Doctor Doom and Reed Richards may have the fiercest rivalry in Marvel Comics. As such, they are familiar with each other after so many years of conflict. However, the latest Fantastic Four comic has seen the sovereign of Latveria exploit Mr. Fantastic‘s greatest weakness and greatest strength to secure his own victory.
Written by Ryan North with art by Humberto Ramos, Fantastic Four #2 finds the titular team scattered across time. The previous issue saw them temporally teleported during a battle with Doctor Doom. Thankfully, this is something the team had prepared for.
The Fantastic Four left a time sled within a temporal pocket accessible through a Forever Stone they knew existed in all time periods on Earth. Sue Storm was able to use this to travel back in time and retrieve her family. They returned to the present, just seconds after their archenemy had banished them. Unfortunately, Doctor Doom was several steps ahead of them, as usual. What’s more, he already had a plan in place that exploited Reed Richards’ greatest weakness.
What is Reed Richards’ biggest weakness?
When the Fantastic Four reappeared so suddenly, Doctor Doom was seemingly stunned. He shouted that this was impossible and wondered aloud how they escaped his time trap. Reed Richards explained about the time sled and the temporal pocket. Unfortunately, this played directly into Doom’s iron hands as he knew Reed could not resist a chance to show off.
Doctor Doom confirmed that the Fantastic Four had confronted him several times earlier. They had repeatedly escaped his traps, only for Reed to explain how they did it each time they returned. Too late, the heroes realized that Doom had been taking advantage of Reed’s need to prove his intelligence and the team’s consistent record of finding some flaw in Doom’s plans. Doom then magically reset the timeline while retaining knowledge of the earlier fights, slowly working toward a perfect plan that would not fail. The issue ends with the team once again answering a call to confront Doctor Doom, with the cycle apparently ready to begin again.
Fantastic Four #2 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
