GIANT-SIZE SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1 (1975)
by Roy Thomas & John Buscema
Cover by Ron Wilson
This is basically a framing device to reprint some of Doom’s previous appearances, as well as the only title with three hyphened words.
This is set right after Fantastic Four #144, when Doom blew up in space thanks to Darkoth.
Either Doom’s armor is VERY lightweight or it has a floating device, because Namor finds him in the middle of the ocean.
Namor actually saves Doom’s life with the Electronic Stimulatron ™. I sure hope he won’t regret this years later.
Unless you hear Doom’s version, of course.
In all their previous encounters, it was Doom who was trying to recruit Namor. This time is the opposite.
That’s our framing device: Doom recalls the events of Sub-Mariner #20.
After that flashback, Namor updates Doom about what’s going on in his owns series: all the citizens of Atlantis have been put in suspended animation.
Namor makes the case that having Atlantis as an ally would greatly help Doom’s plans of world domination.
Doom isn’t so sure about it: the last time he tried an alliance with anyone who isn’t Namor was with Diablo. And, in Doom’s own thoughts:
That is of course the reason to reprint Marvel Super-Heroes #20.
After that reprint is over, Doom is genre savvy enough to realize that any alliance with Namor will inevitably end with one of them betraying the other.
They have a brief fight, where Namor does the mistake of offering Doom the chance to surrender.
Then they both leave, realizing that this was a complete waste of time for both.
Namor, on the other hand, vows to continue trying to make their bromance work.
Since this is a glorified cameo, I’m not doing any of the usual categories. It was interesting to get some insight into Doom’s view of his relationship with Namor, though.