What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed by DaVaun Sanders- Book Review

The finale of Marvel’s What If series of novels is here. DaVaun Sanders takes the helm of the last novel in the series. With Doctor Doom revealed, his machinations in place, who can stop him? Will Kate Pryde and America Chavez be enough? What is Doom’s endgame? All that and more can be found in What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed.

Catching Up

You can check out Eric’s review of the last book in this series – What If…Kitty Pryde Stole The Phoenix Force for a quick recap of the last novel.

What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed is the fifth and final book in Marvel’s What If book series. For the past two years, various authors have crafted stories set in the same universe leading up to this story. The series begins with What If…Loki Was Worthy from Madeleine Roux. Book Two, by Seanan McGuire, asks What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings. Next up, Mike Chen asks, What If…Marc Spector Was Host to Venom? For the penultimate book, Rebecca Podos treats us to a world where Kitty Pryde hosts the Phoenix Force in What If…Kitty Pryde Stole The Phoenix Force. Before we go any further please note:

This review will contain light spoilers for Books 1-4 in the Marvel What If series but will avoid spoilers for What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed?

Marvel’s alternate universe series sees plenty of surprises ultimately centered around America Chavez and Doctor Doom. Our heroes aren’t exactly your traditional heroes. The series adds a unique twist early on by taking an entity in The Watchers that Marvel fans are familiar with and using them in a new way, with America Chavez serving as a Watcher before ultimately abandoning the post to attempt to prevent the endgame of Doom. It takes a really unique character in The Watchers and allows them to be a narrative device in a really satisfying way.

Review

This book was such a satisfying ending to the What If…saga. The folks over at Random House Worlds were nice enough to give me a chance to review the book ahead of time. I preordered my own copy before getting the preview copy, so I gave it a second read once my physical copy came in. What I can tell you is that there is perhaps no greater testament to the quality of DeVaun Sanders’ writing in What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed, than even knowing what happens, the second reading was just as thrilling and attention-grabbing as the first read. DeVaun Sanders crafts a really well-written narrative that respects and honors the work of Madeleine Roux, Seanan McGuire, Mike Chen, and Rebecca Podos, while still being a standalone, character-driven narrative. Sanders perfectly captures the aspects of the Multiversal Avengers teams that made us fall in love with those characters in the previous stories, while also doing something distinct and making the story uniquely his own.

Even knowing what would happen, even knowing about the twists and turns the story would take, I felt myself burning through the second reading of this book as easily as the first time. Sanders genuinely gets these characters. He managed to take comic book characters and pull something very distinct into the novel world that is so prevalent in comics. In comics, arcs end, series end, and writers change. Comic writers then choose what aspects of previous writers’ work to keep with the character and what to change up. Sanders does that so effectively in this book. My favorite part of this book, besides just being a great story showing us a new version of Doctor Doom, is how effectively Sanders captures the relationship between America Chavez and Kitty Pryde. There are times when, even though there is tension, you feel the love, respect, and adoration these two have for each other. Two superpowered heroes who both desperately need each other because they recognize that, alone, they are nowhere near as capable as they are together.

Sanders weaves together a compelling narrative that makes it difficult to put the book down as you go from page to page, chapter to chapter. Doctor Doom makes for an interesting villain, as he is written in ways that are both familiar and distinct from any other iteration of the character we have seen in art before. DeVaun Sanders ensures that previous books lead to a satisfying payoff that will make you want to reread the entire series again.

Overall Rating: 10/10

I can’t say enough good things about What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed. DeVaun Sanders was given a Herculean task, and he managed to knock it out of the park. Having reread the entire series ahead of the release of the final book, I can easily say this is now my favorite book in the series. Sanders has crafted a book that should have a place in the library of every comic book fan, much less fans of Marvel Comics. If you’re not familiar with his work before now, What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed will put you on notice for what DeVaun Sanders brings to a story and what he’s capable of. This book was an absolute home run.

Want to learn more about What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? Check out my interview with author DeVaun Sanders below.

What did you think of What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? Let me know in the comments below.