New Avengers #6
Unexpected Doctor Doom is unexpected! But always welcome, especially when written by Jonathan Hickman. I haven't been following New Avengers, but somebody alerted me to a Doom appearance in this issue, so I grabbed a copy.
Fortunately, it comes with a 'previously' page. Apparently, thanks to information from a dimension traveller called Black Swan, the team (basically the Illuminati plus Black Panther and Beast) are anticipating an invasion from another dimension. Having just discovered the location will be Latveria, they teleport there to see a portal to an alien planet hanging in the sky above Castle Doom, and invading troops descending.
The team spot what looks like Doom fighting the invaders on the battlements, but realise it's his son Kristoff Vernard. (Tony actually refers to him that way, instead of making a point of specifying he's adopted like most people do. Thumbs up, Tony.) Just as they're wondering where the actual Doom's got to, he teleports to the tower to join Kristoff in kicking ass and taking names.
The Illuminati see that the two of them seem to be holding the invasion off, which Reed thinks is good news. Black Panther is less convinced, since it gives Doom a chance to record and analyse everything that's going on, including their presence. (I'm missing the context, but get the impression the Illuminati have been up to something dodgy. They usually have.)
The Illuminati cross over to the invaders' world, and find it barren and dead. Black Swan says it's their MO to strip a world bare, make a bridge to another, and then detonate the old one; the debris will rain down onto Earth and act as a beacon to call the rest of their armies here. The team reluctantly deploy a world-breaker weapon to destroy the enemy's planet first and stop that happening. But in the epilogue, we see that Doom's men have retrieved a small chunk of planetary debris that was found and brought it to him.
Hmm. Hard to judge a single out-of-context Hickman issue, since he does like his big complicated plots. Doom only really gets a cameo, but what we see of him is classic Doom, and hopefully this bodes well for more appearances in future. I have my fingers crossed for a Doom-Illuminati team-up in later issues. Will be keeping an eye on this title from now on!
Fortunately, it comes with a 'previously' page. Apparently, thanks to information from a dimension traveller called Black Swan, the team (basically the Illuminati plus Black Panther and Beast) are anticipating an invasion from another dimension. Having just discovered the location will be Latveria, they teleport there to see a portal to an alien planet hanging in the sky above Castle Doom, and invading troops descending.
The team spot what looks like Doom fighting the invaders on the battlements, but realise it's his son Kristoff Vernard. (Tony actually refers to him that way, instead of making a point of specifying he's adopted like most people do. Thumbs up, Tony.) Just as they're wondering where the actual Doom's got to, he teleports to the tower to join Kristoff in kicking ass and taking names.
The Illuminati see that the two of them seem to be holding the invasion off, which Reed thinks is good news. Black Panther is less convinced, since it gives Doom a chance to record and analyse everything that's going on, including their presence. (I'm missing the context, but get the impression the Illuminati have been up to something dodgy. They usually have.)
The Illuminati cross over to the invaders' world, and find it barren and dead. Black Swan says it's their MO to strip a world bare, make a bridge to another, and then detonate the old one; the debris will rain down onto Earth and act as a beacon to call the rest of their armies here. The team reluctantly deploy a world-breaker weapon to destroy the enemy's planet first and stop that happening. But in the epilogue, we see that Doom's men have retrieved a small chunk of planetary debris that was found and brought it to him.
Hmm. Hard to judge a single out-of-context Hickman issue, since he does like his big complicated plots. Doom only really gets a cameo, but what we see of him is classic Doom, and hopefully this bodes well for more appearances in future. I have my fingers crossed for a Doom-Illuminati team-up in later issues. Will be keeping an eye on this title from now on!