178: Fantastic Four v2 #6 - Retribution / Industrial Revolution Prologue
- Location
- Netherlands
Fantastic Four v2 #6 (April 1997)
Cover
The cover, this time, is a generic group shot of the Fantastic Four once again, with Johnny and Sue using their powers while striking a pose, and everyone else just doing the pose thing and looking mean. This time, however, there's a fifth member of the band - Doctor Doom is very notably standing with the team instead of in opposition to them, which makes sense given the sudden alien interrupt at the end of the last issue. Whatever differences Doom and Reed might have, it's hardly relevant compared to giant super-powered Skrull with all the powers, is it? There's also an 'Industrial Revolution' prologue marked here, which is a storyline unconnected to Doom, but the prologue is nevertheless all about him. Go figure!
Story Overview
Retribution
We begin with Alicia Masters, who's sipping from a cup of wine and waiting for a call. When her phone goes off it's her publicist, Cass, though she suspected it'd be Ben. Cass wonders if that means he left already, and Alicia admits he hasn't shown up yet for their date - he's three hours late! Alicia argues he probably has a good reason, and Cass jokes he must be off saving the world or something, huh? He's probably just out there somewhere getting mobbed by adoring groupies! She did warn Alica that something like this would happen, and wonders if she should come over. Alicia says that it's alright - she's a big girl, she can take care of herself. Besides, she's got her cat Otto to keep her company. Cass reluctantly goes with it and tells her friend to give a call if she ever wants to just talk. After she hangs up, Alicia again wonders where on earth Ben is. Is she just fooling herself with this relationship, or is he really off somewhere saving the world…?
Back in Latveria, it turns out that Ben and the others are indeed facing an alien menace, with the future of all mankind hanging in the balance! We get an extended recap of the previous issue, in which every character verbally recounts what happened to a room of people who already know - and apparently time isn't moving when this happens, or the alien is just being very calm about the conversation going on here. Looks pretty menacing, though...
Doom declares that despite the recent turn of events, he is still in control of the situation! In fact, everyone's continued survival is dependent on him! Reed asks why they should believe him, and Doom snaps at him that he has no choice - with its newly gained powers, this Super Skrull seeks -- He can't finish his sentence before a blast of dangerous pink energy rockets him off his feet.
While Reed belatedly warns Doom of the attack, the Super Skrull announces that all he seeks at this moment is his death! The arrogant pawn, Doom, has outlived his usefulness! But first he'll give the monarch a taste of the prize he so desperately sought to possess! The alien then blasts him away again, and Doom screams in pain. Ben comments that this is a revoltin' development - there's a part of him that wants to root for the Skrull to sock it to the tin-plated tyrant, but that'd mean they'd have to take care of the big green toad themselves! T'Challa decides they must choose the lesser of two evils here. Doom, furious, starts taking potshots back and declares that he needs no one's help! The Skrull should enjoy his brief moment of glory while he can, for the power cosmic he possesses belongs to Doom, and he won't rest until it's his again! It was his transfer device which empowered the Skrull, and it can just as easily take it away!
The Super-Skrull bats away Doom's attacks with a wave of pink energy and says that Doom - just an insignificant human - has no conception of the sheer magnitude of the Power Cosmic! He and his mechanical devices will be destroyed before he has the opportunity to do anything! Nearby, Wyatt Wingfoot yells at Reed that if the source of the Skrull is the other alien's life force, then they'll all have to work together with Doom to find a way to transfer that energy back to the original host! The Skrull, meanwhile, batters Doom down with yet more pink energy and starts overloading his personal force-field, snarling that while Doom might speak of wielding absolute power, he doesn't know the meaning of those words - but he can show Doom what it looks like! With that the shields overload and Doom goes down with another agonized scream…
The Super-Skrull turns to the rest of the group, and Wyatt asks who he even is - what's this all about? Kl'rt responds that this is about a simple emotion, one that even humans are capable of grasping - revenge! Retribution against the one known throughout the stars as the Silver Surfer! The Surfer is the sworn enemy of every Skrull, for he is the harbinger of death to the entire living universe! The accursed Herald of GALACTUS! He who is the destroyer of worlds! The godlike being responsible for the death and destruction of the Skrull Throneworld. The few surviving sons of Skrull have sworn to avenge their fallen people, and to that end they have tracked Galactus and his herald on their journeys through the galaxy. He asks if the fools on this planet really thought that the coming of the Surfer was an accident? The foul seeds of Galactus have already been rooted here! The Skrulls bided their time and waited, for they knew it would not be long before Galactus returned to reap the harvest. And now, their plan to capture the herald and rob him of his cosmic power has succeeded! At last, the Skrulls possess the power to stage their final reckoning with Galactus himself!
