One World Under Doom #6 (2025)

Reed Richards publicly challenges Emperor Victor von Doom to a "public contest of cognition" - a live public discussion. Doom accepted Reed's challenge while noting that it will not seriously distract him away from pressing world issues since the world has been stabilized in terms of safety and prosperity under his rule. Reed and Doom attended the set of 616 TV. The former begins his verbal spar with Doom by needling him if he is afraid of the stakes imposed by the terms of this discussion. Doom responds by raising the stakes of the discussion in which should Reed win the discussion, Doom will give up his right to rule Earth. In front of the world, Doom and Reed discuss, dispute, and contest. Both men possessed the ability to command logic that can win the people's minds, but Doom on the other hand is better at winning over the people's hearts. Though lacking Doom's interpersonal skills with people, Reed resorts to relying on the only advantage provided by Maria Hill. He recalls the events of the Blood Hunt that led to Doom becoming Sorcerer Supreme and Emperor of Earth in which Reed accuses Doom of having known the vampire attack would happen, and thereby allowing many people to die. Rather than admitting guilt, Doom however begins telling the audience an untold secret about Winston Churchill, a man repeatedly considered the greatest Prime Minister in British history, of having known that the Japanese would launch a surprise attack on America; he faced a choice of warning the Americans and prevent the attack, thus prolonging the Second World War indefinitely, or let events proceed, thereby drawing America into the war and hastening the fall of Hitler and his Nazi regime. While Churchill's decision came too late as too many people, including Doom's Romani people, perished from the Holocaust, it would lead to others such as Doom's family surviving the war. It was an impossible choice, but Churchill did not shy away from it and instead he stood by it. In similar terms, Doom announces that he is unapologetic for the impossible choice he made for everyone's "greater good" as it is what leaders do. Outside of Latveria, Maria Hill leads the Avengers to the impenetrable magical barrier that covers the nation. With Doom unaware of their presence, they see a chance to infiltrate Latveria. Hills knows a weak spot on the barrier in which she instructs the heroes to blast at the spot to create a temporary opening before it quickly closes. They succeeded in punching a hole in the barrier and allowing Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman, and Black Widow to enter Latveria. Doom and Reed continue their discussion. When pressed on his claim that no one else can rule the world but Doom, Doom points out several powerful people who have the ability to change the world for the better but only to squander it: Tony Stark used his technology to create his Iron Man suits for himself rather than using it as clean, boundless energy for the world. The Black Panther hoarded Wakanda's technology and unique resources from the world whom he deemed "unready". Storm focused her attention on terraforming Mars and ruled it for herself rather than using her weather-changing powers to end droughts, floods, and heat waves. Hank Pym used his Pym Particles to gallivant as Giant-Man rather using it to enlarge foods and end world hunger. The X-Men and their mutant affiliates cured death and they never shared this cure to non-mutants. Doom concludes that these people are "petty beings of endless avarice" who did nothing to improve their world, and even postulated that they would leave their reality to other parallel universes to escape from the messes they left behind. He then singles out Reed for being the "greatest disappointment of them all" for using his intellect to hoard his incredible inventions for himself and his family, and having the self-interest in keeping the world unchanged. Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman, and Black Widow walk through the Latverian streets undetected due to Wanda's magic and Susan's invisibility. They see the locals seemingly going about their daily life until Natasha notices a couple having repeatedly walked the same route. Susan uses her power to discover the Latverians are hard light constructs before dispelling the artificial illusion, revealing the town depopulated and a huge looming building. Wanda detects a very powerful magic surrounding the building which isn't resisting her, but is designed to keep people inside. She creates an entrance to allow herself and the others to enter the structure, where she is astounded to sense a wide range of magic from within. They come across a vast chamber containing millions of people trapped in containers while their souls are being harvested by Doom's robots. Natasha films the entire chamber and relays the recordings to Hill, who in turn relays to Reed. Reed interrupts Doom's monologue and shows everyone of the recording: Doom was harvesting the life force of his Latverian citizens to himself, fueling his magical powers as Sorcerer Supreme. Doom tries to defend that his people had willingly volunteered themselves to achieve his goals for bettering the world, but Reed furiously counters that he also used children, who cannot give their consent. Just as Reed accuses Doom for sacrificing his own people for himself, Doom grabs Reed's head and openly admits that he would not hesitate to sacrifice a million more to achieve utopia. Doom uses his magic to tear into Reed’s head while justifying his actions as a fair price to give everyone peace, wealth, safety, and happiness. But Reed then asks him: "If these horrors are so justified, then why, Victor, do you hide them?" Doom remains silent and looks at the audience, who are left in shock and horror. Wordlessly, Doom remotely shuts off the broadcast while the public are left reeling from Doom's revelation.