Avengers #19 Puts Doctor Doom at the controls of the trolley

Doctor Doom is the Sorcerer Supreme now, and he’s got a question for the Avengers in Avengers #19, written by Jed MacKay, art by Farid Karami, colors by Federico Blee, and letters by Cory Petit

When the term “thought experiment” is thrown out, no doubt most minds tend to turn toward one of the most famous of them: the “trolley problem.” 

A thought experiment in ethics, “the trolley problem” has made its way into far too much pop culture to ever list and is a running segment on this thing we call the internet.

Essentially, it presents one with the scenario of a runaway trolley (ah, so old timey!) heading toward a track of, generally, five or more people. With the pull of a lever, that just so happens to be before you, the person given this scenario can choose to divert the trolley to another track and save those other people. Unfortunately there is still at least one (or more, depending on the size of the other track load of people) on that track and they will be the one to die.

It’s a whole “do you let the many die, or actively choose to kill the one for the benefit of the many?” sort of thing. Vulcans are nodding from space with a, “the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one” mantra.

Doctor Doom doesn’t play with trolleys.

No, that man, now the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earthly dimension (a title ‘stolen’ during Blood Hunt vampire stuff), has bigger thought experiments to posit to the Avengers.

Instead of a trolley, the question posed is why the Avengers have not used their vast power to just put the world “right” by force. In conjunction, Doom wonders if their hesitance is born of “a lack of character, the cloak of cowardice that you call morality” or a “fatal lack of imagination, unable to conceive of a better world.”

What would the world be if the Avengers (clearly also under the hand of Doom) forced it to be a united, “better” place?

It’s a thought experiment that sounds interesting on the surface, but essentially crumbles apart the moment it’s uttered on the page.

Superhero comics exist in a space where no matter what, at some point the heroes will triumph and the “big bads” will be taken down. All the other ills of the world that are ones we deal with, well, those will never change. Heroes like the Avengers will stop us from being preyed upon by vampires, but won’t stop landlords from preying on their tenants.

It’s an idea about how those with power should be using it responsibly (i.e. within the laws/rules of reality), which is, in many respects, a fantasy. That we, the audience and just people in general, often cling to because it makes things feel right and just. When the world is anything but that.

Yet, just the way this is framed, the experiment crumbles, because of who is the one offering it.

Doom is a supervillain. We already know that next year will see the books under the banner of the “One World Under Doom” event, which sees the man take over the world with his magic. Shaping it to his image. 

Avengers #19 is just a sounding board for Doom, as Vision points out by the end. It’s a person of great wealth and power, who is also a somewhat despotic monarch, going “Hey why don’t you join me and use your power to bend this world to my whims?”

This isn’t some citizen genuinely asking this question, making the Avengers have to actually think about it and why they do what they do. It’s a villain they’ve faced five million times taunting them, and them doubling down on “HEROES ARE GOING TO HERO, HUZZAH!”

On one level I can appreciate what MacKay is attempting, but on all other levels it just kind of falls flat for me. Avengers #19 is just a pure setup issue for the event, and the conversation it spurs is a non-starter. Even with Doom spelling out what is essentially his plan, and Vision confirming it, the Avengers will worry about it but do nothing.

Because the event has to happen, and the dollars must roll in from it. Black Panther (who is absent for the conversation) is gonna be pissed he missed out on such scintillating conversation from a fellow monarch type. Though on a positive note, I do like the stuff between T’Challa and Sam, and T’Challa’s admitting he screwed up royally with Ororo. You should fear that failure buddy, for sure. 

At least there is some solid action for artists Farid Karami and Federico Blee to bring to life. As Doom pits the Avengers against magical constructs of fallen warriors, most of the pages are characters posing or standing around, but the emotional work and strong framing do a lot of heavy lifting with this one.

Thought exercises can be good dinner table conversation or social media fodder for a few moments, but more often than not a lot of them fall apart when actually examined. Good thing the Avengers won’t be proving Doom’s theories “right” over the next few months of them bouncing around doing stuff like fighting the X-Men again.

Maybe supervillains/aliens/vampires/ancient beings/etc. are able to conquer the Earth (leaving the heroes as “freedom fighters”) every other week because the heroes spend more time squabbling and fighting each other than their villains.

Just some food for thought. A “thought experiement”, if you will.

Scott Redmond

Scott Redmond is a freelance writer and educator fueled by coffee, sarcasm, his love for comic books and more "geeky" things than you can shake a lightsaber at. Probably seen around social media and remembered as "Oh yeah, that guy." An avid gamer, reader, photographer, amateur cook and solid human being.