Survivor: Marvel Multiverse Edition

Finally some answers! Not a lot of answers, but enough to keep reading without confusion. Secret Wars #3 brought us back some familiar faces, and gave us a little bit of insight into the formation of Doom's Battelworld. 

Issue #2 left off with what must be the eldest Thor dead by the hands of The Cabal, comprised of Thanos, Black Swan, Maximus the Mad, Proxima Midnight, Namor, Terrax and the Ultimate Mister Fantastic, at this point known only as the Maker. The Cabal escaped the multiverse's collapse in a life raft made by the Maker, but originally designed by our mainstream, still heroic, Reed Richards. 

Also in this issue, we get to see what seems to be a pretty regular heart to heart between Doom and Doctor Strange, who we find out remembers everything from before the collapse. Which makes sense given his position as Doom's number two man in the fight against The Beyonders. While this was generally assumed before the issue, the real shocker here is that apparently Strange had a chance to be the god that Doom has become, and decided Victor was a better fit for the job. Strange makes several illusions to the fact that their situation is a precarious one as Battleworld is all that remains of an infinite number of destroyed realities. The Doctor implies that without the proper work and maitenance, Battleworld could easily cease to be. 

Later in the issue, we get the best news we've had in years from Marvel. The 616 heroes life raft survived also! Doctor Strange seems to immediatly abandone being Doom's lackey at the sight of his friends, but he quickly regains his composure when Reed dosnt take the news of Victor's godhood well. According to Strange, Doom  is "very good at playing God", or Steven would not have stay aligned with him. Another extended scene with Doom and Susan immediatly follows, and poses some big quesions to me. Did Doom save the 616  Susan from multiversal space and alter her memory? Or is this a completely new version of her that Victor made sure was well accustomed to his omnipotence? My money is on the former, but there's no way to be sure for now,

Issue #3 moves the story forward in ways that issue 2 couldn't, for sake of exposition. Hickman continues to give us morsels of the truth,  while keep all the big facts just out of reach of the reader. For most of the last two issues i wondered, with the stakes this high, when would we start to see more conflict between the domains? But now with the real heroes and villians returned, I've certainly lost some interest in the domains' reimaginings of these characters. With Doom's authority in question and heroes ready to investigate this strange new world, I wonder what issue 4 will have in store for us.

4/5 Infinity Gems