Warning: spoilers for King In Black: Iron Man/Doom #1!
Fans might find it uncharacteristic for a hero like Iron Man to ever team up with the malevolent Doctor Doom, a supervillain renowned for his rivalry with the Fantastic Four. But since Doctor Doom recently renounced his evil ways, it almost makes sense for King In Black: Iron Man/Doom #1 (from Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca) to team the two up... until you realize it's to take down Santa Claus.
Earth is under siege by Knull, the primordial and malicious god of the symbiotes, aka the King in Black, and this dark being has a tendency to "Knullify" his enemies, forcing them to work as agents of his evil. Unfortunately, Old Saint Nick, and even his reindeer, are the latest of many victims to undergo this rather unpleasant process. Even with the combined efforts of Doctor Doom and Tony Stark, who is further augmented by his new dragon-symbiote Extremis Armor, Santa puts up quite a fight.
Under the control of Knull, Father Christmas has an arsenal of weaponized presents at his disposal that explode upon impact. Whatever makes up the composition of these presents is quite potent, as one explosion blasts both Doctor Doom and Iron Man clear out of the sky. Santa has extreme durability, which he proves after Iron Man knocks him off his sleigh while in flight. And, of course, the once jolly ol' elf and his reindeer are able to use their symbiotes as weapons.
What makes the whole package (and wraps it all up in a nice, pretty bow) are the cringe-worthy puns that Santa Claus shamefully employs throughout the entire violent encounter. The first thing the Knullified elf ruler says actually transforms the first line of the once innocent song "Winter Wonderland" into a battle cry when he proclaims, "Slay bells sting in perdition!" He also butchers the lyrics of Silent Night by switching "silent" with "violent" and "holy night" with "no night." Later, he sings "All is Knull. All is blight." Not all of his puns mutilate beloved Christmas songs, however. Some are just made-up words that rhyme with the original but add a violent twist, like "paindeer" instead of "reindeer." But best of all is Santa's swearing, with his words replaced with Christmas-themed objects.
It's no surprise to longtime Marvel fans that Santa exists in this story (he's generally portrayed as an Omega-level mutant), but as well as being a hilarious encounter between Marvel's grimmest antihero and a comical villain, it sows the seeds of mystery. Amongst all the Christmas-themed chaos, some interesting developments take place that Marvel could explore further. For example, the unlikely duo discover the supposed real name of the Knullified Santa Claus, which not only fuels Tony Stark's skepticism that the man they fought is in fact Kris Kringle, but could lead to a future investigation into Santa's origins. The most intriguing development, however, is Doctor Doom's obsession with Iron Man's symbiote armor, having expressed an interest in obtaining the invention for reasons he has yet to elaborate upon. Hopefully this isn't the last time that Doctor Doom brings up this possibility, as Tony and Victor have a unique chemistry that makes them a joy to see fight side by side.