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Hey everybody, welcome to another week in Ye Olde School Cafe’! In this week’s edition, we’ll see the conclusion to Marvel’s ultimate superhero and villain clash in Secret Wars! Up to this point, we’ve seen Galactus get beat down, and Magneto and the X-Men leave the Avengers side to forge their own path against an apparently unbeatable foe in the Beyonder. On the flip side of the coin, the villains of the story have banded together to strike at the heroes, and earn the prize that the Beyonder has promised to the winner. After his frontal assault proved fruitless, Galactus summoned his mighty ship which has his devices for consuming worlds. Only one guess on what he intends to do with that! Also, the devious Dr. Doom has made his way to Galaactus’s ship and found Ulysses Klaw contained there. After freeing him, Galactus finds Doom in his ship and expunges him rather violently back down to Battleworld. As of right now, Spidey has made a discovery that will change his life forever, in the form of the Symbiote! As both the heroes and villains prepare for the final battle, let’s look further into this final chapter of a classic Marvel event!

As the heroes are plotting to try and stop Galactus, Ben Grimm inexplicably changes back into the Thing (he has several times in this story). Iron Man (James Rhodes) is eying up Spider-Woman and comments on her nice legs. Spidey then whirls into the room and webs Torch’s face, then Cap tells them both to settle down. Outside, the X-Men are attacked by one of Galactus’s devices. It explodes eventually, which then brings the Avengers into the fight. The heroes don’t really have much of a chance against him, but they fight anyway. Inside the cell block, Doom busts out of his cell, and leaves the others to their own fate, except Klaw. Doom then heads straight for the command center, to make his move towards dominance. He theorizes that when the Beyonder opens his portal, that he can use the devices and also Klaw to sap the power from the Beyonder and become all powerful.

Galactus sees the heroes coming and puts a beating on them. After a while, though, he just walks away and then flies up to his ship. At this point, Galactus is going to use his ship’s absorption process to begin devouring this planet. As he does this, Doom activates his device that drains not only Galactus’s power, but also the Beyonder’s! Captain Marvel (Photon) sneaks into Doom’s lab and watches the process. As Doom is getting acquainted with his new power, he uses his “cosmic awareness” and senses Photon. Doom then has a quick conversation with Klaw about the Beyonder’s power, but then decides to leave just before the Avengers and X-Men burst in. They question Klaw about Doom’s whereabouts, but are interrupted by a planet shaking quake. It’s Doom, and he’s challenging the Beyonder for supremacy. It appears as though Doom is going down, he denies death, and cries out that he won’t be beaten. The next thing you know, Doom appears before the heroes, and tells them that the Beyonder has been defeated, and is cowering somewhere. Doom then offers everyone a chance to come with him, and to be a part of his new world order. As Magneto is ready to accept, he’s jumped by two Avengers. Suddenly, Doom is outside and under a barrage of powerful blasts. This time, he didn’t expect the fight, so he goes down, and doesn’t get up.
In the next scene, we see the Beyonder (not actually see him, but it’s implied) as he picks up Doom and taps into his mind. He relives Doom’s existence through his memories from his youth, all the way up until he became Dr. Doom. Meanwhile, the heroes are struggling to not get killed as the entire place is falling apart due to an earthquake. The heroes scramble to get to safety, but as soon as they turn around, they’re faced with a King Kong sized Dr. Doom! He declares that the Beyonder is dead, and that he is now the supreme being in the universe! Spidey cries out to Cap for guidance, but gets no answer at first. Then, as Cap and the others are ready to attack, Doom tells them to stand down, for there is no reason to fight anymore. He tells them that the Beyonder is dead, and Doom has been reborn. As he explains this, he removes his mask, and stuns the heroes! As Doom removes his mask, the heroes, especially Reed and Ben, are stunned to see his very handsome, and unscathed face. As Doom talks to Cap, the villains escape because of the earthquake. They think Doom is selling out to the heroes. Molecule Man tries to use his mighty powers to make Doom pay, but gets put in his place easily. Doom then “unlocks” something within Molecule Man’s mind, and he becomes more of a leader, instead of a timid little man. He then whisks the villains away to a home of his making. As the villains talk about how they just want to get home, Molecule Man tells them he can do it, and then he lifts Denver (Colorado – it was transported there when the heroes were, hence why Spider-Woman came out of nowhere) and it flies off into space.

