I’m Not Surprised Doctor Doom Went Old School Fighting Dormammu

One World Under Doom has given readers something they’ve wanted to see for a while now — Doom ruling the world. Doctor Doom was able to become the Sorcerer Supreme at the end of last year’s Blood Hunt, and has used that power to become the Emperor of the world. Doom has often transcended villainy, and One World Under Doom has shown that Doom can be a great leader, all while beating every enemy in his way, like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. One World Under Doom #4 brings Doom his next challenge — the dark lord Dormammu. Doom is exceedingly powerful and cunning, but battling against Dormammu is a challenge unlike anything that Doom has faced so far. So, Doom decides to go old school against Dormammu.

Doctor Doom was forged in the crucible of war, rebelling against the power of Latveria’s Baron and wresting the throne of his home from him. Doom isn’t just a supervillain going after teams of heroes, but he’s also a world leader, meaning he needs to defend his homeland. Doom has created an army of Doombots, all to help him even up the odds with his foes. However, Doombots serve another purpose as well, one that Doom uses against Dormammu. Doom goes old school for this fight, using all of his resources to get some kind of advantage.

Doctor Doom Has Long Used Doombots to Fool His Enemies

Doctor Doom has two types of Doombots. There are the purple ones that he uses as cannon fodder against enemies and then there are the ones that look like him. Doom uses the latter in the fight against Dormammu at first, tricking the dark lord into thinking that he had the upper hand against Doom. Doom comes at Dormammu from behind and smashes him with a hammer, all while making a sly MCU reference by telling Dormammu that he did not come to bargain. This is a pretty common Doctor Doom tactic, and the main reason he uses the Doombots that look like him. Doctor Doom likes to test his foe before going up against them, and that usually means throwing the lookalike Doombots at enemies. Doom spares no expense with these Doombots; not only are they armed with the same kind of powerful weapons that Doom is, but their AI is able to fool Doom’s foes into thinking they are actually fighting Doom. Doom has used Doombot lookalikes for everything from fights to diplomacy. An interesting little tidbit about Doombots is that there’s an idea that most of Doom’s more embarrassing losses are all because of Doombots. Doom will often send Doombots out so as not to waste his time with lower-level heroes, as well as using them to trick his more powerful foes.

RELATED: Rainbow Rowell Returns to Runaways to Steer the Team Through Doctor Doom Drama

Doom’s use of the Doombot is pretty smart, but once Dormammu summons his demons, Doom seems to make a huge mistake — he doesn’t call in more Doombots to help him deal with the odds. This may seem like something of an oversight on Doom’s part; there’s no reason for Doom to fight a bunch of demons himself when he has armies of powerful robots on his side. However, this isn’t one of Doom’s hubristic moves, believing that he can beat Dormammu by himself, and it isn’t a mistake. The end of the issue reveals that Doom had another job for his Doombots. See, Dormammu began his attack on Earth by teleporting all of the heroes to the Dark Dimension, so even if they wanted to help Doom, they couldn’t. Doom cast three spells at the beginning of the fight and the last one was to teleport his army of Doombots to the Dark Dimension, where they could help the heroes escape. Doom was actually thinking multiple steps ahead, using his Doombots in an intelligent way.

Doom’s Use of the Doombots Is Brilliant

Doctor Doom’s Doombots have long been an important part of the villain’s repertoire. Doom has been fighting against multiple foes since the beginning of his supervillain career, and the Doombots have allowed him to even up the odds. One would assume that the Doombots would have played a huge role in the battle against Dormammu, but other than that first bait and switch, it seems like Doom forgot about how useful the Doombots could be in battle. However, that was all a part of his plan, using the Doombots to do something that no one would have guessed he’d do — save the heroes and use them to his advantage.

Doom is a master of strategy, and his use of the Doombots against Dormammu shows off just how great a tactician Doom can be. He only uses the Doombots in a way that everyone expected once, and then allows himself to get beaten very badly, all so no one would figure out his true plan with the other Doombots. Once again, Doom shows that an old dog can use old tricks and new ones in order to defeat his foes.

One World Under Doom #4 is on sale now.