SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #14 (1977)
by Bill Mantlo & Bob Hall
cover by John Byrne
This is the last issue featuring Doctor Doom, and he definitely goes out with a blast.
Starting with a John Byrne cover!
We begin with Magneto visiting Latveria, finding everyone celebrating.
If you’re not familiar with Silver Age Magneto, he’s… QUITE different from his more modern portrayal.
Latveria is currently celebrating Doom’s victory over the Red Skull.
Meanwhile, Doom is in his castle busy playing chess with himself.
A nice touch: on the chessboard, the king is Doom (of course) and the queen is Valeria.
Magneto barges in, somewhat surprised that Doom knows him. The X-Men were pretty separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe even then, but Magneto was often named as a big deal.
While Magneto narrates his latest fight with the X-Men, Doom seems utterly bored.
Magneto is here to forge an alliance with Doom, stating that while he has the power to crush the planet he’s unable to subjugate it. I’m confused why he thinks these are different things.
But the big revelation is that Doom isn’t interested in taking over the world… because he’s already conquered it!
Yep! Doctor Doom has taken over the world… OFF-PANEL.
Specifically, EVERYONE ON THE PLANET is now under Doom’s control!!!
The effects of the Neuro-Gas ™ are enormously overpowered.
In fact, the only reason why Doom is even talking to Magneto instead of killing him is that he’s overwhelmingly bored.
And so Doctor Doom issues a formal challenge to the Master of Magnetism!
Magneto is kind of a loser in this story.
He’s not stupid enough to try to take on Doom on his own, though, so Magneto goes to the Avengers to ask for help.
(kind of weird seeing Scarlet Witch describe Magneto like that, but at the time she didn’t know he was her father)
“A splash page where Magneto fights the Avengers” should be cool right? Unfortunately, action scenes aren’t Bob Hall’s forte.
Also I think Scarlet Witch is having a stroke.
The Avengers get their second wind, keeping Magneto on the ropes.
He tells the heroes about Doom’s mind control, and the Avengers aren’t buying it… until Doom shows up.
That gas must really be something if it can control androids and GODS.
Doom could easily order the Avengers to fight Magneto, but since he wants a challenge, he allows the mutant to keep ONE Avenger.
Let’s see the options available to Magneto, shall we?
Thor is a no brainer, since he has defeated Doom once; but I guess I can understand not choosing him, since Thor also once beat up Magneto pretty badly.
Iron Man? Magneto doesn’t know he’s Tony Stark, so okay, I can buy if he doesn’t chooses him.
He has Vision and Wonder Man, who are powerhouses and could really be handy in a fight. He could recruit Captain America for his strategic insight, or perhaps Yellowjacket since he knows Hank Pym is a scientific genius.
And the Wasp… look, I like Wasp, but let’s face it she’d be useless here.
Magneto chooses… BEAST.
Remember what I said about Magneto not being an idiot? I forgot this is Silver Age Magneto.
On the upside, this means that he has telepathic abilities through magnetic bulls#t.
Since Magneto has the power to free basically anyone from mind control, they decide to recruit other heroes. And of course, as per Marvel tradition, everybody is always busy when you need them!
This is 1977, so there aren’t a lot of Marvel teams around. Only the Defenders aren’t namechecked, and that means that to save the world Magneto has to get the Champions.
The world is screwed, isn’t it?
Doom significance: 6/10
You would think that the first time Doom conquers the world would have higher significance, but this story is basically ignored later on.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Come on, a gas that mind-controls everybody up to Thor is WAY up there on the Marvel scale!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
The idea that Doom has taken over the world off-panel and he’s doing all of this out of boredom is AWESOME. However most of the story focuses on Magneto, who is a rather silly villain in this early period.
It was a Doombot all along
It might be a Doombot, but the one in the following story is definitely the real Doom so probably no.
Destroy the FF!
Strangely enough, the Fantastic Four are barely mentioned.
Take over the world
Well OF COURSE. Leading to…
Times Doctor Doom has taken over the world: 1
This WILL get to a higher number, but it’ll take a while.
Crazy tech
The Neuro-Gas, of course! A mind-control substance so stupidly overpowered that it allows to conquer the world off-panel.
This (and the follow up) are just plain stupid. The number of non-breathing Marvel characters on the planet who’d laugh at this daft neuro-gas plot is enormous – and, as you pointed out, definitely include the Vision, a whole bunch of other synthetic life forms, a bunch of undead and supernatural entities (such as Ghost Rider next issue). The idea that this stuff is so potent it affects alien physiologies and has been dispersed in volumes that cover the whole globe while going undetected by SHIELD, Richards, Stark…heck even Pym on a good day – it’s just absurd. Stop fanboying for Vickie and accept that this whole plot is even more of an embarrassment for him than it is for Magneto, who’s also a dolt here. I’d hate this even more if it didn’t have the Champions in it, but after their ludicrous tussles with Godzilla and Swarm any appearance they make is guaranteed to at least be enjoyably silly.