Well, You are Jesus of Nazareth, aren't you?

 So, you are the King of the Jews? 

"King" is your word. 

Well, you are Jesus of Nazareth, aren't you? 

Yes, I am. 

That's what They're saying you are. 

The King, the Messiah. 

It's also said that you do miracles. 

Is this good magic or bad magic? 

Could we have some kind of a demonstration? 

I mean, can you do a trick for me, now? 

No, I'm not a trained animal. 

I’m Not a Magician.

That's disappointing. This means that you're just another Jewish politician. Do you want to know something? You're more dangerous than the Zealots. Do you know that? Say something. You had better say something. All right. Tell me what you tell people on the streets. - Yes? - Yes. The prophet Daniel had a vision: A tall statue that had a gold head and silver shoulders. The stomach was bronze, the legs were iron, the feet were clay. A stone was thrown. The clay feet broke and the statue collapsed. 

You see, God threw the stone. 

The stone is me. 

And Rome... 

And Rome is The Statue, yes. 

So your Kingdom, 

or 

Your World, 

Will replace Rome. 

Where is it? 

My Kingdom? It's not Here. 

Not on Earth. 

It wouldn't be, would it? 

It's one thing to want to change the way that people live,

but you want to change 

how they think, 

how they feel. 

All I'm saying is that 

change will happen with love, 

not with killing. 

Either way, it's dangerous. 

It's against Rome. 

It's against the way the world is. 

And killing or loving, it's all the same :

It simply doesn't matter how you want to change things —

We don't want them changed. 

You do understand what has to happen? 

We have a space for you up on Golgotha. 

Three thousand skulls there by now. 

Probably more. Guard —

I do wish You People would go out 

and count them some time. 

Maybe you'd learn a lesson. 

Probably not.

Invisibility

Billy saves Freddy and Runs from Bullies : Shazam!

Freddie Freeman :

Flight or Invisibility? 

If you could have one superpower, 

Flight or Invisibility, 

What would you pick? 

Everybody chooses Flight. 

You know why? 

Billy Batson :

So they can fly away from This Conversation? 

Freddie Freeman :

No, 'cause,

Heroes Fly. 

Who doesn't want people 

to think they're A Hero, right? 

But-But Invisibility, 

no way, I mean, that's pervy!

Spying around on people 

who don't even know you're there. 

Sneaking around everywhere. 

It's a total 

Villain Power, right? 

Then they did this study, and 

This is a Real Thing —

They asked people the same question, y’know, 

“What Power Do You  Want?”

but this time, they made it so

The Answers were anonymous. 

And-And most people, 

since they knew that it was secret, said 

“Invisibility.”

And I think that's 'cause 

Most People don't feel like heroes 

on the inside, deep down. 

You're running away. 

I mean, you stole my Superman bullet. 

Dude, I get it, I get it. 

You've been screwed over way too many times. 

You don't Trust anyone. 

But that's the thing about invisibility -- 

You handle it by yourself. 

Billy Batson :

I didn't steal your dumb bullet. 

Mary :

Hey, how was it today?

That good, huh? 

[ Freddie Gets Run Over. ]

Whoa! Oh, my God! 

Freddy! You okay? 

What the hell? 

What is wrong with you two? 

No way that's gonna buff out. 

You gonna pay for that thing? 

Freddie Freeman :

For the dent you made almost hitting me? 

Yeah, sure, um, do you guys take these? 

Mary :

Brett, stop! 

Darla :

Don't touch my brother! 

What, you need your fake family to stand up for you? 

Stand up for yourself, man.

Yeah, huh? Here, stand up. 

Stand up for yourself. 

What are you gonna do? 

Go home, cry to mommy? 

Oh, yeah, you don't have a mommy.

Darla :

Stop hurting him! 

Billy Batson :

Hey! Man, sorry about that. 

That wasn't fair, but, then again, you don't play fair, so. 

Back off, assbags, I know how to use these things!

I Like You

Being There //KISS vs SCREEN// Oltre il giardino //

♪ It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood ♪

♪ A beautiful day for a neighbor ♪

♪ Would you be mine? ♪

♪ Could you be mine? ♪

Come in.

