Darth Vader Meets Doctor Doom, and Neither Man Owns a Normal Helmet
Two armored dads with anger issues walk into a crossover.
The Star Wars and Marvel crossover just gave fans the showdown they have been drawing in notebook margins for decades. Marvel revealed a new foil variant cover for Star Wars | Marvel: Hope Assembles #1 by artist Matteo Lolli, and it puts Darth Vader face to face with Doctor Doom (Jedi News).
The press release says the cover "teases an epic showdown" between the two villains, and honestly, it looks like the most stressful staff meeting the Empire has ever held.
What is Star Wars | Marvel: Hope Assembles?
Hope Assembles is the first-ever crossover between the Marvel Universe and Star Wars. It's a six-issue limited series written by Kevin Smith and drawn by David Marquez, and it kicks off the 50th anniversary of A New Hope in 2027 (StarWars.com).
The setup is wonderfully strange. A spell shatters reality, and Marvel's heroes suddenly see the events of Star Wars playing out on Earth. The Avengers, Spider-Man and others team up with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca, while Doctor Doom sides with Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire.
"I always wished that Spider-Man or Doctor Doom could cross over into their cinematic saga," Smith said when the series was announced (StarWars.com).
When does Hope Assembles #1 come out?
Issue #1 arrives in comic shops on January 13, 2027, and the final issue is due in May 2027 (The Beat).
An earlier preview showed Iron Man crashing the famous opening scene of A New Hope and joking about looking for a Disney princess, while Captain America fights stormtroopers with his shield (The Beat).
How many covers does Hope Assembles #1 have?
There are nine covers for the first issue. David Marquez draws the main cover, and the variants come from Alex Ross, Kaare Andrews, Cory Smith, Rafael Albuquerque, Dan Jurgens and Lolli, with one Marvel Homage variant still to be announced. Cory Smith's A New Hope variant drops Wolverine, Hulk and Black Widow into scenes from the original movie (Jedi News).
Who would win, Vader or Doom?
My read is that Vader wins a straight fight, but Doom wins the argument afterward and somehow ends up running the Empire. Doom has armor, magic and genius-level science, but Vader can choke people from across a room, which feels like a pretty big advantage in any fight. (We are still waiting for the crossover where the two of them compare capes.)
Who are you picking in Vader vs. Doom? Tell us in the comments.
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