Let’s begin a new era for Doctor Doom, where for a while he will be on the side of angels .
And his own, because of course.
Invincible Iron Man vol3 #1 (2016)
by Brian Michael Bendis & David Marquez
If there’s one thing that I hate more than constantly re-starting a series with a new #1, it’s having such generic covers.
I won’t be talking about the Iron Man side of the plots, since we have a lot to go through for Doctor Doom. But Tony Starks’ new potential love interest, Dr. Amara Perera, is going to be important.
On a minor note, the holographic assistant here is Friday, Iron Man’s new AI companion; she doesn’t do anything really interesting in the Bendis run (shocking, I know) but the Slott run will make her a very compelling character.
Amara is a brilliant scientist, but that’s not the only reason Tony is into her.
Credit where it’s due, this is a great idea for an X-Men story.
Bendis is not going to do anything with it, because Bendis, but still.
The Doom connection shows up when Madame Masque steals something from Castle Doom.
That’s because Doom has not returned to Latveria after Secret Wars, so the regime has collapsed.
I always like it when the Latverian language is shown.
My research came up short on both “vlashtoni” and “casksani armour nakani”.
The best I could find is that “nakani” means “intensions” in Croatian.
It’s either gibberish or it’s a mix of various languages.
The rebels are knocked out by a new arrival…
…none other than Doctor Doom in civilian clothes!
Notice the detail of the tiny scar on his cheek.
Invincible Iron Man vol3 #2 (2016)
by Brian Michael Bendis & David Marquez
Is that really Doctor Doom?
That’s enough for Iron Man.
And it’s also not enough.
This is before anyone has had the chance to meet Doctor Doom since the end of Secret Wars, not to mention that Tony doesn’t even remember the event. So the fact that Doom’s face has been healed is news to him.
What do you know, Doctor Doom is a fan of Iron Man #150.
This is probably the best showcase ever of just how much Doom’s magic is superior to Iron Man’s technology. I wouldn’t put it past Tony to eventually figure out a way to break through mystical barriers, but also Doom is clearly not even trying.
The reason why Doom wanted to talk with Tony is that Madame Masque, who is not just an Iron Man villain but one of his love interests, is now on a treasure hunt.
Doom then takes Iron Man to his old laboratory, which has seen better days.
Notice that Tony is on edge the entire time.
Madame Masque was specifically after a very dangerous magic artifact, and Doom would rather have it in Iron Man’s hands.
Yeah I wonder why Tony is not exactly immediately on board with this.
The main point of the next couple of years of stories is that Doctor Doom is trying to be a good guy now.
Which is quite tricky to accomplish, but there’s one thing that sold me on the idea.
Doctor Doom STILL thinks he’s always been a good guy!
Also shocking to me in a Bendis series: Iron Man is not acting like a complete idiot here.
As expected, I couldn’t find if “sho blaftuni” is taken from a real language.
Given how Bendis has botched Doctor Doom in the past, I was fully expecting to hate his take.
But I don’t mind this more subdued Doom, especially since he’s still a conceited show-off.
Tony later gets confirmation that Doom really was telling the truth.
Invincible Iron Man vol3 #3 (2016)
by Brian Michael Bendis & David Marquez
If you have any amount of knowledge of any previous Bendis book, you might have wondered: where is his trademark insufferable style of dialogue?
It’s back after Madame Masque nearly kills Tony.
I’m of the opinion that the best way to write Tony Stark is by having him juuuuust shy of being insufferable to be around.
Bendis being Bendis, he overdoes it.
Tony and Dr. Perera kiss… because Tony…
…and I begrudgingly admit I found this joke hilarious.
Since there’s magic involved, Tony then goes to Doctor Strange.
I’m not entirely sure if unlike Tony, Doctor Strange DOES remember Secret Wars.
He’s acting like he doesn’t, but I don’t know if he’s pretending or if it’s just Bendis not caring.
I knew I shouldn’t have complimented Bendis on the ONE joke I liked.
He’s going to be obnoxious about it.
Invincible Iron Man vol3 #4 (2016)
by Brian Michael Bendis & David Marquez
Mary Jane Watson becomes Tony Stark’s secretary during this run.
I wasn’t crazy about it, but it’s miles better than anything Marvel has done with MJ in the past five years.
Granted, that’s not saying much.
Look, I can suspend my disbelief and accept Doctor Doom trying to become a good guy… but I refuse to accept he eats potato chips.
This is happening while Stark is visiting some sick children at a hospital.
Doctor Doom, master of pedantry.
He’s also dismissive of Tony’s intelligence, reinforcing the idea that even without the armor he’s still Doom.
He’s recruited Iron Man to fight Madame Masque, who is using magic now.
The scene really does lose something without the Doom armor.
Invincible Iron Man vol3 #5 (2016)
by Brian Michael Bendis & David Marquez
Now THAT is Doom.
The fight is happening at Mary Jane’s club.
If I’m not mistaken, this is only the second time ever that she sees Doctor Doom in person after Amazing Spider-Man vol2 #50.
This is a surprisingly tough fight, thanks to the magic artifact that Madame Masque stole.
But don’t worry, Mary Jane has got this.
There is absolutely no way Tony Stark doesn’t remember Mary Jane; she was living at Avengers Tower when Spider-Man was on the team!
Unless it’s because of the whole “Brand New Day” nonsense, although it might just be the effect of appearing in a Bendis book.
Tony defeats Madame Masque by locking her inside his remote-controlled armor, but this is going to need a specialist.
So Doctor Doom saves the day.
Doom doesn’t stay long enough to meet Doctor Strange.
One of the things that this era will do surprisingly well, in my opinion, is not only analyzing if Doom CAN be a regular hero… but also how much good he could potentially do.
I have a hard time believing that a supervillain fight breaking out at your club would be considered a career-ending thing in the Marvel Universe.
And that’s where we’re going to end for now, but there’s more Doctor Doom in the rest of the series.
Doom significance: 8/10
Doom’s new relationship with Stark will be quite important for his next identity.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
I skipped way too much to give this a honest score. As I hope I’ve made it clear, I really like all the parts with Doom and I didn’t mind MOST of what Bendis is doing with Tony.
Bendis is surprisingly restrained in his usual annoying tropes, and for once I didn’t hate one of his series, but I can’t really recommend this one besides the Doom scenes.
Times Latveria has been conquered: 15
New look, same old habits.