FANTASTIC FOUR #288 (1986)
by John Byrne
This is technically a “Secret Wars II” tie-in, but mercifully you don’t need to know anything about that mess. Actually this works FAR better if you don’t read Secret Wars II.
We begin with the Human Torch assaulting the Latveria Embassy. Note the quotation… considering how the story ends, it’s actually quite deep.
Reed is also here, joining Wasp and She-Hulk in the assault.
Note Doom praising She-Hulk’s power and “extraordinary sensuality”. (???)
Also note the close-up on the eye: it doesn’t have Doom’s scars. Good consistency on showing a different color from usual (Doom’s eyes are brown), but last time the guy he’s possessing had green eyes and not blue like now.
Doom’s invention of the day: something he should really, REALLY use more often.
No matter what body he’s using, this man absolutely refuses to sit down like a normal person.
Doom has the Fantastic Four trapped, and I really have to highlight just how creative and awesome these prisons are. The one for Mr. Fantastic looks generic, but Doom has plastic that is both unbreakable and porous enough to let air get inside!!!
The trap for Invisible Girl shows why he’s not typically all that worried about her boasts of being able to easily defeat him.
Most impressive is the trap for the Human Torch: breathable water.
Yes, BREATHABLE WATER.
And again with Doom complimenting She-Hulk’s beauty. Look, it’s no secret that Byrne had a thing for her, but come on!
Then the housewife pushes the Reed button.
You should never, ever, EVER push the Reed button.
Masterful use of Reed here, convincing Doom to stand down by appealing to his sense of grandeur.
At this point you’re probably wondering what exactly is Doom’s plan. Nothing short of recovering the remains of his body from total sub-atomic disintegration.
At this point in his publishing career, this is by far the most overt use of magic he’s ever shown.
When the spell doesn’t work, Doom modifies the spell…
…and summons the freaking BEYONDER, in all of his 80tiness.
Yeah, the ONLY thing you should know from Secret Wars II is that the Beyonder took human form and now looks like THAT.
Which, no joke, is canonically supposed to be Captain America’s body with a Michael Jackson hairdo. Again: I am being 100% serious here.
I know it’s hard to believe, but even this silly version of the Beyonder was a big deal… this doofus was powerful around to casually kick around Eternity, a guy who is LITERALLY THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, and who once KILLED DEATH HERSELF.
And not only Doctor Freaking Doom was able to summon him without the Beyonder’s consent… but he has the balls to declare himself the master and even shoots at him!!!
Yeah, of course he’s not actually hurting him or anything, but holy crap!!!
That doesn’t come without consequences, though. You don’t slap around a god without getting him angry.
Reed stops the Beyonder from killing Doom, mostly because both are claiming they have never met each other.
Reed takes the opportunity to recap the events of Secret Wars (which is actually when I first learned about them, since I didn’t get the chance to read the series until years later); Doom confirms he’s never heard ANY of it, and the Beyonder recognizes him.
Interesting to see Reed save his nemesis twice in a row. The rest of the heroes present wouldn’t mind getting rid of Doom, though.
We are now at the best part of the story, and the resolution of how Doom could appear in Secret Wars if he was dead at the time.
Very interesting stuff here, also from a meta perspective. The Beyonder looked into the minds of the heroes and realized a battle without Doom would not be satisfying… the same way Jim Shooter thought he need to have Doctor Doom there, even if he was presume dead at the time.
And in the same way the Beyonder took Doom from the future, Shooter did exactly the same.
I don’t know how much this is intentional… Byrne was famously at odds with Shooter at several points of their careers, and this is not the spiteful representation of a Shooter stand-in we would later see… but don’t tell me you’re not seeing it.
This point of the story has fantastic sci-fi concepts which, for whatever reason, some people have called confusing over the years.
I read this when I was like eight years old and I never found it confusing in the slightest.
From Doom’s point of view, we are currently here:
From the Beyonder’s point of view it’s instead:
But the Beyonder is not considering that he took Doom from the future AFTER he resurrected him… something that hasn’t happened yet.
And even if he talks about being omnipotent, he doesn’t know if he transcends time or not.
So the Beyonder resurrects Doctor Doom and sends him back in time for Secret Wars.
See? Couldn’t be simpler!
And so Doom returns, ready to put all this nonsense behind him.
Strangely enough, Klaw is not with him. For whatever reason, the Beyonder sent him to fight Daredevil.
Doom significance: 10/10
Not only this solves the problem of having Doom in the original Secret Wars (and it will also be used as a plot point by Englehart)… it’s almost the reason why there is still a Marvel Universe!
In the 2015 Secret Wars, Doom is able to save the Multiverse from the Beyonders (the adult forms of this Beyonder, as we’ll learn) because despite their power they are linear beings who can’t travel through time or see the future. Sounds familiar?
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
This is probably the least Silver Age Beyonder, but it’s still there in concept.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Ironic considering the subject matter, I know. It’s more of a Reed Richards story than a Fantastic Four one, and Wasp does nothing the entire time… but I adore this one. Jokes aside the time loop is very well explained and it’s very cool to have Reed defy the Beyonder by sheer logic alone.
It was a Doombot all along
One of the few cases where it absolutely cannot be a Doombot.
Crazy tech
Surprisingly enough, technology takes a backseat to magic this time. Still, BREATHABLE WATER!!!