Yeah, but look at the first scene when Strange shows up for that incursion. He utters something that looks like exactly the speech of the Black Priests. Maybe that was a mistake in illustration, but if there was ever an explanation for that, I didn't see it.
Also, as much as I liked that Annual, here's what Barbiere said about his story:
So it sounds like he's showing Dr. Strange after he sold his soul... which was never shown in New Avengers. The series doesn't connect to the annual, and vice versa, and there's no follow up at all from that point on. It's pretty frustrating.Newsarama: Frank, what can you tell us about the story of New Avengers Annual #1?
Frank Barbiere: The story sees Dr. Strange coming out of the pages of New Avengers, having just sold his soul in a gambit for more power.
Frigga and Odin in particular have a distinct look in the last Loki comic just as the universe is coming to an end.
In SW #5 the statues are dressed the same. In particular the headress of Frigga and Odin are easy to recognize as the same in both comics.
The reason why he smiles is by finding them he has found what he needs to turn the Thor corps. against Doom most likely.
All indications are the Thor corp. has no knowledge of Asgard or their origins, and worships Doom absolutely.
What are the chances that the single attack on the escape ship Marvel 616 heroes created which supposedly killed Sue, Val and Franklin and the Human Torch was actually ruse used by Doom to cover up the fact he pirated them to the world he was creating to play the roles they are playing now on his world
The fact that the FF has defeated Molecule Man several times (MM first appeared in FF comics) might be the reason why Doom fears Mr. Fantastic and the rest of the Fantastic Four.
I imagine the story will evolve into Mr. Fantastic recognizing the trademarks of Molecule Man's power finds a way to locate him (or was sent there by Dr. Strange) and ultimately defeating Doom by somehow defeating Molecule Man or having him join their side.
The difficult thing about this issue is that there's so much stuff cooked in here you didn't want to pull at every thread because then it would have just been 30 pages of me explaining how everything has worked; the mechanics of it all. You don't want to do that because it would be bad comics! This is bad enough. [Laughs]
http://www.comicbookresources.com/ar...lid-foundation
Hickman knew this exposition issue would be a bit annoying.
Thor: "I was flying through the cosmos, on my way to Midgard, when something struck me in the face. It was blood."
Yes, there is a good chance Reed is doing that right now, between the pages of SW#5 and 6. If Strange teleported Reed to a Secret Lab that had devices that detect Doom power in everything, Reed can make something to detect Molecule Man/Beyonder power at play, and do something to disrupt it so Battleworld begins to fall apart. What Reed does from there is the next question. Certainly, all the Alternate reality domains are going to feel the fracturing of their kingdoms. But before Reed does any of that, I think Doom is going to lower the Shield and let the swarms start killing everybody and that's when Reed attacks.