FANTASTIC FOUR #287 (1986)
by John Byrne
This begins a two-parter with the last Doctor Doom story of John Byrne’s Fantastic Four run, so of course the cover features a random housewife.
The Fantastic Four are staying at Avengers Mansion after Kristoff blew up the Baxter Building. This is immediately after they discovered Jean Grey was not actually dead (loooooong story), which gives Reed the idea to check on Doctor Doom in this AMAZING panel:
Nobody draws sci-fi technology like John Byrne.
Note that Reed is FINALLY willing to accept Doom is alive after presumably dying in Fantastic Four #260, despite meeting him for 12 straight issues of Secret Wars.
Weirdly enough it’s Wasp who is doubting he’s still alive, despite the fact that she WAS in Secret Wars. She wasn’t even present during Doom’s supposed death, but neither was Reed.
I wonder when exactly Reed managed to record Doom’s brain patterns. Presumably when Doom was imprisoned after Fantastic Four #200? I can’t think of an earlier moment that makes sense.
But Reed will have to stay out of the story for a while, because his wife is going to Wasp’s hairdresser. Also: Byrne is one of the few artists that draws She-Hulk THAT tall.
The hairdresser is the excuse to get closer to the Latverian embassy, not to mention a way for Byrne to begin his experiments with Susan’s hairdo.
Interesting trivia: the Latverian embassy is apparently across the street of the French embassy.
Well technically speaking that’s a consulate, not an embassy (since NY isn’t the nation’s capital), but you will NEVER see it called that way in a Marvel comic.
And of course you can’t mention the words “embassy” and “Latveria” in the same comic book without something exploding.
“It’s impossible, that was an alien shapeshifter pretending to be my dead father!”.
I love superhero comics.
The girls stop Invincible Man (ironic, isn’t it?) who turns out to have a grudge against Doom.
Who is not even trying to hide. Also Invincible Man’s melodramatics are going to be hilarious later.
I’m not a lawyer like She-Hulk, but I don’t think you can just barge into an embassy like this.
Sure, diplomatic immunity doesn’t exactly cover kidnapping, but still…
Speaking of kidnapping, we then cut to the woman on the cover.
She’s the wife of the random bystander we saw all the way back in Fantastic Four #260.
Remember this guy? The one who was rude to Aunt May?
Flawless continuity, by the way: he’s wearing the same clothes!
“Norman” turns out to be the current Invincible Man.
Invincible Man is very subtle and completely above all suspicion.
Also note the reference to his accent. Considering the Norman flashback… is Latverian supposed to sound Austrian? Does Doctor Doom really sound like Arnold!?
Sounds legit.
Invisible Girl (who at this point has changed her name to Invisible Woman) tracks down Doom and fights him… or rather his Doombot.
Yeah, sure.
Interesting that this was supposed to be a lethal blast. Unless he was counting on her to put up the force field, which I wouldn’t put past him.
Unfortunately for him, Susan has gone through MASSIVE character development lately, so she’s really a force to be reckoned with now.
Yeah, she’s one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe now! Which is why she gets taken off by… checking notes… a regular housewife throwing a vase.
And so we reach the big surprise of this issue: Doctor Doom is not really dead but is, in fact, Invincible Man!
Jokes aside, this is masterfully executed. Today we take somewhat for granted Doom’s power to switch minds, but remember he hadn’t used it for TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY issues!!!
Note that Doom has absolutely zero empathy for the civilian’s death or for the distress of his widow, but that apparently all his security systems were keyed to his body.
That’s kind of hard to believe, but not impossible. Remember that Doom keeps who knows how many Doombots around: he needs SOME method to make sure they don’t impersonate him.
More importantly, I can totally believe Doctor Doom to be the one guy to think he’s NEVER going to need a spare set of keys because it’s inconceivable he could possible lose them.
But even now that he has control of the embassy he’s still not satisfied to keep a stranger’s body, and we end the issue with Doom summoning the rest of the Fantastic Four.
Also: remember when I said Invincible Man was hilarious?
Imagine Doctor Doom is faking being on the verge of tears… with an Arnold voice.
Doom significance: 7/10
Next issue is going to be even more significant, but this is the official explanation for why he didn’t die.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
“It’s impossible, that was an alien shapeshifter pretending to be my dead father!”.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
John Byrne at his very best.
It was a Doombot all along
Obviously there IS a Doombot here, but could Invincible Man actually be a Doombot that thinks he’s Doom? Some interpretations of a future Walt Simonson retcon could lead to that… but while I can buy Doombots being able to fool telepaths, having the power to switch minds would be too much. No, this is the real Doom.
Crazy tech
Doom built a suit of armor that can challenge his robots and fight the Invisible Woman… with spare parts of a civilian’s garage.