♪ It's a neighborly day

in this beauty wood ♪

♪ A neighborly day for a beauty ♪

♪ Would you be mine? ♪

♪ Could you be mine? ♪

Chauncey.

Have you read the newspapers?

I don't read papers, Eve.

Well, you're described as one of the principal architects of The President's speech last night.

And your comments on the television show are side-by-side quoted with The President's.

I like The President very much.

He's a nice man.

Isn't he?

-♪ Won't you please ♪

-Yes, he is.

♪ Won't you please ♪

♪ Please won't you be ♪

-You're very nice too.

-♪ My neighbor? ♪

- Hi, neighbor.

There's somebody at the door.

Let's see who that special person is.

It's Mr. McFeely. 

Hi, Mr. McFeely.

Speedy delivery! 

Good day to you.

I'm so glad you brought it.

Come in, will you?

I have the slides right here.

- Can I see how it works?

-Yes. Will you sit over here?

-All righty.

Got a few minutes here.

You don't mind my being here like... this?

This is the stereopticon.

That's right.

No, Eve.

I like you to be here.

I guess you look right in here, don't you?

You do?

That's right.

That's good. 

They're funny.

There's two pictures come together to look like one.

They look a little deeper too, don't they?

Yes. That's good.

There are lots of pictures here.

But right now, 

I'd like to sing about something 

even more special.

And that something is you.

♪ You are my friend

You are special ♪

♪ You are my friend ♪

♪ You're special to me ♪

♪ You are the only one like you ♪

♪ Like you, my friend, I like you ♪

♪ In the daytime, in the nighttime ♪

♪ Any time that you feel

is the right time ♪

♪ For a friendship with me ♪

♪ You seem F-R-I-E-N-D special ♪

♪ You are my friend ♪

-♪ You're special to me ♪

-Chauncey.

♪ There's only one ♪

--♪ In this wonderful world ♪

- ♪ You are special ♪

- Here.

♪ In the daytime ♪

- ♪ In the nighttime ♪

♪ Any time that you feel

is the right time ♪

♪ For a friendship with you ♪

♪ You seem F-R-I-E-N-D special ♪

♪ You are my friend ♪

♪ You're special to me ♪

♪ There's only one ♪

Chauncey, Thank You.

I'm so grateful, Chauncey. 

Thank you.

♪ You are special ♪ You are.

I would've just opened up 

at the slightest touch.

I would've just opened up, 

you know? You know that.

But you're so Strong that 

I can Trust Myself with you.

I'm glad you didn't open, Eve.

Move The Picture back and forth until it's in focus.

I see.

Is it in focus yet?

Well...

I'll show you another one.

See? There's two of that too.

Waterfall.

Well, a long time ago people didn't have Television,

but they still liked to look

at Interesting Pictures.

And they would put

Pictures Like These

in a 

Special Viewer.

Thank you.

And they would look at them

very, very carefully.

Here, I'll show you another one.

They looked like cards.

Flash-cards from schools or something.

But they're really photographs.

Take a careful look at them.

The interesting thing 

about them is that 

They're Two.

One, Two.

And they look very much alike.

Here. I'll show you another one.

There Aren’t Any Promises.

  

 

Billy Beane was taken in the first round of the amateur draft.

I think this is a steal, to get Billy Beane.

He's young, he's talented.

 

A true five-tool player with speed.

This guy is a can't-miss prospect.

 

This is a great sign for the New York Mets.

And it could be the turnaround that they've been looking for.

 

Ball one.

 

I'll take Billy Beane over Strawberry.

Billy Beane, an interesting pick, turned down a scholarship.

He could've gone to Stanford.

 

Sometimes you don't find out till you get to the big leagues...

This guy has never failed at anything.

 

He's coming out of high school.

Billy was gonna go to college.

He could've been a great quarterback.

 

Strike three.

 

There's not an organization in baseball

who would not have taken a chance on this young guy.

 

He didn't pan out.

That happens every year. Some do, some don't.

 

I mean, if you're having any doubt at all about this...

Having the scholarship...

