Just as Doctor Doom is taking the entire Marvel Universe under his rule as he declares himself emperor in Marvel's upcoming One World Under Doom status quo, he's also taking a group of students directly under his wing in Doom Academy, which brings the students of the former Strange Academy to Latveria to study directly under Doom.
This isn't entirely surprising - Doom has taken over the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme from Doctor Strange, the former headmaster of the Academy, after using magic to end the vampire invasion shown in this summer's Blood Hunt crossover. And what's more, he enlisted the participation of the former Strange Academy students to cast the spell that allowed him to do so.
Now they're making it official with the Doom Academy five-issue limited series written by Mackenzie Cadenhead, known for her work on Marvel Mutts, and drawn by recent Doctor Strange artist Pasqual Ferry. The series was announced at the Women of Marvel Panel during New York Comic Con 2024.
Here's a gallery of covers for Doom Academy #1, including the main cover by Pablo Villalobos, and variants by Ryan Brown and Woo-chul Lee:
"Did you think that Strange Academy would be the same in the world with Doctor Doom as Sorcerer Supreme?! NO! It is now DOOM ACADEMY!" reads Marvel's official description. "Relocated from New Orleans to Latveria, the best magic school in the world just got better (according to some). It’s the start of the second year for Strange Academy students, and you know that things will not go as planned!"
It's all part of the One World Under Doom status quo, which will culminate in next year's recently announced The Rise of Emperor Doom limited series.
"It was really fun to go through old Doom stories and pick out some random characters that exist in that world and find someone or someone's kid who might be attending Doom Academy," Cadenhead states. "And because the school doesn't exist, we got to really play with stuff. Pasqual is having a great time coming up with beautiful locales."
Ferry won't be the only artist on the title, as João Lemos will provide art for back-up stories focusing on Zoe LaVeau as she's separated from her friends and trapped in another world.
"In this story, Zoe ends up falling into a strange world that her friends have to help her escape from," Cadenhead explains. "We have another artist come in to illustrate this world. João Lemos' research on Eastern European folklore and fairytales is astounding."
Doom Academy #1 goes on sale February 19.
Doctor Doom is one of the best comic book supervillains of all time.
