Real Name-- Victor von Doom

Class-- hi-tech villain , magic user

Nationality-- Latverian

Affiliations-- Fantastic Four villain; creator of many super powered villains, including Titania, Volcana, Darkoth the Death Demon, and Kristoff von Doom; briefly allied to Sub-Mariner or various other supervillains

Scale of Operations-- worldwide , Latveria

Occupation-- ruler of Latveria , would-be world conqueror

Powers-- Doom's powers derive indirectly from his world-class genius IQ, which he has used to create not only the advanced body armor he wears but the countless robots, weapons systems, vehicles, and other hi-tech devices he has built over the years.

Doom's body armor possesses phenomenal resistance to injury and enhancement to Doom's strength and natural abilities. It can also project a powerful force field, fire blasts of kinetic or electrical energy from the gauntlets or faceplate, fly via atomic jets on his waist, and provide life support with internal stores of sustenance and recycling systems.

Doom is also an accomplished sorceror, the full extent of which remains unrevealed. He has exhibitied the abilities in the past to perform powerful rituals, summon and control supernatural beings, and travel into mystical dimensions.

Doom has also learned the ability from an alien mind-reader to transfer his mind into another by switching his mental essence with his victims'.

History-- Victor von Doom was born in the Balkan nation of Latveria to Werner von Doom, a gypsy healer, and Cynthia von Doom, a witch. While Victor was still an infant, his mother was killed by a Latverian guardsmen when her spell to rid Latveria of tyranny went horribly awry. Later, when Victor was still a child, his father was hunted by the authorities for his failure to cure the ruling baron's wife of terminal cancer. Werner von Doom and his son fled, but the father died of exposure to cold. Anguished by his father's death, the young von Doom vowed to make the entire world pay for the loss of his parents.

While in the care of Boris, a friend of his father's, the young von Doom discovered his mother's legacy to him: a chest containing herbs, medicines, and objects said to have magical powers. He saw these artifacts as his means to gaining power and began learning their uses. Von Doom also began developing his own innate scientific abilities. For years he traveled the countryside, peddling clever devices and potions he had created to the gullible, knowing that they would turn worthless soon after he left. Meanwhile, he continued to increase his knowledge, creating robotic duplicates and fantastic weaponry to elude capture and protect his gypsy people. As his obsession with gaining power and vengeance grew, von Doom became increasingly distant from his childhood sweetheart, a young beautiful gypsy woman named Valeria, much to her distress.

The dean of science at State University in America heard of von Doom's astounding reputation and offered him a scholarship. Travelling to America to take advantage of the university's lab facilities, von Doom met Reed Richards, a brilliant science student, and the two became intellectual rivals. Sometime later, von Doom was in the midst of testing a device for interdimensional communication to breech into the spirit world to contact the spirit of his dead mother. Von Doom refused to heed the warnings of Richards, who had seen a mistake in von Doom's calculations, and the machine malfunctioned and exploded, injuring von Doom. While convalescing, von Doom was expelled from the university and formed the irrational belief that Richards was responsible for the machine's failure.

Believing that his injuries were disfiguring (a fact that remains an unsubstantiated mystery) Doom left America for the remoteness of Tibet where he hoped to find both refuge from the sight of man and the hidden secrets of sorcery. Discovered by the Aged Genghis, he was taken in by a group of monks and lived with them for a number of years, learning their secrets and eventually becoming their master. The monks helped him create a suit of armor and metal mask which he now wore in his new guise as Doctor Doom, in which he intended to conquer the world. In his haste, von Doom donned his newly cast mask before it had completely cooled, thereby permanently damaging his entire face.

Leaving the monks, the self-styled Doctor Doom returned to Latveria and worked his way into favor of the ruling King Vladimir as his scientific advisor. He manipulated events with a robotic duplicate of Prince Rudolpho so that the king was assassinated and "Rudolpho" abdicated the throne to the "stronger and more able" von Doom. Doom established a nation of peace and prosperity ruled by a stern dictatorship under his name as "the Master". Sequestered in the royal castle of Doomstadt, he began to use his mastery of science to create the means to achieve further conquests.

