For years, a comic panel featuring Doctor Doom holding some sort of magic horn has been a viral meme thanks primarily to Doom's dialogue: "Fool! Doctor Doom toots as he pleases!"

While the panel looks pretty legitimate and could believably have appeared in an old, wacky comic book, it's unfortunately not real. Here's the story behind the "Doctor Doom toots as he pleases" meme.

Where Does 'Doctor Doom Toots As He Pleases' Come From?

The actual panel comes from a 1981 issue of Spidey Super Stories. In the comic, the character Namor warns Doctor Doom against using a magical sea horn to summon an aquatic monster. Doctor Doom replies, "Fool, Doctor Doom does as he pleases!" (emphasis added, for sadly, he does not say "toot").

While we can't pinpoint the exact origin of when the "toot" Photoshop first appeared online, we know it was made prior to May 28th, 2016, which is when it appeared on the Official Fan forums. The earliest known extant copy of the "toot" edit appears in an /r/funny post dated September 18th, 2016.

What Is The 'Doctor Doom Toots As He Pleases' Meme?

The ridiculous "toot" edit was too good to be contained to the one meme, and thus grew into an exploitable, as other memers inserted different characters into the roles of Namor and Doom.

While there were edits that spread on social media, the original "toot" edit was widely passed around as a legitimate panel from a comic book, and has been used to illustrate just how silly older comic books were. While there are plenty of examples of ridiculous dialogue in older comics, this isn't one of them.

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For the full history of Doctor Doom toots as he pleases, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.