There is fire everywhere, buildings collapsed, and the Fantastic four severely injured. Sue Storm laying on the ground, instinctively curled around her pregnant stomach. Ben laying on his back amidst rubble, missing a chunk of his rocky skin. Johnny falling from the sky from space, and Reed trying to crawl to Sue. As Doom floats down to the ground, magic swirling at his fingertips, as he then grabs Reed and begins forcibly pulling him back.

Reed: Forces his breathing steady. “Victor… it didn’t have to be this.”

Doom: Tilts his head. “Spare me your tired moralizing. You were beaten the moment you presumed to stand in my way.”

Reed: Eyes flick toward the unconscious bodies of Johnny, Sue, and Ben. “You didn’t need to put them down this hard.”

Doom: “I did,” Doom replies, voice low and absolute. “Because you still refuse to understand that your sentimentality weakens you. Weakness breeds defeat. And defeat—” he taps the side of his mask “—is something Doom does not tolerate.”

Reed tries to rise; Doom presses a boot to his chest, pinning him with insulting ease.

Doom: “You cling to hope,” Doom continues. “To compromise. To the idea that the world thrives on cooperation. And yet here you are, broken by a single man. What does that say about your philosophy?”

Reed: Winces under the pressure, but meets Doom’s gaze. “It says I never stopped believing you could be better than this.”

Doom pauses—not out of doubt, but out of irritation that Reed still insists on reaching for the man underneath the metal.

Doom: “Pathetic,” Doom mutters. “Even now, at your end, you preach redemption.”

Reed: Voice hoarse. “Because I know you’re not doing this just for power. You’re doing it because you think only you can protect the world. But Victor… this isn’t protection. It’s tyranny.”

Doom: Leans closer, eyes glowing behind the mask. “Tyranny is a label given by the powerless to the one who holds order in his grasp. Doom will save this world—my way.”

Reed: Gives a faint, pained smile. “And that’s why you’ll always lose. Because you can’t save a world you don’t trust.”

The air crackles as Doom’s gauntlet charges, raw energy humming inches from Reed’s face.

Doom: “I did not defeat you for your philosophy,” Doom says, voice cold as steel. “I defeated you because you were in the way.”