Doom soon read about Richards, now known as Mr. Fantastic and leader of the Fantastic Four. Out of revenge, Doom captured the Fantastic Four and used them in his attempt to gain mystical gemstones from the past. The Fantastic Four thwarted the plan, revealing Doom was a robot masquerading as the real Doom, who managed to escape. Doom next allied with the Sub-Mariner against the Four, but the Sub-Mariner turned the tables and Doom was defeated, set drifting into outer space when his space ship was destroyed.

Rescued by the alien race Ovoids, Doom learned their secret of switching minds before being returned to Earth by them. Doom used this secret to switch minds with Mr. Fantastic, and almost succeeded in defeating the Four before his plans were exposed and was struck by a shrinking ray and disappeared. Doom had been accidentally shunted to another universe ("Micro-World") where he took over the peaceful society and used their technology to strike back at the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four soon began an assault on Doom, who escaped and returned home. Later, von Doom attempted to become a U.S. Presidential cabinet member but was ousted by the Four.

Over the years, von Doom would continually try to defeat the Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four. He often tried to find allies in super-powered pawns, as he tried with Spider-Man, who at the time was unknown to be either hero or criminal. Doom tried to destroy him but withdrew when the Fantastic Four became involved.

A later attempt against the Four led Doom to first create superhuman henchmen. They succeeded in capturing the Four, and as a reward Doom callously disposed of them in another dimension. Doom himself was then cast into outer space as the Four escaped. Adrift, Doom then encountered and was sent back to Earth by Rama-Tut, a time-travelling criminal who had clashed with the Fantastic Four as well. Rama-Tut also suggested that the two were somehow blood-related.

Doom then publicly revealed himself as "the Master," ruler of Latveria, capturing the Fantastic Four in the process. Mr. Fantastic and Doom engaged in a one-on-one showdown, and Mr. Fantastic tricked Doom with the illusion of his defeat. Later, a court magician discovered and removed the hypnosis, and Doom immediately confronted the Four, and by association, Daredevil, whose secret identity was acting as the Four's lawyer. Doom was summarily defeated by the Four and later attracted a multitude of supervillains to attack the Four's headquarters during Mr. Fantastic's wedding to teammate Invisible Girl, although the villains were defeated. A short time later, Doom hoped to defeat the hero team Avengers by baiting their members Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to return to their Balkan roots. The Avengers discovered the ruse and escaped.

Becoming aware of the powerful alien Silver Surfer, Doom tricked the Surfer into his castle where he drained the Power Cosmic from the alien. Flushed with power, Doom immediately set off to destroy the Fantastic Four and defeated them so easily that he dismissed their destruction as redundant. He then flew around the Earth to prove his superiority by causing chaos and destruction. Mr. Fantastic soon tricked Doom to flying where there existed a barrier that enforced the Silver Surfer's exile on Earth. The barrier sent the Power Cosmic back to its original owner and Doom crashed to Earth. After months of recovery from re-entry, Doom switched minds with Daredevil to infiltrate the Four, but Daredevil abused Doom's political power with his body, forcing Doom to return to Latveria and his body to restore peace.

Von Doom was approached by fellow Fantastic Four villain Diablo, who wanted an alliance with Doom. Doom refused and fought Diablo, only to learn that Diablo was holding his childhood sweetheart, Valeria, hostage. Doom played along as Diablo's ally only to free Valeria and summarily defeat Diablo. Valeria was unimpressed by Doom's character and achievements and how he had changed, and she left him.

When Doom tried again to defeat the Fantastic Four, nearly 80 percent of the city of Doomstadt was destroyed by Doom in the encounter. In contrast, as the Four stormed Doom's castle, Doom killed his own henchman and ended the battle in a draw rather than allow the henchman to inadvertently destroy Doom's collection of art during the battle.

As Doom turned to inventions, he created his Prime Mover, an ultimate strategic computer which would play games that included manipulating the fledgling SHIELD espionage organization and the terrorist Yellow Claw. By capturing a nuclear scientist, Doom tried to create a compliment of missile silos, but these plans were destroyed by the hero Thor.

