Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1 (2008)
by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev

Doctor Doom basically skipped Secret Invasion, but he has an important role in the following company-wide event Dark Reign.
Which contains some of the best stuff Bendis did at Marvel. Being Bendis there’s still plenty of crap, but fortunately not much connected to Doom.

Technically speaking, Doom also has an appearance at the very end of the main Secret Invasion miniseries. That’s when, through a rather confusing series of events, Norman Osborn ends up being in charge of pretty much everything superhero related.
But it’s ALSO where he founds the Cabal, a new organization set to secretly run the world.
It’s not that big of a difference from the team that was established during Acts of Vengeance, but I would argue that it makes more sense here.

Honestly I don’t have much of a problem with the membership of the Cabal.
Norman Osborn is basically Marvel’s Lex Luthor in this era, so he fits.
Doctor Doom is a must for an organization like this.
The same is true for Loki, who is currently a woman because of some magic nonsense.
Emma Frost is a bit harder to fit, since she underwent multiple redemption arcs, but she wasn’t 100% turned into a hero and she’s probably working both sides here.
As does Namor, whose presence is in my opinion a stroke of genius because he was ALSO in the Illuminati… meaning he’s both in the team of the most influential heroes AND of the most influential villains! What better position for Marvel’s original anti-hero?
Hood is another addition that kind of works here. He was a VERY minor villain, but he rapidly established himself as the leader of the street level villains. He’s fine at the beginning, although he will become EXTREMELY tiresome because Bendis absolutely fell in love with the character and he ends up pushing him at every turn. Even when he really, REALLY doesn’t belong.
But the Cabal doesn’t have any egregious contradictions, like having Magneto and Red Skull in the same team, so it’s already better than Acts of Vengeance.

This issue is fully dedicated to the Cabal, and Doom gets to interact with most of them.
He doesn’t have the greatest opinion of them because… well he’s Doom.

He does make an effort, though, in honor of his old bromance with Namor.

His characterization is fine, but he might just be the WILDEST case ever of a character being drawn completely off-model. If it wasn’t for the other people calling him Namor, he’d be completely unrecognizable!!!

Doom is, of course, the only one fully aware of everyone’s abilities. Including Hood, who is able to keep himself invisible to anyone except Doom.

More impressively, he spots Loki.

Keep the trident in your pants, Namor.

Osborn shows up for the sales pitch, and this is another part that really works: I can easily see how these characters would find such a promise appealing.

However, both Doom and Namor are savvy enough to immediately recognize Osborn is playing them: since he positioned himself as the leader of SHIELD (renamed HAMMER), he will ALSO use the opportunity to claim he kept the villains under control.

As an incentive, Osborn has control of Sentry now… even though he’s exclusively in the shadows here… which he uses to not-so-subtly threaten the Cabal.
His over-reliance on Sentry will eventually be one of the causes of his downfall.

What really convinces Doom to get along with this, however, is that Osborn is putting him back on the Latverian throne. I guess Doom is probably considering rejecting the help to get back on the throne on his own… but he would have to do so in opposition to Osborn, so this is a price he has to pay.

The members of the Cabal are basically given free reign to do whatever they want, as long as they don’t get too extreme.
This works fine with people like Namor and Emma Frost, but Osborn should REALLY see that both Doom and Loki could only agree to something like this for a limited time.

Loki’s immediate goal is very straightforward. Asgard is currently on Earth for some mythological nonsense.

Notably, Doctor Doom doesn’t ask for anything.

Once Osborn and the others leave, Doom is left alone with Namor… and the two are already scheming to betray Osborn.

If Osborn SOMEHOW doesn’t self-destruct, however… Doom always has a backup plan.

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Doom significance: 8/10
This sets up Doom’s role in Dark Reign and already plants the seeds for his turn against Osborn.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Nope!

 Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Your mileage my vary on a story that is 95% just people talking (there’s some action at the end in an unrelated scene, but just barely)… but I enjoyed it. Bendis has mercifully stopped with his constant back and forth dialogues, and we finally have people talking like people!!! (and gods)
Osborn is both very insightful on how to deal with the Cabal, and at the same time he COMPLETELY misses the mark with some of them. I don’t mind because it’s absolutely in his nature, but only a psychotic egomaniac like him could possibly believe this stunt would work with Doctor Doom.
Speaking of which, I really liked his more subdued attitude here. He’s clearly upset at being in the same room with people he has absolutely no respect for… besides Namor, who of course turns out to be his closest ally. Not his only one, as we’ll soon see.
Honestly this would’ve been an easy 9/10 if it wasn’t for one thing… WTF IS UP WITH NAMOR’S LOOKS!?!? The artwork is mostly fine with everyone else, going for a very moody vibe, but… did ANYONE show Maleev a single drawing of Namor!?!? 

It was a Doombot all along
Unlikely given he was JUST released from prison.

Crazy tech
Doom is most likely just using magic here.