He is depicted as the much-feared, cruel and evil judge of Toontown, who later in the film is revealed as the mastermind behind the framing of the titular character and the murder of protagonist Eddie Valiant's brother.

Judge Doom later appeared in Who Framed Roger Rabbit media, becoming the final boss of video game adaptations of the film and in a graphic novel sequel explaining his backstory and revival.

The character has been widely acknowledged in popular culture, being referenced in a song, a documentary and a 2021 viral Twitter joke regarding NFL player Tom Brady.

During the writing process in summer 1986, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were unsure of whom to include as the villain in the plot of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

They wrote scripts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but they made their final decision with the newly created character Judge Doom.

[2] Doom would also have a suitcase of twelve small toon kangaroos that act as a jury, by having their joeys pop out of their pouches, each with letters, which when put together would spell "You are guilty".

[6] Christopher Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with Robert Zemeckis and Amblin Entertainment on Back to the Future in his most famous role as Emmett Brown.

[9] Doom wears a black ensemble which includes a caped overcoat, fedora, gloves, and rimless yellow-tinted glasses; he also carries a pocket watch, as well as a cane which is revealed to be a sabre in disguise, for use in emergency situations.

At the film's climax, Doom traps Eddie, Jessica, and Roger in the Acme Factory to explain his scheme to destroy Toontown using a giant, mobile vat of Dip linked to a high-pressure water cannon, and then build a freeway in its place.

[9] Valiant distracts the weasels using hilarious antics to make them laugh themselves to death, then attempts to rescue Roger and Jessica when he is interrupted by Doom.

During the fight, Judge Doom is run over by a steamroller but does not die as expected, being flattened into a flimsy paper-thin shape and revealing him to be a toon wearing an assortment of fake props to disguise himself.

The toons seem to agree that they do not need to know and decide to live happily ever after when Marvin Acme's will suddenly appears in Roger's possession, granting full ownership to the citizens of Toontown.

[11] In the graphic novel, Roger and Jessica Rabbit watch a documentary which explains that Doom was originally a toon named Baron Von Rotten who took up the role of playing the antagonist in movies until suffering a concussion in an accident, from which he awakened believing he was a real villain.

[19] The film is set in 1947 where Judge Doom plans to destroy Toontown over building a freeway and buy off the Pacific Electric railway to dismantle it.

[20] The motivation is a nod to a conspiracy theory that the many companies conspired to push an automobile future for Greater Los Angeles which ultimately helped bring down Pacific Electric.

[21] The scheme within the film has been cited as a metaphor behind the history of automobiles and the economy of the technological age by various authors such as James Howard Kunstler in the book The Geography of Nowhere.

[22][23][24] Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune compared Judge Doom's evil scheme to the plot of Chinatown,[25] as did film critic Emily St. James, who added L.A.

[18] Christopher Lloyd likened his part as Doom to his previous role as the Klingon commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, both being overly evil characters which he considered being "fun to play".

[32] Film director, Robert Zemeckis, compared Judge Doom's invention of the Dip, that intended to eliminate all toons, to Adolf Hitler's Final Solution.

[37] Christopher Lloyd's portrayal of Judge Doom has received overall positive reception with some authors comparing his role as a "brilliant" or "scary" villain.

[38] Neal Justin of the Star Tribune jokingly described Judge Doom as making Freddy Krueger "look like Fred Rogers" in reference with the squeaky voice reveal.

[59][8] In May 2021, the quarterback of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers,[60] Tom Brady, was compared on Twitter as looking like Judge Doom (along with other fictional villains) in a fashion outfit of his when attending the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

[64][65][66] In August 2023, it was announced that Judge Doom would appear as a character at the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party at Disney’s California Adventure.