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The pairing of Captain America and Doctor Doom might not be an immediately obvious one for many Marvel fans, but as Steve Rogers finds himself getting more and more involved with Doom’s home country of Latveria in his current comic book run and seemingly the upcoming Marvel Comics 2026 crossover event Avengers: Armageddon, the writer behind both wants everyone to know that it’s coming from a place of canon — and a small amount of nostalgia, as well.

“The first comics I read as a kid were [the 1984 series] Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars,” Chip Zdarsky explained during an appearance on the Owen Likes Comics podcast, “and the two factions were led for the most part by Cap and Doom. Like, when I had the toys, it was Cap and Doom. The culmination, the climax, of that book, it’s Cap and Doom, and it’s something that people don’t explore that much.”

Sure enough, Cap and Doom were at the heart of the 1980s series that is now primed for a big screen outing in 2027 — which means it’s probably not a coincidence that Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers is returning to the MCU in time to face off against Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom in this December’s Avengers: Doomsday.

The Captain America writer argues that Marvel has a pretty successful history when it comes to pairing heroes with unexpected villains.

“I kind of viewed it as, this might be the thing where Wilson Fisk was a Spider-Man villain until [Frank] Miller kind of put him up against Daredevil. I feel a bit like that with Doom. I mean, Doom is a Fantastic Four villain, always will be. But there’s something about Doom and Cap that really, really works.”

Captain America #6, in which Cap heads into Latveria in the wake of Doom’s apparent death, is available now.

Ahead of Avengers: Secret Wars, learn how the comic it's based on (both of 'em!) ended!