Ryan North Talks Doomquest

Ryan North is a Canadian comic book writer whose work includes The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (with Erica Henderson and Rico Renzi), Adventure Time (with Derek Charm, Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb) and Marvel’s current Fantastic Four series (with Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado). North is fresh off writing the One World Under Doom event (with R.B. Silva and David Curiel) and is tackling Doctor Doom again in a brand-new maxiseries, Doomquest (with Francesco Mobili and Frank D'Armata). I spoke with North about the new book and writing Doom again so soon after the recent event! Check out our conversation below.

How did this opportunity come to be, and what made you want to write about Doom following One World Under Doom? You previously mentioned you wanted to tell an evergreen DOOM story that isn't set in the present. Why is that? And what does that mean for Doom's current fate in the main continuity?

It came about by Marvel asking me if I had any ideas. It was Hallowe'en, and I was the sickest I'd been in a decade (THANKS, NEPHEWS), and so I wrote back saying I absolutely could not write this, but in my feverish state, I wrote down what the person who DID write it should write about - which was the pitch for Doomquest. An evergreen story where we can go hog wild, with Doom careening through history and just messing everything up. Big, bombastic, fun, completely unhinged - but also a great character study of Doom himself.

My editor Tom wrote back and wisely noted that it really seemed like I had a story I wanted to tell, and that was it.

The reason it's evergreen is simple - Doom's dead! I killed him. So this takes place before that happened, which lets us have our cake (big fun Doom story) while eating it too (looking forward to seeing what happens in a world without Doom).

Does it ever feel exhausting writing a fictional supervillain when you reflect on the world we live in?

It's definitely a factor, but I think the difference is - these villains are fun. They're bad guys, but they're not the bad guys of reality - who are often tedious, obvious, and hoping to wear you down into acceptance. Supervillains in fiction are people, but they also represent ideas - and these ideas get to encounter other ideas like those of justice, truth, and beauty, and then they get to fight each other. It's fun! And it still has something to say, which is great. One of the reasons we tell stories, I think, is to experience things like that - especially when it feels like good is losing.

Has writing Doom in FF and OWUD changed anything about how you perceived or enjoyed Doom as a character?

It's fun to hang out in his head! Doom is a great guy to write for because everything he says is a speech. He's never said "um" in his life, he is always on, and he is always orating at peak efficiency. You get to pull out the stops when you write Doom, because his language is heightened like nobody else's.

Also, he thinks he's right and knows in his bones he has never been wrong in his entire life, and that's also fun. We've all felt like him before, and there's a certain amount of sympathy for someone so petty, so jealous, and who leans into it without apology.

This was announced as a 10-part series from the get-go. That feels increasingly rare at Marvel these days. Obviously, readers need to connect with the book so it gets to that 10-issue mark, but how does it feel to get that kind of leeway to tell this story?

The major benefit of a miniseries is you have a full story - a beginning, a middle, and an end.  I know where the story is going from the start, and so you can seed things really easily.  When you've got a more open-ended brief, it can be tricky to pace things, because you don't know where the ending will hit.  So it's a gift, and it's one I really appreciate!

What's it like to work with Francesco Mobili on this book? The art is fantastic.

Just incredible. Spreads are coming up where I can't believe my name gets to be attached to it because he's doing SUCH great work and I'm just piggybacking with the words.  Our next issue, as you saw, involves the Titanic.  I included a ton of references in my script - including a 3d version of Titanic you can walk around in - and that's not an easy brief for anyone. Historical situations mean you can be wrong when you draw it, but Francesco has taken to it like a champ.  It's incredible work.  We got to work together on Secret Invasion - where he ALSO did such amazing work - and I'm thrilled we get to do it again.  His work in black-and-white is so well done that they're even releasing a black-and-white version of issue one, just to show it off. That doesn't normally happen! 

Can we expect to see some familiar faces across different timelines? Sticking Doom on the Titanic is both hilarious and amazing.

You sure can! There's going to be a lot of major historical events - both real life and Marvel - with Doom right there in the middle, scheming to get his way. Each one is different, and the story builds as we go, but man - it's so much fun getting to see Francesco bring these ideas to life. My goal has been to escalate with every issue, which makes writing them a blast - and hopefully reading them too!

Alex Ross' covers are obviously amazing, but the cover for issue three particularly stands out to me. How amazing was it to see this cover for the first time?

Tom had told me at the last Marvel summit that Alex was doing incredible work, but even so, I was like - okay, this is next-level.  When I wrote down some ideas for the covers for the series for Alex, all I supplied was a sentence or so - and I thought Washington Crossing the Delaware, but with Doom in Washington's place, might look cool.  I wasn't expecting for it to look absolutely incredible.  Alex Ross has been in this line of work for decades, and somehow he's still besting himself? How? HOW.

Doomquest #1 is out in comic book stores now. Issue number two arrives on June 24th, 2026. Thanks to Ryan for joining us!