Doctor Doomjust roasted Reed Richards, his perennial nemesis, by calling into question Mr. Fantastic’s status as thesmartest person in the Marvel Universe, suggesting that a true genius would never have caused the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. It is an easy dig, but it resonates with Marvel fans, who have said the same for decades.
One World Under Doom#6, by the creative team of Ryan North and R.B. Silva, depicts the current Emperor of the world, Doom, preparing for a live televised debate with Richards.
Doom is so confident that he is going to emerge victorious that he is willing to stake his dominion over Earth itself on the outcome, reiterating that he firmly believes Reed isn’t as smart as everyone thinks.
Doctor Doom Roasts Reed Richards For The Time He “Irradiated And Nearly Killed His Only Friends”
One World Under Doom#6, By The Creative Team Of Ryan North And R.B. Silva; Available August 2025 From Marvel Comics
StagingDoctor Doom and Reed Richards' latest confrontationas “a public contest of cognition” is a novel approach, the intellectual equivalent ofHulk and the Thing going punch-for-punchin an all-out brawl. “If Doom can justify his rule to anyone,” an in-universe news article quotes Richards as saying, “then surely he can convince the world’s smartest man.”
It is a measure of bravado from Mr. Fantastic, one that Doom matches effortlessly, making it clear that their battle of wits has already begun in the press, even before the cameras have started rolling on their debate. Doom’s response? To call into question Mr. Fantastic’s claim to the “world’s smartest” title.
As Doom is quoted in the fictionalHerald-Sentinel:
“The idea of the man who once irradiated and nearly killed his only friends — by accident — calling himself ‘the world’s smartest’ is laughable. I assure you, Doom is unafraid of anything the ridiculous Richards can muster.
It’s a total zinger, but what makes this retort truly amusing is that Doctor Doom vocalizes something that Marvel Comics fans have been saying, jokingly or not, forever. However, all kidding aside, this does reveal something vital about Reed Richards. It is not a lack of intelligence, but rather an excess of hubris.
Reed Richards Is The Self-Proclaimed “Smartest Man” In The Marvel Universe, But Is His Opinion Of Himself Too High?
Mr. Fantastic’s Hubris Has Gotten Him In Trouble Before
It can be argued, as Doctor Doom alludes to here, thatevidence of Reed Richards' hubristic naturegoes all the way back to the progenital space mission that went awry. Mr. Fantastic didn’t need to be smarter to predict that the mission would fail; he needed to be more willing to acknowledge his own possibility of failure.
It is possible, then, thatthis could telegraph the outcome of their debate inOne World Under Doom#6. That is to say, both Doom and Mr Fantastic are going into their face-off extremely confident that they will prevail, but if a winner is going to be declared, that can only be true for one of them.
Meaning, it isn’t preposterous to think Reed Richards could get burned again as he challenges his rival to a battle of wits. IfOne World Under Doomhas had one common refrain, it is thatDoctor Doomalways finds a way to prevail, and he’s not likely to suffer being made a fool of on live TV.
One World Under Doom#6will be available June 26, 2025 from Marvel Comics.
