WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers of the Wastelands #2, by Ed Brisson, Jonas Scharf, Neeraj Menon and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.
Doctor Doom has a history of overextending himself to disastrous result, but his newest experiments to recreate the Fantastic Four in Avengers of the Wastelands #2 fail in a spectacular fashion befitting Victor. Using scrapings of genetic material, Doom attempts to clone Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm but only succeeds in creating a Cronenberg-esque Fantastic Four -- which is hardly what Doom could have had in mind.
During the supervillian uprising that led to the obliteration of most of the Earth's superheroes, Doom was cheated by Kang in the destruction of his greatest foes. Despite lording over New Latveria (the wasteland that remains of the United States) without obstruction, Doom can't seem to feel secure in his own power or let go of his long-dead nemesis Reed Richards. And there's no better way in feeling superior than to clone your archenemy and force him, and his friends and family, to become your subjects.
However, before Doom kills him in the book's opening pages, Count Nefaria points out supervillains lost their purpose after winning the war and destroying the superheroes. So perhaps it's not entirely because Doom felt cheated or needed the superior might of the Fantastic Four to keep himself in power, but is purposeless without Richards. Having the might of the Fantastic Four on his side would certainly be a boon to Doom's arsenal and would decisively keep his grip on New Latveria. But without an equally brilliant mind to contend with, without a vessel to pour his animosity into, who is Doctor Doom? Just another monarch in a fancy suit? And what's more, what is the point of ultimate power if you can't rub your nemesis' nose in it? Especially if you can make that nemesis do your evil bidding.
But Doom's speciality almost seems to be letting himself down. His high opinion of himself, which isn't without merit considering Doom is one of the most brilliant characters to grace the Marvel Universe, and lack of regard for the abilities of others, often brings about disastrous results. His arrogance blinds him from seeing alternatives to his plans and leads him to make fatal errors.
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Doom's failure to clone the Fantastic Four and impress them into his army isn't the first (or even close to the last) time that he's reached to the limits of science and sorcery and come up wanting.
For instance, in the Fantastic Four Annual Volume 1 story "The Final Victory of Doctor Doom," Doom manages to dose the Fantastic Four by putting a special hallucinogenic drug in their drinks and tricking them into believing they are being attacked by one another. This plot is later foiled by Mr. Fantastic using the same drug in the same way: drinking from a drugged cup. In his hallucinatory state, Doctor Doom believes he's killed Mr. Fantastic and departs victoriously. He doesn't bother to verify, because why should he? He's Doctor Doom.
There was also the time he had all but defeated Reed and the Fantastic Four during Mark Waid, Mike Weiringo, Karl Kesel, Paul Mountis, and Rus Wooton's "Unthinkable" story arc. Having trapped Reed in a magical prison and de-powered the rest of the team, Doom opted to prove his intellectual and magical superiority instead of calling it a day. Doom pompously presumed that Reed could not learn the magic necessary to escape from Doom's special prison, only to have Reed learn the rudiments necessary from an astral projected Doctor Strange by doing the one thing that Doom cannot ever seem to do: admit he's not as smart as he thinks he is.
Doom's need to subjugate, he is a monarch after all, doesn't end with Mr. Fantastic either, as he doesn't allow one petty failure stop him. Harnessing the super serum that led to Captain America Doom creates his own brand of super soldier, but ultimately comes up wanting here too. Lieutenant Latveria points this out in Avengers of the Wastelands #2, when recollecting the story of his own creation at Doctor Doom's hands, another near disaster that saw hundreds of subjects die. What makes this particular Lieutenant Latveria survive where others failed remains to be seen, and could turn out to be another quintessential Doom muck up.
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