J'Far, one of the other Skrulls in the castle, calls up Kl'rt and tells him that the sensors are reporting the presence of unidentified aircraft trespassing into Latverian airspace - and they're closing in on this location! Initial scans indicate that they're SHIELD attack-craft! Wyatt muses that these must be the extraction team, and Ben wonders what he's talking about - is there something else he forgot to mention? Wyatt admits it was a contingency plan in case something went wrong, and - yeah, it totally slipped his mind. Guess old habits are hard to break.
The Super-Skrull announces that all Wyatt has done is consign those men to their deaths, for he can instantly create an impenetrable shield around the entire castle, and destroy these would-be-rescuers before they can fire even a single shot! Sure enough, the two planes smash to smithereens against empty air…
Ben, furious about the sudden murders, lashes out against the Super-Skrull and asks if this is what it means to be a Skrull warrior - to hide behind a force-field instead of facing one's enemy? Well, let's see how well he holds up against someone who's up close and personal!
Kl'rt gets knocked down, but angrily gets to his feet and declares that like Ben himself, Kl'rt was touched by the herald's cosmic energies as well - however, since Kl'rt's existing Skrull abilities were enhanced, including their imitation abilities, he can now easily replicate Ben's own powers to much greater effect! He turns his fist into rock and bowls Ben over with it. Johnny rushes in to assist, declaring that he won't be such an easy target, since the alien can't reach him while he's being blasted to a crisp. He starts burning the Skrull, only for the alien to attune to the new power and combine both the rocky fist of Ben and Johnny's own fire and smashing him out of the air with an enormous punch.
Watching on, T'Challa comments that this strategy isn't working - direct confrontation is futile. Wyatt may have been right before - if Doom does know a way to rejuvenate the Silver Surfer, then he holds the key to defeating the Super Skrull! Susan points out that the Super-Skrull said the Surfer was some kind of harbinger of death, but Reed isn't sure he believes that's the truth - it's hard to tell who's being honest in this situation. In order to learn the truth, they may need to revive the Surfer anyway. Doom approaches them, having regathered himself, and declares that in order to achieve this goal they'll need his help, because he's the only one who knows the reversion source code. Make no mistake, however - if they are to succeed, Reed must do exactly as Doom instructs!
Kl'rt manages to knock Johnny out and says that this one was no match for his power - who else is left to challenge him? He'll slay them all! In fact, he might make this one his first trophy kill! T'Challa suddenly comes flying into frame and kicks the Super-Skrull away from his prey, freeing Johnny, and he declares that so long as the Black Panther lives, the human spirit will never surrender to his will! Kl'rt, furious, responds that he's not interested in surrender - he wants death! T'Challa quips that it'll take far more than haughty words to make that happen, so the Super-Skrull starts blasting beams of pink energy at him, declaring that his actions will speak for him! T'Challa dodges out of the way, and Susan says she'll take it from here…
Using her invisible force fields, Sue curves the pink blast towards the Silver Surfer, leaving the rest up to Reed and Doom. The huge amount of feedback knocks her back afterwards and sends up a huge plume of smoke, hiding everything from view. Reed wants to go help, but Doom warns him that he should forget her and keep his focus on the task at hand. This is no time to play a love-sick fool, not when everyone's lives are in jeopardy! Reed tells Doom to shut up - he knows what has to be done. According to his readings the transfer is complete - now they just have to hope that the flux inhibitor worked properly! Plasma vapor still obscures their view, and Reed says he can't see anything - what's happened? Doom coolly notes that it should be obvious - they succeeded!
The Silver Surfer steps out of the vapor and into the light, announcing himself as the herald of Galactus. Kl'rt, furious, snarls at the 'deathbringer' that he hails from the Galactic Skrull Empire, and he challenges him to mortal combat! He and his master are responsible for destroying the Skrull Throneworld, but today the surviving members of that species will exact their revenge! Despite the humans' efforts, he still retains part of the Power Cosmic within him, and he shall use it to destroy the Surfer once and for all! The Surfer catches the next blast of pink energy with a golden one of his own and proclaims that what the Skrull possesses is nothing more than a pale reflection of the Surfer's life-force, much as he is but a mere shadow compared to Galactus. Kl'rt cannot hope to defeat him!
The Super-Skrull accuses him of lying, and explains that he knows the herald's deepest secret - he is Norrin Radd! He can be destroyed! The Surfer responds that the one he speaks of no longer exists - instead, only the Surfer remains. Kl'rt figures that just means he'll have to kill both of his personalities at once! The two then do a full-on Dragon Ball beam-conflict, and the sheer energy unleashed starts destroying the environment, lighting it up like the Fourth of July.