 

Your son was born with a God-given ability.

Few scouts can go into the mind of a young man and determine whether he's really confident about what he can do.

 

A very special player.

 

So you can sign him based on his ability,

but then he's gotta be successful to be confident.

And once he becomes confident, that's when you've got something.

 

You make a decision on What You See.

And if things don't pan out, you move on.

 

That's Baseball.

Many are Called, Few are Chosen.

 

Billy, that is Kevin Youkilis.

That is the Greek God of Walks. That's My Hero.

That man gets walked more than anybody in baseball except for Barry Bonds.

 

I tried to convince Shapiro to pick him up last June,

but he said he waddled like a duck.

 

 

Billy Beane :

Yeah, Boston snagged him.

I think they wanna wait and see.

 

Are you okay, Billy?

Grady, Head Scout :

Billy? Can we talk?

 

Billy Beane :

Yeah. Yeah.

 

You're unhappy, Grady. Why?

 

Grady, Head Scout : 

May I speak candidly?

 

Billy Beane :

Sure, go ahead.

 

Grady, Head Scout :

Major League Baseball and its fans,

they're gonna be more than happy

to throw you and Google Boy under The Bus

if you keep doing What You're Doing.

 

You don't put a team together with a computer.

 

Billy Beane :

No?

 

Grady, Head Scout :

No. Baseball isn't just numbers. 

It's not science.

If it was, anybody could do 

what we're doing,

but they can't.

 

They don't know What We Know.

They don't have Our Experience 

and Our Intuition.

 

Okay. You got a kid in there that's got a Degree in Economics from Yale.

You got a scout here with 29 years of Baseball Experience.

You're listening to the wrong one.

 

Now, there are intangibles that only baseball people understand.

You're discounting what scouts have done for 150 years? Even yourself?

 

Billy Beane :

Adapt or Die.

 

Grady, Head Scout :

This is about You and Your Shit, isn't it?

Twenty years ago, some scout got it wrong.

 

Billy Beane :

Okay. Okay.

 

Grady, Head Scout :

Now you declare 

War on The System.

 

Billy Beane :

Okay, okay, 

My Turn :

 

You don't have a crystal ball.

 

You can't look at a kid 

and predict his future

any more than I can.

 

I've sat at those kitchen tables with you,

and listened to you tell parents,

"When I know, I know.

And when it comes to your son, I know."

 

And You Don't.

You Don't.

 

Grady, Head Scout : 

Okay. I don't give a shit about Friendship,

This Situation, or The Past —

 

Major League Baseball thinks The Way I Think : --

You're not gonna win.

 

And I'll give you a nickel's worth of free advice.

You're never gonna get another job after this catastrophic season

you're about to set us all up for.

 

You'll have to explain to Your Kid

why you're working at Dick's Sporting Goods.

 

Billy Beane :

I'm not gonna fire you, Grady.

 

Grady, Head Scout : 

Fuck you, Billy.

 

( pushes him )

 

Billy Beane :

Now I will.

Good luck, Art.

 

Kubota. You never played ball, right?

 

 

I played a little T-ball.

 

You're the new Head Scout.

Congratulations. 

In Truth, Prosperity tries The Soul even of The Wise.

SALLUST(IUS CRISPUS)

THE WAR AGAINST CATILINE

tr. J. C. Rolfe (Loeb, 1921)

 

(5) Lucius Catilina, member of a noble family, had great vigour both of mind and of body, but an evil and depraved nature. From youth up he revelled in civil wars, murder, pillage, and political dissension, and amid these he spent his early manhood. His body could endure hunger, cold, and want of sleep to an incredible degree; his mind was reckless, cunning, treacherous, capable of any form of pretence or concealment. Covetous of others' possessions, he was prodigal of his own. He was violent in his passions. He possessed a certain amount of eloquence, but little discretion. His disordered mind ever craved the monstrous, incredible, gigantic.

After the domination of Sulla the man had been seized with a mighty desire of getting control of the government, caring little by what manner he should achieve it, provided he made himself supreme. His haughty spirit was goaded more and more every day by poverty and a sense of guilt, both of which he had augmented by the practices of which I have already spoken. He was spurred on, also, by the corruption of the public morals, which were being ruined by two great evils of an opposite character, extravagance and avarice . . .

