The Avengers’ Greatest Foes Returns… To Help Them Fight Doom?

One World Under Doom #2, by Ryan North and R.B. Silva, is stuffed with big moments. Doom’s hold on the world keeps getting tighter, as the people of the world find their lives better than ever under the rule of Doctor Doom. The Fantastic Four decide to try to make Doom look bad, but are completely outclassed by their longtime foe. Doom outmaneuvers them, and ends the whole affair by using his new Sorcerer Supreme powers to cure the Thing of his powers, transforming him back to Ben Grimm. Meanwhile, the Avengers watch as Doom outsmarts the heroes once again, leading them to make their own plans. Part of this plan involves trying to figure out if Doom has the leaders of the world under mental control of some kind. However, there’s another aspect to their plan, one that teams the Avengers up with a group of enemies that has been trying to destroy them for years — the Masters of Evil.

The Masters of Evil first came together back in the early days of the Silver Age, with Baron Heinrich Zemo bringing together a team that was powerful enough to fight the Avengers. Some of the best Avengers stories of all-time starred the Masters, and the history between the two teams is one of constant conflict. That makes this team-up especially precarious.

The Masters of Evil Have Tried to Destroy the World and Kill the Avengers Numerous Times

The Masters of Evil come from a time when most villains were “villainous opposites”. The Avengers were the ultimate heroes, so the Masters of Evil were the ultimate villains. They were the most dangerous enemies of their day and every time they’d return, there would be new members of the Masters. There was very little loyalty in the Masters of Evil; the team’s leaders — Heinrich and his son Helmut, Ultron, Egghead, Doctor Octopus, Crimson Cowl, Max Fury, Lightmaster, and Madame Masque — basically brought in anyone they thought would help them defeat the Avengers. A list of the Masters of Evil would read like a who’s who of the B and C-list of Marvel’s villains, with A-listers at the head of the team. The Masters of Evil have mostly disappeared in modern comics — for some reason, the evil superteam seems to be a thing of the past, at least in the Marvel Universe — but the group did hand the Avengers their worst loss until Scarlet Witch decided to get mad about her children.

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The ’80s classic “Under Siege”, by Roger Stern and John Buscema, saw the largest roster of the Masters of Evil brought together by Helmut Zemo. Helmut made the perfect plan and sprung it on the Avengers, with his Masters destroying the Avengers at every turn. They were even able to kick the team out of their headquarters at Avengers Mansion. Cap was taken prisoner, Jarvis was tortured, and Hercules was beaten into a coma. While the Avengers were eventually able to defeat their enemies, the scars of what the Masters of Evils did to them would always be there. The Masters under Zemo would also return a few later, when the Avengers were thought dead, posing as the Thunderbolts. That was basically the last hurrah of the Masters as any kind of force, so their return at the end of One World Under Doom #2 was a big surprise.

Can the Avengers Trust the Masters of Evil?

The Avengers don’t have the best luck with Doom, and Captain Marvel’s two-pronged plan is the group’s best hope to defeat the Latverian monarch. Teaming with the new Masters of Evil — consisting of Doctor Octopus, MODOK, Mysterio, Baron Mordo, Arcade, and Madelyne Pryor — feels like an action motivated by panic, and it’s one that can bite the Avengers if they’re not careful. While this new roster of the Masters doesn’t have anyone who hates the Avengers too much — MODOK is the only one who is technically an Avengers villain — Doom has been able to keep the Avengers and the FF on the back foot. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine that Doom has already suborned the Masters.

Regardless of what happens, seeing the Avengers and the Masters team together is something that no one ever expected. The closest that ever came to happening was with the Thunderbolts, and even that was after Zemo had been kicked off the team and Hawkeye was leading them. This is a huge moment in Avengers history.

One World Under Doom #2 is on sale where ever comics are sold.