The Good
Art- Esad Ribic continues to make this oen of the prettiest damn books on the shelf and for that we are forever grateful.
Cover– The standard cover was pretty cool and a few of the alternatives were as well. I love the painted feel of the standard cover it gives the series a decidedly epic feel.
Action– This outing we get Scott Summers/Phoenix vs. Dr.Doom/God, The Cabal vs. Thors; both entertaining in their own way and a nice way to make story progression more exciting.
Old Enemies– Black Panther and Namor have been enemies ever since the former betrayed the latter to Dr. Doom back in Black Panther [2009] #1 & Black Panther [2009] #2) and set in motion the events which lead to Doomwar, then his recent destruction of Wakanda’s capital in Avengers Vs X-men #8 and Avengers Vs. X-men #9 Then when war broke out between the two nations and Namor tricked Thanos’fleet into attacking Wakanda during Infinity. Namor’s finale despicable act was housing his Cabal in Wakandan’s city of the dead and destroying Wakanda completely, leading to the death of the Dora Milaje and T’challa’s sister Shuri. Seeing them go at it stirred all kinds of emotions within me as it should every true continuity following Black Panther fan.
Cracks– This issue we see the various cracks that exist in Doom’s armour. Namely his Issues with Reed Richards, arrogance, temper problem and his lack of omniscience; these three are his Achilles heel and they will no doubt find him defeated by the end of the series.
The Bad
God– So Doom created this world and is touted by everyone as god but has to go to the battlefield to exert any power of said battlefield. When the Illuminati are whisked away by Dr. Strange he has no idea where they were sent nor can he be brought back.
Old rivalry– How ridiculous was it for Doom to still have his Reed Richards paranoia when he has all this power and saved creation from annihilation? In character but man is it irrational as f**k!
Battle– Scott Summers has always been one of my favourite characters and I sided with him during X-men: Schism and Avengers vs. X-men. Call his decisions bad or not I can rationalize and would have made the same choices. Having said that I found his battle between Doom and Summers was mildly amusing for an instant. It was equally shocking when you see Doom snap his neck. The Phoenix is all about rebirth so you know this is not the end of Scott Summers.
The Ugly
Overall this was an enjoyable read with new perspectives on the discussed, a major shake up to the status quo of battleworld has also occurred which will no doubt have ripple effects on many things as the tale progresses. This was a solid read and we give it 4/5 stars
Regarding the things you say are bad I disagree. 1) Doom was said in the first or second issue to be omnipotent not omniscient, so no he doesn’t know everything so he wouldn’t know where Strange sent them and since he doesn’t know he can’t bring them back. You say Doom being afraid of Reed is bad and I say it’s great. It goes to show and even Strange himself said it despite all the power Doom has the fact that he is still afraid of Reed shows you that he is still just a man. A man with vast amounts of power, but still a man.