—Reed RichardsFor once I am at a loss of words.
Appearing in "The Samurai Destroyer"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- ⏴ Agents of the Light ⏵
- ⏴ Ilongo Savage (Main story, flashback, flashforward)
- ⏴ Richard Carson (Main story, flashback, flashforward)
- ⏴ Genji Odashu ⏵ (Main story, flashback, flashforward)
Antagonists:
- William McLaughlin (Main story and flashback) (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- ⏴ Franklin Richards ⏵
- ⏴ Alicia Masters ⏵
- ⏴ Judith Johns (Only in flashforward)
- ⏴ Deena James (Only in flashback and flashforward)
- Followers of the Light (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Slovakia
- United States of America
- New York City, New York
- Los Angeles, California (Only in flashback)
- Madagascar (Only in flashback)
- Japan
- Mount Fujimoto
- Sanctuary
- Galapagos Islands (Only in flashforward)
Vehicles:
- Pogo Plane MK I
- Samurai Destroyer (First appearance) (Destroyed)
- ⏴ Raydeen (Destroyed)
- ⏴ Combatra (Destroyed)
- ⏴ Dangard Ace (Destroyed)
Synopsis for "The Samurai Destroyer"
Reed, Sue, Johnny and Franklin are watching a television news broadcast about a giant robot reported to have attacked a Czechoslovakian train and made off with its cargo of gold bullion. Reed surmises that it may have something to do with the Shogun Warriors, as they are the only people on Earth in possession of such technology, and decides the situation is worthy of investigation.
Meanwhile, as they are returning from a Broadway show, Ben and Alicia engage in a heart-to-heart that attracts the attention of passersby, the pair oblivious to the crowd that has gathered until they burst into applause. Ben is clearly piqued by the crowd's interest and drags Alicia back to the Baxter Building with impatient haste. As the couple arrive at the Fantastic Four's headquarters, Ben notices three mysterious figures loitering by the elevator, whose presence triggers an alert signal upstairs in the penthouse suite. As Reed, Sue and Johnny scramble to investigate the alarm, they find that Ben has already dealt with the situation as he introduces the Fantastic Four's three guests: Richard Carson, Ilongo Savage and Genji Odashu -- the human pilots of the Shogun Warriors. Carson explains that the giant robot responsible for the bullion theft had already systematically sought out and destroyed each of their own robots, hence the trio's need for the Fantastic Four's help.
As Franklin wanders in with a transistor radio it picks up a news bulletin describing the sighting of a giant robot near Mt. Fujimoto, and so the seven heroes are soon on their way to Japan in the Pogo Plane. As the Fantastic Four try to deal with the giant robot which is rampaging through a Japanese city, the Agents of the Light investigate the Sanctuary, their former base of operations now being used as a storage facility for the robot's plunder. The Fantastic Four are unable to halt the robot's rampage as it rips a bank off its foundations and absconds with it, before returning to the Sanctuary where it confronts the trapped Agents. The Samurai Destroyer, as the robot introduces itself, is actually a fourth Shogun Warrior-type robot, found half-built and constructed by its unnamed occupant, whose goal is nothing greater than wanton destruction and the acquisition of tremendous wealth.
The combined efforts of the Fantastic Four and the Agents of the Light are enough to overpower and destroy the robot, whose occupant is taken into custody. For the Agents, however, the victory is hollow, for with their giant robots destroyed they must face the prospect of living ordinary lives away from the superheroics to which they had become accustomed.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- This story begins in what is stated as Czechoslovakia, this should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. At the time of this writing Czechoslovakia was a country, but it had since broken into two different countries the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993. As such, it is listed as Slovakia in the appearance listing as the Carpathian Mountains pass through modern-day Slovakia.
- This is the only appearance of William McLaughlin and the Samurai Destroyer. William is not named until Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four.
- The Sanctuary of Light and the Shogun Warrior robots were created by the Followers of the Light, aliens who opposed Maur-Kon. The Followers were slain and the Sanctuary was destroyed in Shogun Warriors #16.
- The Fantastic Four had a previous encounter with the Shogun Warriors in Shogun Warriors #19–20 when the team assisted them in defeating and capturing Maur-Kon.
Publication Notes[]
- Inks (issue pages): Marcos pages 1-23, Patterson pages 26-30.
- This issue contains a letters page, Fantastic Four Fan Page. Letters are published from JRG, Steve Harper, and Rupert Kinnard.
Trivia
- The giant robots known as the Shogun Warriors are not called by name or fully seen in this story. Similarly, the human operators of those robots, who had sometimes been called Shogun Warriors themselves in past stories, only speak of having been Agents of the Light. This is because the Shogun Warriors was a franchise title based off a toyline produced by Mattel. Marvel published a Shogun Warriors comic book based on the toyline in 1979-1980 that lasted 20 issues. The series ceased and Marvel's rights to the Shogun Warriors license lapsed. However, since the main characters in that series were created by Marvel, Marvel retained the rights to the Shogun pilots. This was one of the commercially licensed properties that Marvel integrated into the Earth-616 universe; the Shogun Warrior characters could still be used but the Shoguns themselves could not. As such, this issue was used to wrap up unfinished plot threads when the Shogun Warriors series came to an end.
