Doctor Doom #4: "All Possible Worlds *** SPOILERS **

[Iron Maiden]

The fourth issue of the series reminds me in some ways of Captain America: Winter Soldier. We have Doom going undercover in a hoodie as he investigates A.I.M and MODOK's role in the successful hit job by Taskmaster. Only no one expected Mistress Death to nullify it, including Doom himself.

I like that Doom is doing some major spellcasting along with some hand to hand in his fight with Taskmaster (this is btw the second time that he's gotten the worst of it in a fight with Doom). We do get a shadowy glimpse of the person plotting against Latveria and Doom and it appears to be female. My guess is that it might be Caroline Le Fey, Victor and Morgan's adult daughter. T

Larocca's art really worked well here and he does a scary looking MODOK. Solid issue by the creative team of Cantwell and Larocca.

[ImperiusWrecked]

OMG Caroline? I had a totally different idea of who that woman might be. I thought she might be the Victor's future wife or something, because the thing that's bugging me with the series is how quickly Doom is saying he believes/loves a woman he never met when I feel he might be more cautious than that. I just have big vibes that his future wife isn't who she says she is and that the family he keeps seeing is a trick to get him to lower his guard. Especially since the wife's name "Fruzsina" was spoken by task master.

fruzsina 1.jpg

fruzsina 2.jpg

[Kintor]

Anyway, what does everyone think of the back and forth dialogue between Doom and MODOK in this issue? I found it a little distracting at first but got the flow of it eventually. A nice pay off at the end if nothing else.

[Abe]

I loved the dialogue, the action the pacing and the art. In short, for me that issue is an instant classic! (I even enjoyed it more than Hickman's last X-men issue - which was excellent and the best of the series so far.)

The year starts well for Doom, his cast and history!

[Iron Maiden]

Unless she changes her hair color, Fruzsina has black hair. Raven-colored if you will. But your guess is as good as any so far ImperiousWrecked. Caroline came up because she is older and last time I recall she was in a book it was grey and cut in a short style. I could be completely off and it's a guy with long hair too!

Anyway, what does everyone think of the back and forth dialogue between Doom and MODOK in this issue? I found it a little distracting at first but got the flow of it eventually. A nice pay off at the end if nothing else.

I did like that dialogue but I did find it confusing as I was reading it because I couldn't figure out who he was talking to. I thought it might be a dialogue somehow with that future self but then I guess that doesn't make sense. So tell me if this is what you thought. MODOK was frequently telling Victor that he is a god but Victor was being resistant. I can understand that because his 2 major turns at godhood, he was forcibly removed from that position. He had to reluctantly admit his shortcomings to Reed and I think that still doesn't sit well with him.

What about how Victor took down Taskmaster? I thought that was pretty badass and his ruthlessness emerged when he was forcing those fan blades into him. It's not like Tasky wouldn't do the same were the positions reversed though. The art wasn't exactly clear to me what had happened I must admit. I saw it mentioned in an online review I saw that those were some large fan blades from some kind of AC unit or whatever on the floor where the fight takes place. But I can see there will be some howling about that since Doom wasn't armored up, as Taskmaster pointed out. But I feel like he can never have an answer to a magic user like Victor or Stephen. Their skills require the accumulated knowledge of years of study and training. That is not a power he can mimic.

[ImperiusWrecked]

Posting this Doom post here too! I just found it very cool.

A fan on twitter just pointed out that Doom is using the weapon from the game DOOM in this latest issue! link

Unless she changes her hair color, Fruzsina has black hair. Raven-colored if you will. But your guess is as good as any so far ImperiousWrecked. Caroline came up because she is older and last time I recall she was in a book it was grey and cut in a short style. I could be completely off and it's a guy with long hair too!

I have not been following any books where Caroline appears recently since my Pull card is very full these days. lol. But are you sure that Fruzsina has black hair? I thought she was blonde from issue 1, I will have to go back and check later. But still another player in the game like Caroline is very interesting! I just can't wait to see the eventual meeting with Reed and Victor since Reed made the cameo at the end of the issue.

[Iron Maiden]

Oops, you are right. I went back and checked and Fruszina doesn't have dark hair. I was probably confusing her in my mind with the panels showing Valeria.

Thanks for pointing out the origins of that gun coming from the game Doom. Of course some will probably accuse Larocca of tracing or something. But in this case, I think that is very clever of him to do that.

[ImperiusWrecked]

Oops, you are right. I went back and checked and Fruszina doesn't have dark hair. I was probably confusing her in my mind with the panels showing Valeria.

Thanks for pointing out the origins of that gun coming from the game Doom. Of course some will probably accuse Larocca of tracing or something. But in this case, I think that is very clever of him to do that.

