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As if dealing with a vampire invasion wasn’t trouble enough, next year, the Marvel comic book universe is going to have to deal with the rise of Doom. Teased at the end of Friday’s Marvel: Next Big Thing panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Marvel is promising “One World Under Doom!” (Yes, the exclamation point is part of the branding, it seems.)

No more information was released other than the teaser image, which features art from Ben Harvey showing the assembled heroes of the Marvel Universe — including Captain America, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch, Wolverine, and more — bowing before Doctor Doom. It’s worth noting, however, that preview artwork from the final issue of Blood Hunt appeared to show Doom claiming the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, something that’s already been confirmed by Marvel, in relation to the upcoming ‘8 Deaths of Spider-Man’ storyline unfolding in future issues of the Amazing Spider-Man series.

That storyline, according to Marvel, will see Spidey essentially deputized as a Sorcerer Almost-Supreme because Doom is preoccupied with other matters and needs some help protecting the world from evil magic. But… does that mean he’s preoccupied because he’s too busy taking over the world?!?

It feels almost guaranteed that there’s more to things than initially seems to be the case, but… what could that be? (Is Doom taking over the world for… good reasons? Stranger things have happened, I guess…) Suddenly, the commentary from the Next Big Thing panel that the end of Blood Hunt — which will see Doctor Doom become the Sorcerer Supreme, from all clues so far — will change the Marvel Universe for the foreseeable future suddenly seems like something to be taken that little bit more seriously.

Blood Hunt #5 is in stores July 31.

Get a fuller San Diego Comic-Con experience with a full rundown of our SDCC 2024 stories, as well as all the big SDCC 2024 news, how to make the most out of San Diego Comic-Con, and the real burning question: how much does it actually cost to go to SDCC?