 

(8) Beyond question Fortune holds sway everywhere. It is she that makes all events famous or obscure according to her caprice rather than in accordance with the truth. The acts of the Athenians, in my judgement, were indeed great and glorious enough, but nevertheless somewhat less important than fame represents them. But because Athens produced writers of exceptional talent, the exploits of the men of Athens are heralded throughout the world as unsurpassed. Thus the merit of those who did the deeds is rated as high as brilliant minds have been able to exalt the deeds themselves by words of praise.

But the Roman people never ha that advantage, since their ablest men were always most engaged with affairs. Their minds were never employed apart from their bodies. The best citizen preferred action to words, and thought that his own brave deeds should be lauded by others rather than that theirs should be recounted by him.

(9) Accordingly, good morals were cultivated at home and in the field. There was the greatest harmony and little or no avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among them, thanks not so much to laws as to nature. Quarrels, discord, and strife were reserved for their enemies. Citizen vied with citizen only for the prize of merit. They were lavish in their offerings to the gods, frugal in the home, loyal to their friends. By practising these two qualities, boldness in warfare and justice when peace came, they watched over themselves and their country. In proof of these statements I present this convincing evidence: first, in time of war punishment was more often inflicted for attacking the enemy contrary to orders, or for withdrawing too tardily when recalled from the field, than for venturing to abandon the standards or to give ground under stress; and secondly, in time of peace they ruled by kindness rather than fear, and when wronged preferred forgiveness to vengeance.

(10) But when our country had grown great through toil and the practice of justice, when great kings had been vanquished in war, savage tribes and mighty peoples subdued by force of arms, when Carthage, the rival of Rome's sway, had perished utterly, and all seas and lands were open, then Fortune began to grow cruel and to bring confusion into all our affairs. Those who had found it easy to bear hardship and dangers, anxiety and adversity, found leisure and wealth--so desirable under the circumstances--a burden and a curse. Hence the lust for power first, then for money, grew upon them. These were, I may say, the root of all evils. For avarice destroyed honour, integrity, and all other noble qualities; taught in their place insolence, cruelty, to neglect the gods, to set a price on everything. Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue; to value friendships and enmities not on their merits but by the standard of self-interest, and to show a good front rather than a good heart. At first these vices grew slowly, from time to time they were punished. Finally, when the disease had spread like a deadly plague, the State was changed and a government second to none in equity and excellence became cruel and intolerable.

(11) But at first men's souls were actuated less by avarice than by ambition--a fault, it is true, but not so far removed from virtue; for the noble and the base alike long for glory, honour, and power, but the former mount by the true path, whereas the latter, being destitute of noble qualities, rely upon craft and deception. Avarice implies a desire for money, which no wise man covets: as though steeped with noxious poisons, it renders the most manly body and soul effeminate. It is ever unbounded and insatiable, nor can either plenty or want make it less. But after Sulla, having gained control of the State by arms, brought everything to a bad end from a good beginning, all men began to rob and pillage. One coveted a house, another lands. The victors showed neither moderation nor restraint, but shamefully and cruelly wronged their fellow citizens. Besides all this, Sulla, in order to secure the loyalty of the army which he led into Asia, had allowed it a luxury and licence foreign to the habits of our forefathers; and in the intervals of leisure those charming and voluptuous lands had easily demoralized the warlike spirit of his soldiers. There is was that an army of the Roman people first learned to indulge in women and drink; to admire statues, paintings, and chased vases, to steal them from private houses and public places, to pillage shrines, and to desecrate everything, both sacred and profane. These soldiers, therefore, after they had won the victory, left nothing to the vanquished. In truth, prosperity tries the soul even of the wise. How then should men of depraved character like these make a moderate use of victory?

(12) As soon as riches came to be held in honour, when glory, political control, and economic power followed in their train, virtue began to lose its lustre, poverty to be considered a disgrace, blamelessness to be termed malevolence. There -- as the result of riches -- luxury and greed, united with insolence, took possession of our young manhood.

