—The ThingI shoulda gotten wise to you long ago! You made me a sap for years! But the Wizard opened my eyes... and now you're gonna get it!
Appearing in "To Save You, Why Must I Kill You?"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Goliath (Referenced)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Prime Marvel Universe
- Earthspace
- Milky Way
- Sol System
- Earth
- North America
- United States of America
- New Jersey
- Frightful Four Mansion
- Storehouse
- Frightful Four Mansion
- New Jersey
- United States of America
- North America
- Earth
- Sol System
- Milky Way
- Heaven (Invoked)
- Earthspace
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- Wizard Armor
- Wizard's ID Machine
- Anti-Gravity Discs
- Paste-Gun
- Portable Water Sprinkler
- Chemically-Treated Plastic Bag
- Tear Gas Equipment
Synopsis for "To Save You, Why Must I Kill You?"
Continued from last issue...
The Frightful Four attempt to goad their brainwashed pawn, The Thing, into killing his best friend, Reed Richards, for causing the accident which transformed him into the monstrous Thing. Regaining consciousness, Richards finds himself stuck to a large board by the Trapster's paste, and at mercy of the enraged Thing. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm manages to flame on at his highest intensity and thereby vaporize the harness which has been rigged to him that would otherwise have doused him with water. The Torch then frees his sister, the Invisible Girl, from a massive plastic bag she is trapped in. While the Torch and Sue battle the Frightful Four, Mister Fantastic tricks the Thing into shattering the board he has been glued to, freeing him. This does not save him from the Thing's wrath, as Grimm easily overpowers Richards and then crams him into a small metal urn, and jams the lid on tight.
Sue and Johnny are soon outnumbered. In order to allow his sister to escape, Johnny lets off a flare to blind their foes; but although Sue manages to get away, Medusa douses Johnny's flame by soaking her hair and then wrapping him in it, whereupon the rest of her team incapacitate him. Meanwhile, Sue finds the urn Reed is trapped in and flees outside to try and free him. With the battle over, the Wizard remarks on how savage the Thing is and how difficult it is to control him. While the others are squabbling again, he subjects the Human Torch to the ID Machine, seemingly making Johnny Storm evil. Meanwhile, outside, Sue manages to use her powers to pull the lid off the urn, freeing Reed from captivity. However, both pass out from the strain.
When they revive, they chance on an equipment shed in the grounds of the mansion. They ambush the Frightful Four, tagging them with the Wizard's own anti-gravity discs, which they have coated with the Trapster's paste. While the Sandman, Medusa and the Trapster are busy floating away, Reed grabs the Thing and flees. The Wizard and the Human Torch follow, but the Wizard becomes frustrated by the Torch constantly getting in his way. However, before Reed and Sue can escape with Ben, Johnny traps them behind a wall of flame.
This story is continued next issue...Appearing in "Lo! There Shall be an Ending!"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Doctor Doom's physician
- NYPD
- Sgt. Donnegan
- Basil Rathbone (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- The Lord (Invoked)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Prime Marvel Universe
- Earthspace
- Milky Way
- Sol System
- Earth
- North America
- United States of America
- New York
- New Jersey
- Frightful Four mansion
- United States of America
- North America
- Earth
- Sol System
- Milky Way
- Heavens (Invoked)
- Earthspace
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- Wizard Armor
- Anti-Gravity Discs
- Wizard's ID Machine
- Paste-Gun
- Miniature Resonance Cap
- Doctor Doom's Armor
- Emotion Charger (Mentioned)
Vehicles:
- The Wizard's Anti-Grav Airship
Synopsis for "Lo! There Shall be an Ending!"
Continued from last issue...
After rescuing the brainwashed Thing from the Frightful Four, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl flee from the Wizard and his other seemingly brainwashed thrall, the Human Torch. When they escape in Johnny's car, the Wizard decides to break off pursuit and free his other Frightful Four teammates, who were taken out of the fight by his own anti-gravity discs. After the Wizard and the Torch get them down, the Frightful Four realize that the Torch had deliberately hampered them whenever they tried to harm one of his former teammates.
Reed and Sue return to the Baxter Building, where the Thing begins to fight back. They quickly subdue him with knockout gas, and Reed begins the long task of trying to find a cure for the Wizard's brainwashing process. Meanwhile, the Wizard and Medusa inspect the ID Machine, and confirm what the Wizard suspected: someone tampered with the machine during the battle, and the Human Torch has only been pretending to be under their control. They ambush the Torch and knock him out, so the Wizard can prepare the final phase of the revenge against the Fantastic Four.
At the Baxter Building, Reed has finished constructing a device that he hopes will revert Ben's personality to normal. But when Reed activates the device it overloads and explodes. Reed rushes in to pull the control helmet from Ben's head before he is permanently harmed, with Sue throwing a force field around him for protection. They then drag Ben into a nearby bed where they can only hope that he will awaken cured. At the Latverian Embassy, Doctor Doom inspects his hands and finds that they have healed after his last battle with the Fantastic Four. Doom is furious over such an ignominious defeat, but he has already planned a suitable revenge, as his Emotion Changer ray is complete and ready to use.
Back at the Baxter Building, the Frightful Four's anti-grav ship lands on the roof and the villains begin infiltrating the building. Reed completes his tests and concludes that the Thing has been cured, just as the Frightful Four ambush them. The Wizard shows Reed and Sue that he has Johnny trapped outside on a massive anti-gravity disc. The Wizard then threatens to send Johnny up into space to suffocate unless the Fantastic Four surrender. When Reed tries to save Johnny, the Wizard and his cohorts show that they mean business. The Wizard then gives Richards ten seconds to surrender. However, before this time is up the Thing awakes and attacks the Wizard, rending the villain's armor with his bare hands, destroying his anti-grav control unit. As Reed and Sue attack their foes, Johnny is able to break free from the now deactivated disc and join the fight.
As the battle rages, Medusa decides to retreat. The Torch sees her, but fails to prevent her escape in the Wizard's anti-grav ship. With Medusa's departure the survivors of the Frightful Four are easily subdued. But when Reed telephones the police to have them send an officer over to collect the prisoners, the officer on the phone thinks it's a prank call. After Johnny leaves to drop off their foes with the authorities, Reed and Sue check on Ben and welcome him back to the group. Ben is surprised by this, after the hatred he displayed earlier. But Reed points out that Ben couldn't help himself, and he is welcomed back to the team.