It’s Doctor Doom’s world; we’re just living in it this year. The iconic villain is about to be a massive figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to Avengers: Doomsday, but he’s dominating the pages of Marvel Comics as well thanks to Doom 2099: Rage of Doom and the upcoming Doomquest. Arriving on May 27th, Doomquest #1 will see Doctor Doom on a quest to rewrite history and it’s poised to be his wildest story yet.
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Written by Ryan North, the new 10-issue series features art by Francesco Mobilie and is a high-stakes story. When Reed Richards wants to rewrite history for his own purposes, it’s not something that Doom can allow. The obvious answer (if you’re Doom)? Beat Reed to the punch and go back in time to do it before his nemesis can, except instead of “optimizing” history, which is Reed’s goal, Doom is planning to do it for the glory of himself and Latveria. ComicBook had the chance to chat with North about the story—and it’s going to be Doom’s wildest adventure yet.
Doomquest is a Story That’s Perfectly Doom
ComicBook: Everything we’ve seen about Doomquest, it sounds like a perfect way to get to know Doom a bit if by chance someone doesn’t already but also sounds like the most Doom-esque story ever. How did you approach writing this particular story given what seems to be its unique tone?
Ryan North: I wanted to have fun. Doom is such a heightened character, which means he has access to storylines that few other characters can reach. His ambition is endless – and sincere, his look is singular and his language is theatrical. He’s such a fun character, such a great bad guy to have because he really will do what he says he’s going to do. His threats always carry weight. So, the pitch for this was a characters study of Doom – a way to get to know more about this guy, even if you’ve never encountered him before – while also taking us on a big, huge wild story that only Doom could anchor.
It’s a serious story, but it’s also so much fun. Doom travels back to the American Revolutionary War and says “okay, well, I’m from the future and I don’t care about America or any of you people, so I’m going to steal the resources of the 13 Colonies to build a laser cannon and some steampunk armor and take over England myself.” That’s fun! That’s something I want to see. Every issue lets us put Doom in a new scenario and have him run wild over history – sort of similar, I’m now realizing, to the setup we used for Hulk: Smash Everything. Every issue is its own story, but it’s telling a larger one across the series.
One of the things I love the most about Doom is that he very much has his own very particular set of ethics and moral standards. How does Doom’s determination to beat Reed to the punch on “fixing” history in Doomquest fit into his particular worldview?
When Reed suggested it, it was in an “end of history” way – a retirement project for humanity. He was doing what Reed does so well: seeing the best of us, seeing where we might one day go, and pointing the way for everyone else. (And he was inspired here by the philosopher Nikolai Fyodorov, who argued that the only ethical thing to do was to resurrect anyone who ever lived, as death is an obscenity that should not be tolerated. Big ideas! Big swings. And Reed is there, discussing them theoretically.
And then Doom hears this and does not believe for an instant Reed is speaking hypothetically. He sees Reed as threatening to rewrite history and he says, “screw him, that’s an obscenity and he is as always obscene; the only just thing is if I do it first.” Doom is defined by ego – he knows he’s a great man, and he would be, probably, if Reed Richards never existed. That vanity – that inability to accept second place – is a huge motivator in everything he does. So, here’s a chance not only to proof Reed wrong, but to also fix all the injustices he’s suffered across all of time? How could anyone resist?
What would you say is the most surprising thing about Doomquest?
I think it’s how fun it is. Yes, Doom is a monster. Yes, Doom is doing horrible things. But he’s such a charismatic and compelling monster that you want to see what happens next. We get to have Doctor Doom on the Titanic – it’s fun! It’s been fun in the same way Hulk: Smash Everything has been fun – big bombastic single-issue stories that you couldn’t tell with anyone else – while also letting us drop in on all these fascinating moments in history, both real and Marvel. I’m very excited for this to be out in the world and see people’s reactions to it.
Get a First Look at Doomquest #4
We also have a first look at the cover for Doomquest #4, going on sale August 19th. Here’s how Marvel describes the issue: “Doom finds his consciousness inside the body of someone with no power, no standing and without anything beyond what this poor orphaned boy can scrounge on his own… which is to say, Doom finds his consciousness within his CHILDHOOD SELF. But now, with the knowledge of what is to come, Doom has a chance to do things differently—and BETTER. He can make different choices—win different battles. Rather than travel an ocean to study—in America, where he would meet his hated rival, Reed Richards, and become disfigured… he can stay in his home country, with his first and only love: a beautiful and clever young Latverian woman named Valeria. It’s a journey to the center of Victor Von Doom himself as he discovers how wildly differently his life could’ve gone…and the price he must pay to keep such victories!
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