‘Tis the season! Once again, we near the end of the year,
the time of decking halls, panic buying gifts and general chaos. To mark the festive
season I wanted to take a look at the time the MC2’s Avengers
went to Latveria for Christmas and found…Doom!
Our story opens with a prologue set in the ruins of Doomstadt,
the former capital of the Balkan nation of Latveria. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents
discuss the destruction wrought by the long-ago war between Namor the
Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom as they search for a lost little
girl. The pair are forced to cut their search short when they are attacked by Killer Robot’s.
As they flee, they catch a glimpse of a distant figure on a rampart. Has Doctor
Doom returned? (A-Next #5)
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A few days later at the Avengers
Headquarters in New York, J2 aka Zane Yama
finds Thunderstrike
aka Kevin Masterson reviewing old files about his father Eric
Masterson, the original Thunderstrike. Meanwhile, a frustrated Stinger
(Cassie Lang) brushes off American
Dream (Shannon Carter) before confronting Mainframe
about the unconfirmed reports of the return of Doctor Doom. While the Fantastic
Five have been tasked with investigating, Cassie and her father Scott
Lang (the former Ant-Man)
convince them to let a team of Avengers
go instead. However, Cassie is surprised to learn from Mainframe
she’ll be accompanied by the new additions to the team American Dream and
her fellow Dream Team members Bluestreak,
Freebooter
and Crimson
Curse (A-Next #5).
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Attempting to patch things up with her new team mates, Cassie
tells them her real reason for wishing to travel to Latveria so much; Kristoff
Vernard, a young boy and ward of Doctor Doom who she met and befriended
when they all lived in the Baxter Building with the Fantastic Four.
The pair grew close over the years until Kristoff returned to his home
country Latveria when he heard a war was brewing between Doom and
Namor. With Latveria devastated in the ensuing conflict, Doctor
Doom was missing in action and believed dead, while Cassie lost all
contact with Kristoff Vernard (A-Next #5).
As Thunderstrike, Kevin Masterson visits his
father Eric’s grave, thinking about how he is trying to make him proud.
A nearby awkward J2, unsure of what to do eventually puts his hand on Kevin’s
shoulder to show his support before unintentionally reverting back into Zane
Yama. Kevin invites Zane to join him for pizza (A-Next #5).
Arriving in the city of Doomstadt, the Avengers
team plan to search Castle Doom for the missing girl, but are attacked
by the Killer Robots. The Avengers make short work of them,
especially once Crimson Curse demonstrates her abilities. Uncovering underground
tunnels, Stinger ditches the others, shrinking to make her way through a blocked
passage (A-Next #5).
Back in New York, Zane is impressed by Kevin’s
apartment, including his Stunt Master poster. While Kevin feeds
his cat Alex, Zane noticed a bunch of unopened letters from Kevin’s
stepfather, Bobby Steele. Kevin reveals the two aren’t on the best of
terms and that his mother would often have to play peacemaker between them. Zane
responds that he dreams about having a father in his life and that Kevin
is lucky to have had two and encourages him to call Bobby for Christmas
(A-Next #5).
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Hearing a child’s voice, Stinger eventually finds the
missing girl Greta is not alone and appears to be talking with Doctor
Doom. Listening to the pair talk, Stinger hears the girl ask Doom
about his scary mask but before she can get a look beneath, the rest of the Avengers
bust into the room. Stinger flies between them, demanding they stop
their attack. With American Dream trusting her, Stinger explains
the masked figure isn’t the real Doctor Doom. Cassie removes her
helmet as Doom removes his mask to reveal himself as Kristoff Vernard
and the pair embrace (A-Next #5).
Kristoff reveals that he returned home to ensure that
Doctor
Doom’s vast arsenal of advanced weapons of mass destruction never fell into
the wrong hands. As
Doctor Doom’s heir,
Kristoff alone was given full
access to all of Doom’s creations and ideas and therefore he concealed his own existence
to ensure they could not be exploited.
Kristoff Vernard bids
Cassie
a sad farewell and disappears (
A-Next #5).
Returning to the outer perimeter with young Greta,
the Avengers tell S.H.I.E.L.D. they saw no one else within the area
just as Castle Doom is destroyed in an enormous flash of green light. As
snow begins to fall, Greta tells the disbelieving S.H.I.E.L.D.
agent that Father Christmas destroyed the castle as a gift to the world.
With the Avengers coming together as a team, American Dream backs
up the girl’s story as Stinger wishes her a Merry Christmas (A-Next
#5).
I hope everyone has a wonderful time over the holidays and lets
hope the New Year brings us all something positive.
Until I stop believing, I remain
frogoat
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