Fantastic Four #700

[cyberghostface]

"Doctor Doom’s Tumblr is clearly full of reblogs with his self-aggrandizing additions in the tags, and he’s probably got a macro to type out '#FOOLS!!' because he uses it so often. He’s also always starting fights with strangers and secretly proud when a post he started gets a ton of notes because Doom conquers all." -- Ryan North

Comments

[blues32]

"Screw this. Doom gives up...but since Doom will be erased from time, this event will have never occurred. Doom has never given up."

[tcampbell1000]

I KNOW, RIGHT?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Beautiful. XD

[tcampbell1000]

A great story, no less than I'd hoped for from Ryan. The lead-in to these pages does seem to have an editing glitch or two (which is frustrating because I love a good lipogram), but once Doom shows his facemask, all is forgiven.

Making him the "failed protagonist" of this anniversary issue was a brilliant touch. The results nail his character as well as anything since the original Secret Wars, and it finds a new way to make him a dark version of Reed...for once it's Doom trying to save his family. But it never stops being about him and his need to outdo his rival. In the end, his thoughts and end by time paradox don't even mention her. They're all about him and his...limitations.

And on a simpler level, I appreciate that Ryan doesn't forget that Doom should be physically capable of giving the Four an actual fight.

I'd normally advise against a story putting a bow on things the way the last page does here, but this time it works: Alicia's perspective is just enough outside the Four's and just enough inside it to be a breath of fresh air. And when you get right down to it, perceiving past fearsome exteriors to the qualities of the people beneath...good ones like Ben's and the Silver Surfer's, bad ones like her father's...is pretty much her trademark.

[beyondthefringe]

My only thought is that it feels weird for Doom to try and solve things through time travel shenanigans, because even though he invented a time platform, it's never been a huge part of his overall methodology.

He's more of a "solve it in the present" guy.

Interesting how many writers will sort of lean one way or another with Doom's wide repertoire--science, magic, robotics, mind control, master planning, physical combat...

A well-written Doom is one of the most interestingly complex villains in comics.

[donnblake]

Maybe he tries to solve problems with time travel *all the time* and it just always ends up like this?

[sabertoothlotus]

OOH, I like this idea! Doom is literally his own worst enemy then, constantly foiling his own plans because they don't get him perfect results.

[agharta75]

Tony, you know what to do.

[coldfury]

I love how Doom shows up in the middle of a big confrontation in Civil War, and everyone's just like "Time Out, time to dogpile Doom!"

It's just so on point for the characters, and so comics, it absolutely works.

[sabertoothlotus]

I read that more as Doom finding a time/place where all the heroes were in one place just so he could vent his frustration by murdering everybody because he's throwing a temper tantrum because the universe won't give him what he wants.

"If Doom can't win, then everybody dies!"

[lonewolf23k]

Gotta love how Doom manages to save Valeria in one timeline, but decides to try again anyway because his control over Latveria was gone in that timeline.

You could've just taken it over again, ya dingbat. I guess we know how much Valeria really matters to you, huh?

[sabertoothlotus]

that was the point in the story where it stopped being about saving her, and started being about Doom's need to win. He refuses to accept that losing is even possible, or that he has limits; as Alicia points out, that sets him up for failure and makes him pitiable. His standards for himself are so high, he'd rather eradicate his entire existence than accept the possibility of his own imperfection.

[huntleyhaverstock]

This is just such great character writing. Doom's still not a nyah-hah-hah-hah bad guy -- he's trying to do basically a good thing, according to his own code of honor. But his ego's so huge that he can't see the answer even when it's staring him in the face. Or if he can see it, he chooses to hide from it. (Kinda like putting on a mask, come to think of it.)

There's also juuuust the right touch of the ol' Ryan North humor in Doom's hysterical parting insistence that he didn't lose! He won! He totally won, you guys! He's not the loser, you are! He's not owned! He's not owned!

I also like how "God exists, and I'm his most specialest boy of all" is not good enough for Doom, because it requires him to acknowledge that there's someone more powerful than he is.

[zachbeacon]

The panel of Doom grabbing Val and just trying to book it while abandoning everyone else is just hilarious to me.

The one right after where he gets punched in the face for his efforts is also great.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

This was, in a word... fantastic.

[bradygirl_12]

Tony's swimsuit competition? I'd like to read that! ☺️

[zylly]

This grasps Doom’s psychology fantastically (pun intended). He cares for Valeria as much as someone like him is capable of the emotion, but it’s also 100% filtered through his self centeredness.

It’s not because Val is his goddaughter, but because she’s his goddaughter.

[erikred]

Absolutely true. Also, the solution to his problem of saving Valeria is obvious: ask Valeria to save Valeria, and trust her to make it all so and right.

But no matter how much he loves her, and no matter how smart he knows her to be, his ego will never allow him to let her save herself.