In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Doctor Doom is Victor van Damme, a direct descendant of Vlad Tepes Dracula. Victor is introduced as part of the Baxter Building, a government think-tank of young geniuses, which counts among its students Reed Richards and Susan Storm. He works to help Reed Richards develop a teleporter to the " N-Zone ", but reprograms its coordinates without telling anyone. This causes the accident that gave the Ultimate Fantastic Four their powers, though Victor maintains that the original Richards programming was so bad that even he couldn't fix it, and that it was this that led to the accident. van Damme is caught in the same accident, and his flesh was changed into a metallic hide (with a somewhat reduced ability to perceive tactile sensations and pain), clawed hands, his legs transmogrified into demonic goat -hooved legs, and he re-appeared on Earth in Copenhagen. Initially, he assumes that he himself was the only one who had been transformed by the accident. Reed speculates this to be the result of Doom's own arrogance causing him to assume that only he was 'worthy' of such a transformation. Doom denounces Reed as a 'freak' during their initial confrontation when he finally learns what Reed's powers are.