Honestly I would have never known until that fan pointed it out on Twitter, I tend to play more fantasy based video games than the shooty fighty ones like Doom and haven't played that game in ages. I found it to be a very tongue in check funny addition. Like if we are gonna give Doom a big gun then it better be a interesting one!

Also no worries! I just recalled her being blonde because it felt so off to me, like usually I feel Victor shows romantic interest to women with darker hair, like Morgan, Valeria, Wanda (although not sure how long he Wanda were actually together)

[Iron Maiden]

That's probably why I pictured her in my memory of having dark hair too. Now you have this intel file on her being held by A.I.M. That sounds suspicious.

I never played many shoot 'em up games either. I played Ms Pac Man, Qbert, Frogger and racing games like Bump N' Jump. And I loved the online Superhero Squad game that used the characters and the voice actors from the cartoon.

[babyblob]

I am loving this series. Is this an ongoing or a mini?

[Iron Maiden]

It seems to Marvel tends avoid committing to a new title until they see the sales. I sure hope it is an ongoing.

Edited to add; I noticed that there will be a 2nd printing of issue #3 with that badass armor from Hell as the cover. It will ship on Jan 29th to shops that made another order. So shops are finding that they need to adjust their orders on this title. I think maybe fans are finding this and want to jump on board after the positive reactions.

[JudicatorPrime]

Only no one expected Mistress Death to nullify it, including Doom himself.

Honestly, I'm still struggling with this. I checked out back when Thanos couldn't die because Death rejected him, and the same sort of thing is starting to happen here.

My hope is that the series soon turns to the dark future that Lady Death alluded to when she saved Doom. That's such a monumental revelation that it almost feels petty for Doom to even care that someone had him killed. Death's intervention effectively puts Doom in the drivers seat with a guaranty of green lights at every intersection and no need to obey any of the other traffic laws. So what if a tiny piece of gravel chipped your paint or scratched your windshield as you sped down the thoroughfare? Drop the top and floor it, dude, and enjoy every minute of it.

[Iron Maiden]

I hope we do get some more info on what exactly Mistress Death's plans are for Victor. I don't think the term "servant" is one that he wants applied to him. But she is pretty high up on the pantheon of gods and other powerful entities. Since she has dominion over Mephisto, he will have his hands full trying to figure out how not to become just a tool for her plans. Maybe he just wants to take advantage of her protection for now.

BTW, now that Adam Brashear may be needed on the moon, along with Doom, it makes me wonder if Reed isn't there any longer. I don't know what is current status is in the FF. But it would be something to see Tony, Blue Marvel and Doom working together to solve the growing crisis (apparently) with the miniature black hole.

[JudicatorPrime]

BTW, now that Adam Brashear may be needed on the moon, along with Doom, it makes me wonder if Reed isn't there any longer.

It may just be a timing thing. Reed was there for Annihilation: Scourge, which I think is happening concurrent to Doctor Doom's present story arc. Difficult for him to be both in the Negative Zone and here on terra firma (or the moon). Reed was also present to assist with the mystery of Incoming. He's around, but like many of the other Marvel franchise characters, he's finally delegating some of the work to guys like Adam Brashear, who are highly capable when they're not getting jobbed or outright ignored.

[Kintor]

A fan on twitter just pointed out that Doom is using the weapon from the game DOOM in this latest issue! link

This is actually a funny coincidence. Because right now I'm playing through Doom 2016 on my new PC, still looks great for a game made three years ago. I'm excited for Doom Eternal as well but I'm not sure if I'm going to play it at launch just yet.

I did like that dialogue but I did find it confusing as I was reading it because I couldn't figure out who he was talking to. I thought it might be a dialogue somehow with that future self but then I guess that doesn't make sense. So tell me if this is what you thought. MODOK was frequently telling Victor that he is a god but Victor was being resistant. I can understand that because his 2 major turns at godhood, he was forcibly removed from that position. He had to reluctantly admit his shortcomings to Reed and I think that still doesn't sit well with him.

What about how Victor took down Taskmaster? I thought that was pretty badass and his ruthlessness emerged when he was forcing those fan blades into him. It's not like Tasky wouldn't do the same were the positions reversed though. The art wasn't exactly clear to me what had happened I must admit. I saw it mentioned in an online review I saw that those were some large fan blades from some kind of AC unit or whatever on the floor where the fight takes place. But I can see there will be some howling about that since Doom wasn't armored up, as Taskmaster pointed out. But I feel like he can never have an answer to a magic user like Victor or Stephen. Their skills require the accumulated knowledge of years of study and training. That is not a power he can mimic.

Yeah, the fight against Taskmaster was great. Absolutely brutal and quite a departure from a normal super hero fight because neither side is really showing that kind of restraint. Both Doom and Taskmaster were more than happy to spill a little blood if it helped them achieve their objectives.