There is a memorial service for the late Dr. Strange, conducted by the Thors. Doctor Doom and his family are there, none knowing that it was Doom himself who killed Strange (last issue). As the service concludes Franklin places a wreath of flowers about the neck of Strange’s statue and vows to avenge his murder….
Many hours later Valeria finds her father Doom still by Strange’s tomb. He charges her Future Foundation with tracking down the people who emerged from the life raft (Thanos and company) whom she assumes are the killers of Dr Strange. She wonders at how they managed to escape Doom’s wrath at the time but he cuts off all of her questions and sends her on her way…. With a muttered “Damn you” directed at Strange,
Doom passes into a place beneath the statue, brightly lit and empty except for Owen Reece, the Molecule Man who floats upside-down in his prison. The cynical Reese greets his old partner and they rehearse the situation that brought us all to where we are: the Beyonders had created the multiverse and placed a version of Owen Reece in each universe to allow for its destruction. Doom used the Reeces to obliterate universe after universe, and then they were joined by Stephen Strange. They managed to draw out and destroy the Beyonders with their own power, leaving Doom to become the god who assembled all he could save into the present Battleworld. Doom confesses that he killed Strange but Owen has already figured that out. Doom takes his leave….
At the headquarters of the Future Foundation, Valeria has Alex Power and Dragon Man fill the rest in on their newest discovery: a means of tracking the energy signatures of what they are calling the Stuff of Doom. Dr Strange’s energy displays as the opposite of Doom’s so they can track his movements and locate their enemies (Thanos and company) and find out why Doom is afraid of them….