The 5 Comics I’m Reading to Prepare for Avengers: Doomsday

Look, I know you’re hyped for Avengers: Doomsday. But every time you ask where to start with Doom comics, someone drops a 200-issue reading order and tells you to “just start with Fantastic Four #5 from 1962.”

Yeah, no.

This is my list. Five comics that helped me understand Doom, the multiverse collapse, and where the MCU is headed. Not the definitive list. Just the path I took—and it worked.

Let’s get into it.

 

This is Doom’s origin, told by Doom himself to a journalist. You see the Roma kid who lost his mother to dark magic. The genius who scarred his own face. The man who conquered a country because he believed no one else could save it.

Why I’m reading it for Doomsday: You can’t understand God Emperor Doom if you don’t know why Victor thinks he’s the only one who can save the world. This book shows you his tragedy, his ego, and his twisted logic. Once you finish it, you’ll realize Doom isn’t a villain—he’s a man who believes he’s the hero.

 

The Phoenix Force is coming to Earth. The Avengers want to stop it. The X-Men want to use it to save mutantkind. When five X-Men split the Phoenix power between them, they become gods—and it goes exactly how you’d expect.

Why I’m reading it for Doomsday: This is the blueprint for what happens when heroes get god-level power and think they know what’s best for everyone. Sound familiar? That’s literally Doom’s entire philosophy. If you want to understand why Doom believes he’s the only one who can wield ultimate power without corrupting, this book shows you what happens when everyone else tries.

 

Jonathan Hickman’s masterpiece. Two Earths from different universes are colliding in the same space. The only way to save one? Destroy the other. The Illuminati—Tony, Reed, T’Challa, Strange—are making impossible choices. And they’re all losing.

Why I’m reading it for Doomsday: This is where the multiverse begins to die. The heroes try everything—diplomacy, science, morality—and it doesn’t matter. The MCU is building toward incursions. This comic shows you what that looks like when there are no good answers. And spoiler: Doom saw it coming the whole time. He had already been tracking the incursions before most heroes even understood what they were.

 

The multiverse is dead. Every universe is gone. All that’s left is Battleworld—a patchwork planet made from the ruins of dead realities. And Doom? He’s God Emperor Doom, ruling over everything that remains.

Why I’m reading it for Doomsday: This is it. The story the MCU has been building toward since Loki. Doom didn’t destroy the multiverse, but when it collapsed, he was the only one strong enough to hold the pieces together. He became a god. He saved what was left. And when Reed Richards shows up, the whole thing falls apart—because Doom knows Reed would’ve done it better. If you only read one comic before Doomsday, make it this one.

 

After Secret Wars, Doom loses his god powers and does something wild: he tries to be a hero. He puts on the Iron Man armor and convinces himself that if Tony Stark can do it, he can do it better.

Why I’m reading it for Doomsday: This shows Doom at his most vulnerable and most dangerous. He wants to do good, but he also wants to prove he’s superior while doing it. If the MCU has Doom leading the Avengers, this comic is the blueprint. Because Doom being a hero is somehow more terrifying than Doom being a villain.

What’s Your List?

That’s my reading path. These five comics gave me everything I needed to understand Doom, the multiverse, and what’s coming in May 2027.

But this is just how I prepared. What about you?

Are you diving into Hickman’s full Fantastic Four run? Reading Triumph and Torment? Just rewatching Loki and calling it a day?

Drop your list in the comments. Let’s build this together. Because the best part of being a fan isn’t having all the answers—it’s figuring it out with the community.

So what are you reading?