What would a world under the control of Doctor Doom look like? And how would the heroes of the Marvel Universe stop him once he has that power?

That’s the question posed in mega-crossover, One World Under Doom, which plays that scenario out. It does so, however, in a manner that is surprising in some ways.

Doom, having taken on the Sorcerer Supreme mantle from Doctor Strange, has managed to take control of the entire world and now has power over every, individual country’s governments. The Avengers meet to discuss how to stop him, but in the meantime Doom is telling the world of his plans, which sound much more appealing than may have been expected. Additionally, Baron Zemo and his allies prepare to take Doom down, but something unforeseen happens to throw a spanner in the works with their plan. Of course, things are not what they seem: is Doom really going to be the benevolent, socially conscious ruler he’s promising to be?

I was not expecting to be on Doom’s side in this crossover, but honestly his speeches really won me over. It has the effect of making the Avengers look like the bad guys, to a certain extent, for wanting to intervene. The outcome of Zemo and his team’s sudden failure also reinforces this, and it’s only in the last few pages of this extended opening issue that things start to seem a little suspicious.

I wasn’t overly enamoured with the fact that the heroes spend so much time discussing the situation around the table, which feels like a far too common trope in these crossovers. And not seeing Doom seize control, rather just having him tell us that the world has fallen, feels like a missed opportunity too; however, that could be very deliberate to ensure we only get Doom’s side of the story here.

It’s certainly an intriguing setup, but what always puts me off even starting these big crossovers is a conclusion which merely sets up the next big crossover. It’s a decent enough start (useless group of heroes aside), and it’s all very slickly produced, but I do have concerns about the rather thin premise being sustainable over the course of a  9 issue series.

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