Doctor Doom & Rocket Raccoon #1

History

The series grew out of a concept Straczynski had been developing internally for well over a year before its public announcement in October 2024, with Marvel formally unveiling the full slate of one-shots at that time. Straczynski framed his creative intent around pairing characters who had 'either never been paired before, or only minimally,' and Marvel positioned the line editorially in the same spirit as recent prestige standalones like Jonathan Hickman and Sanford Greene's Doom and Chip Zdarsky and Daniel Acuña's Avengers: Twilight. Will Robson was tapped as artist for this first entry, with Gary Frank providing the main cover, and the issue shipped January 22, 2025, carrying a March 2025 cover date.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Written by J. Michael Straczynski; interior art by Will Robson with colors by Andrew Dalhouse; main cover by Gary Frank with Alex Sinclair.
• Released January 22, 2025 (on-sale date); cover-dated March 2025; rated T+ (ages 13 and up); 40 pages.
• The story title is 'Thirteen Days of Doom!' — Doom hires Rocket Raccoon to help him engineer a time machine capable of traveling to a moment before the Big Bang, seeking the answer to why anything exists at all.
• This is the first issue in Straczynski's 'Unlikely Duos' one-shot line for Marvel, followed by Captain America & Volstagg, Nick Fury vs. Fin Fang Foom, Hulk & Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider vs. Galactus, and Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Sixteen.
• Doom and Rocket previously interacted in Guardians of the Galaxy #14 (2021, by Al Ewing and Juan Frigeri), in which the two characters briefly swapped bodies — the prior relationship this issue builds upon.
• The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, the Thing, Invisible Woman, Human Torch) and Doom's parents (Cynthia von Doom and Werner von Doom) appear only in a two-page in-story recap of Doom's origin and failures; they are not present in the main action.
• Multiple variant covers were published simultaneously: a Junggeun Yoon 1:25 variant, a Gary Frank virgin 1:100 variant, a Will Robson variant, an Ario Anindito Windowshades variant, and a Leinil Francis Yu promo-art variant (Yu also created the line-wide promotional illustration featuring all the duos).
• The Marvel Database confirms at least one reprint of this issue exists, though details of the reprint vehicle were not specified in available sources.

Cast · 14 characters

Full credits

Variants (5)