This is the 1 Marvel comic fans should read to understand Robert Downey Jr.'s Doom

When a major comic book event is about to take place, I tend to go back and do a reread of the major storylines that led to the crossover.

For example, the Marvel Comics event Ultimate Endgame is the beginning of the end for the newest version of the Ultimate Universe (Earth-6160). This meant it was time to go back to Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Invasion Deniz Camp’s Ultimates. After reading both titles and seeing the newest teaser for Avengers: Doomsday, I was reminded of something writer Deniz Camp said about Robert Downey Jr. becoming Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In the tweet above, you can see that Ultimates No. 4 is required reading if you want an insight into what’s going on with Doctor Doom in the MCU. However, that doesn’t mean much if you haven’t read the issue. Even if you have, there are still some assumptions that can be made about what will happen. This article will break down what happened in the issue and how it may connect to the MCU and Avengers: Doomsday.

What happened in Ultimates No. 4?

It’s important to note that Universe-6160 was created by The Maker, who is the original Ultimate Reed Richards. This Reed became evil after years of abuse from his father, the world almost being destroyed in Ultimatum, and Sue Storm declining his marriage proposal. After spending centuries in a place called the Dome (where time moves faster), Reed became obsessed with “fixing” the world. After 2015’s Secret Wars, the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610) was destroyed, and Maker stayed on Earth-616 until eventually creating a new timeline from Earth-616 (the aforementioned, 6160).

In order to remake the world in his image, the Maker changes crucial moments throughout history. One of the biggest moves was making sure that Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm don’t become the Fantastic Four. He does this by changing the equation that leads to the foursome going to space and getting bombarded with cosmic rays. Instead, it leads to the eventual deaths of everyone except Reed. This is where things start to get even more sinister.

After the deaths of Johnny Storm (he died in a fire on their exploration), Ben Grimm (took his own life), and Sue Storm (cancer), the Maker captures Reed Richards and tortures him. During the torment, Maker keeps calling his counterpart Doom. It eventually leads to Maker putting a hot metal mask on Reed’s face, and his enemy eventually accepting that he was Doom.

MCU Doom theory

People had plenty of questions when Robert Downey Jr. revealed that he was Doctor Doom. What did this mean for Iron Man? Is he an alternate reality Tony Stark who became Doctor Doom? Is it just a coincidence that he looks like Iron Man from the MCU?

The biggest takeaway from Ultimates No. 4 is that, rather than Doom existing through random events, he was created through abuse. That could mean that the Doctor Doom fans will see in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, might be the tortured Tony Stark. Or maybe this is still Victor Von Doom, except his path to becoming one of the most dangerous beings in the MCU is more violent than anyone may have thought.

Imagine if Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards abused a character into becoming Doom because he thought it was the right thing to do. Or, what if Tony Stark from another reality is trying to avoid his tragic future and thinks tormenting someone into becoming a different person was the right course of action? These aren’t likely, but they are possibilities.

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