Doctor Doom Appreciation

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Fantastic Four #16 Jul 1963
"The Micro-World of Doctor Doom!"
The Human Torch returns to the Baxter Building to find his teammates have been mysteriously shrunk down in size and narrowly saves them from being sucked into an air vent.
Reed, Sue, and Ben suddenly return to their original size just as they are being taunted by a disembodied voice who warns them that this is only the beginning.
Comparing notes, the quartet soon realizes that they have all experienced moments where they were suddenly shrunk down in size only to be restored to normal only moments after.
Seeking to solve this mystery, Mister Fantastic decides to call in an expert on size changing and calls in the diminutive hero known as Ant-Man for help.

Contacted via his network of ants, Ant-Man leaves his partner the Wasp behind to answer the Fantastic Four's summons.
Hearing of the Fantastic Four's plight, Ant-Man agrees to provide them with a sample of his shrinking formula before departing.

During some downtime, Reed tests out a new formula in the hopes of curing the Thing,
only he chose to test it out while Ben was lifting a heavy piano, causing Grimm to drop it as he reverted back to human form.
Ben and Alicia's celebrations are cut short after another voice warning them to beware of Doctor Doom before the transmission is cut off.
After the Human Torch shows off his powers to some local teens and Sue attempts to mask her scent to make herself invisible to dogs,
the Fantastic Four are called together after another ominous warning. Deciding to finally investigate,
Reed gives his teammates a concentrated version of Ant-Man's shrinking formula that causes them to shrink down to a microscopic size.

They soon transverse into a micro-world and appear in a castle surrounded by guards under the command of Doctor Doom.

Before the FF can respond, Doom shrinks them down to size and then explains that after his last defeat at their hands he found himself shrunk to the microscopic world of Sub-Atomica.
There he impressed Sub-Atomica's king with his inventive genius earning his trust until he could construct a new shrink ray and use it to shrink the king and his daughter Pearla.
With Sub-Atomica under his control he began plotting his revenge against the Fantastic Four.
When Doom orders the group captured, they fight back, only for Doom to capture Sue and use her as a hostage to force the others to surrender.
Incapacitated by knock-out gas, the FF awake to find themselves in a dungeon along with the king and his daughter.
Learning that their prison is below a sea of acid, escape appears to be impossible.
Pearla explains that she and her father were imprisoned after she refused to be Doom's bride and that the Doctor had formed an alliance with her people's dreaded enemies the Lizard Men of Tok.

Meanwhile back on Earth, Ant-Man returns to the Baxter Building to investigate when the Fantastic Four failed to return.
Suspecting they are in trouble, Ant-Man also shrinks himself down to size until he enters Sub-Atomica.
There he battles the guards but is subdued and brought before Doom as a prisoner.
As this is happening, the FF use their powers to construct a crude submersible from the walls of their prison to protect them from the acid outside.
Arriving in the castle, the group restores themselves to normal and fight off the guards.
Seeing this as a losing battle, Doom uses his device to restore himself to his normal size and escape to Earth.

With Doom's coupe smashed, the Fantastic Four then use the device to return to their native universe as well.

Script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers

[Ravin' Ray]

From SDCC:

Fantastic Four was up next with teases, “there are really big things here, and we’re not just going to be focusing on the ‘fantastic’ part of the team, we’re focusing on the first family aspect…Every member of the Fantastic Four ever will be included in this story,” Cebulski teased.

While Kristoff was never officially a member, I hope he shows up.

He went on to tease two new villains, Victorious and Griever. “Victorious is like Doctor Doom’s version of Captain America,” Cebulski described, “A national hero for Latveria.”

A-ha, we have a "Captain Latveria". Wonder if he (or she) is new or just an old character with a new name. I'd love for it to be Dreadknight.

[Silvermoth]

Cannot wait to meet victorious. I suppose she might not necessarily be evil. I mean, you can like captain America without liking the current state of American politics or the Iraq war or whatever. I assume it’s the same sort of thing. Victorious is probably just someone who wants to help who loves her country

[Iron Maiden]

Did they definitely say Victorious is going to be female? That would be interesting especially if Doom "creates" her, like he did with Volcana and Titania. Of course, he won't have that SW machine but curious to see how this character evolves.

Ravin' Ray, I'm with you on hoping for Kristoff's return. We've not seen him since the incursions were still being investigated and Hickman was still writing for Marvel. I do wish that Kristoff, along with Val, had a chance to see Victor before he had his face messed up again.

I also think it would be about time for Bram Velsing / Dreadknight to return. I think the last time I remember him showing up anywhere was in the Iron Man Legacy mini some years back. That series title has nothing to do with the current branding stuff going on in Marvel. IIRC he was being controlled by Doom.

[Grim Fandango]

Doom get a lot of mention in CBR's Fantastic Four interview with Dan Slottt; plus Simone Bianchi is doing the art for the Doom story in FF #1.



That has to be a Doombot.

Looks like this girl is Victorious.

[Iron Maiden]

Ah, thanks for finding that. That must be a screen cap photo from San Diego. Abe will be interested in this. That image of Victorious holding the flag is obviously an homage to the painting Liberty leading the People, national symbol of the France known as Marianne.
The painting shows her barebreasted so I won't post it here just in case!

[Abe]

I'm very very interested and pleased too of course!

