In Marvel Comics, few enemies have a history like Doctor Doom and Reed Richards. The ruler of Latveria is considered to be a powerful threat to the Marvel universe, especially by his constant enemies, the Fantastic Four. Despite having fought each other many times in the past, Reed and Victor occasionally could put aside their egos and history to work together for the greater good, but the same cannot be said for their Ultimate incarnations. Transformed and empowered by the same accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, Victor Van Damme once forced Mr. Fantastic to swap minds with him, a bargain made to prove his superiority and punish Reed at the same time.
In the Ultimate Fantastic Four storyline "Frightful" by writer Mark Millar and artist Greg Land, Reed's plan to dump the zombie Fantastic Four back into their original dimension is interrupted when a cosmic parasite attacks the Human Torch. Knowing that in seven days the creature will hatch, killing Johnny and destroying the world, Reed and Sue try and fail to find a cure in all sorts of questionable places until Ben Grimm reminds them there's one option left. Ben, Reed and Sue travel to Latveria where they ask their iconic enemy Doctor Doom for his help. Revealing he's already aware of Johnny's condition, Doom agrees to help, first and foremost because it'll prove his superiority to Reed. In a private conversation with Mr. Fantastic, Victor declares that he will use his knowledge of magic to banish Johnny's dormant monster, but only if Reed will agree to switch minds with him.
Millar shows the depth of Doom's manipulation and ego when he explains why he wants to go Freaky Friday with Reed Richards, admitting that he orchestrated the entire situation in order to put Reed in this exact dilemma. Knowing that the military will dump Johnny in the N-Zone in order to save the world, Doom reveals the reason for this unorthodox torture is to punish Reed for claiming that it was Victor's miscalculations that caused the accident which gave them their powers, insulting both Victor's honor and his reputation. Unable to condemn his friend - much less his girlfriend's brother - to an agonizing death, Reed agrees.
Once it is done, he watches as Reed walks out in his body, claiming to know how to save Johnny and defeat the zombies, who are in the process of escaping captivity. Victor leaves to enjoy the celebrity and status of being Mr. Fantastic while Reed is left to suffer in the body of a deformed tyrant and supervillain. Unfortunately for Doom, his arrogance proves to be his downfall, as an error during the banishing ceremony successfully draws the creature out of the Human Torch but fails to banish it to another dimension.
Seeking out the world's most powerful entity, the infantile monster finds a new home in Victor's old body, Reed having traveled to help the military stop the Frightful Four from opening a portal to the Marvel Zombies world. Easily incapacitating the decomposing zombie quartet, Reed forces Victor to reveal his role in the entire ordeal before preparing to sacrifice himself. Unable to let Reed steal his glory, Victor switches their minds back just as he goes through the portal, sealing himself in the zombie universe with a world-ending monster inside him. In the end, the Ultimate Doctor Doom would eventually return, but the fact remains that he chose to save the world not because he was a hero but because he couldn't bear for the Fantastic Four to get the fame and recognition instead of him. Arrogance, thy name is Doctor Doom.