Doctor Doom has long served as one of Marvel's most despotic villains. But Ryan North and Iban Coello's upcoming Fantastic Four #7 (legacy issue #700) is set to evolve the FF's longtime arch-foe, potentially standing to soften one of the Marvel Universe's oldest supervillains.
North cited the upcoming issue, which will feature Doctor Doom for the first time in the writer's run on the title. "There is a page in Fantastic Four #700 that tells you exactly how I feel about Doom (you'll know it when you see it)," North said in CBR's latest exclusive Marvel Monthly Fan Q&A when asked about the villain's seemingly increasing sympathetic nature. "But in broad strokes, I agree with you. Doom is the world's greatest supervillain, and part of that means he's going to evolve."
"He's going to develop in some fascinating ways (like being Uncle Doom to Val)," North said. "My main thing with Doom is he has to win. Even in Squirrel Girl, he had to get something from the encounters. In the final arc, there was the world's hugest showdown in Central Park, and Doom was there, and he said explicitly that no matter how the other villain's plan went, he would win. Either way, he benefits. That's part of being a mastermind supervillain, after all!"
Squirrel Girl encountered Doom, as well as several other supervillains, in an epic battle seen in North and Derek Charm's final Squirrel Girl storyline, published in 2019.
"So for me, the Doom stories are some of the hardest to write because you need that space for Doom to win in the story," North continued. "Issue #700 is a double-sized story, and it took me a full month to come up with the big idea of what would happen! You don't need that much time with other villains, but you do with Doom because he's Doom. All this to say, I don't think there's anything about him that's 'rote villainy,' and I really hope you enjoy Fantastic Four #700 out next month!"
Fantastic Four #700 -- featuring Scott Koblish's 700-character wraparound variant cover -- will mark the first appearance of Doom in North's Fantastic Four run. Hundreds of Doombots did appear, however, in his and Coello's recent Fantastic Four #2. In that issue, Reed and Sue discover Doom's creations had taken over a small town, replicating themselves as the town's populace. The move wasn't purely rooted in evil, however -- North's story reveals Doom's machinations were all designed to provide a comfortable life for an elderly woman who had befriended him during his college days.
CBR's full Marvel Monthly Fan Q&A with North can be read here.
North and Coello's Fantastic Four #700 goes on sale May 17.