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Quote1 I did it! I really did it! Me an' Mister Fantastic went at it, one-on-one, toe-to-toe -- -- an' I beat him! Quote2
Trapster

Appearing in "Reed Richards: Alone!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #10

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Synopsis for "Reed Richards: Alone!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #10

From the Starlight Citadel in Otherworld, Roma and Saturnyne watch over Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four as he tries to puzzle over a data crystal given to him by Roma during the Fantastic Four's time there. Saturnyne is impatient that Richards has not cracked its secrets yet, but Roma tells her that she must remain patient. On Earth, at the Fantastic Four's Pief Four headquarters, Reed continues to try and learn the secrets hidden in the crystal. Unfortunately despite his best efforts and most powerful computers he has only been able to access a fraction of the data. However as the two women watch from beyond, Reed continues to struggle with discovering the secrets but cannot think of a solution, and this makes him grow frustrated to the point of an angry outburst. Deciding he needs to blow off some steam, Reed activates a virtual reality simulation where New York City has been decimated by Blastaar, Annihilus and Terrax. Using his battle honed tactics Reed manages to fight off his foes even though he is out numbered, defeating first Terrax and Blastaar together then Annihilus alone. When the simulation comes to an end, Reed revels in the exertion derived from the exercise.

At dawn, Reed Richards checks on his sleeping son and remarks about his new puppy whose antenna denotes that its origins are tied in with the Inhumans, but Reed wonders how the dog managed to find its way to them. Reed wakes his wife Sue and muses that how his life used to be centered around science but since she and his son Franklin became part of his life, they are also part of his joy. Later that morning Alyssa Moy drops Ben off in her flying car after a night out in Paris and breakfast on Yancy Street. After she takes off Ben remarks that he can't recall the last time he had so much fun. He then spots the Human Torch who is also up early as well trying to use his flame powers to melt off replicas of the same shackles worn by Alysande, but no matter how hard he tries he cannot generate enough flame to melt through them without causing harm to Stuart. This frustrates Johnny who flies off when Ben suggests they try and find another way. Johnny takes pause to collect himself on the city rooftops before going to the ruins of the Four Freedoms Plaza where Johnny has been hiding Alysande from those who might hunt her down and make her a slave again. Johnny is shocked when Alysande bows in thanks for finding her shelter. Johnny tells her that she doesn't need to do that because they are friends. After giving her a change of clothes, Johnny sits down and listens to Stuart's tragic tale.

She explains how she is the last of the Highlanders of her realities version of Scotland. They were all slaughtered by the emperor and she was made a slave. Suspecting that it was a cruel jest, Alysande vows to see him choke. Johnny offers to be by her side when the time comes for her to get her revenge. Alysande is honored by the offer. Back at Pier Four, the rest of the Fantastic Four are well aware of Johnny's secret and Reed believes they should make other arrangements because the ruins of their former headquarters are not safe. Running late for a meeting at Empire State University, Reed surprises Sue with a passionate kiss before catching a cab outside. However Reed quickly realizes he's fallen into a trap when he recognizes the driver as Henshaw, a member of Genosha's notorious Press Gang. Henshaw locks the car and begins trying to pump it full of gas. Very familiar with the Genoshan governments tactics and uses his powers to slip out the window. There he is attacked by Jennifer Ransome and Punchout.

Although Reed is able to fight them off, he is momentarily distracted by his old foe the Trapster who has also been hired by the Genoshan government to capture Reed. While he is attacked by his three foes, Reed is quickly defeated when the Trapster uses a chemical that neutralizes the Unstable Molecules in his uniform causing him to contract to his normal dimensions. The Trapster then places a hood over Reed's head to prevent him from stretching his neck. With Mister Fantastic defeated the Press Gang are teleported away by their teammate Pipeline. As he watches them fade away the Trapster gloats over the fact that he has finally defeated one of his most hated foes, making this victory a tribute to his old moniker, Paste-Pot Pete.

