, they're given a chance to re-introduce themselves to the world, creating a separate identity to hide all their flaws and secrets behind a mask. Few people understand that concept better than Doctor Doom who went from being a signature Fantastic Four villain to an infamous Latverian politician, scientist, and sorcerer. Despite his power and influence, there are a few skeletons in Doom's closet that not even his signature mask could hide and one such secret was revealed by the Hulk in Maestro: War and Pax #2, that Victor von Doom calls himself a Doctor without actually having any medical degree or doctorate.
When the Hulk awoke in a post-apocalyptic Earth, surviving after being decimated by nuclear war, he applied his signature strength with Banner's intelligence into survival while finding his place again. After wrestling control of Dystopia from the original "Maestro", the fallen demigod Hercules whom Hulk was lucky enough to finally kill, the new Maestro began a movement called Post Apocalyptic Existence aka PAX, which sought to bring all remainders of humanity under his control or be personally destroyed. Although he was initially successful, he suffered a humiliating defeat by Machine Man all while being observed by the Pantheon. The former superhero team who inherited superpowers due to being descended from demigods may have abandoned their dedication to protect the world, yet Maestro's actions caught their attention as the Pantheon deliberated what to do about their former teammate. To complicate things further, the Pantheon discovered a visitor at the entrance of their formerly secret winter base, the ever-impatient Doctor Doom.
In Maestro: War and Pax #2 by Peter David and Javier Pina, the Pantheon seek to ignore their visitor in hopes that he'll go away but Doctor Doom immediately appears, thanks to either a teleporter or teleportation spell. The Pantheon members present immediately produce their magical energy weapons, anticipating a fight as Pantheon member Hector asks what Victor wants. When Doom insists that he call him Doctor Doom, Hector asks if Victor von Doom earned a medical degree or doctorate worthy of that title to which Doom has no response. Check out the entire interaction and more in the preview pages below:
Created during Marvel's Age of Alliteration, Victor von Doom was offered a scholarship to State University and given special privileges and protection by the United States military who hoped to utilize Victor's intelligence and potential before other foreign entities did. While he met his future enemies Reed Richards and Ben Grimm at school, Victor kept to himself, his ego not allowing him to consort with his inferiors while he worked to produce results for his investors. Despite Reed Richards' warning that his non-work experiment's calculations were incorrect, Victor's pride and ego had him ignore his future adversary's warnings as that experiment eventually exploded, scarring his face as a result. Due to the unapproved experiment conducted in secret, Victor was expelled from State University and eventually disappeared after ensuring the U.S. government would not be able to use any of his inventions for their own purposes.
He would appear years later with his signature green cloak and mask, having immersed and trained in advanced technology and magic to become Doctor Doom, a villain constantly at odds with his old rival Reed Richards and his Fantastic Four. Maestro creator Peter David brings back another of his creations from his run on Incredible Hulk to poke fun at a forgotten fact in Doom's history that negates something essential to the character's identity. Given the force he retaliates with when his long-forgotten lie is exposed, it appears Doctor Doom is still bitter about his expulsion and his legendary ego will not allow for anything less than the titles and respect he believes he deserves. Although he likely will confront Maestro in the upcoming issue in stores on February 24th, 2021, the Pantheon will likely keep their trap shut or else face the wrath of Doom...again.