Mighty Avengers #10 (2008)
by Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley
Not having Doctor Doom featured on the cover is bad enough, but choosing a very minor part of the story is weird.
Sentry was right next to Doom and Iron Man when the trio was sent back in time last issue, but for some reason he arrives at a different place.
He freaks out when he sees his Silver Age counterpart.
See the gimmick about Sentry was that he was a character from the Silver Age that everyone forgot ever existed.
Then the gimmick became writing him as so mentally damaged that he can’t do anything, ever.
While Sentry is freaking out, Iron Man is facing an extremely pissed off Doctor Doom.
Iron Man argues that doing anything in the past would have catastrophic consequences.
That’s not how time travel works at Marvel, but Iron Man is not an expert on that so I’ll let it slide. Especially since Doom has the perfect sarcastic reply ready.
I think Doom knows perfectly well that there’s no danger of changing history. I can think of a couple of reasons why he goes along with this… maybe the damage to the time machine makes it harder to get back to his time without ending in an alternate timeline, or most likely it’s part of his scheme to get back at Iron Man.
This storyline is a preamble to Secret Invasion, and Iron Man is one of the few that already knows the shapeshifting Skrulls have infiltrated the superhero community.
So he’s EXTREMELY paranoid in this period, to the point of suspecting Doom to be a Skrull.
Which is laughable because you know the Skrull would out himself by not boasting enough about how awesome he is.
Shockingly for Bendis, who typically doesn’t give a crap about continuity, he remembers that these two have the perfect solution to get back to the present: use the same trick from Iron Man #150.
Iron Man’s paranoia about Doom wanting to know the technical details of his armor sounds plausible, but I don’t think he should be concerned. Doom most likely already considers Stark’s tech too much below his standards to bother.
Everything is going well until Sentry, being Sentry, f#cks this up and gets blasted with magic.
I love how Doom spots IMMEDIATELY that Sentry is clinically nuts.
Since their armors don’t currently have the components needed to return to the present, and Doom doesn’t seem to consider using magic (next issue he suspects Morgan Le Fay may be behind this, so perhaps that’s why), it leaves only one solution.
You know, Doctor Doom is right in blaming Richards for once! He really DID keep Doom’s time machine after their first encounter; Reed wouldn’t build his own time machine for years.
Doom would have Iron Man just ask Reed to use the time machine, but the hero is still hung up on the idea of avoiding changing history.
Once again I have to side with Doom, because I can’t imagine Reed Richards… even a younger one… freaking out at the idea of his friend coming from the future asking for help.
For the Fantastic Four, that’s a regular Tuesday!
Also: while the random thought balloons Bendis forces everywhere in this period are typically infuriating, I did enjoy Iron Man wondering if Doom has seen a movie.
He probably thought he could conquer it.
(sadly this is just fanart)
Doom gets a brief recap of Sentry’s deal…
…and delivers one of the BEST comebacks of the 2000s.
Seriously, “a lot more people hate you than hate me” is a great representation of the readers’ opinion of Iron Man between Civil War and the movie.
Despite getting the cover, the fight between Sentry and the Thing is barely two pages.
Well, it’s not really a fight.
Doctor Doom always appreciates the little moments.
With the Thing out of the way, the trio infiltrates the Baxter Building without problem.
Throughout the issue, Iron Man has been receiving updates from his armor on whether Doom is ready to attack or not.
Yet another rare case of Bendis using subtlety: the fact that he’s constantly scanning Doom does a better job at showing off Iron Man’s paranoia than anything he could say.
Why can’t Bendis write Doom like this all the time? This is great stuff.
Doom activates his time machine, with Iron Man monitoring his every move to make sure he’s not going to pull any tricks.
The banter between these two is priceless.
So… remember how I said Iron Man was keeping an eye on Doom the entire time?
Doom tricks him anyway, because he is Doctor Freaking Doom.
Specifically, Doom sent them back to the exact moment when the castle explodes.
Overall, the first two parts of this storyline have been surprisingly great when it comes to Doom!
The next part, though? Prepare to suffer. A LOT.
Because it’s among the worst stuff Bendis has written on the series, WHICH IS SAYING SOMETHING.
Doom significance: 4/10
The storyline itself is significant, but this issue in particular can be skipped.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Despite being set in the Silver Age, no real tropes show up.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A much stronger outing than the first part. The plot is still rather thin, but we don’t waste six straight pages of pinups and the VERY annoying Avengers are not here.
Starting with the positives: Doom’s dialogue and banter are great, plus Iron Man’s paranoia is well shown and well-served by the choice of having him narrate most of the story.
Everything having to do with those two? Top notch.
As for the negatives… nothing is done with the setting. You have characters sent back to the Silver Age and you don’t do ANYTHING with that? Come on!!!
Sentry started out as a great character, but at this point Bendis clearly has nothing to say about him other than repeating the same beats over and over and over again. At least he’s not a major part of the story so he doesn’t bring it down THAT much.
It was a Doombot all along
Much like the first part, unlikely.
Crazy tech
Doom’s armor very, VERY clearly outclasses Iron Man’s.