InsaneJournal

So, Dark Reign: The Cabal is an anthology with five eight-page stories about various members of the group (everyone except Norman); Emma's is by Matt Fraction, which makes sense; Loki gets Peter Milligan; Namor by Kieron Gillen; and the Hood Rick Remender (who's currently writing him in Punisher).  Doctor Doom's is by Jonathan Hickman, which is useful to look at since he's the next Fantastic Four writer, so you'd expect Doom to be showing up there (indeed, he's said as much).

Doom's is, I guess, supposed to be a fantasy of his.  It begins at the end of Doom and Namor's conversation in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign, and, after Namor asks what happens with Osborn, Doom flashes ahead to one year in the future, where he and Namor and meeting with Osborn again (the Dark Avengers are also present); Osborn notes that Emma, Loki, and the Hood haven't shown up.  In the case of the latter, it's because Doom killed him and stole his magic cape, as well as...



If you're wondering where the Hood got the cosmic cube and why he didn't just use it himself, well...hey look, bunnies!  It's not really important, especially since this is a fantasy, but it's an odd choice of plot devices, since there are any number of other things Hickman could have used here.




Doom is a strong advocate for a woman's proper place:  adorning Doom's throne.



Elsewhere, the first issue of Ms. Marvel focussing on the erstwhile Moonstone (of course, if you've seen the solicits for July, this looks to be pretty temporary); after killing some bank robbers (who themselves killed people) to public applause, she returns to Avengers Tower and is sent by Norman to be the first of the team for a psych evaluation.  The doctor turns out to be an invasive psychic himself, and he starts beating up on her and sifting through her memories to torment her, particularly wondering why she wasn't there to save her mother when she burned to death in an apartment fire, after mom had worked so hard to get her through university.  The doc monologues that he was a fan of Carol, and isn't too hot on her being replaced by a supervillain.




Seriously, dude, just kill her.

But he stupidly doesn't, and back inside her head Moonstone monologues that she hated being such a disappointment to mom, what with the criminality and all...

Oh, and Doc looks like the Hulk here because he used that form to beat her up.




She kills him.

See what I said about just killing her, Doc?  Good effort, though.