Doom also attempted creating the ultimate weapon in the form of a super powered being powered by cosmic rays with the same brain patterns of Doom -- the Doomsman. At the same time, Prince Rudolpho staged a rebellion to take Latveria back from Doom. The Doomsman was awakened and escaped, and Rudolpho was captured and revealed to be the robotic Rudolfo Doom had previously created. The real Rudolpho and an alien calling itself the Faceless One continued the rebellion and actually succeeded in taking the Castle Doom with the help of the Doomsman and forcing Doom to escape. Doom destroyed the Castle as a last resort, destroying the rebellion at their height of triumph, although a group of rebels with Rudolpho managed to escape. Doom shunted the Doomsman to another dimension.

As Castle Doom was being reconstructed, Doom vacationed in the Riviera until he got bored and returned to Latveria. In the meantime, the Nazi villain Red Skull and his minions had successfully invaded the country and captured Doom on his return, although Doom soon escaped and managed to defeat his foes and sent them away. Soon after this, Doom began the restoration of Baron Drassen's abandoned castle as a secondary home.

At one point, Doom had created the villain known as Darkoth the Death-Demon to battle and capture the Four member, the Thing, but Darkoth rebelled against his creator and ultimately battled Doom to the finish. He succeeded in demolishing Doom's latest world-conquering plans and the spaceship Doom was currently using.

Doom fell from orbit and was revived by the Sub-Mariner. After a brief fight, Doom refused the Sub-Mariner's desire for alliance and fled.

Doom again interfered with the Silver Surfer, using his lover Shalla-Bal as a hostage. As the Surfer battled the Fantastic Four on Doom's behalf, Doom siphoned a portion of the Power Cosmic to power his latest robot, the second Doomsman. Shalla-Bal was revealed to be a peasant brainwashed by Doom, and the Surfer helped turn the tables on Doom and defeat the Doomsman as well.

The original Doomsman found its way to earth once more, and, as Andro, Lord of the Androids, he formed a robot-led religion among Doom's robots. Andro led a rebellion against Doom but was defeated by him and his new-found ally of the Sub-Mariner. After a series of adventures with the Sub-Mariner, the two ultimately had another falling out and dissolved their relationship once more. When they next met, Doom captured the Sub-Mariner and used him as a pawn against the Fantastic Four, in the process forcing a treaty between Atlantis and Latveria. While the heroes where busy fighting each other, Doom succeeded in forming a non-aggression pact between the United States and Latveria, so that the heroes could not even retaliate. The Sub-Mariner was freed by the vigilante Shroud, who fought Doom to prove himself and believed he killed the monarch.

Shroud fell into league with Prince Rudolpho who disguised himself as Doom as part of his latest coup. They discovered, however, the Red Skull was again in power, as Doom was currently in the Latverian Embassy of New York, having recently allied with the Avengers against the common threat of the Atlantean warlord Attuma. Doom, with the help of Captain America, Shroud, Rudolpho and the Sub-Mariner, managed to defeat the Nazi and reclaim Latveria.

Von Doom soon set in motions plans to create an heir worthy of his legacy. He captured the Fantastic Four, telling them that, by laws of Latveria, he had to abdicate the throne to someone. Richards escaped to join with Zorba, the leader of Latverian freedom fighters and brother to the late Prince Rudolfo. Richards tried to thwart von Doom's plans to transfer his teammates' powers into his heir, but was captured. Zorba freed the Four and together they crashed van Doom's coronation ceremony, revealing his heir to be merely a clone of von Doom, created in part by help from Hauptmann, the brother of a Nazi ally killed earlier in Doom's career. The cloned von Doom fought his predecessor after realizing his evil nature, and despite the portion of the Foursome's power he possessed, was destroyed by von Doom.

Nevertheless, von Doom bitterly attacked his own nation and the United States. Mister Fantastic confronted him as he mind-controlled the entire assembly of the United Nations. In defeat, von Doom was confronted with his scarred face and driven temporarily insane. The United Nations awarded rule of Latveria and von Doom was imprisoned.

Soon, von Doom was secreted away by Boris. Haupmann and Doom loyalists, enraged by Zorba's exorbitant governing, helped restore von Doom to health. Von Doom sought refuge in many locations during this temporary exile, his most prominent being the Citadel of Doom in southern Latveria. He also sought out many bids for power, at one point teaming up with the demon Dormammu and later battling the mutant Dazzler. He even traveled through time to study magic from the likes of Caligostro and Morgan Le Fey.

