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Quote1 Fire is a powerful weapon! But I possess the greatest weapon of all -- the world's greatest brain!! Quote2
Wizard (Bentley Wittman)

Appearing in "Part 1 - Prisoner of the Wizard / Part 2 - Wizard's Wiles!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Numerous unnamed bank patrons
  • Unnamed Bank Guard
  • Numerous unnamed theater-goers
  • Destroyer (Charles Stanton) (Only on screen recap as a static image or video record)
  • Soviet Submarine Crew (Only on screen recap as a static image or video record)
  • Numerous unnamed bank employees
  • Numerous unnamed escaped convicts
  • Numerous unnamed correction officers
  • GPD

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

  • Solar-Powered Escalator
  • Wizard's Air-Chair
  • Electronic Calculating Robot (Only in flashback)
  • Wizard's Ring (Only in flashback)
  • Wizard's Expanding Gas Capsules (Only in flashback)
  • Wizard's Chemical Cannons
  • Fantastic Four Uniforms
  • Wizard's Jet Suit

Vehicles:

  • Wizard's Atomic Drill

Synopsis for "Part 1 - Prisoner of the Wizard / Part 2 - Wizard's Wiles!"

Part 1: Prisoner of the Wizard

The Wizard, a famous inventor and escape artist, is finding his popularity is waning. With the Human Torch's adventures making headlines, the Wizard blames the Torch for his loss in popularity and so plans to ruin the Torch's reputation.

Planning a stunt which involves drilling deep into the Earth, the Wizard plans to get trapped in order to earn the Torch's trust. Being "rescued" by the Torch, the Wizard invites the Torch to his state-of-the-art home. Trapping the Torch in a room and dousing him with water.

Part 2: Wizard's Wiles

The Wizard dons a suit that allows him to mimic the Torch's abilities and goes on a crime spree in order to ruin the Torch's reputation.

Johnny manages to escape and when the Wizard gets home, he offers the Torch a challenge: Having taken pictures of himself putting on the suit that mimicked the Torch's powers, the Wizard will fight him, one-on-one with no powers for the photos. However, the Torch refuses to play the Wizard's game. When the Wizard is about to burn the pictures, they suddenly float out of the air and into the Torch's hands.

With the evidence in hand, the Torch has the Wizard arrested after proving the Wizard's guilt. After all is said and done, Johnny's sister Sue turns visible, revealing that she was the cause of the pictures flying out of the Wizard's hand.

Appearing in "The Treasure"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Uncanny Tales #36

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Synopsis for "The Treasure"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Uncanny Tales #36

A sick boy takes comfort from a stray dog that grants wishes.

Appearing in "The Secret of the Hidden Planet!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Numerous unnamed time travelers

Other Characters:

  • Unnamed Chemist
  • Joe

Races and Species:

Locations:

Synopsis for "The Secret of the Hidden Planet!"

It is discovered that a race of beings live on Venus so a mission is planned to travel there. The second in command, Dirk Morgan, wants all the credit so spends his life savings to put the commander, Paul Hastings, temporary out of action so he can take all the credit. When he gets there he finds that the aliens are in fact humans from the future and leave due to wanting there privacy, leaving Morgan to feel like a fool and wasted his life savings for nothing.

Appearing in "Who Needs You?"

Featured Characters:

  • General Craig

Supporting Characters:

  • R-63

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Synopsis for "Who Needs You?"

A four star general who has the responsibility of launching a nuclear counter attack is replaced by a robot who his bosses think is more suited for a role that requires absolute perfection. When an unidentified radar object approaches at ICBM speed, the robot concludes that it must be a Soviet first strike and prepares to launch a counter attack. The four star general suddenly remembers a satellite that was launched years ago and was scheduled for re-entry now and disconnects the robot before it can push the button. His grateful superiors reinstate him.

Notes

Continuity Notes[]

Prisoner of the Wizard[]

  • The recounting of the Torch's battle happened last issue.
  • The fact that the audience is watching the footage as part of a Newsreel at a movie theater should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. In the 1960s newsreels were still a common method of broadcasting the news before network television eventually rendered it a novelty, then obsolete. Likewise all Cold War references made in the present tense in this story should be considered topical as well.
  • This story states that Johnny's public identity is secret. This was a pretense that the Torch put up for himself as revealed in Human Torch (Vol. 3) #1 Johnny did this to cover his bruised ego when nobody in Glenville initially believed he was the Human Torch. The Fantastic Four publicly revealed themselves just prior to Fantastic Four #3 as explained in Fantastic Four #543, how the Wizard couldn't know the Torch's public identity in this story seems unlikely, or at least the product of his own vain ignorance to those he deems below him. Strange Tales #106 reveals that everyone knew about Johnny's "double identity" and were just humoring him.

The Secret of the Hidden Planet[]

  • This story is not part of Earth-616 continuity and has yet to be identified as part of the Marvel Multiverse.

Who Needs You?[]

  • This story is not part of Earth-616 continuity and has yet to be identified as part of the Marvel Multiverse.

See Also

Links and References

[1] Review of the Issue at Extremisreviews.com

References

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