Doctor Doom #2-3

Doctor Doom #2 (2020)
by Christopher Cantwell & Salvador Larroca
cover by ACO

That is a MUCH better cover than the first issue.

Speaking of last issue, it ended with Doom surrendering and being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. We begin this one with his transfer, and the closest look we’ve ever had at his scarred face.
And it’s… underwhelming to say THE LEAST. Keep in mind that these are not the same scars he’s had for decades, but the ones he received in the questionable ending of the Infamous Iron Man storyline. So I’m giving the comic a bit of leeway in this… but I draw the line at Doom being only SLIGHTLY disfigured.
Even with these NEW scars, Doom’s face was shown to be so horrific that entire alien raced pitied him for his looks… and come on, this isn’t even as bad as Deadpool looks!!!

Supervising the arrest is the mercenary Silver Sable. Who we have seen before as an ally to Doom, and as such she wasn’t included in the superhero count… but now I believe she qualifies.
Whether Sable is a hero or not is more than a little up to discussion, but she’s adjacent enough.

Forget having to surrender, forget the arrest, the fact that Reed sent HERBIE to supervise Doom is by far the greatest offense.

One of the reasons for Reed’s absence, and the way the superhero community is handling this, is definitely the fact that they must already have figured out Doom wasn’t really responsible.

Back in Latveria, Victorious is cooperating with the authorities…

…and doing her best Doom impression.

Being transferred to a safe location, Doom keeps himself entertained by reciting Richard III, which is an… interesting choice given the subject matter. Would Doom identify himself with Richard III?

That’s when Kang shows up with spoilers.

While Kang blows up the ship, Doom uses a spell to survive the crash.

All of this was the setup to have Doctor Doom being a wanted fugitive loose in New York City.

As soon as Doom gets to New York, however, he’s called by an old flame: none other than Morgan LeFay.

The most painful events in Doctor Doom’s life (according to Doctor Doom):
#1: losing his mother
#2: losing his mother the second time
#3: the accident that scarred him
#4: having to eat American fast food
#5: losing his father
#6: Reed Richards snubbing him
#7: saying thank you
#8: being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit

This an unusual place to find Morgan LeFay, TO SAY THE LEAST.

Here’s a bit of Marvel trivia you will never find useful: Morgan LeFay likes the Beatles.

It is fascinating to consider that Doctor Doom is a fan of John Lennon despite being, you know, DOCTOR DOOM.
Does he admire the artistic merits without agreeing on a single word of any song?

Well it MIGHT explain why, on Loki #7, we learned that he has his own edited versions of the Beatles!!!

This is what happens when you review Doctor Doom stories for six years straight, folks.
You end up discussion Doom’s musical tastes so many times that you ALREADY did a meme on the subject.

Morgan LeFay acts completely out of character in this issue, but I’m kind of loving the dissonance between her pedestrian look and her choice in interior decoration.

Seriously, who keeps this painting in their living room???

Morgan agrees to help Doom make sense of the visions of the future he’s been having but she first summons his mask.

The scene goes EVEN FURTHER than the beginning, by showing basically Doom’s ENTIRE face.
And it’s even more underwhelming!!! This isn’t even Deadpool levels of disfigurement, this is BARELY worse than Jonah Hex!

Reed is STILL not showing up in person (!!!) and instead has HERBIE recruite a superhero we have barely encountered in the site… Blue Marvel.
He’s quite powerful (he has all sorts of energy powers) and VERY smart… apparently Reed considers him an intellectual match to Doom.

Perhaps the reason why Reed is not coming is that the artificial black hole on the Moon… the one that Doom is accused of having tried to sabotage… is getting unstable.

To help Doom in his visions, Morgana brings him to talk with a powerful psychic.
Doom has a very badass way to get his collaboration.

And then TASKMASTER KILLS DOCTOR DOOM.

So I think the previous list needs an update.
#1: losing his mother
#2: losing his mother the second time
#3: the accident that scarred him
#4: having to eat American fast food
#5: being killed by Taskmaster

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Doctor Doom #3 (2020)
by Christopher Cantwell & Salvador Larroca
cover by ACO

And that wasn’t a fakeout or a Doombot either. Doom goes straight to Hell for this!!!
He gets frequent flyer points.

We begin with another vision of the other Victor Von Doom, the one from the “good” timeline.
It might have been safe to assume that he didn’t suffer the same tragedies of Doctor Doom… but no: he simply managed to turn his life over and become a respected leader.

