Doctor Doom is one of the most fascinating villains in comic book history. It’s not just his mastery over magic and science that makes him so powerful. It’s his intellect that guides him on how to use his skills and abilities that makes him a formidable threat. But he does have a couple of weaknesses: his pride and out-of-control ego. Thanks to his rivalry with Reed Richards mixing with his narcissism, Doom is incapable of accepting that Reed is right under any circumstances. In Doom All-On-One #1, that pettiness costs him the one thing in the universe he cares about.
An Annual Ritual
Years ago, Doom’s in his castle in Latveria, ready to achieve his greatest victory. Every year on Midsummer Eve, the barrier between Earth and Hell becomes thin, granting a boon to anyone learned in demonology. As a Doctor of the Fivefold Art, Doom can enter Hell and challenge Mephisto for his mother’s freedom. Years ago, his mother Cynthia Von Doom made a bargain with Mephisto to free her people in Latveria. But it was a trick and her soul was forfeit, damning her to eternal torment in the underworld.
Doom refuses to accept that his mother belongs to Hell. So, he marches through the gate where he encounters its guardian Kagrok, a towering beast of stone and darkness. The first time Doom fought Kahrok nearly killed him and almost claimed his soul. This time, Doom slices the beast’s arm at the shoulder with a high-intensity laser, likening it to cutting the Gordian knot. What was once the ultimate challenge is now only a prelude to what’s really in store for Doom.
The Rules of the Dual
When Doom steps through the portal, Mephisto is waiting for him with Cynthia’s soul trapped inside a massive hourglass. Standing between Doom and his goal is a lineup of some of Earth’s greatest heroes: Spider-Man, several members of the X-Men (Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus and Rogue), Captain America, Daredevil, Hulk, the Fantastic Four, etc. just to name a few.
Doom demands to know why these heroes are in Hell of all places. He doubts these heroes are truly Mephisto’s to claim.
“And why not, Victor?” Mephisto asks Doom. He argues that he claims a piece of every soul that uses violent means for righteous ends. He reminds Doom that his mother was a hero of sorts, a freedom fighter against tyranny, only to be claimed the same way. Mephisto suggests he can claim Earth’s heroes “just long enough for one battle,” with Cynthia’s soul on the line. Or maybe these are nothing but a group of demons molded to look and mimic the powers of Doom’s foes.
Either way, these are the rules: Doom has to shatter the hourglass and save his mother. If the sand runs out, Cynthia goes back to the pit. What Mephisto doesn’t realize is that he has given Doom an advantage. The “heroes” must guard the hourglass, so Doom can’t steal a split second for a long-distance attack. That means they’ll come at him in waves.
Doom vs Everybody
Captain America attacks first, hurling his shield in Doom’s direction. Doom is able to track the shield’s flight and catches it in his hand. He uses the shield to absorb the energy from Thor’s hammer and Monica Rambeau’s (Captain Marvel) electromagnetic powers. He channels all that energy to a device hidden in his armor that traps the trio in “no-time platform,” leaving them frozen inside of a giant green cube.
Against Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Scarlet Witch, he mixes science and magic to take them down. With a ward of discorporation, Iron Man’s armor disintegrates on the spot. For Scarlet Witch and Strange, he broadcasts subsonic radio frequencies to scramble the magic users’ minds until they can’t even think or cast spells.
When Spider-Man attacks, Doom admits the web-slinger “would be a problem.” Thankfully for Doom, he’s been holding the keys to victory since they first met. He knows how to “hack” into Peter Parker’s spider-sense by broadcasting a frequency on it, leaving the wall-crawler writhing in pain.
Two minutes have passed when the X-Men jump into the fight. Wolverine lunges at Doom with his claws and manages to draw blood. But when Storm strikes Doom with lightning, his armor absorbs it then redistributes the stored charge through Logan’s adamantium-laced (metal) skeleton.
The Hulk comes charging in, more unpredictable than ever now that Bruce Banner is in control. When the green giant gets close, Doom executes an alien mind-swap technique called the Ovoid transfer. This traps Bruce Banner’s mind inside Doom’s armor, which only responds to Victor’s brainwaves. Doom takes control of the Hulk’s body to deliver a massive sonic clap that incapacitates all remaining heroes. Then he hits Hulk with a sleep-inducing nerve pinch and returns to his body.
A Fatal Distraction
With a full minute left on the clock, there’s no one left to stop Doom from breaking the hourglass. Victory is within reach.
“Is that all ya got, creep?” The Thing asks.
The Fantastic Four are still standing. Sue Storm-Richards reminds Doom that her invisible force fields block shock waves, which is why the Hulk’s thunderclap didn’t hurt them.
“Funny how he’s happy to take on everybody but us,” Johnny says. “Almost like he knows what’d happen.”
But Reed Richards points out that Doom doesn’t really need to fight them. He can easily destroy the hourglass from where he’s standing with fifty seconds to spare.
That simple observation triggers Doom’s ego. Realizing that Reed is right drives Victor into a quiet fury. He can’t just let it go and save his mother; he has to prove he is superior to Richards first.
First, he seals the Thing in a quick-setting resin mortar so he can’t move. Next, he smothers the Human Torch when he tries to save the Thing by cutting off his oxygen supply with a force screen. Before Invisible Woman can make the first move, he blinds her with a flash of light so bright it leaves her blind. Finally he saves Reed for last, tapping into the right vibrational frequency to liquefy Reed Richards’s malleable body. With the entire team broken at his feet, Doom turns towards his mother so he can boast about what he’s accomplished.
But when he looks up, the hourglass is empty. The sand in the hourglass has run out.
Cynthia’s soul is back in the pit to endure unending torture. Mephisto reminds Doom he had five minutes to save his mother’s soul and his time has expired. Then he hurls Doom aside, saying he’s lost patience with the yearly tantrum. Mephisto points out that “Hell’s full of sore losers,” and Doom is no exception though he was “good for a laugh.”
“You’ll have to try those tricks on the real thing sometime!” Mephisto says, confirming the heroes were his demon copies all along, just as Doom guessed earlier. His “victory,” him gambling his mother’s soul was for nothing. Doom is reeling from this revelation. “The… the real… No! No! NOOOO!” he screams as he’s cast out of Hell.
Back in his castle, a Doombot asks Doom if he’s all right. Unable to process his own grief or admit that his pride ruined everything, Doom explodes in rage. He disintegrates his own servant with a blast of green energy. He reminds himself that he is “the master of all.” He marches up his castle stairs, confident that next year, he will finally succeed.
