SILVER SABLE & THE WILD PACK #4 (1992)
by Gregory Wright & Steven Butler
One of the ways Infinity War spread through the various books was by having the evil doppelgangers of the various superheroes running around, as part of the absurdly convoluted plan of the Magus. Oddly enough Doctor Doom got a doppelganger as well, and even more strangely he shows up in the Silver Sable book while Doom was otherwise busy.
Well technically speaking Doom does show up for a couple of panels, and there’s a mention that because of his mission he’s going to skip a previous engagement.
This is Doom’s doppelganger, wearing a ridiculously edgy armor. To be fair, all the doppelgangers were ridiculous, mostly on purpose.
It’s unlikely I’ll ever get to talk about Silver Sable again, but it’s kind of inevitable here.
She started off as an occasional Spider-Man ally, a no-nonsense mercenary from the fictional European country of Symkaria.
And since all fictional European countries are editorially mandated to eventually share a border with Latveria, turns out that the “previous engagement” Doom was talking about was an annual dinner date he has with Silver Sable.
Intriguingly the two are on first name basis, or at the very least she calls him Victor.
The doppelganger goes along with it because… well all doppelgangers are actually hideous tentacle monsters, this was inevitable.
She’s not written consistently, but I’ve always liked Silver Sable. Who else has the courage to tell Doctor Doom “your armor looks ridiculous”?
It’s kind of a pithy that this is not the real Doctor Doom. I would read the hell out of a story that just revolves around what these two would talk about! Would they gossip about the latest superhero shenanigans?
But this is a doppelganger, so we’re talking about Evil Doctor Doom… well, EvilER Doctor Doom… so he randomly murders the waiter.
Even if it’s entirely possible the real Doom restrained himself from his excesses when in the presence of Silver Sable, she’s horrified and the doppelganger completely flips out.
Silver Sable knows him well enough to recognize this can’t possibly be the real Doom, and for obvious reasons thinks this is just a rogue Doombot.
At least he’s not crazy enough to murder Silver Sable, leaving her with his robotic guards.
Is it just me or these look like the ones from Fantastic Four vs X-Men ?
In case you had any doubts, Silver Sable is freaking badass.
She is, however, contractually obligated to fanservice.
Interesting that the doppelganger is not all THAT different from the real Doom, just more extreme in his ways. Contrast this with the other doppelgangers, which aside from superpowers were just homicidal maniacs.
Still, as much of a badass as she is, this is an unbelievably unfair fight: she BARELY survives one Doombot, only thanks to the laser lance she stole.
The series is called “Silver Sable and the Wild Pack” to include the mercenary team under her employ… and who are by far the weakest part of the series.
The exception is Sandman, who at this point had reformed and had even been an Avenger for a limited time. I guess since he used to be a hero he qualified for a doppelganger.
But the focus of the issue is entirely Silver Sable, and we end the first part on a cliffhanger: she’s infiltrated the command center of the Doombots by disguising herself as one.
SILVER SABLE & THE WILD PACK #5 (1992)
by Gregory Wright & Steven Butler
That pose looks very uncomfortable, Silver Sable!
So let me get this straight: Silver Sable disguised herself as a Doombot by stealing the armor off one of the robots… but forgot about the mask and PANTS!?
Sounds legit.
Silver Sable reasons that her legs won’t be enough to protect herself from the doppelganger, so she gets the assistance of some reprogrammed Doombots.
Luckily, by the time the doppelganger has summoned a second batch of Doombots, Silver Sable has found a mask and some pants.
While this is going on, the Wild Pack is flying to Latveria to rescue Silver Sable and they barely survive the Sandman doppelganger.
Once they reach Latveria they’re about as useful as you’d expect them to be.
Equally unsurprisingly, the doppelganger eventually discovers which Doombot is actually Silver Sable. She didn’t even have to show her legs for that!
At least he talks like the real Doom…
…but he’s easily defeated by ONE blast from a Doombot’s gauntlet.
With the doppelganger defeated and the real Sandman rescued, Silver Sable learns about the plot of Infinity War… and she’s like “Nope, nobody’s paying me for this”.
And if THAT is not a Silver Sable thing to do, I don’t know what is.
Doom significance: 0/10
Well he’s not even in it except for a copy of the same exact scenes seen in Infinity War.
Unfortunately Doom’s relationship with Silver Sable has not been explored yet, as I don’t think they’ve shared a comic book ever since. That’s probably going to change, considering that as of 2022 Doctor Doom has conquered Symkaria and annexed it into Latveria, so he’s bound to deal with Silver Sable at some point.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
All things considered? Nah.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
As a Silver Sable story, it’s fine. It’s a little unbelievable she doesn’t have a harder time against a hostile Castle Doom, but she was invited to dinner so it’s plausible she’s not considered a primary target. And like I said, completely dismissing a mission because nobody is going to pay for it is as Silver Sable as you’re going to get.
The weakest part of the series, the non-Sandman Wild Pack, takes up little space. Considering how boring they are, the comic is all the better for it… for me, they were by far what brought down the quality of the entire series.
The main problem is that the story as a whole is quite decompressed, not helped by the fact that several pages are dedicated to the same exact Doom+Kang scenes we saw during Infinity War, with the same exact dialogue but just with new artwork… it’s just needless padding, they really break the momentum of the story and don’t amount to anything since Silver Sable is not going to get involved into the greater crossover.