I'm really intrigued by that page Grim Fandango posted from SDCC- thanks GF! My guess is that it's the same girl and that Victor may use her or help her to lead a revolution in Latveria.

The second panel seems like some kind of image Doom is projecting as the first panel suggests : the colors of her dress are not exactly the same than in the other panels or in the preview page. So my hopes are that they are on the same side.

If that's so, congratulations to Slott for bringing back the ambiguous revolutionary Doom (quoting Delacroix!!!) from FF Annual #2, Books of Doom and of course Byrne's This land is mine - that favourite issue of mine since I was a kid...

Another thing I have to notice : Simone Bianchi in the preview page at least is quoting himself bringing back the design of the armour of his alternate Doom from New Avengers : the one who was very close with his Reed and who died by the hands of the Mapmakers.

But we already know Bianchi is in love with this version of Doom as he used it for the cover of his artbook... https://www.simonebianchi.com/shop.php?id_cat=5

That's really cool!

[Iron Maiden]

Bianchi is one of those artists that rarely works for Marvel. He probably has a lot of projects to juggle other than comics. He has one of those styles you can recognize right away.

It's interesting to note that in that Marianne tribute, the peasant girl seems to be wearing red, white and blue! I don't know if we've seen the old Latverian flag prior to Doom's reign but the current one either used eagles or his mask in the colors of red, green and black. Also like the preview of a coming revolution and IMO that's like Victor going back to his roots which IMO is about time. He was not born to the purple so to speak. Maybe Slott will have some parallel stories for a while without Doom and the FF intersecting for a while. Or he could always cover this in Iron Man.

[Iron Maiden]

Marvel's October releases have been posted on CBR and there's some interesting Doom stuff, especially with Esad Ribic doing a cover featuring Doom



THOR #6
JASON AARON (W)
CHRISTIAN WARD (A)
COVER BY Esad Ribic
MARVEL BATTLE LINES VARIANT COVER BY MAXX LIM
MKXX VARIANT COVER BY TBA
MKXX VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY TBA
ALL-FATHER THOR FACES HIS DOOM!
If you thought Old Man Phoenix was crazy, then wait’ll you see what we’ve done to Marvel’s greatest villain. It’s the end of the universe — and the return of Doctor Doom. A Doom more powerful than anything that has ever lived. Get ready for the greatest battle the far future has ever seen, as Old King Thor and the Phoenix Wolverine stand together at the end of time against an army of monsters and the final Doom.



True Believers: What if Doom Had Become a Hero?

Reprinting What If #22 (1977)



AVENGERS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #1


Gerry Duggan, The Soska Sisters, Jay Baruchel, Robbie Thompson & Rob Fee (W)
Juanan Ramirez, Jonas Scharf, Eoin Marron & Bob Quinn (A)
Cover by GEOFF SHAW
Variant cover by GERARDO ZAFFINO
TRICK OR TREAT, TRUE BELIEVERS!
PLUS! Spooky stories starring the X-Men & Doctor Doom!
Epic thrills and ghastly horror awaits in these all-new twisted tales! Spanning the breadth of the Marvel Universe, through the macabre lens of a murderer’s row of writers and artists assembled here, see your favorite heroes and villains as you’ve never seen them before!
Also including the Marvel Comics writing debut of Jay Baruchel (This is the End; Goon)!

[Iron Maiden]

I don't want to let the month go by without mentioning the appearance of the sartorially splendid Doombot in Runaways #11. The last time we saw him, he was tasked with helping his Avengers A.I. teammate and friend Victor Mancha. As a result of events in the Vision maxi series, Victor is a head without a body. Chase and Doombot mean to help on that score by creating a new body for him. But both of them seem to be so wrapped up in the task they are forgetting to take Victor's feelings on the matter. They are surprised when Victor becomes highly agitated to see that the body Doombot comes equipped with weapons. Victor has some programming from Ultron still buried deep inside and he's afraid that it will take over again.





In the meantime, Chase and Doombot have to sort out how to make things right for their friend. As noted in this write up about the series
everyone seems to be trying to find their place. Writer Rainbow Rowell makes a clever bit of commentary in a scene with Chase and Doombot that brings up his past association with the Avengers. Consigned to the realm of a cancelled series, Doombot notes that he has been forgotten by the Avengers.





I hope he doesn't stay forgotten and the creative team of writer Rowell and artist Kris Anka make him part of the continuing cast. You can't let a good Doombot like this go to waste!

[Abe]

Thanks for the update about that excellent Doombot, Iron Maiden!

Really nice panels and dialog here... I'll consider buying the Tpb of this arc... and re-reading Avengers AI. A really cool series!

[Abe]

Also the last issue of The Terrifics shows a villain - obviously their nemesis - called... Doc Dread!!!

Guess which one he is on that image for the promotion of the first issue...

[Iron Maiden]

Boy, they weren't very subtle with the name of the character at all, were they? I forgot to grab the image I saw in another article that has a full figure view.

[Gambit, King of Thieves]

just read Secret Wars for the first time
I meant to go through all of Battleworld chronologically, but I just couldn't help myself

lemme just say...
GOD
DAMN

[Gambit, King of Thieves]

god is, in this instance, of course referring to Rabum Alal, the Great Destroyer.
#blackswanlife