Doctor Doom's Son Explained. Official Name, Powers and Origin

Recently, Robert Downey Jr. celebrated Father's Day with a social media post that seemed to imply the MCU's Doctor Doom will have a son - one who fans speculate was accidentally erased from reality by the Avengers, motivating the villain to seek his revenge.

But if the MCU is going to introduce Doctor Doom's son, they'll have multiple characters to choose from, as the villain has several children in Marvel lore.

Here's everything you need to know about Doctor Doom's kids, including characters Marvel might see fit to adapt into the role for Avengers: Doomsday.

Doctor Doom's Adopted Son Kristoff Vernard Explained

Doctor Doom's primary child in Marvel lore is Kristoff Vernard. Introduced in 1982, Kristoff and his mother were Doom loyalist during a time when he had been usurped by former Latverian royal Zorba Fortunov. Fortunov killed Kristoff's mother for her loyalty, with Doom taking in Kristoff and even declaring him his rightful heir.

Raised by Doctor Doom, Kristoff is a gifted magician and scientist who wears a suit of advanced armor, granting him enhanced strength and various energy weapons. During times when Doctor Doom has been injured or presumed dead, Kristoff has secretly taken over as ruler of Latveria, wearing his father's armor and using his name to create the illusion that Doom is still in control.

Kristoff has a stronger moral core than his adopted father, and has aided Marvel's heroes multiple times, contributing to doubts in Doom's mind as regards Kristoff's fitness to replace him. Due to these doubts, Doctor Doom has set up alternate heirs, including the mutant warrior Volta Doom and the cosmically empowered Victorious (aka Zora Vukovic), going to extensive lengths to prepare them to replace him.

Doctor Doom's Alleged Biological Son Alexander Flynn Explained

Far more obscure is Alexander Flynn - the alleged biological son of Doom, who was rejected by the dictator. Flynn's mother alleged that Doom fathered him before his rise to power, introducing him years later once Doom had taken over as dictator of Latveria. Doom denied responsibility, and kicked son and mother out of his country.

Alexander grew up in America and had a couple of encounters with the X-Men, but has been essentially forgotten since the '80s. He boasts low-level telepathic talents with a focus on hypnosis, seemingly inherited from his mother.

Doctor Doom's Cloned Son Victor von Doom II Explained

Due to legal issues that threatened his claim to the Latverian throne, Doctor Doom cloned himself, hoping to create an 'heir' who he would still be able to control. The clone was presented to the world as his son, possessing some of Doom's own memories and the stolen power of the Fantastic Four.

Sadly for Doom, disgraced royal Zorba Fortunov exposed his plans, leading to a confrontation with the Fantastic Four. Ultimately, the clone turned against Victor, who summarily executed his younger double, blaming the FF for the necessity.

These events resulted in Zorba taking over Latveria and Doom's adoption of Kristoff Vernard, whose loyalty was even more valuable to him in the context of his own clone rebelling against him.

Doctor Doom Alt-Reality Sons Costin and Doru Explained

On the alternate Earth-44131, Doctor Doom overcame his egotism and hatred of Reed Richards, becoming the Earth's greatest hero. He married Fruzsina von Doom and had two sons, Costin and Doru.

Sadly for this heroic Doom, he eventually encountered Marvel's mainstream (aka Earth-616) Doctor Doom. Doom was so insulted by what he saw as his diminished self that he stole the Ultimate Nullifier and destroyed his doppleganger's entire reality, including his family.

616-Doom appears to have some buried guilt regarding this act of genocide, specifically focused on his murdered sons.

Doctor Doom's Biological Daughter Caroline Le Fay Explained

One of Doom's closest allies (and greatest rivals) is the Arthurian sorceress Morgan Le Fay. During his early years, Doctor Doom traveled back in time and became her apprentice and lover, learning much of his dark magic from what he considered the greatest expert to ever live.

In 2013, Marvel revealed that the relationship resulted in a daughter named Caroline. Caroline is a gifted mystic with a naturally extended lifespan, appearing to be a forty/fifty-year-old woman in Marvel's present, where she's the CEO of evil corporation Umbral Dynamics.

Caroline is a villain independent to Doctor Doom, and has clashed with the Defenders and Deadpool's Mercs for Money, pursuing her own goals to accrue political and monetary power.

Doctor Doom's Goddaughter Valeria Richards Explained

Doctor Doom's 'true' child is the daughter of his greatest enemies, Reed Richards and Susan Storm. During Susan's pregnancy with Valeria, her altered genetics created complications that were likely to cost her life.

Doctor Doom volunteered to save her life and deliver the baby safely, but only if he was declared the baby's godfather and given naming rights for the child. The Richardses agreed, and Doom named Valeria after his first love, who he sacrificed for mystical power.

Doctor Doom initially intended Valeria's name to be a jab against his greatest enemies, but he ultimately ended up caring deeply for his goddaughter. Valeria inherited her father's intelligence and is one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe, gaining Doom's respect. As a child, she is not fully morally developed, and often sees Doctor Doom's point of view far easier than her parents.

Doom has protected, tutored and cared for Valeria over the years, with the Fantastic Four accepting that as much as he means them harm, he'd never hurt Valeria. During the recent One World Under Doom event, Doom accidentally killed Valeria while scrabbling to hold onto his power. Truly loving her, he made a deal with the godlike Living Tribunal to die and be consigned to Hell in order to reverse his mistake.

Brought back to life, Valeria received a huge inheritance from Doom, including millions of dollars, his army of Doombots, and a secret island. She remains unsure how to use these gifts for the betterment of humanity.

Doctor Doom's Secret Wars Children Explained

During 2015's Secret Wars event, Doctor Doom gained omnipotent control over the patchwork remnants of reality. While he used the opportunity to torture his enemies, he also gathered together a twisted 'family,' including a version of the Invisible Woman as his wife, and variants of Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards who believed they were his children.

The canon around these characters is sketchy, with different sources suggesting they were either the mind-wiped originals, Doom's creations, or variants saved from the destruction of the multiverse. Their fates are unknown following Reed Richards and Franklin Richards' rebuilding of the multiverse at the event's end.

These characters are often overlooked as children of Doom, but the villain's interest in the MCU's Franklin (during the end credits scene of Fantastic Four: First Steps) could hint that his own son was some variant of the young reality-warper. Given that these characters existed in the Secret Wars comic event, it's possible the movie adaptation of the same name will see Doom take Franklin as his own son.

Doctor Doom's Descendant Kang the Conqueror Explained

The time traveler Kang the Conqueror believes himself to be related to Doctor Doom, but neither of them is sure how. Kang has manipulated his own timeline so often that his original past no longer exists, and there are multiple versions of him co-existing in the timestream.

In fact, Kang believes he's related to both Doctor Doom's line and Reed Richards', with his given name being Nathaniel Richards (the same as Reed's father.) It's possible Kang is some distant result of the bloodlines merging, but he may also be the time-traveling connection between the two, with Doom hinting that he is Kang's father, while Kang is destined to beget the Richards line after traveling to the past (making Doctor Doom Reed Richards' great-grandfather.)

Given the MCU's set-up of Kang the Conqueror and Jonathan Majors' abrupt exit, Marvel may simplify this relationship and turn some version of Kang into Doctor Doom's son, tying him to the Kang setup done in previous movies.

Those are all Doctor Doom's existing children in comic lore - let us know below what you think the MCU has planned, and which of these characters you'd like to see on the big screen.