We are now half way through Secret Wars. Issue #4 is out and we're really seeing some developments in the story and consequences for some characters. With the creation of Battleworld, the inhabitants in their domains believe this is the world that's always been. They worship the god and creator, regardless whether or not they agree with his methods and ruling.

There are some major happenings in this issue. There will be some spoilers if you haven't read SECRET WARS #4 yet.

Doctor Doom is the one that created Battleworld and managed to save its inhabitants when the final Incursion occurred. This is explained and revealed to the group of survivors from "before." What has happened is a shock to them.

Doom soon becomes aware that Reed Richards, his Reed Richards, is among these survivors. Doom has apparently spent years looking within each domain or kingdom for this Reed and he can't resist going to where the action has suddenly broken out against some villainous survivors from "before."

It's starting to look like a showdown between Doom and Richards in a grand Fantastic Four style.

Even though Reed has been informed of what has happened and what Doom's been able to do, there's still a lot he doesn't know, like the fact that his daughter, Valeria, is by Doom's side as the Head of the Foundation and Sue is the Royal Consort.

Before they can really get into it, Cyclops, now possessing the Phoenix Force once again, stands up and attacks Doom. He believes as a mutant, he is more than Doom. He believes he represents the future and the planet is theirs. Doom doesn't quite agree.

Doom is in control here. Scott Summers may have the Phoenix Force but we're about to discover that it isn't quite enough.

Doom doesn't mess around.

The question that is raised is what does this mean in the grand scheme of things? With the nature of the story and all this cosmic power and alternate realities, it's possible for this not to be the end of Scott. What we should keep in mind is this story/event is meant to pave the road leading to the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" Universe. This is why Miles Morales will be in the regular universe rather than the Ultimate Universe. Could Scott's death here be the reason he was not seen in a single promo image for the forty-five new titles announced this week?

This also leads us to to wonder, what about Reed and Sue as well? Will we see a final showdown between Doom and Richards? Perhaps Sue will get caught in the crossfire? The Human Torch will be in UNCANNY INHUMANS and the Thing will be in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. We could be reading too much into this but you can start to see where this could possibly be headed through the haze of confusion and mystery Jonathan Hickman excels at giving us.

Let us know what you thought of this issue. Let us know what you think about our Cyclops and Reed theory as well. And be sure to steer clear of Doctor Doom if you happen to come across him.

Nice to see Reed getting spotlight in this, to me he is Marvel's Superman.

@captainmarvel4ever: I just hope he turns up somewhere post-Secret Wars. I'm pretty sure there's more titles to be announced.

I really hope Doom gets his comeuppance from Richards for stealing his wife and daughter.

@romthelegionaire: Yeah. Reed needs to finally cut loose and hit Doom with everything he's got. Hopefully he won't just charge straight at him like Scott did.

CYCLOPS NOOOOOOOO!!!

The single greatest thing Doom has ever done:

Good riddance.

IIRC Lemire mentioned that Extraordinary X-Men will about missing X-Men, including Scott.

Cyclops was wrong.

I wonder which version of cyclops is going to survive secret wars and take 616 cyclops place.

Soule teased Cyclops will play a part in Uncanny Inhumans and Lemire recently mentioned that Scott is missing, along with a bunch of other X-Men, and that a point in the story of Extraordinary X-Men will be finding them. Plus, he's wielding the entity that represents rebirth. I highly doubt this is his end, especially with how little he's been used and the build up Hickman has put into him.

Cyclops got ahead of himself there. LOL.

What buildup? He just turned up in Secret Wars 1 with the Phoenix Egg.

I hope Maker survives over Mr Fantastic

I find it hilarious that Doom had the power to make his ultimate fantasy come true.....and his ultimate fantasy was to be Reed.

He turned up in Avengers shortly before that, albeit that was pretty sudden too.

It is just me or is the Phoenix Force somewhat inconsistent regarding how durable it makes it's host? I mean, Jean could survive in space and a close encounter with a star, yet dies when shot with a ray gun. Cyclops takes on just about every single Avenger and X-Men, gets punched by Hulks and stabbed in the face by Logan... and now he dies because Doom squeezes his neck?

(Aside that, good, about time someone gave Scott the whopping he deserved... pity he wont be able to come back wiser from it).

Well, Marvel is two characters (Magneto, Punisher) from me not having to read their books anymore. Good show. Cyclops was the best he had been in a good number of years but Bendis' writing did him no favors.

@outside_85: With all the power Doom has now who knows what hell he was unleashing upon Scott along with squeezing his neck!

Dear god, wonder if people will finally be happy now that Cyclops is dead, although I cannot see that being the case since he became a Phoenix and we all know what they do...

@outside_85: Doom holds the power of all the Beyonders. A single Beyonder was able to kill several Celestials. 3 Beyonders killed the Living Tribunal. So, yeah, the Phoenix is amazingly powerful, but not THAT powerful.

