It's official - Doctor Doom will be the next big villain of the Marvel Universe, and the heroes are already kneeling at his feet

Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego took an all-too-brief look ahead for the Marvel Universe following the current Blood Hunt crossover, dropping some spoilers about what's to come, and who the next big villain of the Marvel Universe will be.

Spoilers for Blood Hunt ahead.

In the conclusion of Blood Hunt #4, Doctor Doom beseeches Doctor Strange to hand over the title of Sorcerer Supreme in order to gain his help in defeating the vampire army that is storming the Earth in Blood Hunt, and it now looks like Strange will in fact pass the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme to Doom, who has been one of the top contenders for the title for years now.

And that brings us to 'One World Under Doom,' the apparent new Marvel Universe status quo that will follow the conclusion of Blood Hunt, as teased by Marvel with a stark, red-tinted image by artist Ben Harvey which shows Doom as Sorcerer Supreme with many of Marvel's heroes, including Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cyclops, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Human Torch, Thing, and more all kneeling at his feet.

We already know, thanks to the same Next Big Thing panel, that Doom will enlist Spider-Man as the new magical protector of Earth in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man arc 'The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man', and now it looks like few heroes in the Marvel Universe will be outside Doom's reach - for better and for worse.

As a massive fan of Doctor Doom, I'm excited to see where this goes. Doom has held the title of Sorcerer Supreme briefly in the past (and in alt-reality stories), so it will be cool to see how an extended tenure for Doom in the mantle of Earth's greatest mage will play out.

Marvel teases that 'One World Under Doom' will kick off in 2025.

Doctor Doom ranks high on the list of the best Marvel Comics villains of all time.