By: Lori
Katarina von Doom, an imperious Latverian genius at State University, is one day caught in an explosion and regains memories of her past life as a ditzy Japanese schoolgirl with a love of American movies. It is then that she realizes she has been reborn into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: a perilous world of superheroes and supervillains! Realizing her destiny as the supervillain Doctor Doom, Katarina begins taking countermeasures. This, however, ends up having unexpected consequences on her relations with the other characters of the Marvel world.
Why is this so fucking good.
Well, for starters, Katarina. All Hamefura fans are here for Katarina anyway, and this is both a novel take on her and a good one. The core of her personality is still everyone's favorite hyperactive monkey girl. Just as all-loving, kind, gluttonous, and cheerfully oblivious as ever. But unlike Hamefura canon, rather than completely displacing Katarina von Doom, it's more like the monkey girl's knowledge and personality was overlaid over the core that is Katarina von Doom. Periodically, when the circumstances call for it, the monkey girl falls away, and Katarina von Doom steps into the spotlight. And it is a highlight of the story whenever it happens. The contrast is delightful.
That's not to say the monkey girl personality isn't good on its own merits. It's
hilarious to hear the usually all-loving Katarina cursing out Justin Hammer's spaghetti code, or steamrolling the Zefiro Resistance with pure cheer and kindness. God, Katarina's so
confusing for the MCU bigwigs, especially in SHIELD and Latveria. I love it. The way she infiltrates the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York... *chef's kiss*
And that's as good a segue as any to go into Latveria. Where the first half of the story, as published, is just lighthearted superhero stuff, the second half does the thing all fics about Doom are obligated to cover: her return to Latveria to overthrow the stale, oppressive monarchy running the place. And while there's plenty of fun ham and cheese, it's also a
very frank look at what personally killing thousands of people does to any person who's not a complete psychopath.
In general, there's a much-appreciated thread of
reality running through the Latveria sections of the story. Killing people sucks. Regime changes and civil wars suck, and doing them right is hard. And then there's running a country.
That being said, while other Hamefura characters appear as Latverians, they don't have much connection to their Hamefura selves, so don't expect anything on that front.
Still, good shit, binged it hard. You're on the list!
) and knows absolutely nothing about Hamefura, I'd say that you can absolutely enjoy it very much without the crossover knowledge. At least I did.
