Secret Wars #4-5

Secret Wars #4 (2015)
by Jonathan Hickman & Esad Ribić
cover by Alex Ross

Gaining super-godhoood still didn’t allow Doctor Doom to sit like a normal person.

We begin with Doctor Strange explaining to the survivors of the old universe how Doom rules the new one. And being super creepy about it.

Cyclops currently has the Phoenix Force (every X-Men eventually gets it and it’s his turn I guess), so he doesn’t appreciate Strange just going along with the new status quo.

Meanwhile Doom is informed by one of the Thor Corps about the fight with the Cabal, and the involvement of the survivors from the old universe.

Interesting to note that Doom doesn’t seem to recognize, or care, that Maker is the Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe.

He DEFINITELY notices the regular Reed.

This definitely warrants a personal involvement. It’s a bit amusing how Maker is BARELY considered to be a Reed at this point; which isn’t too surprising, considering very little of the original character remains.

Doom obviously doesn’t waste the opportunity to gloat about having saved the multiverse when all the heroes couldn’t…

…but Reed calls him out on his hypocrisy.

Doom has had enough of this, throwing an attack and a monologue.

Among the heroes, the only one with a SLIGHT chance of seriously fighting Doom is Cyclops.

For about thirty seconds, before Doom snaps his neck.

Sensing this isn’t going to end well, Strange teleports everyone away.

This is a bit at odds with Strange’s previous actions. Up to this point there was the possibility that Doom was manipulating him, but given how Strange is able to straight up refuse obeying, his free will wasn’t being restrained.
Which means that yes, Strange really was a true believer in Doom’s world for YEARS.

On a more positive note, Strange points out Doom’s most glaring weakness: even after LITERALLY BECOMING GOD, Reed Richards still lives rent free in his mind.

Doom doesn’t appreciate the honesty, killing Strange on the spot.

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Secret Wars #5 (2015)
by Jonathan Hickman & Esad Ribić
cover by Alex Ross

At the halfway point of the main series, we finally learn exactly how Doctor Doom became God.

We begin with Strange’s funeral.

Valeria is particularly upset about this loss, despite Strange being something of a professional rival.

The reason why Doom isn’t doing anything personally is that, despite being currently VASTLY more powerful than he’s ever been… out of all the times he’s obtained godhood, this is probably the time he has the worst control over it.

There’s something delightfully creepy about Doom simultaneously wanting absolute undying loyalty AND wanting to be a good father to Valeria.

Doom then plays a visit to Molecule Man, who despite having his own tombstone is not dead.

I am not kidding when I say that Doom not bringing food when he visits a friend is going to save the multiverse.

Doom informs him that Strange is dead, to which Molecule Man has an… interesting reply.

Like I said, this is when we finally learn what exactly happened when the old universe died.

The Beyonders were bored with the old multiverse, so they created Molecule Man as means to blow it up from the inside.

When will characters in fiction figure out that it’s never, EVER a good idea to give sentience to your weapons?

This means that Molecule Man chose Doctor Doom to help him stop the Beyonders because he’s a pretty popular character there may be something of a time loop in play.

We already knew that Doom created the Black Swans to kill the various Molecule Man from other universes… but what we didn’t know is that he was ALSO stockpiling a bunch of them.

The Beyonders were too powerful to be destroyed by anything else, so Doom had to use their own power to kill them… and the Molecule Men just happened to have a fraction of that power.

For all his talk about being God, Doctor Doom doesn’t actually hold the power of the Beyonders himself: it was absorbed by Molecule Man, and Doom is just borrowing it.

Interestingly, Doom holds some level of regret about having to kill Strange.

Molecule Man is currently more than a little insane from all the power he’s holding, but he might have figured out how things are going to end.

Doom assigned Valeria and her team of super-scientists the task of finding the survivors from the old universe, and he definitely underestimated how smart other people can be. As Doom does.

Never a good idea to make a Richards curious, Doom.

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Doom significance: 8/10
This is when Doom’s rule begins to unravel, FAST.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Nothing comes to mind.

Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
A bit of a disappointment. Doom facing Reed again was handled well, and the world wising up from Doom’s lies is satisfying, but something isn’t clicking for me.
Doom comes off as a bit too indecisive. If it’s because he doesn’t fully control his power it’s not depicted very convincingly; the original Secret Wars did a much better job at showcasing he didn’t control the Beyonder’s power.
Strange’s turn to the good side is definitely too abrupt after so many speeches about his belief in Doom. Was it just because he saw Doom kill Cyclops and demonstrate he’s still obsessed with Reed? That’s not particularly believable.
The revelation about how Doom defeated the Beyonders is also unsatisfying. While I really like his dynamic with Molecule Man, given what we were told about the Beyonders… doesn’t entirely track.
A lot of great work went into explaining why they couldn’t see the attack coming, since they weren’t able to follow Doom’s travels through time… but then it turns out they were just killed by a super-Molecule-Man bomb. How did THAT work? We were told that Molecule Man dying triggered the death of whatever universe he was on, but given how uber-omnipotent the Beyonders were supposed to be… I don’t know if I buy something like this could damage them, let alone kill all of them.
And how did Molecule Men end up absorbing all of their power? Was it thanks to a variation of Doom’s many cosmic power absorption devices? What it a spell from Doctor Strange? Speaking of which, what exactly did Strange DO there? Given the significance given to his presence at the last stand, you’d expect the comic to tell us he did SOMETHING specific!
I wouldn’t nitpick this so much if Hickman hadn’t done a spectacular job explaining how Doom was able to work beneath the Beyonders notice, and the fact that he drops the ball with their defeat is infuriating.

Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 135
Miles Morales, the Jane Foster Thor and Star-Lord are among the survivors who oppose Doom; while it’s a stretch to say they fight him, Doom attacks them so they count.