Doctor Doom Fundamentally Changes the Fantastic Four Forever (and It’s Probably for the Best)

The feud between Doctor Doom and the Fantastic Four has reached critical mass. Of course, there’s a good reason for this, and it all has to do with Doctor Doom’s takeover of the Marvel Universe. After stealing the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, Victor Von Doom has somehow made all of the Earth’s leaders bow down to him, which has understandably left Earth’s Mightiest Heroes scrambling to figure out what Doom is up to. The Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom have a long history with and against each other, but what Doom was just able to pull off will leave Marvel’s First Family reeling. WARNING: Spoilers for One World Under Doom #2 below.

One World Under Doom #2 is from the creative team of Ryan North, R.B. Silva, David Curiel, and VC’s Travis Lanham. It features a showdown between the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom at the United Nations. It comes a day after Doom met with his goddaughter, Valeria Richards, the daughter of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. She wanted to hear directly from Doom on what his goals are and why he’s gone down this route. We never learn if Valeria is buying in, but it is a fascinating conversation to be a fly on the wall for.

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Back to the United Nations, the Fantastic Four make quick work of some Doombots outside, while Doctor Doom whines and dines the dignitaries inside. Once the FF make it inside, a group of waiters point handguns at the heroes in support of Doom. Victor claims they are civilians acting on their own, with no outside influence from him. The Fantastic Four decide not to attack, so Doom extends his mercy even further by doing something Reed Richards has never been able to do.

Doctor Doom turns The Thing back into his human form of Ben Grimm

Doctor Doom taunts his longtime rival Reed Richards with the cold hard truth: Reed has never been able to undo the accident that turned his best friend, Ben Grimm, into the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. Doom calls it a “staggering failure” by Reed, though Ben tries to play it off. The Thing says he’s come to terms with his condition and holds no animosity towards Reed. However, Doctor Doom won’t let the matter go and says he wants what’s best for everyone — even his most hated enemies.

Doom then casts a spell that engulfs Thing in a circular ball of energy, and once Thing emerges his rock-hard skin is gone, leaving him in his human form of Benjamin J. Grimm. He’s left shocked as the rest of the Fantastic Four tend to him, with Doctor Doom making his escape during the chaos. It’s a pretty big development for the Fantastic Four, and will surely affect how they counter Doctor Doom moving forward in One World Under Doom.

The majority of the fallout of Doctor Doom’s actions will continue in Marvel’s Fantastic Four series as a tie-in to One World Under Doom. Future issues tease the Fantastic Four’s numbers dwindling from four to three to two to one and ending with zero. The solicitation for Fantastic Four #33 teases the team going back to the Big Bang to find a way to defeat Doctor Doom. This also marks the end of this volume of Fantastic Four, with Marvel relaunching the series with a fresh #1 in July just in time for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.