#Emperor Doom

[coolcomicbookcovers]

[rei-ismyname]

Emperor DOOM 2 2025

Now this is an event I can get behind! It's been set up for years DOOM is incredibly versatile so everyone has history and beef with him, and the dude is just incredibly capable. This will be the second time he's been Emperor, and he gave up last time but he's had 45 years to think about it.

[prettywitchiusaka]

My Inner DS Fangirl: Wait, so...when Doom uses the Purple Man to take over the world, does Stephen remain brainwashed when he goes into other dimensions to fight demons and monsters? Or does Doom's influence not extend beyond Earth and so he has to have Stephen re-brainwashed every time he comes back to Earth?

My Inner Critic: You know you're overthinking this, right?

My Inner DS Fangirl: Shut up! Let me have this!

[thebibliomancer]

Sometimes writers really want to get it across that except for that minor point of being an autocratic dictator, Doom actually has good politics! Except for that one minor point! That tiny foible!

[onlylonelylatino]

Emperor Doom and the Fearless Defenders by Phil Jimenez

[rraaaarrl]

Correct , it's from Emperor Doom! Which has many fine moments, including:

Namor and Doom go on a date:

Everyone eagerly voting Doom into world domination

Now that Doom is Emperor of the World, he is bored.... alas 😭

But best of all!!! Doom defying that Purple shit's mind controlling powers through sheer willpower and basically laughing in his face, it's great 💀

THE OBVIOUS STALEMATE BREAKER, IT'S WHAT THE PEOPLE DESERVE

[texassbian]

that scene in code of brawl where emperor got shot and bison was the only one panicking LOL

[frosla55]

ohhhhhh...

[lucidpeech]

I will always have been your Balduran

doodles of pre-squid balduran design (mixing his city statues and mural depiction!) these two makes me so so sad...

[tgirldarkholme]

I am also not sure about the ending where the main bad guy is a Vietnamese woman who must be killed and where the story shows and allows Ozymandias to justify doing it. A bunch of people pointed out that it'd have been more radical if Trieu got her own "I did it 35mns" and actually realized her apocalypse because that's more like how Moore would do it.

Even if one want the statu quo to be conserved at the end (a strange thing to want in a Watchmen adaptation/sequel)... there are wildly superior stories with this basic premise (including the racial/imperial angle):

Have you seen HBO Watchmen, and if so what are your thoughts on it?

Not fully, no. I am not a fan of Damon Lindelof. For research reasons, I saw a couple of episodes and some scenes from later on, but mostly wasn't too impressed. When I saw the Tulsa Massacre prologue, all I could think was how I'd much rather they give money to African-American creators to tell this story . than have them use that tragedy to gussy up IP Theft for an adaption by a white creator, that on the whole isn't about the Tulsa Massacre and its issues. I'd have respected Lindelof if he'd talk about the union issues in adapting comics works and if he used his platform to talk about Moore's situation and grievance because he instead promoted it by basically insulting and talking trash constantly and made out Moore's issues as down to anger rather than anything tangible. I am also not sure about the ending where the main bad guy is a Vietnamese woman who must be killed and where the story shows and allows Ozymandias to justify doing it. A bunch of people pointed out that it'd have been more radical if Trieu got her own "I did it 35mns" and actually realized her apocalypse because that's more like how Moore would do it. There's an article by a Vietnamese writer on that: (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/18/how-watchmens-misunderstanding-vietnam-undercuts-its-vision-racism/). In terms of casting, much like Zack Snyder, Jeremy Irons as Ozymandias is a total miscast. You need a good guy character not some urbane sassy Brit. And the stuff with him is pretentious in extremis. I also don't like the downplaying of Laurie and Dan. And I am not sure about the optics of Dr. Manhattan reincarnating himself as a black man, that feels a bit too GET OUT.

[saddest-girl-in-the-whole-world]

I always come back to how fucking weird Ulysses and Titania are to me post resurrection. Like there's something fundamentally wrong about them and I really need to know what it is.

John said that when the nuclear apocalypse happened he held everyone's soul in place, as they died he made sure to preserve them so later he could go on to resurrect them, right?

But how did that work for Ulysses and Titania? They were dead long before John even got necromancy in the first place, there's no way he could have held on to their souls, but they were still part of his saints post resurrection? Can John get souls that are already dead back? I mean fuck I don't even know if the river existed back then so? Did he lie about something again? Are they just constructs? Are they his weird Necro Cav OCs that he controlled to have insight on what would be brought to a lyctor but not god?

