What If? #22

WHAT IF? vol.1 #22 (1980)
by Don Glut & Fred Kida

When talking about “What If” and Doctor Doom, this is for obvious reasons the story in everyone’s mind.

The story begins with a quick recap of Doom’s story from the main timeline, including the very first story where… oh for Doom’s sake, Victor, CLOSE YOUR LEGS!!!

The point of divergence is that, in THIS reality, Doom actually listens to Reed Richards when he tells him about the error in his calculations.

The machine designed to take his mind to Hell WORKS, without exploding this time, and its effects are… quite trippy.

While he doesn’t actually meet his mother’s spirit, he’s able to hear her voice…

…and either this timeline is VERY different from the original, or she’s straight up lying.

This leads to Doom leaving university (presumably without getting his doctorate) to study magic on his own…

…and getting to the same old monastery in Tibet.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of the top three worst Doctor Doom armors we have ever seen.

I kind of dig the color scheme, but that helmet is just laughable! Okay I get why he doesn’t wear a mask, but come on, there HAD to be a better design!!!

Also in THIS reality Doom doesn’t have fight Mephisto to free his mother’s soul from Hell… he just has to perform a ritual in a random cave and she’s save!
That’s lame.

Perhaps this worked because the devil is busy in a threesome.

Interesting to see that even in this reality Mephisto is worried about Doom’s accomplishments.

Meanwhile in Latveria we discover that Prince Rudolfo has inherited the throne. While the original one had a dark side that unfortunately wasn’t explored as much as I would’ve liked, THIS Rudolfo is a moustache-twirling scumbag.

Doom attacks him directly, and this version seems to be more willing to use magic.

Since the premise of the story is “what if Doom was a good guy”, we can’t have him murder a head of state (even if he’s a jackass), so Rudolfo basically kills himself.

Also it turns out Doom’s mother wasn’t lying: he IS the legitimate heir to the throne!

HOW!?!? Is Doom actually the son of the baron and not of Werner Von Doom? That would open up A TON of story potential!!! Too bad that’s NEVER EXPLORED in this story!!!
Instead we move to a montage of Doom bringing Latveria into the Industrial Age.

Good grief, did Don Glut think that Europe was still living in the Middle Ages!? I could kind of excuse scenes like that in the early 60s, but in a 1980 story this is kind of offensive.

*groan*

Anyway, Doom takes the throne and marries Valeria.
The kid’s comment makes me wonder if Latveria also introduces gay marriage down the line.

Mephisto never met a superhero wedding he didn’t try to ruin.

This leads into a traditional fight between them.

Unfortunately Mephisto is still WAY too powerful for Doom, who loses the fight.

Keeping the entire population of Latveria hostage, Mephisto offers an exchange: the soul of Valeria in exchange for the entire kingdom. It’s only fair, since Doom took ONE soul from him!

That’s a great moment that would make for a good resolution, but it gets much better: Mephisto gives Doom another option… give up his own soul, saving both Valeria and Latveria.

But even in this reality, Doom’s overwhelming pride leads to his defeat.

And so we end with this Doom falling into the same cycle of the original, battling Mephisto every year for the soul of Valeria instead of the soul of his mother.

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Did any of this show up in continuity?
Oddly enough no, we never see this version of Doom. Which is kind of strange: this is one of his most famous alternate versions, and you’d think having a good Doom would be useful for some stories… but no, he’s a no-show.
I blame that goofy helmet, you cannot take him seriously with that look!

Silver Age-ness: 4/10
So why exactly did Doctor Doom go through all the trouble of fighting Mephisto to save his mother if all he had to do was carry out a ritual in a random cave?

Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
The confrontation with Rudolfo leaves much to be desired, as the idea that Doom is the legitimate heir (I still have not clue WTF was up with that), and the Latveria scenes are pretty bad.
But holy crap is that ending great! That is a GREAT use of Mephisto, who not only gets his revenge but also shoves Doom’s hypocrisy right back in his face.