Release: January 2026 | Writer: Benjamin Percy & Phillip Kennedy Johnson | Penciler: Georges Jeanty | Inker: Karl Story | Artist: Carlos Magno, Robert Gill & Justin Mason | Letterer: Travis Lanham
*SPOILER ALERT!*
Major Spoilers for One World Under Doom & Dungeons of Doom #1!
WHERE'S DOOM?
"Victor Von Doom is dead. His strongholds lie empty. His people are leaderless."
There is a lot that has happened with Doctor Doom. If you have not read it already, One World Under Doom was a massive event that controlled Marvel Comics for the better part of 2025. What is important to this story here is the ending. It is that Doctor Doom has died. He selflessly sacrificed his life in One World Under Doom #9 to the Living Tribunal in order to have his goddaughter, Valeria Richards, back from the dead.
While Valeria was given the estate of Doom, it left his stronghold on Latveria open for the taking. That is exactly what we see happening in the opening pages of Dungeons of Doom #1.
A LATVERIAN BATTLEFIELD
Guns, explosions, and screams ring out as Latverian freedom fighters and United States soldiers battle on the bridge in front of the major stronghold of Doom. What are they fighting for? They fight to take advantage of his death and have the opportunity to see what Doom held so close to his chest in secret within this massive stronghold.
However, these two warring sides are not the only ones that want to know the secrets of Doom. Hydra soldiers blast in with their ships, attempting to take control of this fight. As they battle on, the freedom fighters scream that they cannot let the stronghold be overtaken. They believe it is the property of Latveria, not the property of the others.
Just when the fight cannot get any more intense, General Ross shows up as the Red Hulk.
The appearance of the Red Hulk launches all of these three factions into different portions of the stronghold. The United States soldiers end up in a portion of the stronghold with an endless amount of doors. They decide it is time to see if some of these doors can lead them to freedom above; however, that continues only until they stumble across a haunting sight in one room.
Straight from a brutal horror movie, a man hangs from the ceiling as the voice of Charles Xavier plays, warning that whoever had entered this room has found something they should have never seen. He claims this room holds this man, who is a mutant who should have never been born.
LATVERIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Before we can learn anything from that news, we are sent to where the Latverian freedom fighters ended up. They did not have as lucky of a fall from the surface. A man named Aleksander helps his partner, Sofia, up from the rubble. They see some of their brethren impaled from the fall who were not as lucky. When they find the remainder of their group, they huddle around a Hydra soldier who is crushed under hundreds of pounds of rock.
He taunts them, saying they have no idea what they're even protecting before he's gunned down in his chest at point blank range.
They pull out a map of the construction layout of this stronghold. As they review this map they find a tomb that they can use as a shortcut to escape from where they are. That's until they meet a giant multi-eyed creature who's lying in wait to strike the second that they arrive.
To escape this beast, Aleksander sees an image of his dead sister's ghost over a tomb. He takes this as a hint from the afterlife of where they need to go.
HYDRA
Hydra also crumbled down below the stronghold in one of the worst ways. Crumbled under rock, still alive with some partners paralyzed and left helpless.
They crawl their way out. Attempting to drag their partner Thewlis, who's been paralyzed from the fall and has to be carried around.
As they attempt to gather their thoughts about what to do next, they notice a hammer sitting untouched on a mantle. However, this hammer seems impossible to move due to its tremendous weight. They leave the hammer alone as they decide what to do about Thewlis.
The commanding Hydra officer takes his gun and handles Thewlis. He guns him down due to the fact that the soldier is dead weight to them for the journey ahead. As he is talking to the team, he hears something speak out to him. A message calls him "worthy" as he discovers that only he is able to pick up that hammer that they found. What does the hammer hold? What is this hammer specifically? We are not told, as we are introduced to the fourth group interested in the secrets of Doom.
THE SECRET WEAPON OF WAKANDA
As an agent of Wakanda, Umbra is sent in to discover what secrets are being held in Doom's stronghold. But he isn't sent as a direct order of Wakanda, no Umbra is going on his own behest, for one thing only a very specific treasure that he is on the hunt for.
What is it?
Tune in next time to find out! Because that's the end of Dungeons of Doom #1!
Larger Than Life Art
This title has a multi-person art team, which shocked me. Their art blends together so well in this issue. It naturally looks like one person was working on this. Granted, Georges Jeanty and Karl Story were the core base as the penciller and inker on this team. The action in this book feels impactful, easy to follow, and in your face. This is something that is needed for a comic about war. Not just the opening scene, but every time we were shown where a faction landed, the scope of their location felt huge.
You could see the impossible scope of where they were and understand why they felt so worried. The scope of this whole book felt massive. It also captured the claustrophobic situations when needed, such as when soldiers were trapped under rubble and struggling to stay alive. These are tremendous visuals all around.
CONCLUSION
As a person who was not reading One World Under Doom and was only keeping tabs on that event, I was not sure how I would feel about this story. However, after reading this, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a great concept to have everyone wanting to see what Doom has kept inside this dungeon for so long. Now the best from Latveria, the United States, Hydra, and Wakanda all want a piece of it.
This issue sets up a mountain of questions and events that will eventually play out over the coming months. I think following all four stories at once is a cool way to follow what is going on with each warring faction. Kudos to Benjamin Percy and Phillip Kennedy Johnson for crafting a cohesive, easy-to-follow story that follows multiple people. That is not an easy task at all and, as I stated earlier, the art team on this story did a great job at bringing the scope of this new war to life.