FANTASTIC FOUR #198 (1978)
by Marv Wolfman & Keith Pollard
cover by George Buscema
Just how many cameras does Doctor Doom have!?
Reed finally acknowledges that anyone really should’ve realized that Doom was behind everything way earlier.
According to him, his powers are greater than before.
He’s not, however, smart enough to recognize the guy who we learned last issue is supposed to be Doom’s son… and who has the exact same face of the Victor Von Doom he knew in college.
Reed’s attempt to get past Doom’s robots ends with a sploosh.
Doom is certain that Reed died during the shuttle crash, and he shows utter contempt for the people of Latveria.
I hate this! Doctor Doom has a complicated relationship with his subjects, and he can be very cruel with them, but this is just ridiculous.
Also: Doom feels in the mood to pose. (????)
Luckily for Reed, he’s been rescued by the leader of the resistance: Prince Zorba.
This is the first confirmation that Rudolfo is dead (Zorba will be revealed to be his younger brother). Presumably he dies off-panel after the injuries sustained in Super-Villain Team-Up #12.
Last issue Doom said that he wanted to leave the throne to his son because he was tired of leading Latveria (with the implication that he’s ready to rule the entire world).
Zorba talks about “an ancient Latverian law that demands he abdicate his throne”, which sounds like utter nonsense to me. What does that even mean!?
Back to Doom, he’s posing for his statue and allowing the rest of the Fantastic Four to see him without his mask. This will cause a lot of complains in the letters page, forcing the editors to say that they didn’t get to actually see him.
Once he’s done posing, Doom places the prisoners into this awesomely designed Kirby machine.
Its purpose? To give the powers of the Fantastic Four to his son!
Reed sabotages Doom’s detection systems, allowing the resistance to sneak inside the castle.
Everyone except Reed and Zorba is knocked out by the gas. They run into the Hauptmann that is helping Doom in this storyline; he’s confirmed to be the brother of the one from Fantastic Four #85, who’s actually the one responsible for Zorba’s goofy look.
Reed uses his powers to disguise himself as Hauptmann, in a way that really doesn’t fit with how his powers have always been shown to work.
I’m glad he never tries something like this again. If he’s a complete shapeshifter he loses originality!
With the complete set, Doom can now give his son the powers of ALL the Fantastic Four.
So… why doesn’t Doom give himself the powers?
Doom significance: 9/10
Zorba will prove to be very important for Doom, even more than Rudolfo.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
Doctor Doom at his most stereotypical, Reed using his powers in ways that he shouldn’t, plus it’s really hard to believe that no members of the resistance were killed, despite all reassurances.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
Reed’s adventure with the resistance is pretty good, if a bit rushed. Doom is just written horribly, even if he does get a couple of cool moments here and there. Overall it needs a lot of work to be published today.
It was a Doombot all along
No direct indication, but I really wish the one talking about Latverians was just a poorly programmed Doombot!
Destroy the FF!
Obviously this one counts.
Take over the world
The ultimate goal of this entire storyline.
Crazy tech
That machine that absorbs and copies the Fantastic Four powers is something else.