I mean, man, we talk about how fucked up it is he rewrote his friends memories and gave them new names but U— and T— were just... some people whose bodies were donated to help with earths last hope. And he just makes them his servants and turns their legacy into the galaxy's biggest factory for child soldiers?

That's just weird, man.

[coolcomicbookcovers]

[rei-ismyname]

Remember that time Doctor DOOM achieved world peace?

In Emperor DOOM, he captured the Purple Man, Zebediah Kilgrave (a real scumbag,) a villain who has the power of mind control. DOOM recruited Namor to neutralize The Vision and others who'd be able to resist Purple power, and stuck Kilgrave in a doohickey to amplify his ability. Kilgrave objected.

The Purple Man says KYS, but DOOM's will is formidable.

DOOM heads down to the United Nations and puts himself forward as ruler of Earth. Naturally, everyone says yes.

He ends the Soviet-Afghan war, ends famine in Ethiopia, ends Apartheid in South Africa, and the world economy booms (he left capitalism in place? Huge L but it's only been a day IG.) No more wars full-stop. Authoritarian rule sucks, but it's hard to argue with the results. He hasn't killed or even physically harmed anyone.

Hey, it's Luke Cage and The Hulk - guarding The White House. DOOM is taking his job seriously but he craves challenge. Clearly administrating the entire planet is trivial, lol. He gets his wish - The Avengers mostly slipped free of the mind control and are coming to end world peace!

DOOM is delighted to have a rebellion to crush. This is kinda the core of DOOM's character. He's a master of science and sorcery, incredibly educated and competent, but he's incapable of being happy and loves conflict of any kind. So the Avengers and the Emperor race to DOOM island.

Though the Avengers are having second thoughts about the whole thing. Little bit heavy handed there, folks. Terrible analogy, Hawkeye. Philosophers, The Avengers are not. He crushes them pretty easily tbh. He could wipe them out or take over their minds again with the press of a button, but he decides not to. He's having second thoughts about this whole thing. He's bored.

Delaware seceding from the Union? Interesting development, though not plot relevant. In the end the minutiae leads DOOM to let The Avengers win, and Namor kills the Purple Man. Just kills the fuck out of him. He's a r*pist asshole so no one cares, plus he'll be back obviously.

Russia and Afghanistan go at it immediately, Apartheid is back (good job idiots,) and the US rearms missiles. Hawk is back on the menu and the good guys won, right? On the plus side, graffiti is back! Why would Doom bother with that? You can really feel the liberal bias at times like this.

Yeah the world immediately returns to its usual garbage fire state. Seems like a terrible mistake to me. Maybe a compromise might have yielded better results than 6 Americans who are unaffected by the wars and inequality making unilateral decisions. They never think about it again. It's hard to view Marvel as more than neoliberal brainrot at times, especially when a 'victory' is the world burning with the USA pointing missiles at everyone.

Oh, and Namor is pissed off at the surface dwellers, but that's business as usual. This is the DOOM I hope the MCU is able to capture - the dog forever chasing the car and his own worst enemy. A man that could bring so much good to the world if he weren't so petty, and, you know, a fascist. Not sure I'd be able to take it seriously with RDJ's dumb face, but we shall see. Emperor Doom is great and you should read it!

[prettywitchiusaka]

Also, this is a minor nitpick, but I cannot believe that Professor X of all people is actually arguing, "Well, maybe The Goddess is doing a good thing!"

Leans in...

No, Charles! No, she wasn't! I know your whole schtick is that you're a Martin Luthor King Jr. expy and so you'd rather things be peaceful, but you're a telepath with limited mind-control abilities. You should know some woman brainwashing your friends into being her loyal subjects and making villains docile (without their consent) is a bad thing!

This is like arguing, "Well maybe Doctor Doom did a good thing when he kidnapped The Purple Man and turned his mind-control powers into a frequency that he used to brainwash the world and made himself Earth's Emperor! He was doing things to improve humanity!". Yeah! And he still kidnapped a man and brainwashed the entire world into being his slaves! Zebadiah Killgrave might be a monster! But he still has rights!

[thebibliomancer]

[farsight-the-char]

The False Emperor vs Slayer-san, Mortal Kombat-style, by

b1kv41