Fantastic Four #29: "The Dream Team"

[alliterator]

"That's a fantasy of What if there was one perfect person who could come down and fix everything for us? And that's a dangerous fantasy, that's an anti-democratic fantasy. So in one sense, [One World Under Doom] is a story of a fascist leader trying to take things over, and succeeding in doing that. When you look at fascism as a political system, you have to see that it's sold on that seductive fantasy of Here's a guy who can fix everything. This man alone can do it. Doom sees himself in that way. He's the kind of guy who's like, 'Yes, OK, yes, that is fascism. But when I'm doing it, it's not fascism, it's the actual best guy doing it, so it's fine.'"
- Ryan North


Doom has taken over the world. Life, however, goes on.

Comments

[thanekos]

The most bitterly funny thing about " believes they're the best guy who will fix everything " villains is the real-world fans who will argue for their objective rightness.

(It's a toss-up between those and the " In the real world, I would want Sentinels to protect me from mutants " types.)

[lbd_nytetrayn]

This feels... topical. Wish I could share Ben's optimism the way I used to.

When was this published?

And how exactly did Doom take over?

[zachbeacon]

I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards

Yeah, F4 and whatever the Moon Knight comic is currently called this month are really fighting for my number one spot these days.

[cainofdreaming]

I give it two weeks before Doom tires of the bureaucracy. Again.

[badtakegoesbrrr]

Wow, really? So we're just equating poor and homeless people with vampires. You know, the creatures whose entire existence revolves around killing people, sponging off the lifeforce of others, and forcibly converting others into the undead. And no one at Marvel can see how tone-deaf this is? Like, I get it. The idea is that the civilians are looking at this vampire and are like, "Ew, gross, I hope Doom kills all those dirty vamps soon!" But like...their existence is innately bad. And this is who we're comparing to poor people. Not a fan of this conflation.

If more comic book writers read Discworld and understood why Lord Vetinari works as a benevolent tyrant, we might get a book that understands why Fascism is bad. Like, we're supposed to hate Doom because he's a fascist dictator who demands your loyalty OR ELSE. But you know what real fascists DON'T do? Fund education. Stop all wars. Ensure no one (except the vampires I guess) goes hungry. Because Fascism isn't about making things better. It's about a bunch of greedy fuckers taking advantage of paranoia and anger to tear everything down. It's a pigshit puppet and their lackeys dismantling a government in the name of ending overreach when instead they cut social services. It's a gaggle of weird, emotionally fragile losers making shit choices not in service of the greater good but because they're incredibly petty dickweeds who don't understand how the government works.

But whatever. Doom bad, I guess.

[cyberghostface]

Not sure how I feel about Doom being written like this given he himself has been persecuted and marginalized for being an ethnic minority.

https://www.tumblr.com/comicsohwhyohwhy/147259601363/victor-von-doom-isnt-white-hes-romani

[blues32]

Good grief. This is a bit too real for me right now. And too on the nose. Why not spray Doom's armor orange while we're at it?