MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #20 (1969)
Writes: Larry Lieber & Roy Thomas
Artists: Larry Lieber & Frank Giacoia
This little-known series includes the first Doctor Doom solo story, the first time he isn’t written by Stan Lee, and the first appearance of a vital character for Doom’s history.
It also has a kickass cover!
And speaking of kicking ass, Doom is re-watching the matches he lost to the Fantastic Four.
Doom’s frustration at being defeated by the Thing is well-tested, but interestingly he also seems to be really annoyed by the Human Torch, typically the FF member he cares little about.
Then Doom’s holograms suddenly come to life to attack him.
The person responsible for this is Fantastic Four minor villain Diablo, who is looking to impress Doom into forging an alliance with him.
Doom reacts as you would expect.
It took about thirty seconds before these two started to fight. Doom even brings out one of my favorites: the Molecular Expander ™ from Fantastic Four #40.
I’m not a big fan of Diablo, but he has a good showing here. From changing boulders into feathers…
…to turning himself into protoplasm to avoid a “nerve-destroying energy”.
But Diablo’s greatest weapon is a hostage.
This is Doctor Doom’s childhood-friend-turned-lover Valeria.
We then turn to a retelling of Doom’s origin story from Fantastic Four Annual #2, with a minor retcon: Valeria was there with him.
And she was there when Doom discovered his mother’s witchcraft heirlooms.
We also have a rather interesting deviation from that story: Doom is talking about going to the US because he wants to learn science, after he has already mastered magic.
There’s no mention of the American professor who contacted him in Latveria, as we saw in the origin story.
Since this flashback is narrated by Doom, I wonder if this is the way Doom sees the entire thing? Is he rationalizing that going to the US was always his idea? Or did he actually contact that professor and we simply weren’t told?
Diablo threatens to kill Valeria unless Doom becomes his ally.
Not exactly the greatest basis for an alliance, but Doom is more distressed by the fact that he felt emotion.
I’ll give him “cold, ruthless and implacable”. But Doom without emotion… I don’t see that.
Unless hate and anger are not considered emotions, Doom is one of the most emotional characters of Marvel comics!
In fact, despite his rantings, he’s still in love with Valeria.
And there’s also another problem (at least in his mind): he’s still disfigured.
You know that that means: mirror smash!
Doom’s feeling pretty down, but he has his own way of beating his depressing thoughts:
“F#ck it, I’m DOOM!”
And so Doom agrees to an alliance with Diablo… with one rule: Diablo should not try to betray him.
I’m sure this won’t come up to haunt Diablo.
The duo meets in an unexpected location: Doom’s American castle, where he fist met the Fantastic Four.
Doom was hoping to impress Valeria with his new might, but he’s bummed out by the fact that he’s been reduced to sneaking into his own castle.
“F#ck it, I’m DOOM!” works its magic again.
Diablo’s plan involves using Doom’s original time machine from his first appearance, repaired by Reed in Fantastic Four #19. Nice comeback, but if Diablo wanted to use the time machine, why not ask Doom if he had another one?
The truth is Doom isn’t particularly interested in his own time machine. In fact, he seems to barely recall building one!
I love that Diablo’s reaction is basically “Dude, seriously!? HOW do you forget a time machine!?”
Diablo’s intention is to use the time machine to rule the world. Note that Doom doesn’t seem to be interested in it at the moment.
Specifically, Diablo is thinking about changing the end of the American Civil War.
As a reminder, Diablo is a 9th century wizard from Spain. I have no idea how he knows about the Civil War, even less why he cares about it.
Doom is just as unimpressed.
The two start to fight, and Diablo tries to use Doom’s time machine against him.
Emphasis on “tries”.
You see, Doom only PRETENTED to need to familiarize himself with the time machine’s controls.
Instead he sent Diablo into the farthest future. And Diablo still gets to rule the Earth, so Doom considers that he hasn’t really gone against his word.
Sounds legit.
Unfortunately for Doom, Valeria saw his gloating over defeating Diablo and she really, really doesn’t like it.
I get what they’re going for, but maybe the story should’ve included Doom screwing over someone who WASN’T trying to take over the world and kidnap his sweetheart.
But it’s equally possible that Valeria is more disturbed by witnessing what Doom has become in general, rather than specifically what he does in this issue.
And so we end with Doom losing the girl despite saving the world, in a nicely gloomy page.
Doom significance: 10/10
While she doesn’t appear very often in person (she has only 1 additional appereance before the 2000s), Valeria becomes an extremely important part of Doom’s life.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
I almost can’t believe this is a 1969 story. Nearly everything could be replicated today.
Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Doom’s confrontation with Diablo is a little rushed and Diablo is a very stereotypical villain, but the idea of Doom stopping another villain from taking over the world WITHOUT then trying to do it himself is quite modern. As are his relationship with Valeria (even if she’s also little more than a stereotype) and especially Doom doubting himself.
It was a Doombot all along
It’s extremely unlikely that we’re dealing with a Doombot, considering his future references to Valeria.
Take over the world
Strangely enough it’s only Diablo’s goal: Doom isn’t even thinking about it.
Destroy the FF!
There’s some talk about revenge, but this one of the first times where the FF are not Doom’s primary objective.
Doom always keeps his word
We’re getting closer and closer to the modern use of this trope. It’s not entirely explicit, and technically speaking Doom broke the alliance when he disabled the time machine.
Mirror smash!
Doom doesn’t show his face to anyone, but there’s a literal mirror smash.
Crazy tech
The weapon itself is not named, but the use of “nerve-destroying energy” qualifies.