 

(36) . . . At no other time has the condition of imperial Rome, as it seems to me, been more pitiable. The whole world, from the rising of the sun to its setting, subdued by her arms, rendered obedience to her; at home there was peace and an abundance of wealth, which mortal men deem the greatest of blessings. Yet there were citizens who from sheer perversity were bent upon their own ruin and that of their country. For in spite of the two decrees of the Senate, not one man of all that great number was led by the promised reward to betray the conspiracy, and not a single one deserted Catiline's camp. Such was the potency of the malady which like a plague had infected the minds of many of our countrymen.

(37) This insanity was not confined to those who were implicated in the plot, but the whole body of the commons through desire for change favoured the designs of Catiline. In this very particular they seemed to act as the populace usually does. For in every community those who have no means envy the good, exalt the base, hate what is old and established, long for something new, and from disgust with their own lot desire a general upheaval. Amid turmoil and rebellion they maintain themselves without difficulty, since poverty is easily provided for and can suffer no loss. But the city populace in particular acted with desperation for many reasons. To begin with, all who were especially conspicuous for their shamelessness and impudence, those too who had squandered their patrimony in riotous living, finally all whom disgrace or crime had forced to leave home, had all flowed into Rome as into a cesspool. Many, too, recalled Sulla's victory. They had seen common soldiers risen to the rank of senator, and others become so rich that they feasted and lived like kings, and now every man hoped that his fruits of victory would be the same, if he took the field. Besides this the young men who had maintained a wretched existence by manual labour in the country, tempted by governmental and private aid had come to prefer idleness in the city to their hateful toil; these, like all the others, profited while the nation suffered. Therefore it is not surprising that men who were beggars and without character, with illimitable hopes, should respect their country as little as they respected themselves. Moreover, those to whom Sulla's victory had mean the proscription of their parents, loss of property, and curtailment of their rights, looked forward in a similar spirit to the issue of a war. Finally, all who belonged to another party than that of the Senate preferred to see the government overthrown rather than be out of power themselves.

Such, then, was the evil which after many years had returned upon the State.

Vaccine Gold Rush: Do You Trust Gates?

 

Vaccine Gold Rush: Do You Trust Gates?

 

 You must be familiar 

with my favourite poem by Gates :

 

Black Irish, very moving.

 

Turning, and turning in the widening gyre,

The Falcon cannot hear The Falconer --

 

Thing Fall Apart :

 

The Centre cannot hold.

Mere Anarchy is loosed upon The World

and everywhere, The Ceremony of Innocence is lost --

The Best lack all conviction --

While The Worst, are filled 

with passionate intensity.....

But it ends so 

beautifully ominously :

What rough beast,

It's hour, come 'round at last --

Slouches towards Bethlehem,

To be born....

Card Games

Morgan Le Faye:

I could always beat you at Chess, Merlyn....

Time's Champion,

The Artist Yet-to-be Known as Merlyn:

Who said anything about Chess....?

I'm playing Poker...!

And I've got an Ace! up my sleeve...!!

Lt.Gen Cushman,

Deputy Director of Central Intelligence :

He's Nervous, sir...

He's heard you're looking for a new Director.

 

 DICK Nixon :

He sure'n isn't acting like it.

 

 

Lt.Gen Cushman,

Deputy Director of Central Intelligence :

That's Helms -- The Epitome of Cool.

He's a World Class Poker Player, sir.

 

 

 DICK Nixon :

Yeah? Well, I own the fuckin' Cassino.

Tatiana Alexeievna Romanova

007 :

Don't go away.

Yes.

Thanks. Tell him to wait, will you?

And send up a porter for the baggage. 

Thank you.

And also get me the British Consul. Thank you.

Yes. Mr Maxwell, please.

James Bond.

Tatiana Alexeievna Romanova :

James, we will miss the plane, and we will...

007 :

Hello, Paul? Bond here.

Just to tell you we're off in a few minutes

and I wanted to thank you for everything.

And signal the office we're on our way back, will you?

What was that?

Here, leave that. 

I'll take it.

No.

It should be routine from here on in.

