'One World Under Doom' Volume Two Review: Making the good guys look bad

I've been patiently waiting for this one to drop over the past few weeks, especially as I read through and finished both the Doom 2024 one-shot comic, and the Books of Doom release from a previous decade. Books of Doom was an incredible read that gave me the backstory of the Doom character, which only made me more interested in him and gave me a bit more understanding of why he does what he does, especially important given he's a supervillain. Books of Doom and the one-shot don't entirely portray the character as a villain for the most part, though. He's more seen as a troubled individual that has suffered and been bred into a monster. Now, as a mutilated adult holding a mixture of magical powers and technological ones, he thrives on his hatred for humanity while always seeking power over the universe. Important aspects for his character though are that sometimes there are in fact things he cares for, and he realises that there are things worthy of protecting. He's not a supervillain that aims for destruction. The Doom one-shot showing his own sacrifices to protect the universe from effectively having a total reset after much of it has been destroyed by another supervillain that roams through the universe destroying planet after planet. And the Books of Doom story shows the sacrifices of others he's willing to face in efforts to get to power and promote the beliefs he finds importance in.

Knowing the character of Doom certainly helps with this new comic series that has now hit its second issue: One World Under Doom. A present day narrative that sees Doom suddenly aiming to take over the planet, though by doing so by manipulating the people in the most normal methods imaginable: by being a politician. A little bit of killing here and there, replacing much of the world's leaders with robots which is soon discovered. Though Doom has made some massive promises to the world by abolishing the world government: improving quite literally everything. Immediately. Education instantly improved, services made more affordable and safe, and ending all global conflicts in the process. The world is finally at peace, but at what cost? I really liked the first volume for how Doom openly admits his killings to the world, telling them that it was a necessary move, and that the system had been failing them for years. What's needed is a true leader that gets things done and doesn't sit behind the slowness of regulations and laws. Direct action is what is needed to save humanity, and Doom is the one to bring it. It had a little bit of a resemblance to reality with how the political sphere is shaping up, but this second volume kicked itself into new territory by distancing itself from things a bit, bringing up the heat a little more.

Immediately it's seen that Doom's actions have actually done good for the people. Citizens are happy with the changes, and he has been building better schools, better hospitals, and offering better lifestyles to the people without any strings attached. It's building a pretty difficult case against the Fantastic Four and Avengers given they have no actual leverage against him anymore. Their public image is worsening as they're trying to stop Doom; and in the eyes of the people, stopping Doom is to support the previous broken establishment. One that thrived on corruption and effectively doing nothing but causing suffering to the people. I really like this story so far because it really does resemble the problems of our current society: life quality worsens as the elites get richer, as people claim things are impossible and cannot be fixed, when in reality we know that all it takes is waking up tomorrow and making the necessary changes to begin implementing a better future. The current structure a flawed one that uses a plethora of excuses to do nothing but benefit the cozy elites in the now. Doom's agenda is to utilise the people by gaining their traction by implementing the very changes the world wants. In this issue we're seeing him remove borders entirely, of which not everyone is happy about, but generally is approved given it allows people to escape the lands that have been causing them struggle.

Which this change comes a bit more of a globalist approach, where the world is thriving on the concept of peace finally. There's a few panels on how the world's idea of peace and individualism had actually been a system of anarchy, how the world was constantly fighting their own neighbours trying to improve their own nations for their own selfish purposes, not realising they were actually just strengthening their own problems. Much like how the world currently works: each country forming the odd alliance, but really just finding a way to increase its own profits even if it comes to causing conflict and further disconnect from other parts of the world. I like that this continues to create a problem for the supposed heroes of the planet, where they don't want Doom to be the ruler of Earth, but also end up looking like the bad guys for simply maintaining the broken status quo when they could've pursued change that genuinely made the world better. To just remind us that Doom isn't the best, we see how a relative of is simply refuses to accept Doom's plans, a young girl that sees that his actions are likely to cause more harm and don't necessarily contribute to freedom for society. Doom has made it clear that he doesn't accept when people get in his way or disagree with him. It's creating a troubled situation in which both sides are placing themselves into a tight spot with no real way out.

One World Under Doom shows how Doom wants someone to perceive him as good. He's a character that still is incredibly vulnerable and wants to be liked despite hating humanity and believing he's better than all; even making it clear that if there's anyone truly suitable for running the planet, it would be him due to his powers and intelligence. Not comparing himself to the world of dictators, but more a saviour that's throwing himself into power as a necessary change. It's pretty strong at the moment, just two issues in. I'm more interested in seeing Doom win this though, not that interested in seeing how the supposed good guys worm they way out of this and gaining the reputation again. Likely making public negative displays of Doom by putting him into a corner that he has no choice but to fight out of. Though so far it's clear he's one step ahead.