In a later battle with the Fantastic Four, von Doom was believed trapped in a miniaturized city of his own creation called Liddleville. His body was taken to the Four's headquarters, while his mind occupied Liddeville's robotic Professor Vaughn. Von Doom had managed to conquer Liddleville from its previous ruler, the Puppet Master. The hero team Micronauts, led to Liddleville by the Thing, ousted von Doom and restored the Puppet Master to power. However, the real-world Puppet Master was taken out by one of Doom's Doombots, which allowed von Doom to recover his rightful body.

Von Doom then elicited the Fantastic Four's help in ridding Latveria from Zorba's tyrannical rule, which had degenerated its populace and economy. Von Doom and his allies fought Zorba, who was now totally mad with power, torturing von Doom's retainer Boris and ordering Invincible Robots to attack the populace. Von Doom ultimately killed Zorba and freed Latveria with the help of the Fantastic Four, who he allowed to leave without provocation. Von Doom quickly restored Latveria to its previous state.

When arriving in Latveria to confront Zorba, von Doom honored a mother who was slain by Zorba's robots by offering to raise her child, Kristoff, as a ward of the state. Von Doom began to raise the child with a paternal love for him. (Years earlier, another man known only as Alexander Flynn believed himself to be von Doom's son based on his gypsy mother's claims. Flynn later moved to California from Latveria and organized an army of mutants and misfits in order to make a claim for the Latverian crown. He was defeated by Von Doom with the help of Dazzler and the Beast, and left to live out of von Doom's disgust.)

Later, Haupmann completed a device that would confer cosmic power to its target, with which he hoped to destroy von Doom in revenge for killing his brother so many years ago. Von Doom tested the device on Haupmann, killing him instead, and sought out Terrax the Tamer. Terrax, a former Herald of the cosmic entity Galactus, had lost his memories and power in a previous fight with the Fantastic Four, and von Doom restored these with Haupmann's device. When Terrax battled the Four, however, von Doom ordered him to stop as Mister Fantastic was not present. In final battle, the Silver Surfer helped the Four defeat Terrax, and von Doom was believed to be consumed in a cosmic fireball. In fact, von Doom had used the power taught to him by the Ovoid race to transfer his mind into that of a bystander.

Before von Doom could resume his plans, another Doctor Doom appeared among a collection of villains and heroes assembled by the entity known as the Beyonder. Von Doom led the collection of villains in the Beyonder's so-called "Secret Wars," and even managed to absorb the energies of Galactus and challenge the Beyonder directly. The Beyonder appeared to destroy von Doom but actually returned him to the future timeline the Beyonder had plucked him from when assembling the villains.

In the meantime, since von Doom was believed dead his legion of Doombots, they set in motion plans to prepare Kristoff to replace von Doom permanently. They transformed the boy's mind into Doctor Doom's through the use of a memory transference machine, and Kristoff became the next Doctor Doom. He attacked the Fantastic Four but was defeated, due in part to an incomplete memory transfer. Kristoff's true nature was discovered by the Four, and they took the boy from Latveria, intending to undo his mental conditioning.

The true Von Doom had been hiding under the appropriated identity of Norman MacArthur, and soon he had built various weapons to begin an elaborate ruse to have a costumed Invincible Man recover his real body. Von Doom failed after an encounter with the Fantastic Four, and he immediately used a powerful magic spell to draw the most powerful force in the universe to him. This brought the Beyonder to him, although von Doom had no memories of the Beyonder, having never experienced the "Secret Wars." Although the Beyonder was about to destroy von Doom, Mister Fantastic convinced the Beyonder to restore him to his original body, restore the real Norman MacArthur, and send von Doom into the past so he could experience the Secret Wars. When his timeline finally caught up with him again, von Doom returned to the present and to Latveria.

Von Doom later succeeded in conquering the world by capturing the villain known as the Purple Man and placing him in a device of von Doom's invention, the Psycho-prism. The Psycho-prism broadcasted the Purple Man's mind-controlling powers to set himself up as a ruler. Von Doom was soon dethroned and his Psycho-prism destroyed by heroes who remained immune to such power, although von Doom had actually succeeded in curing many of the world's ills, such as famine, threat of nuclear war, crime, and others.

