Fantastic Four’s Most Important Member May Be Its Most Despicable Doctor Doom

In Timeless, one of the deadliest versions of Doctor Doom was revealed to be a member of the Fantastic Four.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Timeless, now on sale from Marvel Comics

Timeless, a Marvel one-shot that previews what the comics have in store for 2022 (by Jed MacKay, Kev Walker, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, Marte Gracia and Ariana Maher), hit shelves this week. Though readers were likely most shocked by the reveal of Miracleman, the reveal of perhaps the most evil variant of Doom in the multiverse was quite surprising as well. Kang the Conqueror encounters a hopeless and obliterated timeline attempting to establish itself as the future of the main one, dubbing this anomaly as a “pirate timeline.” Kang immediately suspects the involvement of Victor Von Doom, and while he does find the perpetrator wearing Doom’s mask— the man is not Victor, it’s Reed Richards.

The desolated landscape this Doom surveys is filled with the corpses of Celestials… Richards killed them and drank their blood to increase his own power. His eyes are replaced by the Time Stone and the Reality Stone, so not only can he manipulate spacetime, but he has a borderline omniscient ability to see the future. This Doom is so powerful that he easily overpowered Kang in hand to hand combat, seeing every move the Conqueror would make before it happened. If it weren’t for the mortal historian Kang happened to bring as a travel companion, who impales Richards while his back is turned, he would have won.

Related: How Kang Created the Deadliest Spider-Man

Of course, this isn’t the only evil Reed Richards in the multiverse. One of the creepiest villains in recent Marvel continuity has got to be Maker, the megalomaniacal Mr. Fantastic from the Ultimate comics universe. He’s used his elasticity to elongate his brain into grotesque proportions, making his mind a powerful organic supercomputer. While the Richards from Timeless might seem potentially more evil than Maker, Doom Richards actually began his quest with good intentions. Unlike Maker, whose evil deeds serve his self interest, Doom Richards actually destroyed his world because he tried to save it. Perhaps it’s the ‘good intentions’ of Reed that actually make him more of a threat.

This also isn’t the sole contender for most powerful Doom in the multiverse. In the 2015 massive crossover event Secret Wars (by Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribić and Ive Svorcina), Victor Von Doom uses a shackled Molecule Man to ascend to godhood. Doom Richards might be the most powerful being in his timeline, but God Doom of Secret Wars is a master of several fractured realities following the collision of the 616 cosmos and the Ultimate Universe. Though the desolation of Richards’ pirate timeline certainly suggests an ungodly amount of power, perhaps the preservation of his realms speaks to the restraint of God Doom’s will. Restraint and humility, regardless of the purity of his intentions, seem to make God Doom the more powerful foe.

Related: Iron Man Just Used the Power Cosmic – and Proved He’s Worse Than Doctor Doom

Though Doom Richards dies by the end of the issue, his killer, Dr. Petrov, speculates as to whether any elements from this “pirate timeline” might still occur. With the implied introduction of Miracleman into the canon, it may be that Marvel will soon come to reevaluate the importance of good intentions among its most beloved superheroes. Was Doom Richards killed… or is he yet to be born?

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