As the heroes are getting some rest, we see a small flashing light, almost like electricity, zap the Hulk. He begins to sleepwalk, and Spider-Woman notices him, then tries to stop him. He easily breaks through her webbing, but then when he touches her, the electricity seems to jump into her. After a tremendous power surge, the heroes see a message engraved on the wall. It states that they are all summoned to the presence of Doom the next night. Doom then has a conversation with Klaw about power and how he will miss being able to dream, because he can do anything, therefore what is there to dream of? As Doom lays down for a rest, we see Colossus enter the room of Zsaji. He brings her flowers as a token of his love ( he, along with Torch, fell in love with her after being healed by her powers), and then, well, I think they make whoopie (I think so, anyway). In the morning, the heroes awake and talk about how they all had nightmares during their sleep.
At this juncture, Doom explains that he cannot be harmed, but also that he wants to make up for some of his crimes. He tells them that he can’t change a lot of things, because it would disrupt the time/space continuum. He does, however, bring Kang back to life. Doom then tells them that he’ll grant them a wish to “make up” for his transgressions. They tell him that they aren’t interested. He bids them farewell, and leaves them with a warning to not disturb him. Once outside, Cap notices that Spider-Woman is missing. He re-enters Doom’s building to look for her. He accidentally stumbles into Doom’s private quarters, and asks Doom to help find her. He sends Klaw to find her, but then she jumps him, and that mysterious flash of electricity goes into Klaw. Cap finds Spider-Woman asleep on the floor and then they leave together. As the heroes leave, Doom tells Klaw he knows that the inevitable is happening. He knows that right now the heroes are conspiring to overthrow him because they feel he wields too much power for one man. As the heroes jump into action, before they can even get out the door, they are obliterated by some unknown force.

We next watch the villains as they head back to Earth. Klaw then questions Doom about the heroes, and Doom exclaims that they are dead. Klaw asks if he’s sure, and Doom reacts as if he has doubts. As Denver heads back to Earth, we see the Enchantress summon an Elemental from her bathwater. She questions the being about the Beyonder. It explains that in another universe, the Beyonder was everything to that universe, but got bored and also curious of Earth beings’ emotion called desire. The Enchantress then learns that the Beyonder isn’t dead, but actually close by Doom right now, and also of Doom’s level of power. The Enchantress then lures Volcana into another room, and intends on draining her power to be able to reach Asgard and warn her people of Doom’s plans. Before she can do it, though, the Lizard follows her scent and lunges at her. He tears at her face and then she vaporizes him for it. At that moment, we see Klaw sneaking up on Doom, but then Doom awakens. Klaw then asks Doom if it’s possible that the heroes still live. Doom tells him they’re dead, but Klaw insists that Zsaji could have healed them. The two argue back and forth about the possibilities, and finally Doom gives in and hands over some of his power to Klaw, and commands that he destroy them. Outside, miraculously, the heroes are alive, and are trying to gain access to Doom’s base.

As Klaw is reveling in his new powers, he recreates Ultron, and then a bunch of inhuman beasts to fight the reincarnated heroes. They fight a crazy battle royal until Cap squeezes through the defenses. He kicks Klaw in the face, but Klaw acts as if everything is going according to plan. Cap races to Doom’s quarters, and then Doom incinerates him. He then just reappears to attack Doom over and over again. Klaw, who’s hiding in the corner, just keeps reanimating Cap again and again. This drives Doom mad, and then when he absolutely can’t control the power anymore, the Beyonder makes his move and steals back the power that Doom took from him. Klaw then comes to his senses and rushes to Doom’s side. The two are instantaneously transported away. After the fallout from that scene, the heroes rely on Reed’s intellect to get them home. As they have a funeral for Zsaji, Reed whips up some crazy teleportation device to send everyone home, but as they are leaving, She-Hulk tells them that Ben is staying behind. Reed tries to argue with him, but Ben tells Reed that he needs to figure some things out, as this planet allows him to change back and forth from Ben to the Thing, and he thinks that will help him in some way (how, I have no idea). Spidey is also contemplating things, most importantly this new costume that seems to respond to his mental commands. As the teams are transported away, we see Ben atop a mountain wondering what this new adventure will bring.
WHEW! That was the strange but fitting ending to one of Doom’s greatest triumphs and tragedies. He was easily convinced that he would screw up, and that goes against what you usually see with Victor von Doom. He’s seemingly quite confident in most situations. I do like the part where he is talking with Cap about freeing his mother from Mephisto. That is numero uno on his list of things to do with this vast power…well, after he fixed the scars on his face. Hence why Reed and Cap came to the conclusion that he needed to be stopped. I really like the fact that writers seem to portray Doom as a god, but then humanize him with the connection to the only person he feels ever loved him in his mother. Fantastic story with unbelievable team-ups you won’t ever see again portrayed this way. Come back next week for another great adventure into the world of old school books!
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Check out Ye Olde School Café: Secret Wars pts 1, 2, and 3!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net