This is a very long stretch of issues, but Doom doesn’t get involved too much so I’ll speed through them. This is the Mark Millar run, and he’s a controversial writer to say the least.
I’m not a fan of most of his work, but his Fantastic Four run is basically fine… in fact, it’s probably the least “Mark Millar-like” series that Millar ever wrote.
If it wasn’t immediately before the MUCH more impactful Hickman run, it probably would be remembered more.
Fantastic Four #557 (2008)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
Having Bryan Hitch provide the artwork sure helps.
This is the finale of a storyline FAR too complicated to go into the details, but it does include an Anti-Galactus Mecha built by Reed.
Also in case you’re wondering why Reed doesn’t use this thing more often:
The story ends with Doom showing up at the Baxter Building looking for Reed… but not to murder him: he wants help.
That can’t be good.
Fantastic Four #558 (2008)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
We heard the first time, Doom.
Before Doom has the chance to say WHY he wants Reed, some heroes from an alternate Earth show up and beat up the Thing, kidnapping Doom.
The Thing was starting a relationship with Debbie Green in this run; he will ALMOST marry her but it ultimately goes nowhere. She’s not really relevant to Doom’s plot but I bring her up because this reaction by the Thing is hilarious.
You might remember from last time that Doom had been arrested, and in fact these new guys have taken him out of jail.
We get a look at the security footage, which reveals Doom was apparently wearing his full armor while in jail!!! I could MAYBE accept it if he was arrested with it, since I can’t imagine it’s easy to force him to take it off… except Doom was arrested after Sentry tore off his mask and his chestplate, so WTF!?
The fact that the Millar run is basically forgotten is a bit weird considering that a big change in the status quo originates here: the revelation that Valeria Richards is super-smart, as she discusses here with her nanny (more on her later).
Making Valeria super-smart like her father is perhaps a bit predictable, but I don’t mind the development. And not just because she will soon become an AMAZING character, but because what else could you do with her?
If you give her powers, you’re basically repeating Franklin. If she doesn’t have one, you’re stuck with her as a baby for a long time (because of Marvel time).
Fantastic Four #559 (2008)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
The alternate dimension heroes who are after Doom are the New Defenders. The only slightly interesting one is the blue-haired one because she dates the Human Torch for a while… but considering that for the life of me I can’t remember her name, imagine how boring the others are.
Speaking of the Human Torch, he ends up being captured by the New Defenders and hold prisoner with Doom. Who probably hates his company more than being held prisoner.
And the machine holding them is connected by a comatose Galactus from the New Defenders timeline.
Yeah sure chain Doctor Doom to Galactus, what could POSSIBLY go wrong there?
Fantastic Four #560 (2008)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
This is where Doom begins to be involved with the plot. Kind of.
The New Defenders come from a future timeline that was so f##ked up they decided their best course of action was to defeat Galactus, chain him to a time machine and use that to move the entire population of Earth back in time to avoid catastrophe.
The most amazing part is that the plan is currently working!!!
Doom doesn’t have a high opinion of this plan.
Remember how I mentioned Valeria’s latest nanny earlier? She’s a lot more important than she seemed to be.
In fact, she’s the leader of the New Defenders… the Invisible Woman from their future.
Fantastic Four #561 (2009)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
I forgot to mention that this storyline is called “The death of Invisible Woman”. So introducing an alternate version of Invisible Woman should raise a few red flags on the finale.
Even if Future Susan is in charge, she won’t go easy on her brother.
As for Doctor Doom, he’s basically napping throughout the entire thing.
Eventually the Fantastic Four help the New Defenders to send the people from their doomed planet to an artificial copy of Earth created in a different previous plot (don’t ask). And kidnapping Doctor Doom was completely meaningless, because they only really needed Galactus.
The fact that this alternate Galactus gets buried beneath regular Earth is going to come up in future FF issues.
But still, there’s the issue of Doctor Doom being REALLY upset at being kidnapped.
