—Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)I've failed! I've been defeated-- by the accursed Fantastic Four!
Appearing in "The Return of Doctor Doom!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Numerous unnamed New Yorkers
- NYPD
- Unnamed Police Officer
- Mole Man (Carving)
- Miracle Man (Carving)
- Skrull Empire (Carving) (Unnamed)
- Unnamed Skrull (Carving)
- Unnamed Skrull (Carving)
- Unnamed Skrull (Carving)
- Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie) (Carving)
- Ant-Man (Hank Pym) (Drawing)
- Thor (Drawing)
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Drawing)
- Ovoids (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Daily Bulletin (Named only)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Skrulls (Carving)
- Mutant Atlantean-Human Hybrids (Carving)
- Ovoids (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Eagles
- Horses
- Bears
- Camels
- Cows
- Moose
- Lions
- Kangaroos
- Elephants
- Gorillas
- Tigers
- Zebras
- Giraffes
- Dinosaurs (Only in flashback)
- Tyrannosaurus rex (Only in flashback)
- Triceratops (Only in flashback)
- Asgardians (Drawing)
Realities:
Locations:
- Sol (Main story and flashback)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- North America
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Midtown
- 42nd Street and Madison Avenue
- Madison Avenue
- Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (First appearance)
- SoHo
- Midtown
- Manhattan
- Adirondack Mountains
- New York City
- New York
- United States of America
- North America
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- X-Ray Camera (First appearance)
- Fantasti-Flare
- Doctor Doom's Armor
- Mental Teleporter (First appearance)
- Plexi-Glass Prison (First appearance)
- Reducing Ray (First appearance)
- Atomic Activator (First appearance) (Vision or hallucination)
- Sub-Miniature Transistor-Powered Atomic Blast Gun (First appearance)
Vehicles:
- Pogo Plane MK I
- Ovoid Spaceship (Only in flashback)
- Fantasticar MK I
Events:
- Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event (Only in flashback)
Synopsis for "The Return of Doctor Doom!"
Reed Richards is conducting an experiment on how to photograph Sue while she is invisible when suddenly the team notices the Fantastic Four signal flare in the sky. Trying to rush to the signal, Reed finds the locking mechanism on his lab door jammed and uses his stretching powers to try and reach the release on the other side but his arm goes the wrong way, forcing Johnny to use his flame powers to melt through the lock. The group rushes through avid fans to the apartment of Alicia Masters, Ben's girlfriend, where Ben reveals that he just wanted to show his teammates the various sculptures that Alicia has made of the Fantastic Four's various foes.
Meanwhile, at the offices of Marvel Comics, writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, who have been licensed to create Fantastic Four comic books based on the heroes' adventures, are stumped over creating a new villain for the group to fight as all their other previous foes have been vanquished. As Jack is trying to pitch a new villain named False-Face they are interrupted by Dr. Doom who demands that they call Reed Richards to their office to lure him in a trap, threatening to show them his horribly scarred face if they do not comply.
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
While pretending to be his greatest enemy, Dr. Doom then begins working on a shrinking ray and starts testing it on animals that his teammates realize have gone missing from one of the local zoos when the animals might break free. When Sue and the others start to question "Reed's" work, Doom tells them that he has come up with a theory that the dinosaurs went extinct due to their large bodies and small brains. He then suggests that through a process of shrinking someone in size and then restoring them to normal could boost not only their mental power but their physical abilities. Doom then sells the team on the fact that with this method the Torch would be able to fly in space, Sue would be able to turn selected parts of her body invisible, and Ben would be able to revert back and forth from human form. The group is ecstatic and Doom tells them that he will use it on them once the tests are completed. However, Doom really intends to shrink the group down to nothingness, eliminating his hated enemies forever.
Meanwhile back in the unbreakable glass cage, Reed tries to break through a flaw in the glass using Doom's mask and succeeds in punching holes in it. He then takes one of the air cylinders and plugs the hole with it, then tosses another at the first cylinder. The resulting explosion breaks the glass, freeing Reed from his death trap. He then goes to Alicia's apartment and tries to convince her that he is really Reed Richards trapped in Dr. Doom's body.
Part 5:
However, Reed is unaware that Sue was there to tell Alicia the "good news" and she manages to knock Reed out by smashing a vase over his head. When Ben and Johnny arrive, they try to attack "Dr. Doom" but Reed manages to instill doubt in their minds, convincing them to bring him back to the Baxter Building with them. However, they bring "Doom" to "Reed" who binds Reed up so he can conduct his shrinking experiment on the other members of the Fantastic Four. When Doom decides to start on Sue first, Reed tries to protest, raising more doubt in the mind of Johnny and Ben.
Johnny decides to test his suspicions by using his flame powers to create a mirage of a stick of dynamite. When the mirage appears, "Dr. Doom" tries to shield his teammates from the blast with his own body while "Reed" tries to flee the scene. Realizing that "Dr. Doom" was telling the truth, Ben grabs "Reed" and pulls him back into the room. With the ruse revealed the process reverses itself. With Doom back in his original body, he begins to attack the Fantastic Four. During the scuffle, Reed is knocked back into the controls of Doom's device. In a bit of irony, Doom's shrink ray blasts himself causing him to shrink to seeming nothingness, leaving the Fantastic Four to wonder if their foe has been vanquished forever.Solicit Synopsis
Continuing a facsimile collection of the foundational adventures of Marvel's First Family! Doctor Doom was lost in space, but now he's back - in the hallowed halls of Marvel Comics! But you won't believe what he has planned for his accursed rival, Reed Richards! Whatever it is, suddenly the FF's leader is not quite so Fantastic. Can the rest of the team figure it out before Doom claims his ultimate revenge? It's one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! Reprinting FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #10.
Marvel is reprinting the first twelve issues of FANTASTIC FOUR as they originally appeared!See Also
Links and References
References