Warning: Contains spoilers for The Ultimates #4! Marvel Comics fans have recently been thrust into a world where the Fantastic practice Do not exist, leaving Doctor Doom As the only remnant of the team’s existence. While one would think that Doom himself masterminded this turn of events, nothing could be further from the truth, as Doom is actually the one trying to bring the Fantastic Four back. In fact, Doom’s “Project Four” redefines everything fans know about the Fantastic Four’s powers and the deadly implications of their return from the Ultimate Universe.
in The Ultimates #4 By Deniz Camp and Phil Noto, readers get the full backstory of Earth-6160’s Reed Richards aka Doctor Doom. For the most part, Reed’s new Ultimate Universe story is the same as that of his Earth-616 counterpart, but with a few key differences. Like the original version, Ultimate Reed Richards went on a mission in space with Sue, Johnny and Ben, but because of the Maker’s interference in the timeline, their mission was doomed from the start.
Everyone except Reid died as a result of their space mission. The Maker then abducted Reed and tortured him, mutilating his body and twisting his mind until Ultimate Reed Richards became Ultimate Doctor Doom – a metamorphosis that the Maker caused just to tease his multiversal variant. Now that Doom is a member of the Ultimates, and knows the truth about how his life was supposed to be, he has become obsessed with creating the Fantastic Four. However, Doom’s “Project Four” is destined to end in nothing but horror and tragedy.
The ultimate Doctor Doom will create his own Fantastic Four, no matter the consequences
At the moment, “Project Four” is in the early testing phase, as Doom has only experimented on mice, and every mouse he flooded with cosmic radiation died. But, as he tells Tony Stark in this issue, Doom will never give up, no matter what. So, how long before human testing begins? Soon, readers will be shown the Fantastic Four’s powers in a whole new light, not as incredible abilities with which the heroes can protect the innocent, but as cruel curses cast on ignorant people by a mad genius bent on regaining the life that was stolen .
Another haunting aspect of “Project Four” is the pathetic desperation of Doctor Doom. He doesn’t just want to create a superhero team to help the Ultimates defeat the Maker, Dum wants to create a family, because he hopes that will fill the void inside himself left empty by the Maker. Given how bad the experiment has gone so far with living subjects, it seems likely that things won’t be much different with human trials, meaning Dum could subject many people to this harsh treatment in search of his ‘perfect family’.
Doctor Doom’s villain origin story in the Ultimate Universe is absolutely perfect
Ultimate Doctor Doom hates Reed Richards and is obsessed with the Fantastic Four in a whole new way
Everything about the new Ultimate Universe is absolutely fantastic, and Reed Richards’ Doctor Doom is no exception. Ultimate Doom is truly a dark reflection of his Earth-616 counterpart, as he hates Reed Richards (aka the Maker) and is obsessed with the Fantastic Four – not to beat them, but to make them. Plus, fans have already seen Doom accidentally kill a number of people by using the Immortus Engine earlier in the series, and that was just to create more Ultimates. So, what would he be willing to sacrifice for the sake of his precious fantastic four?
There is also the question of how Reed’s Doom will be able to maintain his status as a Marvel Comics hero after exposing human subjects to the cruel torture of cosmic radiation mutation. It is worth noting that Doom created a mutant mouse with the powers of Mr. Fantastic. Is he going to create a whole new Fantastic Four, replacing himself on the team while positioning himself as their villain just to have some twisted form of relationship with his ‘lost family’? Honestly, that would be awesome, and would allow Earth-6160’s Reed Richards to fully become the Ultimate Universe’s true Doctor Doom.
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No matter what form it comes in, Marvel Comics fans will soon have a final fantastic four join the newly established Ultimate Universe, but what remains to be seen is the extent of the horror Doom is ready to unleash on human test subjects make them. What seems clear, however, is that the source of this horror will be these Fantastic practices powers themselves, like Doctor Doom‘s “Project Four” has redefined everything fans know about them, exposing them as absolute nightmare fuel.
The Ultimates #4 by Marvel Comics is now available.