Doctor Doom Appreciation - 2021

[Albert1981]

I'd love to see it but at most I think we get a name drop and even that is suspicious. The movie is already way too crowded according to rumours and anything more can take the spotlight away from Strange in his own movie. I think they will introduce Doom in the post credit scene of the first FF movie and build him up or he may even get his own movie (this is more of a wish on my part). That said I'm down for a magical tournament starring both Doom and Strange à la DS & DD Triumph and Torment down the road.

I agree that Strange 2 has got WAY too many characters in it (going by speculation and leaks here). I REALLY don't want mutants showing up in the MoM. It would feel so pointless to me. I think the Phase 4 stuff hasn't done a great job of balancing the characters in their shows and movies. People have complained that Sam and Bucky were overshadowed by John Walker and Baron Zemo, Loki was overshadowed by Sylvie and that Natasha was overshadowed by Yelena. I do think Wanda got the screen time she needed in WandaVision though.

[Doom'nGloom]

Aside from being an overkill mutants don't have much to do with magic in general unless they're planning on introducing someone like Magik or Selene and that's an even longer shot compared to the case with Doom so I don't think there is much to worry about. I agree Yelena kinda overshadowed Natasha in her own movie but I don't agree with the other cases. Overall I think Strange is in good hands in the MCU. Now if we could get Doom there we can finally have the Triumph and Torment movie I see in my wildest dreams

[Albert1981]

Aside from being an overkill mutants don't have much to do with magic in general unless they're planning on introducing someone like Magik or Selene and that's an even longer shot compared to the case with Doom so I don't think there is much to worry about. I agree Yelena kinda overshadowed Natasha in her own movie but I don't agree with the other cases. Overall I think Strange is in good hands in the MCU. Now if we could get Doom there we can finally have the Triumph and Torment movie I see in my wildest dreams

I feel Doctor Strange is very precious to Marvel Studios, so they will take care of him. I personally was frustrated that they made Falcon SO sympathetic to violent murdering terrorists. It felt really out of character to me. There were times I felt Bucky and Sam and Loki were side characters in their own shows, but not for the entire durations of them. I was also frustrated with the Black Widow film as well. Natasha survived TOO much in that movie. Although I thought ScarJo was great in it (despite being overshadowed in the latter half of the picture). If the Fox rumors are true, then yeah, I'd prefer it if Victor showed up than any mutants. Not sure if Marvel will do the Triumph and Torment movie. I think Disney doesn't want to offend folks in other countries by bringing Marvel's version of the Devil into the MCU.

[Iron Maiden]

I just hope we all live long enough to see that, Doom'nGloom. It seems like the fates have been working against Doom appearing in the MCU from the very beginning. First off, the IP was locked up in Fox studios and they botched it in 3 movies. Then just when Noah Hawley wrote a script for a solo Doctor Doom movie at Fox, the studio finally agrees to sell to Disney and it gets shelved. Then we get the pandemic!

I am torn about seeing Doom get his MCU debut in a Doctor Strange movie or a Fantastic Four movie. I would like to see him at least get a post credit scene in Doctor Strange 2 and then get just a mention in the Fantastic Four movie. It can be brought up that Victor was at college with Reed and Ben and then he dropped out of sight and they never heard anything about him since.

[Doom'nGloom]

Is there no chance of Hawley coming back to direct his Doctor Doom movie in the MCU? I haven't watched Legion but from what I heard it's pretty good. I'd like to see his vision get realised on the big screen.

[Iron Maiden]

Is there no chance of Hawley coming back to direct his Doctor Doom movie in the MCU? I haven't watched Legion but from what I heard it's pretty good. I'd like to see his vision get realised on the big screen.

The last time he made any statements on the status of his Doctor Doom script was back in this interview in October of 2019 where he discloses that he did meet with Kevin Feige

Hawley gives some details about his script

Yeah, I mean, it combined genres. And it’s sort of a Cold War parallel film. And I really like it. I’ve been too busy to really lean on them, and they certainly haven’t called me on the phone. And during my sit down with Kevin Feige, when he asked about the Doctor Doom movie, he said, ‘Are you still working on it?’ And I said, ‘Should I still be working on it?’

