The Ultimates’ Doom Could Predict the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Doom

Earlier this year, one of the biggest pop culture events of the year (heck, the past FEW years) occurred when Marvel Studios revealed that the Russo Brothers would be returning to direct the next two Avengers films, and that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom. After the reveal, Deniz Camp, the writer of The Ultimates, posted on social media that “If you want to understand Robert Downey Jr. as Doom, you MUST read Ultimates 4 on sept 4th. (or whenever it comes out).”

Well, The Ultimates #4 is out, and it was a fascinating examination of the new Doom, but what, if anything, does it have to say about Downey Jr. as Doom? Well, I guess we’ll just have to take a look, now won’t we? The Ultimates #4 is by writer Deniz Camp, guest artist Phll Noto (who also colored the issue), and letterer Travis Lanham.

How does Doom torment himself in this issue?

In case you’re unfamiliar with the current Ultimate Universe, the idea is that The Maker (the original Ultimate Universe Reed Richards, was driven insane and became a horrific villain) has taken over an alternate Marvel Earth, and then manipulated events to make sure that the superheroes never actually came to power. Instead, The Maker controls the entire planet, along with his Council. During the crossover event, Ultimate Invasion, the Maker was trapped by Howard Stark, which gives Howard’s son, Tony, the chance to prepare for when The Maker will be released from Howard’s trap. So Tony, calling himself Iron Lad, goes to find all of the heroes who never got a chance to become heroes, and travels back in time to give them the chance to re-embrace their destiny (One of the heroes who accepted it was Peter Parker, who was now married with two kids, but decides to embrace his stolen legacy as Spider-Man). This new team is the Ultimates.

Meanwhile, one of the members of Tony’s group is this Earth’s Reed Richards, who The Maker has turned into the Doom of this world. Throughout the issue, Reed Richards tries to replicate the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers on some lab mice, while reliving the horrors of his life, as we see how the Maker altered events so that Johnny Storm, Sue Storm, and Ben Grimm all died horrifically, and the Fantastic Four never existed.

After Reed lived through all of this torment, The Maker then took him, and broke him down mentally until Reed accepted that he was Doom. It is terrifying, and Phil Noto’s character-driven artwork (which has always been his greatest talent, the ability to draw people so realistic and relatable) makes it so brutal to read, but so compelling at the same time.

“Doom” has access to a time machine, and so he just relives these moments over and over, all the while trying to replicate the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers on a quartet of lab mice, and it JUST. WON’T. WORK. Think about how horrific this is – not only does “Doom” have to live through the torment of his life, he has to deal with the fact that it was an alternate version of HIMSELF that did it, but beyond that, that he was destined to live a heroic life with the woman he loved, his best friend, and his brother-in-law, and it is all ruined, and he’s also disfigured, and wearing an iron mask! How could ANYone deal with this sort of torment?

And yet, Doom puts himself through the torment, secretly using access to the past to watch everything over and over again, even as he continues to experiment on the mice. The story is cleverly set up in four different time periods. The events leading up to the Fantastic Four’s ill-fated trip, the aftermath of The Maker messing with the trip (and Reed being turned into Doom), Doom examining the past and coming up with a plan to fix things, and the “present,” where Iron Lad confronts Doom for missing out on the most recent Ultimates mission due to his secretive experiments.

It is such a clever setup by Camp, and so beautifully executed by Noto, that you really could see this issue easily being nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Single Issue next year. It’s that good.

Here’s the thing, this really doesn’t matter for my review of the issue, so this is kind of superfluous, but, like, come on, once Camp posted what he posted, how could we NOT talk about it, right?

So I guess the only thing that comes to mind when we look at the plot of this issue is that perhaps Downey Jr. will be playing an alternate reality Tony Stark who will be damaged enough so that he essentially assumes the identity of Doctor Doom. That would definitely fit in well with the Multiversal nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in recent years, and hey, I’m not even saying it wouldn’t be a good idea for a plotline, but I would worry it would hurt the ACTUAL Doctor Doom. In the comic books, we are so used to alternate realities that this version of Doom has no real impact on the “real” Doctor Doom, but that wouldn’t be the case in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In any event, if it is as well handled as The Ultimates #4, though, I would have a hard time complaining about it.

The Ultimates #4 is on sale now

Source: Marvel