SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #3 (1975)
by Jim Shooter & George Evans
After several Legion stories, we get to see Jim Shooter writing for Marvel!
Unfortunately the art is by George Evans. While not the worst artist to work on this series, he’s not exactly the best one.
Namor is still weak from the prison where Dr. Dorcas put him, and he’s getting is ass kicked by his rogues gallery. Meanwhile Doctor Doom watches, still managing to looking freaking cool.
Want proof that Namor’s villains aren’t the brightest? They FORGOT that Doctor Doom was there!!!
Doctor Doom to the rescue! Wait, that doesn’t sound right…
Namor still wants to fight despite being extremely weakened, while Doom doesn’t consider this fight to be worthy of his attention.
“Is life so long that it is to be wasted on such as they?”. Ouch.
In fact Doom is so over this plot that he teleports Namor away!
Namor collapses from sheer exhaustion, and Doom realizes that if their bromance is to succeed he should make SOME effort to care about Namor’s subplots.
Namor later wakes up in Latveria where a gorgeous woman in a bikini is watching him take a bath.
I think we can all agree that Doom knows his audience.
Most Doom stories in the 70s prefer to show that the people of Latveria despise and fear him.
Jim Shooter has another angle.
Doom didn’t just send women in bikini to help Namor, though. Some are women in skintight outfits.
Despite Doom’s theatrics, he’s genuinely interested in helping Namor get revenge over Dr. Dorcas for killing his love interest last issue.
Doom’s hypocritical remark about being reckless doesn’t fly above Namor’s head.
These two are always so much fun when they’re bickering!
But Namor isn’t a complete idiot… not in THIS issue at least… so he accepts Doom’s help.
Doctor Doom attacks Hydrobase with predictable results.
Namor takes advantage of Doom’s distraction… a.k.a. the GIANT FREAKIN’ EXPLOSION… to sneak into the base and liberate the scientists-turned-amphibians that Dorcas keeps hostage.
As well as freeing another one of his supporting cast, the red-skinned alien Tamara. I’m only mentioning her because she’ll be important in future issues.
Namor then uses one of Doom’s weapons to freeze his villains in place.
However, in a bit of good characterization, Namor is like “Screw this, I want to punch those bastards in the face!” so he proceeds to un-freeze them just to wipe the floor with them.
That leaves Doom to deal with the Atlantean army and to endure Attuma’s jester.
I’m sure Doom won’t mind. He’s well-known for his love of satire, right? Right?
The jester’s lameness is so overwhelming that Doom has to take a breather.
Just in time to BLOW UP THE ARMY WITH THEIR OWN MISSILES.
George Evans isn’t spectacular, but holy crap is that panel awesome or what?
Remember Dr. Dorcas? The one who killed Namor’s first love interest, who is responsible for Tiger Shark’s existence and for the death of Namor’s father?
He goes down like a b*tch.
Seriously! That’s his death scene. At least until we find out in 2012 that he actually survived.
But we are not done, because the jester SOMEHOW survived the explosion.
Doom intimidates him into suicide (!!!!!). Told you he appreciates satire!
And so we end with Namor realizing two things:
1) Doctor Doom is an incredibly powerful ally
2) he’s DEFINITELY not a good guy
Doom significance: 0/10
Pretty much forgettable. Which is a shame because I wouldn’t mind to see those Latverians assistants again. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
The jester is really the only Silver-Age-adjecent thing, but considering how he dies…
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
Shooter is very good at writing both Doom and Namor, but it’s pretty clear that he has almost no interest in Namor’s plots. This is supposed to be his final battle with his worst enemies, and yet you change his adversaries without missing much.
It was a Doombot all along
No indication, but this is unlikely to be a robot.
Take over the world & Destroy the FF!
Still just thinking about Namor.
Crazy tech
Nothing TOO crazy for Doom; even the teleporter is pretty basic, and Doom doesn’t use that kind of tech very often.