Fantastic Four Vol 1 337

The Fantastic Four are awoken from their sleep by the sound of an alarm coming from Reed's lab. They rush there to see Reed working desperately over a massive machine. After taking some readings, he orders Sue to place an invisible force field against a part of the room. When she does, the walls suddenly tear open, revealing an endless void on the other side. Before Reed can answer their questions, he activates shielding walls to cover open the hole and has Sue drop her force field. Then inspecting the area near the wall, he finds metal fragments that confirm his suspicions. As Reed begins trying to analyze the data, Johnny manages to get an explanation from him: that tear in the wall was a glimpse of the future, their future. Reed goes on to explain that he is following up on something he started to investigate during his and Sue's brief stint with the Avengers. He tells them about a previous Avengers mission that brought them to a Time Bubble that exists some 20 years in the future that is virtually impenetrable. Reed explains that it has been learned that a renegade Celestial is within the bubble and it is believed that it is where he is constructing a weapon of incalculable power. The Avengers had discovered that the Council of Cross-Time Kangs were conspiring to obtain the weapon.

Reed explains his latest experiment: the Radical Dodecahedron, a device that will allow him to pierce through time and space. He goes on to tell his teammates that the bomb that was unleashed was an attempt to destroy his invention. Reed demonstrates why by taking Ben's cigar and placing it on a device. When he transports it one minute into the future, it blinks out of time for that long and then reappears. However, when Reed tries to send it some 100 years in the future, nothing happens. He finishes his demonstration by explaining that the Time Bubble prevents anything from travelling forward in time beyond its creation point. Reed then tells his team that they are going to try and find a way to destroy the Time Bubble and save their future.

While Sue calls the Power family to see if they can babysit Franklin, Reed tries to take a nap. His dreams are haunted by a blue-skinned woman who tries to seduce him, but he resists due to the love he has for his wife. Meanwhile, Ben and Sharon are paying a visit to the construction site where Avengers Mansion is being rebuilt. There they meet with Captain America and Thor to discuss the Fantastic Four's mission to try and pierce the Time Bubble. Hearing about their mission, Thor agrees to accompany them due to his past experience with the Time Bubble. While back at the Four Freedoms Plaza, Johnny is training and exhausts himself. His wife Alicia suggests that Johnny should take a nap. When he does, his dreams are also invaded by the strange blue-skinned woman. In this dream, the woman is terrorized by a monster which Johnny destroys with his flame powers. The woman thanks Johnny with a kiss that he resists at first, then allows to happen.

After Sue drops Franklin off at the Power home, a Quinjet arrives at Four Freedoms Plaza carrying Thor and Iron Man, who had flown in from the west coast to assist them on their mission. Reed shows his friends his invention that he hopes will help them pierce the Time Bubble: his Time-Sled, dubbed the Rosebud II. As they prepare to depart, Iron Man brings up possible interference from Kang but Reed is certain that their foe is unable to locate the Time Bubble. Before they leave, Alicia tries to kiss Johnny goodbye but he suddenly sees her as a the blue woman from his dream and freaks out momentarily. With everything in order, the Fantastic Four and their two allies board the Time-Sled. Once the device is activated, they begin travelling through the time stream. After entering the perimeter of the Time Bubble, they find themselves being followed by hundreds of versions of themselves traversing time to reach the same location. As they speed ahead of the others, Johnny is suddenly haunted by visions of the mystery woman from his dream and quickly passes out. Moments later, they begin to approach the barrier of the Time Bubble. As they get closer to the actual interior of the Time Bubble, the images of the other time sleds begin to dwindle as those alternate probabilities fall away. Once their time sled is the only one left, a vortex opens up before them and begins pulling them in. As Reed reveals that he's lost control of the sled and Sue calls out for everyone to get their heads down, the time sled slams into the barrier....

Notes

Continuity Notes[]

Reed, Sue, Ben, and Sharon were last seen in Incredible Hulk #365, while Johnny was last seen in the second story of Avengers Spotlight #29 and Franklin was last seen in Power Pack #54.

Reed mentions that he and Sue had a brief stint with the Avengers. This occurred in Avengers #299–303.

Reed mentions the Avengers dealings with the Time Bubble. Which occurred in Avengers #296–297.

Reed mentions that the Radical Dodecahedron was based off his Radical Cube, which Reed first invented to travel into the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #51.

The members of the Power Family appear here between Power Pack #54 and 55.

The woman with the blue skin is "Kang Nebula" who was last seen in Avengers #297 where she and Dr. Druid got caught in the Time Bubble. She is not who she seems to be...:
- She first appeared as a female Kang in Avengers #291, was revealed to be a member of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs who had chosen "Nebula" as her individual name in Avengers #293 and, by claiming to be the granddaughter of Thanos, implied that she was the space pirate known as Nebula in Avengers #296.
- In reality, she is actually Kang's lover Ravonna who was put in a death like coma in Avengers #24. She was later revived by the Grandmaster, as seen in Avengers Annual #21, after Kang gave up the power to save her life to instead try to destroy the Avengers (as seen in Avengers #71). When the Grandmaster revealed the truth, Ravonna decided to get revenge against her lover, developing the Nebula cover to infiltrate the Cross-Time Kangs and get her revenge.

Ben and Sharon arrive at the site of the former Avengers Mansion. Avengers Mansion was destroyed during an attack by the Masters of Evil in Avengers #274–277. The group relocated to Hydrobase in Avengers #285 until it was sunk during the Acts of Vengeance conspiracy in Avengers #311. They began rebuilding Avengers Mansion in Avengers #314 and construction is finally completed later in Avengers #329.

Captain America appears here between Captain America #371 and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Vol. 3) #10. Thor appears here from the third story in Avengers Annual #19 and Iron Man was previously seen in Iron Man #253.

The woman here who claims to be Alicia Masters is actually a Skrull spy named Lyja, as revealed in Fantastic Four #358 she replaced the original Alicia in order to spy on the Fantastic Four, this happened around Fantastic Four #265.

The Time Bubble, according to Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four, is designated in the future of Earth-8810. In this story Reed states that the Time Bubble exists between the years 2005 and 2020. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 this should be considered a topical reference. As the Sliding Timescale moves forward, then the dates that the Time Bubble exists should change and should be generalized in the context of this story. The Time Bubble exists 15 years in the future relative to this story ^[1]. This story was published in 1990, thus 15 years from that perspective is the year 2005. 1990 falls under "Year Eight" of Marvel time. Per the rules of the Sliding Timescale, new comics are considered to have been published 2016 are part of "Year Fourteen". New comics are also considered as happening "today". That said, in the year 2016 this story took place in 2010 per the Sliding Timescale. Based on that calculation the Time Bubble would exist 15 years from 2010 in the year 2025. When Marvel time rolls over into "Year Fifteen" in 2018, this story would have taken place in 2011 and the Time Bubble will in turn exist in the year 2026.

Likewise, when the display on Rosebud II lists the Fantastic Four passing through the years 1996 and 1999, these should be considered topical references relative to the date of publication.

Links and References

References

↑ The year of publication was 1990 - 2005 = 15 years

[1] The year of publication was 1990 - 2005 = 15 years

[1]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 337

Appearing in "Into the Time Stream!"

Synopsis for "Into the Time Stream!"

Notes

Continuity Notes[]

See Also

Links and References

References

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