Doctor Doom Has a Plan to Take Down the Fantastic Four (and It’s Perfect)

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As a devoted comic book enthusiast, I can’t help but feel a sense of awe when I think about Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four‘s sworn nemesis and one of the most formidable supervillains in the comic book realm. His feud with Marvel’s First Family is a legend, with his relentless attempts to eliminate the heroes who have consistently thwarted his plans for global domination.

Recently, Doom even seized Steven Strange’s title as Sorcerer Supreme and proclaimed himself the emperor of the world. Needless to say, this didn’t sit well with the Fantastic Four, and they launched an attack to dethrone him. However, just when it seemed like they had the upper hand, Doom unveiled a new strategy that, without backup, could potentially mark the end for the Fantastic Four.

Step One; Time Displacement

The Fantastic Four, realizing it was time to confront Emperor Doom decisively, attempted to defeat him permanently. Yet, just as they were about to knock him out, he used magic to hurl them through time. Johnny landed on a pre-oxygen Earth, the Thing found himself in a dinosaur-filled jungle, Mister Fantastic was left in medieval times, and Sue nearly perished eight billion years into the future. Fortunately, while Doctor Doom is always devising ways to annihilate the Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic has been preparing an array of emergency strategies to keep them safe. He implanted a tracker within the Forever Stone, one of the Earth’s most enduring geological structures, which can be easily reached regardless of the time period. Once there, they would etch the date they were stranded and whoever was furthest in the future would call the Time-Sled to collect everyone. Unfortunately, the problem is that Sue was that person with the tracker malfunctioning, which meant no one could summon the sled without her getting lost forever.

Luckily, they found a solution to this timely predicament. Mr. Fantastic figured out why Invisible Woman didn’t instantly materialize, then synthesized artificial diamonds and buried them deep underground. He fashioned diamond arrows that remained stationary, scattered across Earth, marking the location of the Eternal Stone. Invisible Woman understood Reed would take such measures, so she made the entire Earth’s crust invisible to reveal his message. Working together beyond cosmic timeframes, Sue summoned the Time-Sled and saved her family. They raced back to the present just in time to thwart Emperor Doom, and they did, leaving Doom perplexed as to how they endured. Mister Fantastic explained their backup plan, but then Doom started laughing. Sadly for the Fantastic Four, Reed had fallen right into Doom’s trap, and he was preparing to enact his nearly unstoppable scheme once more.

Save Scumming to Victory

Doom confessed that he manipulated Doctor Strange’s time magic to establish a kind of temporal backup, which he could revert to whenever he desired. Whenever the Fantastic Four defeated him, Doom would analyze their strategies, reset back to the save point, and attempt to destroy them with new tactics, using his exclusive knowledge. At that point, he had reset multiple times, and mentioned that this was the first encounter involving the Time-Sled, a fact he planned to consider during his next attempt to defeat the Four. Doom boasted like a tyrant, mocking Reed for revealing their survival methods, and declared that he would repeatedly revert to his backup until the Four were vanquished. No one seemed capable of halting him.

Unfortunately for Doom, he repeated the very action he had recently reprimanded Mr. Fantastic for, which proved disastrous. By revealing his strategy, he inadvertently provided an opportunity for the family to act before their timeline was erased. Johnny glanced at the Time-Machine, while Sue swiftly comprehended Doom’s intentions. In that critical moment, they held a distinct advantage over him, and could potentially reverse their predicament. As time ran out, Sue skillfully sent the Time-Machine back to the Fantastic Four’s farmhouse from earlier that day, a clear signal to their past selves that something was amiss with their plan against Doctor Doom. Once again, Doom’s impeccable scheme may lead to his undoing, as his overconfidence often leads to his downfall.

Fantastic Four (2025) #2 is on sale now!

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2025-08-17 22:52