Doctor Doom First Appearance: Fantastic Four #5 Value

Doctor Doom first appeared in The Fantastic Four #5, cover-dated July 1962 and published April 10, 1962, created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby (Wikipedia). He arrived only five issues into the series and became the Fantastic Four's main enemy; his full origin was told two years later in Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964) (Brooklyn Comic Con).

PriceCharting values for The Fantastic Four #5 (1962), based on recorded sales, September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $2,000
• CGC 4.0: $5,787.40
• CGC 6.0: $12,999.50
• CGC 8.0: $29,205.71
• CGC 9.2: $117,374.72

PriceCharting records about two ungraded sales a month but only about one a year in CGC 8.0 and 9.2, so the top-grade figures rest on very few sales. Restored or incomplete copies sell well below these numbers.

• The indicia should read The Fantastic Four, No. 5, with a July 1962 cover date.
• It is Doom's debut, not his origin: the story of his scarred face is in Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964), so an annual is not the first appearance.
• Later reprints and facsimile editions carry modern prices and barcodes.

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the title, issue number, cover date and publisher; later printings and reprints usually say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode style that did not exist in the cover year means a later edition.
• Paper and staples: decades-old newsprint tans at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and married covers show up on expensive keys; CGC and CBCS check for them. See spot a fake or restored comic.

Victor Werner von Doom is the monarch of the fictional country Latveria and of Romani heritage. He met Reed Richards at Empire State University and was scarred in a lab accident with a machine he built to rescue his mother from Hell (Wikipedia). Brooklyn Comic Con's history notes that he ignored Richards' warnings about flaws in that machine, and that John Byrne's late-1970s and 1980s run gave the character more depth.

• Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964): his origin (Brooklyn Comic Con).
• Fantastic Four #57-60 (December 1966 to March 1967): Doom steals the Silver Surfer's power until Galactus takes it back (Wikipedia). See Silver Surfer's first appearance.
• Astonishing Tales (August 1970): his first solo feature, sharing the book with Ka-Zar, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Wally Wood (Wikipedia).
• Secret Wars (1984) and Secret Wars (2015): in the first he briefly wields the Beyonder's power; in Jonathan Hickman's 2015 version he rules Battleworld as a self-made god.
• Infamous Iron Man (2016-2018): after Secret Wars, Doom takes on the Iron Man identity (Wikipedia).

According to Wikipedia:

• Julian McMahon: Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
• Toby Kebbell: Fantastic Four (2015)
• Robert Downey Jr.: an uncredited mid-credits scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps (released July 25, 2025), with his face not shown, then Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027)

Downey previously played Tony Stark from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Shoot the front cover flat and straight on in even light, then the indicia and the back cover. The app reads the title, issue number and cover art, and ComicLens gives free scans every day; the indicia photo settles most reprint questions.