Appearing in "Schedule Conflicts"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Iron Man (Vol. 3) #11

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Synopsis for "Schedule Conflicts"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Iron Man (Vol. 3) #11

Stark dreams of getting mobbed by his villains, until Rhodey wakes him up as their helicopter approaches Stark's new Lake Washington estate on Evergreen Island. As he enters his new home in his hover-chair he's greeted by Happy and Pepper who give him a tour. They meet with Dr. Jane Foster-Kincaid in the medical center where she informs him he's healing slower than he should. Meanwhile at Baintronics Inc., Sunset is informed that Stark's schedule is too full to fit her in, so she calls Stuart Clarke to arrange a hole in Stark's schedule. In Seattle, Carol Danvers meets with Theresa Burke to talk about Carol's new book, but Carol becomes enraged when she sees Tony Stark outside. After she confronts him about her being kicked off the Avengers, Stark proceeds to the police station to identify a body for Det. Plexico; Tony is shocked to see it is Whitney Frost, as he identified another corpse as her over a year earlier (IM Vol 1 245, '89). They're interrupted when Rhodey calls Stark to tell him War Machine is attacking Astrodyne, Stark suits up as Iron Man despite his injuries. As War Machine stuns him, Warbird arrives, but War Machine threatens to kill Iron Man if she doesn't back off.

Appearing in "The Lone and Level Sands"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Incredible Hulk #467

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Synopsis for "The Lone and Level Sands"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Incredible Hulk #467

It is the tenth anniversary of the death of Elizabeth Banner, and the Daily Bugle is planning a retrospective. So they have sent one of their senior staffers, Pete Parker, to interview the people involved. Unfortunately, part of what makes the story so fascinating is that most of the players are unreachable, and so Parker calls on one the last ghosts of the Age of Wonders: Rick Jones. Jones is initially reticent but eventually, agrees to set the scene...

It had been night when Betty Banner died, and Rick had been asleep. His wife, Marlo, had been up late reading when the news had come in, and her scream had been enough to wake Rick. By the time they were both able to go in, Bruce Banner was being held in administrative segregation, partially because he had tried kill himself right after Betty died, but mostly because the base commander, Thaddeus Ross, Betty's father, blamed Bruce for the death. A barrage of weaponry designed to go off if Banner's heart accelerated ringed the room as Rick went in to talk... only to discover that Bruce had cracked, and was imagining a grand going-away party of all his friends and foes. As Rick tried to talk his friend back to reality, Bruce had started rambling about the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which concerns a statue in a desert. A plaque on the statue trumpets a ruler, but for all the ruler's claim of being the strongest one there is, "Nothing beside remains. Around and about the remain of that colossal wreck, the lone and level sands stretch far away."

Saying goodbye to Rick, Bruce hid from his pain in the Hulk, not activating the guns because his heart never accelerated. He leapt away. Hulk sightings were sporadic for the next few months as Hulk tried to find ways to bring Betty back, but none could be found.

While Bruce was gone, his superhero friends arranged Betty's funeral. Per her request, she was cremated and buried in a closed casket, which started some conspiracy theories. But for all that, the funeral was truly something to see. Afterward, Bruce began trying to kill himself, as the Hulk, who wanted to live, would let Banner get just far enough to be amusing, and then change, destroying the specific plan.

Several months later, Rick, his legs healed, couldn't sleep. Marlo having left him, Rick began playing the harmonica, only to feel his blood go cold when he discovered that Bruce had broken into his house for a brief chat. Looking like a normal man with glowing green irises, he apologized for going missing, and for missing the funeral. He called his suicide attempts a "permanent solution to a temporary problem", and said his life had left him with a message he thought he should give Rick: the most powerful and important force in the human world is love. Telling Rick "Sometimes it's better to burn out than fade away," he left. It was the single most frightening night of Rick's life. It was also the last time he saw the Hulk in the flesh.

Thaddeus Ross' interminable crusade against the Hulk had restarted by then, though Ross himself would die a few months later during the Hell on Earth War. In the aftermath, Hulk had paired off with Cary St. Lawrence, to surprising effect.

Parker is enthralled by the story, and muses at why it happened the way it did. Rick asks if it even happened. Drawing on his long friendship with both superheroes and physicists, he points out that parallel timelines and sub-optimal future worlds are scientific fact. It is entirely possible that their whole universe is nothing more than a dark potential world and the Hulk's real life is something... incredible.

At this point, Rick's little daughter Betty comes in and wants to be tucked in. Rick loves his child, but the combination of his emotional rant and his little girl causes him to cry, and he ends the interview. He talked long and loud, spinning Parker a tale of derring-do and tragedy about two of his greatest friends in the world, and now, for his own sanity, he must ask Parker to leave. He has said enough.

Notes

This is a UK title that features reprints of American Avengers titles.

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