Also many thanks...

Hello? What was that you were saying?

Hello? Hello?

007 :

Klebb.

James, you still there? Hello?

Rosa Klebb,

SPECTRE Number 3 :

Romanova, The Door.

Romanova.

Take this.

Tatiana Alexeievna Romanova :

Horrible woman.

007 :

Yes. She's had her kicks.

♪ From Russia with love ♪

♪ I fly to you ♪

Tatiana Alexeievna Romanova :

Here you are, in case you ever need it again.

007 :

Yes. All Government Property has to be accounted for.

But as I said before, we won't always be working on

the company's time, will we?

Tatiana Alexeievna Romanova

No.

♪ I've travelled the world ♪

Tatiana Alexeievna Romanova

James, behave yourself.

We are being filmed.

Not again.

♪ From Russia with love ♪

He was right, you know.

What is it?

I'll show you.

Folie à Deux

“This syndrome is most commonly diagnosed when the two or more individuals of concern live in proximity, may be socially or physically isolated, and have little interaction with other people.

Various sub-classifications of folie à deux have been proposed to describe how the delusional belief comes to be held by more than one person:

• Folie imposée is where a dominant person (known as the ‘primary’, ‘inducer’ or ‘principal’) initially forms a delusional belief during a psychotic episode and imposes it on another person or persons (the ‘secondary’, ‘acceptor’, or ‘associate’) with the assumption that the secondary person might not have become deluded if left to his or her own devices. If the parties are admitted to hospital separately, then the delusions in the person with the induced beliefs usually resolve without the need of medication.

• Folie simultanée describes either the situation where two people considered to suffer independently from psychosis influence the content of each other’s delusions so they become identical or strikingly similar, or one in which two people “morbidly predisposed” to delusional psychosis mutually trigger symptoms in each other.

There is almost something heroic about their stupidity on this level.

Is it important that not only is Northampton close to the physical centre of the UK but as it has gone through the last two or three decades it now looks like a lot of other places in Britain. It looks like Sheffield, it looks like Gillingham, it looks like Truro. The pedestrianisation of the shopping section of town, the chain shops moving in, the local family run businesses moving out...

AM: That's it. They pedestrianized the main drags, so you get a decrease in traffic. You get shops closing down because the rents are still disproportionately high but the trade isn't there any more... You could even be forgiven for thinking that some of these councils are actually trying to divert the life and activity away from town centres to the more profitable retail parks which are surrounding most of our conurbations nowadays. That certainly seems to be the case in Northampton. 

We are promised developments but these are only in the hope of making the town as soulless as Milton Keynes so that we can compete with them for custom and tourism. 

It's never going to work. 

You're never going to get people saying 

'Let's go to Northampton and see the marvel of the Express Lift Tower or the backwards bus station.' 

When they built the bus station they had the plans the wrong way round so they built the entire bus station backwards. 

There is almost something heroic about their stupidity on this level. 

As I said in the editorial of the first issue of Dodgem Logic, yeah, we're basing this in Northampton on the understanding that one dilapidated and abused shit hole is pretty much identical to another one. We're all practically living in the same place. There has been a great levelling. We have the same brand names reiterated in all of our shop front furniture. The same chain stores in every town and like you say, all of them are pedestrianized. All of them have the surveillance cameras. Although probably not to the same degree to which we have them here. 

Northampton has always been a bit of a laboratory for social experiments 

so we've got ones that talk. 

Y'know, they say things like 

'Pick that cigarette butt up. 

Yes you, the one in the anorak.' 

It's this kind of sub-Orwellian theatrics that just make people more annoyed than anything else. 

They don't do anything about the crime figures, or people's behaviour or people's levels of happiness.”

Ultimate Doom

“ Initially offered the choice of rebooting the Marvel line with Ultimate X-Men or Ultimate Spider-Man as a lure away from DC, Morrison turned both titles down, recommending Mark Millar for the Ultimate X-Men gig, and jumping ship from DC to pen the X-franchise flagship title, retitled New X-Men during his tenure.

