Warning: Contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #2!Even when Doctor Doom is trying to be a hero, the Fantastic Four foe just ends up acting the villain anyway. In Fantastic Four #2, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman stumble across a small town harboring a dark secret–it has been overrun by Doombots! And as Reed and Sue dig deeper, they learn what is happening is the result of a rare act of altruism on Doom’s part.
The acclaimed creative team of writer Ryan North and artist Iban Coello have crafted a shocking new status quo for the Fantastic Four: a calamity has befallen the team, destroying their headquarters and sending them on the run. North and Coello have yet to reveal what happened to the team, instead giving tantalizing glimpses along the way. Last issue caught up with the Thing and his wife Alicia, and in the second issue of the new Fantastic Four series, it is Reed and Sue’s turn–as they learn that even when Doom tries to be good, he is still a bad guy.
The issue opens with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman under attack by an army of Doombots at a small town diner; suddenly, the Doombots turn back into normal people and resume their business. A police officer escorts the two to the outskirts of town, but they return anyway, determined to get to the bottom of what happened. Understanding that the Doombots are programmed to attack only the Fantastic Four, Reed disguises himself and approaches the only seemingly normal human in the town, named Mary, and accompanies her back to her house. There he learns that when Doctor Doom was in college, he roomed at the woman’s house. She showed Doom kindness, and to repay her, Doom sent one of his Doombots to protect her. The Doombot was self-replicating, and began creating new versions of itself to replace the town’s residents as they died, all to keep Mary happy. Then, as the old lady was dying, the Doombot put her body inside itself, in an attempt to keep her alive. It failed its mission; the Doombot then rewrote its own personality, swapping it out for Mary’s–and lived out its life not knowing it was a Doombot. The issue was written by Ryan North, illustrated by Iban Coello, colored by Jesus Aburtov and lettered by Joe Caramagna.
Doctor Doom Cannot Be a Good Guy
By doing what he thought was a good deed, Doctor Doom instead created a grotesque nightmare. The first Doombot he sent fulfilled its mission to safeguard Mary quite well–almost a little too well. When Mary’s friends started dying due to old age, the Doombot would create another duplicate of itself to replace them, using an illusion field to make its new self look human. In time, this created a gross imitation of life–a village of Doombots, all thinking they were human, living their life as if nothing was wrong. When the Doombot forcibly put Mary’s dying body into itself, it no doubt gave Mary extra trauma as she died. Like Doctor Doom, the Doombot thought it was doing something good, but it went horribly awry.
The Invisible Woman notes that Doctor Doom honors his debts, and this situation is no different. The Doombots, and Mary, could have continued living their lives if not for one fatal flaw: Doom programmed the Doombots to attack the Fantastic Four only. If Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman had not stopped in and triggered the robots’ defense measures, then no one would have been wiser as to what was happening. Instead this newest issue of Fantastic Four proves that even when Doctor Doom tries to be a hero, he is still a villain.
Fantastic Four #2 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!