Now don’t be shocked, but the finale of “The Death Of The Invisible Woman” features *gasp* the death of the Invisible Woman of the future.
No biggie, really.
Fantastic Four #562 (2009)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
“The Funeral Of The Invisible Woman” is TECHNICALLY a correct title, but I guess “The Funeral Of The Invisible Woman Of The Future We Barely Know” was too long.
The relationship between Valeria and Doom will become very complex, so it’s interesting to see that even this early she’s taking his side.
Another plus of Valeria being super-smart: it makes Franklin’s relationship with his family more complex.
Reed visits Doom in his jail cell, and WHY IS DOCTOR DOOM STILL IN HIS ARMOR!?
Only Doctor Doom would send flowers for the funeral of the woman he murdered with his own hands.
Reed is going to be defending Doom at his trial, because of course that’s something Reed would do.
I really like how Doom would prefer Reed to gloat: at least he would understand him.
This is an excellent exchange between the two. Unfortunately we won’t see Doom’s trial; I would’ve loved to see Reed’s defense.
Like I said at the beginning, this part of the saga is happening very near the start of the Dark Reign event. So Doom might be aware that Norman Osborn is about to seize power and reinstate him as leader of Latveria.
But the real reason for this scene is to set the stage for the arrival of the Marquis Of Death, Doctor Doom’s never-before-seen mentor who will be the main villain of the rest of the Millar run.
I will discuss him later of course, but while his introduction doesn’t fully match what we know about Doom’s history, it’s not that hard to fit him.
What WILL be firmly established is that Doom doesn’t consider him “his master” AT ALL, so my guess is that he’s purposefully trying to scare Reed here.
Fantastic Four #563 (2009)
by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
We’re seven issues into this arc and I’ve mentioned the Thing’s girlfriend (now his fiancée) ONCE, so that probably tells you how important she’s going to be.
Reed is understandably more focused on the whole “Masters of Doom” thing.
Said “Masters” are the Marquis of Death and his servant The Apprentice. They’ve been keeping busy slaughtering one alternate Earth after the other, and now they’re coming back to the main universe.
Doctor Doom is quite happy about their return. But I have to wonder HOW CAN YOU SEE HE’S SMILING!?
The Marquis Of Death will take his sweet time showing up: issues 564 and 565 are completely unrelated.
We’ll return to this storyline with issue 566 after Doom regains Latveria at the start of Dark Reign.
Doom significance: 4/10
As mentioned this is VERY significant in Fantastic Four history for introducing Valeria’s super-intelligence. But Doom is barely a footnote in the New Defenders storyline. And while it introduces the Marquis Of Death, you’d be better off starting that storyline on its own… not to mention the Marquis himself is quickly forgotten, with his relationship with Doom being referenced exactly ONCE after the end of this run.
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
Seriously, WHY is he wearing the armor!?
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
I skipped 95% of these issues in the review, so it wouldn’t be fair to give it a real score.
Considering he’s mostly known for going beyond the extreme with his plots, the Millar run is surprisingly low-key most of the time here.
I think he nails the characters, for the most part. The only one of the FF who feels a bit off is the Human Torch, but he’s not given much to do. He also writes a great dynamic between Valeria and Frankin.
His Doctor Doom is shockingly subdued, but that discussion he has with Reed is very well done.
Overall, my main issue with the Mark Millar run are his plots… despite their huge scope and complexity, they feel a bit empty. Never thought characterization would be Millar’s strenght, but that’s surprisingly the case in this run.
For the artwork, it takes a while to get used to how Hitch’s style works with faces. But man are his pencils spectacular.
It was a Doombot all along
A possibility considering how chill he is.
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 98
Do the New Defenders really fight Doom here? He doesn’t really seem to put up a fight, plus I’m non entirely sure they’re acting as superheroes. So I don’t think it would be fair to include them in the count.
Crazy tech
Either the New Defenders’ machine was somehow absorbing Doom’s magic, or his armor has enough firepower to be considered the backup for freaking Galactus.