After his successful, if temporary, conquering of Earth, von Doom turned his attention to another of his great ambitions: to rescue his mother's soul, which he had long since learned was trapped in the hellish realm ruled by the demon Mephisto. Under unrevealed circumstances, von Doom had arranged for an annual battle between himself and Mephisto with his mother's soul as the prize. Having lost the previous battles, von Doom asked Mister Fantastic for help from his powerful mutant son, Franklin, but was refused. Instead, he kidnapped the boy with his Doombots. The Fantastic Four surreptitiously released Kristoff, who still believed himself to be the true Doctor Doom, in order to follow him to Latveria and confront von Doom. Von Doom offered Franklin's soul in exchange for his mother's, but Franklin was rescued by Mister Fantastic and forced Mephisto to retreat. Von Doom apologized to Franklin and the Foursome, which the Doombots interpreted to mean an admission of failure. The Doombots' logic demanded that they then switch loyalties to Kristoff as the true Doctor Doom. Von Doom fled, declaring war on the imposter.

In a sudden fit of determination, von Doom sought out the Beyonder in order to restore his memories that were somehow lost during his time in Norman MacArthur's body. He failed to find him after attacking his counterpart, the Molecule Man, but he succeeded by following the Fantastic Four to an alternate dimension via the Crossroads of Infinity in the Negative Zone. The Beyonder agreed, only to be confronted by the Molecule Man and the cosmic entities Kubik and the Shaper of Worlds. Kubik turned the Beyonder and Molecule Man into a cosmic cube, which von Doom quickly grabbed, using it to restore his memoreis and attempting to grow in power. Von Doom was stopped by the Shaper, who returned everyone to Earth.

Von Doom attempted many gambits to regain the throne or otherwise gain allies for that goal. At times, von Doom used varieties of Doombots to act as the true Doom in these gambits, all of which failed.

At one point, von Doom tricked the mutant hero team Excalibur into granting him access to the extradimensional realm of Limbo. He originally sought the mystical metal known as promethium. Instead, he ultimately betrayed his allies to claim the Soulsword, making himself the ruler of Limbo. Von Doom was defeated, however, by Darkoth the Death-Demon, a former pawn in a failed attempt to create a foe for the Fantastic Four. Darkoth battled von Doom and won the rule of Limbo for himself.

It is assumed that von Doom wandered through many other dimensions on his way back to Earth, including an alternate future of the year 2099. When finally returning to Earth, von Doom confronted Kristoff, speaking a predetermined code word which restored Kristoff's true mind and allowed von Doom to reclaim his throne. He immediately began another attempt to destroy Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four, challenging Fantastic to a duel using time-travelling technology. The self-proclaimed administrators of time-travel, the Time Variance Authority, dispatched robots to stop the battle, and Doom was believed killed by them. In reality, von Doom had switched places with Kristoff during the battle, and it was Kristoff that was believed dead.

At another point, von Doom was contacted by agents of the mystical beings the Vishanti, and von Doom battled Doctor Strange and others in a challenge to obtain the title of Sorcerer Supreme. Doctor Strange, former bearer of the title, won and was ordered to grant von Doom, the "runner-up," a gift. Von Doom wanted Strange to aid him in freeing his mother's soul from Mephisto, and Strange agreed. Von Doom used this alliance to promise Mephisto Strange's soul in exchange for his mothers'. Mephisto restored von Doom's mother, and she and her son enjoyed a brief reunion. When Cynthia von Doom learned of the price of her freedom, she refused to leave Mephisto's realm. However, this selfless act allowed her to free herself from the evil realm, and she moved to another plane. Thus, one of von Doom's lifetime goals was accomplished, although at the expense of Doom's peace of mind as he had to force his mother to hate him in order for his plan to work.

Later still, von Doom lured a powerful alien entity to Latveria, coveting its power. The entity began laying waste to the countryside, however, and Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four arrived to investigate. Von Doom tricked the team to continue fighting the creature while he appropriated a portion of its energies to boost his own power. Confronting the alien directly, von Doom eventually teleported the alien away, but was left soundly defeated and lay dying. Mister Fantastic offered his aid, but von Doom used the remaining power in his armor to disintegrate himself and his archenemy. In reality, the two did not die, but were snatched from their moment of death by the villain Hyperstorm. Eventually, the Fantastic Four tracked them to Hyperstorm's dimension, discovering von Doom and, later, Mister Fantastic. Von Doom was able to escape with the help of Kristoff, who had returned to become an associate of the Fantastic Four's, and tried to siphon Hyperstorm's power for himself. Instead, Hyperstorm used his powers to return von Doom to his proper place and time.