I think it is significant that Hawley did have a conversation with Feige about it. But my hunch is that it will be a while yet before we even see the Fantastic Four launched. We only have the name of the director but no cast has been annnounced. I still hope they at least drop a few hints about Doom in one of the upcoming movies.

[Iron Maiden]

Have to catch up with latest Doom sightings, probably the last of them for September except for perhaps next weeks Black Cat #10. It was revealed in issue #9 that Felicia was working for Doom.



Earlier I was so glad to see Doom and Strange and returned to Savage Avengers but.....it was really wasn't Doom after all. I hope he does make a reappearance. This arc with Kulan Gath has going on for almost 2 year now and I imagine it will have to come to an end eventually!

Since I need to revisit this title via Marvel Unlimited, I have no idea what's been going on since around issue #9. I had thought that Victor and Doom got tied up with other things, like Victor's wedding and the events of his solo series. I find it amusing that Doom found himself allied with Conan as everyone was getting slaughtered by the Kulan Gath and his hordes. Latveria held out the longest and Doom was able to most of the Latverians in a clever way.

[Iron Maiden]

BEWARE OF SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #18 LIE AHEAD!

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Unfortunately, Guardians of the Galaxy ended it's run this week with issue #18. Dormammu, who ressembles a Jack o' Lantern in this version, is defeated in about half a dozen pages but I have to concede they were beautifully rendered pages. Doom's use of the Tarot to accomplish this was entertaining also as it assigned a different point of the pentagram to himself, to Drax, Moon Dragon, Star Lord and Groot, all shown. It is a bit strange to me that this Last Annihilation "event(?)" wrapped up in a rushed manner. I suspect that Marvel's plans had changed somewhere down the line. I can't imagine Marvel not bringing this series back again since a GOTG movie is allegedly on the horizon.

But we do see some seeds planted here for the Fantastic Four: Reckoning arc coming up. If Reed was flummoxed before with Doom's magic, he's really in for a rough time with this development. My only problem is I hope Ewing isn't just setting up something for Doom to use in another revenge plot against the Fantastic Four. Will Doom be in some kind of alliance in this Reckoning War? I've read where Slott has been teasing this for about 15 or 20 years , going back to his She Hulk and Spider-Man series. I will have to take a wait and see stance on this. I really have my doubts about Slott doing anything memorable with this.

[Ravin' Ray]

One last sneak peak for Darkhold Alpha #1. Looks like Doom is narrating the first three pages as his servitor bots retrieve the Darkhold.

https://comic-watch.com/news/sneak-p...rkhold-alpha-1

[Iron Maiden]

Thanks for posting those, Ravin' Ray.

Those previews look interesting. Since this got series got waylaid by the pandemic last year it undoubtedly takes place before the events of Guardians of the Galaxy.

[Reviresco]

Well, I read Darkhold ... and I'm not sure what to think.

[Iron Maiden]

Well, I read Darkhold ... and I'm not sure what to think.

I liked most of it. I've not really gotten around to posting about but I guess I may as well. Cian Tormey's art was definitely a plus. I really liked the scenes with Victor and Wanda but Orlando goes along with what other writers have done with the conclusion to Children's Crusade. And that is to make Wanda take the polar opposite stance from how Heinberg wrote her reaction at the conclusion. First of all, I always thought that Heinberg did a write some good scenes with Victor and Wanda and their romance did have some credibility. Orlando does IMO give some validity that there was something there, or at least Victor still thinks so. I was glad to see that because I think that is more on track with CC that others writers have been.



But as we see in Darkhold, Wanda's not having any of it. Another thing she says is not tracking to what happened in CC and that is Doom stealing the Life Force from her during the ceremony with Wanda, Wiccan and Victor. Orlando isn't the only one who has gone with a different take in the years since but we see here that when Eli Bradley fires a shot at Doom during the conjuring, it throws all of them off. IMO Heinberg & artist Cheung are showing that this act by Eli causes the ceremony to go awry and instead of Wanda taking the Life Force again, Doom gets it instead. It's hard to say if there was a ricochet effect or he figured since Wanda was temporarily disabled he would have to take on the Life Force.


