The way Spider-Man participated in the Acts of Vengeance crossover was unusual: not only he was dealing with attacks from supervillains he had never met, but he was also gaining cosmic powers (those of Captain Universe as we’ll later learn).
And since Spider-Man had 4 running series at the time, it leads to a bunch of Doctor Doom appearances… despite the fact that the two never actually meet!
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #158 (1989)
by Gerry Conway & Sal Buscema
According to this story Kingpin is the second-to-last recruit, with only the Mandarin missing.
Doctor Doom doesn’t think much about Spider-Man… for now.
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #159 (1989)
by Gerry Conway & Sal Buscema
At this point Spider-Man has demonstrated he has new powers, and that’s what picks Doom’s interest.
This is how the Prime Movers should’ve been used more often: giving strategic advice to minor villains.
Considering Spider-Man can now lift entire buildings with his web, it’s no wonder the exceedingly lame Brothers Grimm don’t defeat him.
Like I said, this gets Doom VERY interested in him.
Also, once again Doctor Doom absolutely cannot sit down like a normal person.
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #160 (1990)
by Gerry Conway & Sal Buscema
Doom’s involvement has reached the point of sending threats to Spider-Man directly, starting with a Captain America one-off enemy: TESS One, a robot made of Adamantium to fight superheroes.
(T.E.S.S. stands for “Total Elimination of Super-Soldiers”, because who needs subtlety when you have killer robots?)
There was also an entire plot about Congress wanting to force superhumans to register with the government, but Doctor Doom has no time for that! And neither does the crossover: it’s a major plot point only on the pages of Fantastic Four and, of all places, Alpha Flight.
Going against Spider-Man by himself is pretty much against the entire idea of the Acts of Vengeance, but of course Doom is always going to do his own thing.
Still, Kingpin is not the kind of guy to refuse the gift of an indestructible killer robot.
There’s a reason why you never read very often about T.E.S.S.-One, though.
In a bit of clever writing, though, Doom didn’t expect the robot to win. Quite the opposite, in fact!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #327 (1989)
by David Michelinie & Erik Larsen
Spider-Man new powers get him the attention of the rest of the Prime Movers, including a ridiculously ballooned Kingpin.
And Magneto, who suspects Spider-Man has developed mutant powers and uncharacteristically decides to intervene personally.
Spider-Man fights Magneto for the majority of the issue, until he decides Spider-Man is not a mutant and just leaves.
Fun fact: Doctor Doom showed up in this series aaaaaall the way back in issue #5, meaning there is a 322 gap between his appearances. That’s probably a record of some kind!
WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #59 (1989)
by Gerry Conway & Alex Saviuk
Doctor Doom recruits a new villain to fight Spider-Man: Titania. This is the first time after Secret Wars that she meets Doom, but she’s fought Spider-Man several times before… so once a gain we are already going against the Acts of Vengeance idea.
In fact, at the time Titania had been defeated by Spider-Man so many times that she was absolutely terrified of him!!!
Leave it to Doctor Doom to cure PTSD with a few words!!!
I don’t think his methods are approved by the medical community, though.
The device gets damaged during the fight, leading Titania to revert to her terrified state… until Spider-Man screws himself up, because he’s Spider-Man.
Not that it matters, because at the moment Spider-Man is basically invincible.
WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #60 (1990)
by Gerry Conway & Alex Saviuk
Spider-Man easily defeats Goliath at the beginning of the issue, so he’s recruited by Doctor Doom to be powered-up for the second round.
This means that Spider-Man learns Doctor Doom is behind the recent supervillain attacks, but nothing comes from this.
Spider-Man complaining about being kept out of the loop is pretty funny.
Still, like I said: basically invincible.
WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #61 (1990)
by Gerry Conway & Alex Saviuk
Thinks are pretty bad for Spider-Man lately, because he’s Spider-Man. When he throws his mask off the Empire State Building, Wizard jumps the gun believing it means he quit.
See what I meant about the Mandarin having an even worse look?
Doom has been consistent in one thing during his membership of the Prime Movers: he really has no time for their s#it.
While Spider-Man is busy fighting Dragon Man, of all people, Doom completes the T.E.S.S.-One plan.
Both stories were written by Gerry Conway after all.
Unsurprisingly the “lackey” is onto him. And equally unsurprisingly he considers Doom the most dangerous of the Prime Movers.
Once Spider-Man defeats Dragon Man, we check on Doctor Doom… who would’ve gained at least some part of Spider-Man’s new cosmic powers if it wasn’t for the “lackey”.
I don’t think Spider-Man ever found out why Doom was pestering him.
Doom significance: 0/10
Nothing comes from this, plus it’s 99% a Doombot.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
The powers of Captain Universe in general are extremely Silver Age.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Once again I’m talking only about the Doctor Doom scenes, and once again they’re fine.
It was a Doombot all along
Very, very, very likely.
Crazy tech
We don’t know for certain if that machine was going to give Doom the powers of Captain Universe, but judging from his past projects… yeah, probably.