Von Doom later appeared during an attack on New York's heroes by the psychic entity Onslaught. Although initially an observer who was planning to use the entity for his own advantage, von Doom was snatched by Iron Man and used to contain a portion of the entity, alongside the heroes themselves. Von Doom and the other heroes were believed to have died in the process. Instead, they were bodily recreated in a universe subconsciously made by Franklin Richards.

However, the two universes were threatening the existences of each other. Franklin was brought to the universe of his creation by one of the enigmatic Celestials, who forced Franklin to choose which of the two universes should remain. Von Doom sought to kidnap Franklin and harness his powers for himself, making him the ruler of the universe. He was opposed by an assemblage of Earth's heroes, however, and the god Thor fought toe-to-toe with von Doom, taking them both to a pocket dimension in order to continue their battle.

The two disappeared, although after a period of time, Thor found himself on Earth and von Doom found himself deposited on the so-called Counter-Earth, the Earth created by Franklin, once more. Von Doom learned that it had been pulled back into reality in the exact opposite of Earth's natural orbit and that the planet had become ravaged by natural disasters and its most notable heroes were absent. Exploiting these weaknesses, von Doom quickly established his own rule over the planet, and it became nicknamed Doomworld. Eventually, von Doom managed to return to his native Earth if only to resume his leadership of Latveria through proxy of his Doombots. He also coerced Rebel, one of his Counter-Earth subjects, to watch over the land as well.

Intrigued by the presence of two Earths, the enigmatic being known as the Dreaming Celestial attempted to merge both into one chaotic version with a "chaos wave." Von Doom and his generals of Counter-Earth boarded a spaceship to encounter the Celestial and found the Fantastic Four also investigating. Von Doom's generals clashed with the Four, and the Celestial attacked and destroyed von Doom's ship. Von Doom found himself stripped of his armor and returned to Counter-Earth, where he eventually made his way back to his headquarters. During this time, Mister Fantastic was trapped in Doom's armor, and when his teammates learned of this, they helped von Doom return to Earth whereupon he regained use of his armor.

Von Doom returned to Counter-Earth to continue his conquest, learning that several factions had risen against him. When searching for alternate energy sources for his technology and in particular his headquarters' force fields, von Doom discovered a so-called "reality engine" that powered the planet in the stead of Franklin Richards and was manned by a digital expression of Richards. Through deception, von Doom convinced the guardian to allow him to download the program that runs the planet into his armor. Thus, von Doom could literally reshape the planet into his own version of reality. However, the new reality was perfect and boring for von Doom, holding no challenge. He returned the planet to its original state, with the exception of keeping a counterpart for his mother, and decided to return to Earth. On his way back to Earth through the dimension called the Negative Zone, von Doom was accosted by the digital guardian and his new allies, the Puritan community which included Hellscout. Von Doom was forced to relinquish the program of the reality engine from his armor. Von Doom returned to govern Latveria.

When Sue Richards' recent pregnancy came to term, she experienced complications due to her superhuman physiology. As Reed was captured at the time by the villains known as the Hidden Ones, her brother Johnny sought out the services of von Doom, who, for purposes of his own, helped deliver the infant. When asked what compensation he would demand, von Doom only asked to be able to name the child Valeria after his childhood love.

After many months, von Doom began to reevaluate his life. He returned to thoughts of his past with Valeria and their parting prompted by his decision to pursue science over sorcery. He finally tracked down Valeria in the United States where he wooed her in professing his feelings. Valeria accepted his advances, only to be consumed by a mystic pendant that was von Doom's gift. Von Doom had, in choosing to recommit his life to sorcery, made a pact with a cabal of demons known as the Haazareth Three who would restore him to power as if he had been equal in sorcery as he had in science. The demons required a price of irreplaceable, indescribable value, and von Doom had chose to sacrifice Valeria. Valeria's essence was transformed into the mystical armor von Doom clothed himself in.

He immediately launched an attack against Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four using magic to warp Richard's scientific inventions. He banished Richard's son Franklin to the hellish dimension of the Haazareth Three and turned their daughter Valeria into his witchcraft familiar.