Afterwards, they are still on good terms but eventually the power does corrupt Doom and there is the big showdown at the end with all the heroes on the attack. Ultimately Doom loses the power and is allowed to leave the scene without anyone stopping him. Before he goes, he gives a little rant about him being behind everything all along. Some take this at face value but Wolverine for one does not and Wanda shows no anger nor do Tommy or Billy. Magneto goes so far as to lie and say Doom was to blame for M Day too to cover his tracks on his involvement. After all he was there when she was having her breakdown.



I guess this just the long way to complain (for the umpteenth time) that these changes to the story have taken root and that ticks me off about Darkhhold. It's not that big a factor in the story but it just one of my pet peeves.

One thing that I did find disappointing is that we don't see Doom's confrontation with Cthon with any great detail. One panel he looks Ok when he reaches Other Realm and then he returns with his armor nearly destroyed. Yet he did survive somehow.

I don't know if I will be getting any of these tie ins to the story. I will definitely get Darkhold Omega and choose may one tie in and that may be the one that has Valeria on the cover since my suspicion (and hope) is that this is Valeria Von Doom, who is from an alternate universe (Earth 99315 for those who keep score on these things). After all, she just disappears at the end of the Abraxas story and that doesn't necessarily mean she died. I'm not so sure she was reborn as Valeria Richards since the child that Sue miscarried was named Meghan IIRC. I believe they are two different "souls" and Valeria von Doom returned to her home universe. BTW, the concluding issue Darkhold Omega doesn't come out until December 22nd!

Another thing I liked is that Janet is part of the team that is assembled. Props to Orlando for putting her there since she has been mostly ignored. I suppose she could be in Aaron's Avengers but I stopped reading that a couple of years ago. Victorious is part of this story and maybe she will continue to help Wanda. I hope so. Unfortunately for Victorious Doom is still ticked off about her stupid indiscretion with Johnny, a remnant of Slott's plot induced stupidity inflicted on her.

[Lucyinthesky]

About Magneto´s blaming Doom for M-Day I think he´s going by Doom saying it himself, he told Wanda "You thought you were powerful enough to rid the world of mutants? that was me, that was Doom" and I think he went with this mostly because Wanda, Billy and Tommy were blaming themselves as well so he went with Doom´s explanation but I also don´t think he truly believed that, he would not have been so cold making an alliance with Victor later for Axis or even defend him from inverted Wanda when she tried to kill him but they are or were his family at the time, of course he would take any out for them if it meant they being left alone. Cyclops as well didn´t buy it or Magneto´s explanation but saw that there was not much left to be done.


Now that said, I enjoyed Victor a lot on Darkhold and I get the sense he´s going to be back with a new plan to dealt with Chton now that he has more intel on him

[Iron Maiden]

About Magneto´s blaming Doom for M-Day I think he´s going by Doom saying it himself, he told Wanda "You thought you were powerful enough to rid the world of mutants? that was me, that was Doom" and I think he went with this mostly because Wanda, Billy and Tommy were blaming themselves as well so he went with Doom´s explanation but I also don´t think he truly believed that, he would not have been so cold making an alliance with Victor later for Axis or even defend him from inverted Wanda when she tried to kill him but they are or were his family at the time, of course he would take any out for them if it meant they being left alone. Cyclops as well didn´t buy it or Magneto´s explanation but saw that there was not much left to be done.


Now that said, I enjoyed Victor a lot on Darkhold and I get the sense he´s going to be back with a new plan to dealt with Chton now that he has more intel on him

Your explanation does make sense in that it does shield Billy and Tommy from feeling they were somehow responsible when they had not reason to. I think many writers over the years have taken the wrong meaning out of Heinberg's scene and thought he was retconning House of M where Doom had a very minimal role. And I'm still not convinced it was the real Doom that appeared there anyway, as I expressed in greater detail in my earlier rant/post

[Jabare]

I feel as though they could have given Doom a better motivation for the Darkhold event, but will see what happens. Despite getting trampled by some cannon fodder minions he survived and kept that high tootin Doom attitude he's made so famous.

But Chthon isn't a rival. That'd be like him considering Mephisto a rival. Shuma Gorath a rival. Galactus a rival. I get what they were doing with teh story, but I would have gone a different route.