The Ultimates #17: To The Man I Was Before, and the Family I Left Behind

Reed Nathaniel Richards hates himself. That is the core of his character. Reed Richards hates himself, and since becoming the Maker his entire existence has been focused on taking that pain out on every single thing around him. He created this Ultimate Universe, because he hated how he was shunned from his universe. He hated his 616 counterpart because had everything he didn’t. That is something that he has never been able to reconcile. 

The Reed Richards of 616 despite his flaws, has everything that Maker wanted. He was respected and admired for his genius instead of ridiculed. He is known as a hero dimensions over instead of a monster. Most importantly he had a family. He had Sue. He had Johnny and Ben. He had Franklin and Valeria. Reed was a grateful and humble man truly blessed by the world, but the Maker was not. That hate and anger created a void in his heart, and it was in this void that Doom was born. 

In issue 4, Deniz Camp hauntingly explained Doom’s origin as well as gave his overall mission statement: recreate the Fantastic Four. To Doom, creating the first family is a means to atone for the sin of hubris that he believed killed his family. This has been his sole motivation since he joined the Ultimates, but now that he’s close to reaching the end of that goal he wonders just what lies beyond the other side. What does life look like after he succeeds? Is it possible for him to succeed? Does it even matter? All questions that he starts to answer in this issue. 

If the Maker was made through self-loathing, Doom is a byproduct of it. A broken man that is desperately trying to fix himself from the image of a man that was made whole. He is a cracked mirror trying to create an image of what he views as perfection. Trying to recreate moments that he never got the chance to live, but it is in that struggle that Doom starts to see something Maker never could. Doom hates himself, just like the Maker.

But unlike the Maker, Doom has found a community that cares for him all the same. 

Camp once again perfectly shows his mastery of these characters. In such a way that knowing this will all end in a few months makes me even madder. You want to see where these characters are going next after the evil has been defeated, but it’s not meant to be.

Just like in issue 4, Phil Noto returns to tell the next chapter of Doom’s story, and he once again hits it out of the park. Even beneath the mask we can see the emotions on Doom’s face as the story progresses.