While everyone runs off to escape the castle, Doom warns that things are worse than they appear - his sensors tell him that the massive energy fluctuations are rupturing the containment walls of the Fusion Reactor he's built under his castle, and which is running everything. It's about to breach! Reed realizes what that means, and quickly asks what they can do about the problem. Doom just tells him that there is no role for him to play here - this is where Doom will leave him to his own devices. Doom must do what he can to salvage the reactor core - but should a single innocent Latverian die today, he'll hold the Fantastic Four responsible! Reed quickly departs with the rest of the team, T'Challa, and Wyatt, telling everyone to hang on to his stretching body while the castle's walls collapse around them as they flee.
Once they make their way clear of the castle, they go the rest of the way on foot towards their ship, until a huge Krakaboom confirms the destruction of Doom's castle behind them. The explosion is too localized to be a fusion detonation, however, so perhaps Doom managed to shut down the reactor in time? Reed is doubtful that even Victor could have done it so quickly, and suspects more powerful forces are at work here. Ben decides that now is not the time to debate the issue, as he's picking up a lot of satellite communications, and it sounds like the entire Latverian air force is on its way towards them. It's time to get their own plane in the air and hit the road! Besides, he's running late for a date…
Atop the ruins of the castle, a lone figure watches the ship depart - just moments earlier he sealed the breached containment walls of the reactor, averting a catastrophic explosion. It only seemed fair. After all, humans did save his life! Of all the beings encountered in his travels through the galaxy, these were the first to show the Silver Surfer… compassion. It's an observation that gives the Surfer pause…
Industrial Revolution - Prologue
Miles from the ruined site of Castle Doom, in a considerably smaller secondary facility, we catch up with Doom again. While lesser men may consider the past day something of a disaster, Victor von Doom is no lesser man. In the ever-burning blackness that is his heart, he knows that victory is always a whisper away. While he's working on something at his multi-monitor computer setup, a stammering robot cuts into his musing. Doom immediately declares that it has sixty seconds to self-destruct as punishment for interrupting him. The robot nervously begs for leniency, and explains that it brings news. Doom starts counting down to fifty, declaring that recent events have put him in something of a foul mood. The robot hastily explains that there was a broadcast from the United States which it thought he should see.
The monitors turn on and start showing a destructive event on a massive scale which has destroyed Avengers Island in Manhattan, and Doom mouths 'By the ebon winds…' before commenting on the scale of the destruction, the power. How was this done? The robot explains that as near as can be discerned, it was overrun by unidentified terrorist factions. The energy spewing forth from the wreckage… Doom recognizes it as gamma radiation, any fool can see that! He then commands the cessation of the robot's self-destruction program, and it begins thanking Doom profusely, upon which he commands the end to the grovel program as well, and the robot immediately goes back to being a mindless automaton. That… He programmed his robots to grovel. I love Doom.
Doom observes that what's more intriguing than the loss of lives as a result of the total meltdown of a gamma core is how one individual other than himself was able to amass the resources to even engineer such an event! The robot opines that it might have been Hydra, but Doom scoffs and dismisses that idea out of hand - without his blessing? He doesn't think so! (...That's a bit of a revealing line.) Doom zooms in on a part of the footage, and the robot states that it has already scanned for survivors, and found nothing.
The robot trails off as Doom zooms in on a large green figure amidst the devastation, commanding another 'zoom, enhance!' until the figure is life-sized before him, towering within the room in all its naked, very green glory. It's the Hulk! Doom is not accustomed to surprises, since they are the domain of the unprepared - as he was fond of explaining to his friends a long time ago, when he once upon a time allowed himself the burden of friendship. Doom declares that what he's seeing is impossible. For weeks he's concentrated his efforts on siphoning the cosmic energies which rage through the Silver Surfer, while this creature of raw gamma radiation has walked the Earth? And yet, how can it be that something as fragile as a human body can contain such power? The robot tries to argue that there was no way it could have suspected that all the damage was done by this creature, but Doom ignores it.
He then commands the computer to project a gamma dissipation of 97% - no, 98.37% - with a bio-genetic purge of excess physiology resulting from direct infusion of pure gamma radiation. In the instant before the world's most advanced computers can calculate the information, Doom's mind races ahead to the image that will result - a hologram of the human being which served as a host for the gamma radiation. Though he's loath to admit it - for the second time this evening Doom finds himself entirely unprepared. He makes a comical face of shock, eyes wide, as he recognizes… Bruce? Can it be?
Memories bubble up - memories of the Atomic Knights of the Round Table. Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Rebel O'Reilly, Henry Pym, Reed Richards, and Victor von Doom… in their youths, they fancied themselves architects of the future, or as Ben Grimm was wont to refer to them - the legion of eggheads. In the flashback, Ben wonders if they can't all get ready to pose for Pym's keepsake album so they can get back to the real world already? The geniuses are too caught up in their conversation, however. Doom incredulously asks Bruce if he's really saying that he's dedicating his life to the creation of a bomb that he'd never dare use for fear of its destructive potential? Bruce argues that it doesn't have to be used - the very existence of the gamma bomb will ensure that it will never have to be deployed! Mutually Assured Destruction. Doom, exasperated, congratulates Bruce for being an idiot.
