Reed Richards challenges Doctor
Doom to a public debate: can he justify his rule to the world’s smartest man?
They meet in a TV station with the event being transmitted to the entire world
and Doom states that if Reed wins the debate, he will step down. From the
beginning it does not go well, as Reed can appeal on an intellectual level but
Doom can win the hearts of the audience. Reed then brings up the Blood Hunt,
the event that gave Doom the powers of the Sorcerer Supreme: Reed can prove
that it could have been prevented but Doom let it happen so he could seize power.
Doom responds that Winston Churchill knew the Pearl Harbor attack was going to
happen but chose to let it go forward because it would bring the USA into the
War, ending it much sooner. Reed insists that said scenario has never been
proven but Doom handwaves it away, saying the means were justified by the end
and the audience applauds….
The Avengers are outside Laveria
with their latest plan to pierce the dome keeping them out. Maria Hill points
out a weak spot in the dome and tells them they can break through while Doom is
distracted. The Avengers blast a hole in the dome and before it can close up
again, Invisible Woman, Black Widow, and Scarlet Witch jump through….
At the debate, Reed asks Doom why
he thinks he is the only one who can save the world? Doom names Tony Stark,
Hank Pym, Black Panther, Storm, and Reed himself who have technology that could
have helped the world immensely but chose to use it only for their own benefit
and the good of a small circle of people. This is because they have a personal interest
in maintaining the world’s status quo while Doom had nothing to lose….
In Latveria, Sue, Nat, and Wanda invisibly
look around the capital and realize the happy citizens strolling around are
holograms. Wanda cancels some magical interference and they discover a huge
central building; Wanda discovers that it is magically powered but mainly to
keep people in, not out. Wanda carves a magic tunnel though and they enter to
discover millions of people trapped in cells, having their life energies
drained from them….
They send the images to Reed who
puts them up on the worldwide transmission. Doom tries to stop him and fails. Doom
claims the people are all volunteers for the good of the rest of the world;
Reed points out that they include children—that Doom is draining the life
forces of his people for his own power. Doom tortures Reed insisting that the
end justifies the means. Reed, in pain, demands to know that if the end justifies
the means, why was Doom keeping it a secret? Then the worldwide transmission is
cut off….