Marvel 2-In-One Annual #1 (2018)
by Chip Zdarsky & Declan Shalvey
I’ve said it before, but this is for real the last appearance of Doctor Doom as Iron Man.
We begin with a flashback to Doom’s youth, when we learn that his father used to teach him how to fight.
Flashbacks to expand on Doom’s relationship with his father are VERY rare, so this is quite interesting. Doom has been consistently shown to have a stronger relationship with his mother, despite the fact… or perhaps because of… she died when he was so young.
So it’s no wonder that he won’t follow his father’s lesson of correcting his own mistakes.
Also, am I the only one thinking that Doom’s father looks a bit like Doctor Strange?
This is a strange characterization for the father. We know he was a doctor who even tried saving the king’s life, so the fact that he doesn’t seem to care at all about others feels weird.
Coupled with him talking to young Victor about power, it makes me wonder if this is all in Doom’s mind.
Still, ending the flashback with Doom looking up at the castle that will one day be his is a great scene. Even if it continues the trend of showing Doom with green eyes, something that shows up with annoying frequency.
To give this comic the benefit of the doubt, however, this could make perfect sense if these were the memories of a DIFFERENT Doctor Doom.
Because this issue is in the middle of the Marvel 2-In-One run that dealt with alternate realities, so we are visiting another Castle Doom.
During said run, Doom did not really believe Reed was still alive.
They DO find this universe’s version of Reed Richards, but it’s a bit too late.
Notice this Doom is deliberately wearing an armor reminiscent of the Walt Simonson redesign of Fantastic Four #350.
What gave it away, Doom? It was the green cape, wasn’t it?
Then again, it takes a Doom to understand Doom.
The idea that Doom wouldn’t know what to do after achieving total victory has been explored before, but this is a rare direct acknowledgement.
“You’ve touched the face of God, and torn it from him, wearing his visage as you own”.
One of the most badass Doom boasts, which works exceptionally well considering he’s not lying.
The fact that the “Infamous Iron Man” didn’t really take the opportunity to explore this angle is simply infuriating.
You have a guy who, by my counting, has achieved godhood FIFTEEN TIMES… the last time being when he became Super-God Emperor Of The Multiverse… where does a guy like THIS go next?
If you are Alternate Doom, the answer is stripping down.
The fact that Alternate Doom is the one choosing the stick fight makes me think that HE was the Doom in the flashback.
Especially since he’s WAY better at this than our Doom.
However our Doom reaches for a device on Reed’s corpse…
…that brings him to a new Council of Reeds.
It’s no surprise that Doom hated the last version, but this new Council is something different.
The original Council made it a priority to separate their Reeds from their families, but THIS new version exists to help them.
The new Council even goes so far as to make its members essentially immortal, but they’re having trouble accessing that particular universe thanks to Doom’s countermeasures.
They have, however, kept tabs on our Doom.
His comments lead to Doom having a memory of his father. This probably invalidates my theory that the previous flashback was from the other Doom’s past.
And THIS is what leads Doom to finally question what ACTUALLY happened at the very end of Secret Wars.
Doom blaming Reed for his botched redemption arc is SUCH a Doom thing!!!
As a rebuttal, the Reed from the Council shows Doom a memory that he blocked: what happened immediately after he lost his God Emperor powers to Reed.
Doom did not take this very well.
Reed’s solution was to fake his own death, hoping that without a rival Doom would rise to the occasion.
Everything Reed did to Doom was simply removing the memory of this discussion. Everything else… every personal growth, every relapse… was Doom.
Sure it’s convenient that this happens when Doom has to chance to fight a past version of himself.
That’s the reason for the flashback as well.
Doom fights his counterpart, but there’s still so much hatred in him that he can’t stop: he straight up kills the other Doom.
The Council of Reeds is disappointed, but Doom is quick to point out their hypocrisy… and honestly he’s not exactly wrong here.
Doom is returned to the previous universe, setting up a future rivalry with the Council.
Which at the time of this writing has not been picked up; the Council of Reeds has had more appearances, but they haven’t faced Doom yet.
Doom significance: 6/10
This SHOULD be an easy 10/10, but it’s not followed up. Which is VERY infuriating: it informs us SO MUCH on why Doom would go back to his former self so quickly!!!
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
It’s given context, sure, but it is a bit silly that the ultimate confrontation between two Doctor Dooms involves them beating each other with sticks.
Does it stand the test of time: 9/10
It’s not THIS comic’s fault that it’s forgotten by the awful conclusion of the Bendis series; its only real weakness is the artwork, and my only serious complain is that the characterization of Doom’s father feels at odds with what little we’ve seen of him.
But other than that… why wasn’t THIS the conclusion to the Infamous Iron Man storyline!?!?
It shows Doom getting SO close to truly turning a page, but he’s STILL so full of anger and so full of hatred for Reed that he can’t truly become a new man.
I also like the fact that Reed didn’t alter Doom’s mind like he feared, but he still retains a bit of moral ambiguity on his actions.
It’s not often that Doom can accuse someone else of hypocrisy AND be right about it!!!