Doctor Doom, ruler of Latveria, has long been a thorn in the side of Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, but his plots to take over the world never seemed to amouint to much.

In this Marvel mini-series, collected now in trade paperback format, he finally takes off the gloves and gets real.

It begins with the takeover of Wakanda, home of the Black Panther and his wife Ororo, also known as Storm of the X-Men. In the Marvel universe, this African nation is the most technologically advanced in the country, thanks to its store of a metal called Vibranium with unique properties.

By taking over Wakanda, Doom gets his hands on most of the world's supply of Vibranium, and nothing can stop him taking on the rest of the world.

In a nice twist, the reason the US and offically-sanctioned teams such as the Avengers don't invade Latveria and put a stop to Doom's plan is that they have no definite proof that he possesses the Vibranium, and are wary of starting an "illegal war" with another country.

We also get to see Doom's motivation for attempting to conquer the world - he honestly believes mankind will be better off with a ruthless but fair ruler watching over us.