It seems like another quiet night at the Avengers Mansion when two shadowy figures show up and ring the doorbell. Hawkeye answers, revealing the Human Torch and the Thing, both of the Fantastic Four, who have turned up for a friendly poker game. Hulk can't resist the opportunity to throw down with the Thing, however. On the flip side Iron Man and Wasp are paying a visit to the Baxter Building where Stark and Reed Richards have a meeting of the minds while Wasp and Invisible Woman spend a little girl time together. It seems like it will be a great evening, just two superhero teams swapping war stories and blowing off a little steam. Hawkeye even reveals that Thor stayed behind in Asgard and nobody's heard from Hank in weeks, explaining their absences. Then, they are all attacked by killer robots. Again.
It turns out that the Fantastic Four's old nemesis Doctor Doom is up to his old tricks again. But then again, maybe not, as both Black Panther and Mr. Fantastic are skeptical about a move that seems too amateurish for him. The Doombots surround the Avengers and Fantastic Four at both the Mansion and the Baxter Building, and then inexplicably stop attacking. They then transform into walking bombs that threaten to blow up half the city. Reed quickly figures out that this is just a distraction and that Doom already has his real prize: Wasp and Invisible Woman, who were abducted during the chaos. Iron Man flies off in pursuit while Reed stays behind to disarm the Doombots. The pursuit is cut short when the Latverian cyborg woman blasts him into the sea.
The Avengers and the Fantastic Four regroup, having solved the Doombot threat. While Human Torch and Thing are eager to charge in after Sue and Jan, Black Panther points out that this is exactly what Doom wants them to do. On top of that, he is technically the ruler of a sovereign nation and going in guns blazing would be an act of war. They will have to try a more subtle approach.
Meanwhile, Wasp's attempts to provoke a reaction do not impress Doom.
He then proceeds to activate the strange machine that he has locked Wasp and Invisible Woman in. The Avengers launch a feint, disguised as a rather feeble attack in a quinjet, but Doom sees through the ruse and blasts Iron Man who has managed to sneak past his castle's defenses undetected. While he and Black Panther hold off Doom and his cyborg assistant, Mr. Fantastic gets to work disabling the machine and setting the women free. The rest of the heroes swing around and come back to cause more mayhem, defeating the Doombots after a short battle. Doctor Doom is visibly unimpressed and proceeds to wipe the floor with them and then... lets everyone go.
The heroes can only speculate as to what Doom wanted, but Reed believes that one thing is certain: whatever it was, he got it. A brief glimpse at Doom's computer reveals that the Invisible Woman is not what she seems.
Tropes:
- Barrier Warrior:
- Iron Man's old armor can summon up a forcefield.
- Doom's armor also comes with one of its own, immune to pretty much everything the FF and Avengers can throw at him.
- Batman Gambit: Subverted; Iron Man and Black Panther theorize that Doom's actions were to force the Fantastic Four to come to him and fight on his terms. In actuality, his actions were to confirm that Sue has been replaced with a Skrull and to learn how to expose them.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: During the last episodes of the previous season, Tony crafted a powerful Iron Man armor from Dwarven metal while on Nidavellir to take on Loki. Unfortunately, he agreed to surrender the armor before returning to Earth, forcing him to wear one of his standard suits.
- Character Catchphrase: Ben Grimm gets to let off an "It's clobbering time!"
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Even with the forces of the Avengers and Fantastic Four combined, they are unable to beat Doctor Doom. Even then, he lets them go because he allowed it, plus he was finished with his plans with Susan and Wasp.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: T'Challa tears out Lucia's powercore. Her eyes dim out and she collapses to the ground.
- Foreshadowing: Reed comments that Sue seems to be avoiding him lately. It's because "Sue" is actually a Skrull.
- Get Out!: Regardless of his actions, Doom is still ruler of Latveria and is able to assert his authority. After scanning both Susan and Wasp, as well as toying with the Avengers and Fantastic Four, he orders them to leave as they were still trespassing on Latverian soil. He lets Susan and Wasp go, as well.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Hulk uses Ben to clobber some of the Doombots.
- Introdump: The Cold Open begins with Doctor Doom's assistant relaying him the names and abilities of each Avenger. This serves as a refresher to viewers who might have forgotten these details during the many months that passed since the first season finished airing.
- In Name Only: The title is taken from a '70s Avengers story arc that featured the Avengers getting unwillingly caught up in a conflict among Attuma, the Sub-Mariner, and Doctor Doom, in which Doom ultimately helped the Avengers until he could turn on them. This episode's resemblance to that story goes as far as featuring Doctor Doom.
- Mythology Gag:
- The new Cap costume comes from Ultimate Marvel.
- When Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man are inside of the Baxter Building and attacked by Doctor Doom's Doombots, Iron Man asks Mr. Fantastic about the fact that Doctor Doom had trapped the members of the Fantastic Four inside of the Baxter Building when he sent it into outer space. This is a reference towards the same event that happened in the comics in Fantastic Four #6 way back in the early 1960's.
- Doctor Doom's Doombots closely resemble the Ultimate Fantastic Four version of Doom, with more angular features and goat-like legs.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: "Infiltration" would later reveal that Iron Man destroying the scanner before leaving set back Doom's work in learning how to expose Skrull infiltrators.
- Noble Demon: Doom allows his foes to leave once he has what he was looking for.
- Noodle Incident:
- Sue mentions the FF have spent that day's morning on another adventure.
- Doom apparently once sent the Baxter Building into space. It could be a Mythology Gag to one of his plots in the early Fantastic Four comics.
- No-Sell: Doom takes a punch to the head from the Hulk. It just makes him irritated.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: T'Challa and Reed note the sudden attack is too random for Doom's M.O.
- Pragmatic Hero: Once Doom sets Sue and Jan free, T'Challa is the one to suggest retreating, since the heroes now have what they came for, and so far nothing they've done has even broke Doom's stride.
- Previously on…: Recaps the events of last season, which leads to the Skrull replacing Captain America.
- Properly Paranoid: Everyone else writes off Doom's actions as a result of simple hatred, but Reed knows there's always a real reason to his actions.
- Put on a Bus: Both Thor and Hank are on a "leave of absence." Later episodes would explain where they are and why.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Doom delivers a particularly scathing one to Wasp, as noted above.
- Shut Up Nudge: Jan gives Tony one of these for flirting with Susan. Since he's wearing his armor, it hurts her elbow.
- Sore Loser: Hulk attacks Ben for beating him at poker.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The fact that while Doom is a supervillain he's also a head of state is brought up, Tony pointing out they can't just storm Latveria without getting into some trouble either with SHIELD or the UN.
- We Will Meet Again:Iron Man: This isn't over!
Doctor Doom: I agree. - Wham Shot: the end of the episode, where the audience learns Doom's motivation for provoking the Fantastic Four and the Avengers: His scan of Sue reveals she's a Skrull.
- "You!" Exclamation: Tony, on meeting Lucia Von Bardas again.
