These four heroes are being startled by none other than the Fantastic Four menace known as ... wait for it ... Dr. Doom! He is a total bad ass, but the Avengers' reaction is a bit peculiar.
From the way everyone is standing, it appears that the Avengers were just strolling down a street in Latvia when they encountered Doom standing dramatically. The Avengers' reaction? "What the --!?" And then they struck surprised poses. Captain America even seems ready to let loose some Kirby-esque karate on Doom's metal butt.
If you were reading Marvel comics at the time, this cover, with an overuse of the color blue making everything seem calmer than it should, this issue must have seemed pretty cool. The Avengers up against a FF villain with the FF thrown in for good measure? Excellent! If you weren't reading Marvel comics, though, this just had to seem kind of lame.
Dr. Doom seems like a cool figure. All metal and green, standing undaunted before four kind of wimpy looking heroes. It hardly seems like a cover that would grab the readers' attention and make them want to buy the book or even open it up. The blurb says, "In this great issue," but the cover screams otherwise.
The Avengers has had far better covers. Most of them came in the '70s. This one probably turned away more new readers than it drew in. It obviously didn't tank the series, though, or you wouldn't have seen the movie five times already.
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