Winter Soldier #4 (2012)
by Ed Brubaker & Butch Guice
cover be Lee Bermejo
This series has some great covers, but this one is generic and forgettable.
Last time Doctor Doom agreed to work with Winter Soldier and Black Widow, but that’s not as easy as it sounds.
Doom is not particularly impressed with Lucia Von Bardas.
Remember that Lucia recovered a Doombot, which is currently at the United Nations Headquarters.
Although this is clearly a rather inferior Doombot…
…considering he doesn’t know about one of the best Doom cameos ever.
Doom has a very futuristic ship in his New York embassy, and Winter Soldier brings up an interesting point.
From my understanding it WOULD be legal for Doom to keep anything he wants within the embassy, but if he flies that thing in US airspace then US laws would definitely apply.
(lawyer readers, please correct me if I’m wrong, I’m genuinely interested)
But I’m reasonably sure “anything is legal as long as everyone witnessing the crime is dead” is not legal anywhere but Latveria.
It’s quite funny to me that this could be considered one of the most civil team-ups between Doctor Doom and a hero, even if he’s still being Doctor Doom about it.
The Doombot and the assassin working for Von Bardas have reached the United Nations.
It’s a pity the ambassador is immediately killed, because I would have enjoyed at least learning who had that job. And because, you know, someone died I guess.
At least we get to see a bit of the decorations, which are exactly what you’d expect.
Doom’s ship gets him and Winter Soldier into the United Nations offices, by BTTOOM!-ing the place.
Winter Soldier’s assessment of Doom’s sneakiness got a chuckle out of me.
A cool detail you might have missed until the real Doom and the Doombot meet: you can distinguish between them by the speech bubble’s style.
Winter Soldier might not be fond of working with Doom, but when whether you’re facing a regular assassin or an out-of-control robot he’s very useful.
Sadly we’re going to miss the fight between Doom and the Doombot because Winter Soldier has other priorities.
That’s because the assassin is from the brainwashing operations that turned Bucky into Winter Soldier. So the two have a big assassin fight.
The assassin ends up dying after the fight, but not before revealing that this entire business at the United Nations was not the big plan.
Doctor Doom, not giving a #### since 1962.
And so we end the scene with the revelation of why Lucia Von Bardas wanted that Doombot.
To discover that we have to move back to Latveria, specifically in the “Latverian Alps”.
Which is a bit of a stretch if you only consider what are colloquially called the Alps, because there’s absolutely no what whatsoever that Latveria shares a border with Italy France or Switzerland.
But if we consider the full mountain range it’s slightly more believable: by this period Latveria is generally said to be bordering Hungary, so maaaaybe it’s between Hungary and Austria.
It’s typically considered to be either north of Hungary (bordering Slovakia) or more commonly to the east (bordering Romania), which would NOT fit.
The best explanation, however, is that the “Latverian Alps” are actually part of the Carpathian Mountains.
Von Bardas, Red Ghost and another assassin are there to take control of one of Latveria’s secret installations…
…and she demonstrates that the cybernetic implants she received during Secret War do more than give her an admittedly cool-looking eye.
The cliffhanger finally reveals what Von Bardas obtained from the Doombot: the launch codes for Latveria’s nuclear missiles!!!
Doom significance: 4/10
Like last issue, it’s only notable for rescuing Lucia Von Bardas from obscurity.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Without the Red Ghost’s super-apes, not as high as the last one.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Another extremely solid story. I’m a bit disappointed that the fight between Doom and the Doombot isn’t given much space, but then again Doom is not the main character of this series.
But please don’t tell him, because: 
It was a Doombot all along
Obviously there IS a Doombot here. But the “real” one might as well be a different robot.
The doomy lands of doom
Latveria might be on the Alps. SOMEHOW.
Crazy tech
Doom’s ship is apparently notable to Winter Soldier. Which, considering the crazy stuff he’s seen when he was Buck, is at least something.
“Doom’s ship is apparently notable to Winter Soldier. Which, considering the crazy stuff he’s seen when he was Buck, is at least something.” Ah, that’s just because he’s a Marvel character. Show that thing to any DC character from WW2 and they’ll just shrug and say it’s no war wheel.