Things are rough back home. Without Doom, the international community would rather have Symkaria (the neighboring country that Silver Sable is from) to take over.
Which I get: things NEVER play out when you try to take over Latveria, so they’re having Symkaria take the risk.

Symkaria even sends FREAKING NINJAS to kill Victorious in her sleep!

Our Doom, as anticipated, is now in Hell.

And without missing a beat… seriously this is one panel later… he summons THE MOST METAL ARMOR YOU HAVE EVER SEEN.

Doom has been through enough humiliations. This issue is the cathartic one where he manages to vent his frustrations.

“I’m not a god. I’m just a guy that Satan calls god.”

This is the first occasion we ever had to see Valeria once more, after Doom murdered her in Fantastic Four #67.

It sure takes insane levels of rationalization to say “I mean you no harm” to the woman YOU FLAYED ALIVE TO SACRIFICE HER TO HELL.

Doom seems genuinely tempted to stay here with Valeria. For about five seconds.

However that’s not Valeria: that’s an illusion from Mephisto.
Or perhaps it’s still Valeria but possessed by Mephisto, althought that sounds less likely.
And yeah, Mephisto does confirm that Doctor Doom COULD end all suffering on Earth.
(granted it’s Mephisto, so I’m in no rush to trust his words)

Doom begins to fight Mephisto, but they are both stopped because DEATH HERSELF shows up to send Doom back home.

It’s not because she knows Doctor Doom is too popular to stay dead… but because Doom is going to become her greatest servant.

And with that, Doom wakes up in Morgan Le Fay’s apartment… where Blue Marvel is waiting for him.

And we end the third issue with Kang showing up once again with good news.

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Doom significance: 4/10
Time will tell if the events of this series get referenced later, but at the time of this review it doesn’t seem to have had a big impact. It is, however, setting the stage for the rest of the series.

 Silver Age-ness: 6/10
It is more than a little jarring and absurd to see Morgan LeFay and Doctor Doom in such a mundane environment.

Will it stand the test of time?
Issue 2: 3/10
This is a frustrating series because it oscillates with doing things right with Doom and his characterization… right in the middle of utterly baffling decisions.
Let’s start with the bad, because most of the faults are in the first issue I’ve covered.
If you know the characters it’s pretty clear that the only reason Doom escapes that easily in the presence of Dr. Strange is that he has definitely figured out Doom has been set up. However, if you read this issue alone, all the heroes come out as idiots.
The idea of Morgan LeFay hiding as a regular woman in a regular New York apartment IS a genuinely fantastic idea.. too bad that this is Morgan in name only: she doesn’t act like her and she doesn’t even speak like her!
The biggest offense of issue #2 is, of course, the decision to show like 95% of Doom’s face… and it’s underwhelming to say the least!!!
Even if you know these aren’t Doom’s original scars… and if the comic wanted that excuse it REALLY should have brought it up… that’s not enough.
To put it bluntly: IF you decide you absolutely must show Doom’s face, it HAS to be absolutely terrifying. Even the face we saw during Secret War, which was actually Doom’s botched attempt to fix himself, was at the very least passable compared to this!!!
Ugh. On a positive note, Doom delivers the threat “Tell me my death or I’ll show you yours!”, which is just awesome.
Issue 3: 8/10
After all that mess, issue #3 finally recovers a hell of points (pun intended) just on the strength of Doom FINALLY sounding and acting like Doom again.
The guy shows up in hell and, without missing a beat, summons THE MOST BADASS ARMOR EVER and proceeds to beat the sulfur out of the Devil himself.
And if that wasn’t enough, we have the delightfully creepy and incredibly messed up way he interacts with “Valeria”. Come to think of it, if that was actually the real Valeria up to a certain point… why did she go to Hell? If she did, I can only imagine it’s Doom’s fault.
And as if issue #3 wasn’t badass enough, it also has DEATH HERSELF forcing Mephisto to send Doom back to the land of the living… because he has more death to deliver. AWESOME.
Also, during both issues Kang is kind of… there. He drags down every scene is in and the entire series would have been MUCH better withouth him.

Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 144
Adding Silver Sable and Blue Marvel.

Times Doom has died: 3
Killed by TASKMASTER of all people!!! You won’t have to wait much for the rematch.
I’m betting on the guy wearing a mask who typically goes around wearing a cape.