During his 4-year stint at Marvel, Morrison consulted on the launch of further titles in the Ultimate line, specifically Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate Avengers, eventually known simply as The Ultimates.

Ultimate Fantastic Four was envisioned as a superhero sitcom-soap opera, seen by Morrison to be in line with prevailing pop-culture trends (think Buffy, Friends etc.).  

This tactic had been used before in comics, notably in Giffen & DeMatties' Justice League International, a comic that had, at the time of Morrison's proposal, dramatically fallen out of fashion since its heyday in the late 80's-early 90's.

Supposedly Mark Waid, then writer of the main Fantastic Four book, asked for any Ultimate Fantastic Four book to be delayed so as not to detract from the then critical and commercial success of his title. 

 

Ultimate Fantastic Four eventually surfaced in 2004, after Morrison had left Marvel for another stint at DC, written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar and, according to Morrison in various interviews, incorporating uncredited much of his original pitch.

"Ultimate Fantastic Four will probably still appear", said Morrison in an interview with Newsarama, "but I won't have anything to do with it. I was involved in some of the discussions that went on prior to the release of The Ultimates so I feel as though I've contributed my ten cents worth already."

 

Ultimate Doom is a scientific genius, though unlike Richards he approaches science as an art rather than as a system. 

While the Fantastic Four’s powers are compared to the four classical GREEK elements, Doom has attained the power of one of the ADDITIONAL CHINESE ELEMENTS, Metal – his body is almost completely solid metal, possessing no discrete internal organs, somewhat similar to Colossus (though Doom cannot switch back to a flesh-and-blood form). 

In his first post-transformation encounter with the Fantastic Four, he expelled the remains of his internal organs as a poisonous gas. He can grow and fling porcupine-like volleys of metal spikes from his forearms, and also possesses a regenerative power, but he cannot heal any wound caused by his own body. 

Thus, the scar Reed made on Doom’s face remains, because it was done with one of his own spikes. 

Doom exhibits super strength as well, as he is able to break the arms off the zombie version of Ben Grimm.

Hal explains he’s having a personal crisis, stating he used to be part of the Green Lantern Corps with a purpose and a plan. But with Oa drained and the Guardians having fled, all he is now is a man with a ring.

After some reassurances from Clark, they accompany each other to a museum convention Clark is supposed to cover for the Daily Planet, and briefly run into Selina Kyle. They then find the green lantern discovered by Janos in an exhibition. Hal recognizes it as a power battery, and tries loading his power ring with it despite Clark’s wariness. The effect is disastrous and a wave of magic energy kills both heroes. They wind up in the Region of the Just Dead and encounter Deadman, who explains that their deaths are not irrevocable until they have gone “into the light”. Hal then tries using his ring to take them back to their bodies, the worst thing he could have done.

Meanwhile, the Phantom Stranger sits in the apartment given to him by the Lords of Order, his current masters. Sensing that something else needs his attention, he finally leaves the apartment forever and dismisses the Lords, who insist that he cannot leave his confinement. The Phantom admits to no membership or affiliation with any group and also denies belonging to this place or even having a home, because if he belonged then he would cease to be a stranger. He bids the voices farewell, even as their threats of wrath echo in a now empty room.

Superman and Hal have wound up in Hell, where Superman’s super-senses cannot experience anything but suffering, fear and pain. Horrified by realizing that he can’t save these innumerable souls, he is slowly going mad. The catatonic Man of Steel can’t do anything but float around and cry, while a terrified Green Lantern desperately tries waking him up. When the two of them are attacked by blood-thirsty demons, Hal once again uses his ring, and they disappear.

Superman and Green Lantern encounter the power that killed them – the sentient Green Flame, the remains of the magic energies of Maltus. 

The Green Flame explains that their deaths were a result of Jordan trying to load his scientific ring with supernatural energies. 

Then it tempts Hal to give in for the supernatural power of The Green Flame instead.

At that point, The Stranger appears, and teaches Hal how to tame the corrupt Flame. 

Hal reads The Oath of Alan Scott, loads his ring, and the threat of The Green Flame is neutralized. The Stranger then returns Hal’s and Superman’s souls to their bodies, disposing of The Lantern.