What of young cyclops?

@gizmorino: he'll be in ALL-NEW X-MEN. No sign of older Cyke.

Is Comicvine done with giving star ratings? Just curious

Curious. Could a rational, adult Franklin Richards take Doom at his current level of power?

Which begs the question: What was Doom running on to be able to kill even one of the Beyonders?

I find it hialrious that for all his nigh omnipotence Doom still feels the need to have a throne and his arch foes family. Fake versions of them that is.

Thanos was right to question his "God hood". I just can't seem to take his all too seriously. Even under these circumstances because this all feels like a sad attempt at 1uping Reed now. Just like Strange said, he still fears Reed.

so all this build up with the phoenix force, and he goes out like this.

@blazingnova: If he comes back what are the chances he blames it on the Phoenix again lol ?

On topic: Why do they all want to dethrone Doom ?

Where is Franklin Richards In all this ?

yeah i hope he somehow reborn, being phoenix and all

We need a team up ulimate reed and reed 616( evil and good) they can find easy a solution to deal with doom.

Dayum this was epic.

~MiB

Considering adult Franklin couldn't handle several Celestials and needed Galactus to defeat & consume their energy, as well as resurrect himself after sacrificing himself to destroy one, I'd say... no.

And while the Phoenix Force is powerful, it's still not on the level of power that the Celestials, Galactus, Eternity, Infinity, Death and Oblivion are.

Thus it should be of not surprise that Doom, with the power of the Beyonders and Molecule Man, could easily dispatch and destroy the Phoenix Force and it's host.

Because it's Doom, and Doom is a tin-pot dictator at heart.

@outside_85: Not really. He may rule over everyone but it's for the good of the people. When Doom became really powerful in Children's Crusade he promised to bring the world peace and make the world a utopia but the Avengers attacked him and then overloaded his powers

I hope the story has not ended, but that might've been simple the case of showing how powerful Doom is.

And this speech Cyclops gave in the end, it's like Hickman wanted him to go villainous. Not sure why.

@drellassassin said:

The single greatest thing Doom has ever done:

Good riddance.

Agreed...though he was finally starting to grow on me a bit.

Not to knock Cyclops down(Doom did that lol) but if what I think is true,Doom has the power of the Beyonders,nigh impotent beings who killed EVERY Celestial in the multiverse,In betweener,master order,lord chaos,eternity/infinity and Lastly The Living Tribunal..sorry phoenix but it was no contest,although I would loved to see a more drawn out battle(hint hint)

but lets be honest,it wont be the last time we see of cyclops,especially with him being the the Phoenix,hes probably regenerating in the white Hot room,waiting the time when the writers will bring him back into action int he "All New " marvel Universe

The Phoenix always bring death and destruction.... and rebirth.

Because, Doom's logic is the same logic of people like Stalin and the NK's Kims: For the good of the people= for the good of me. And anyone who disagrees with this is swiftly introduced to an early grave. Which is exactly what he appears to be doing on Battleworld; break the law and die.

Now I am more supportive of Maestro's plan to take over from Doom...That family stealing monster with LITERAL God-complex doesn't deserve to ''rule'' anything. It would've been better if everything just ended and restarted from zero.

Yeah that speech felt awfully forced.

was it ever explained how the beyonders die?

That could be a plot point for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. His greatest desire: to be Reed Richards. That's a very awesome motivation.

I was so happy when Cyclops finally started doing something. No one has done anything in this story apart from being a bystander. Someone finally does SOMETHING and the entire momentum is defused three panels later.

Starlord/Spiderman/Miles Morales are only there due to their current popularity. This whole thing feels like it is just a Fantastic Four elseworld story with other characters walking around. Such a poor narrative choice to have the Phoenixed Scott go out like this, particularly when he was being built up as a unpredictable wild card.

No one seems concerned about poor Dr. Strange

He had a heroic death and it's well known he's about to get his own solo.

Nothing to worry about.

@cobracommander: are these fake versions of Reed's family as you said, or are they the 616 versions with no memory of the past? Didn't we see Sue trying to save the kids in issue 1 of secret wars? We all presumed them to be dead, but maybe they were some of the ones that Doom was able to "save."

That's what I'm thinking. There are still announcements to be made at SDCC so I would think we'll see more titles announced like the Red Wolf series, Citizen V (Thunderbolts?) series, and hopefully a Black Panther series.

I hope that at the end, Mr Fantastic bitch slaps Doom for stealing everything in his life and finish his rule as a god, but I wonder what will happen with him and Sue, maybe they'll take a break from the heroics and spend time with the kids?

I really enjoyed the issue. This has been been a great story so far. I do think that this will be the swan song for both Reed and Doom. My thought is that their final act will be to restore the multiverse. This would get them off the table for a while, but in a respectable way.