Bruce, affronted, sees nothing idiotic in trying to protect the world from its own basest instincts - not when he believes that within each of them, even Victor, there lies the capacity to wield such unbridled power for the benefit of all mankind! Pym asks if everyone is done plotting their industrial revolution already - how about one for the history books? He grabs his camera to snap a picture of the group, and everyone gathers together, tossing minor insults at each other as the flash goes off and immortalizes the moment…
How ironic, Doom comments - it would seem that Bruce has become trapped, in a fashion, as a victim of his own ambitions. Rather than master the technology they all once worshiped, as Doom has, Bruce has instead become its slave. There but for the grace of Doom…
The robot wonders if there's anything they can do, and Doom says that they'll wait and see how things develop. It's evident that the forces unleashed this day will result in a confrontation between all his old friends, who are now his most bitter enemies. Soon they'll all fall - and it will be Victor von Doom alone who will stand tall amongst the wreckage they make of their petty lives! Doom laughs, a seldom heard sound, and it is clear that - quite by accident - their long-debated industrial revolution has begun…
Rating & Comments
We're back, once again, with yet more hasty retellings of classic Fantastic Four adventures, now merged into a single timeline instead of discrete and separate tales! Joy! I was perhaps a bit harsh in my coverage of the previous issue, but I figure that was mostly because I got impatient with the rehashing and the incredibly stereotypical depictions of the characters. That was ultimately the point of Heroes Reborn, it seems, and as individual issues these aren't bad, just a rather lame replacement for new stories - they don't really eclipse the classic issues they're referencing. Merging the Silver Surfer Saga with the origin of the Super Skrull is creative, at least, but it ultimately feels like it diminishes both a bit, which is unfortunate.
We get an irrelevant scene about Alicia Masters and a confusing opening recap wherein the real Wyatt Wingfoot only realizes now that there's a Skrull duplicate of himself running around - which doesn't make too much sense since he also found out last issue, and was a major reason he even came along. After that, we finally get to the story proper when the Skrull gets fed up with everyone discussing things right in front of him and blasts Doom off his feet with dangerous pink energy. Honestly, Doom gets bodied pretty hard by the guy - for all his bluster, he gets properly crushed! Interestingly, it then turns out that the Skrulls actually have a relatively understandable (and perhaps even justified) reason to seek out and steal the powers of the Silver Surfer - in this timeline, Galactus visited the Skrull throneworld first and ate it (as he did in Fantastic Four v1 #257, after Reed already ensured that he wouldn't eat the Earth.) He thereby orphaned the few remaining Skrulls in the universe, and with the Surfer now interested in Earth as Galactus' next all-you-can-eat buffet, they're here to try and take him out once and for all. We'll be getting back to that plot thread in a few issues…
Doom's characterization is a bit odd here. This is still part of his alternative 'first meeting' with the Fantastic Four, and despite proving extremely willing to horrifically murder his own henchmen if they step out of line just last issue, Doom is actually very quick to go along with the heroes' plan to cooperate against the Skrull invaders. Perhaps it's because he's realized that on his own he'll just get knocked down to the floor again in a flood of pink rays, but Reed and Doom instantly team up and work together to channel the energy of the Surfer back into him after Sue redirects one of the Super Skrull's blasts - and despite Doom's kvetching about Reed being a love-sick fool, he does his part of the job without any hidden tricks or greater plans, thus ensuring that the Silver Surfer regains his powers. I really expected him to send the powers into himself, honestly... Anyway, Doom is quite confident they've succeeded before the results of their work even becomes clear, and even permits Reed and his family to leave since he has bigger issues at the time, which all seems a bit fast. The relationship between Doom and Reed changed a lot in a short time there, moving from overtly antagonistic and hateful to begrudging tolerance in mere pages.
The Silver Surfer has mostly been a paperweight up until this point in the series, but as he is revived here, he proves to be his usual powerhouse self - he easily overpowers the Super Skrull, who is running around with a fraction of his awesome powers yet still eclipses the Earthside cast. That said, their final conflict is violent enough that it starts ripping Doom's castle apart from the inside, going so far as to destabilize what is apparently a highly important part of Doom's technology that's never been explained before - where he gets his limitless power to run all his things! Doom just has a functional nuclear fusion reactor in his basement, huh? Okay! When Reed asks what they can do about it going critical, Doom immediately rejects any help from Reed and goes to fix it, even foregoing any further revenge in favor of protecting his people, which at least incorporates his less evil aspects. He then, of course, accuses the Fantastic Four of being responsible for any deaths that result from this whole affair, though they really had no role in any of this. They weren't responsible for kidnapping the Surfer or for the fake Wyatt Wingfoot's intervention, right? The Surfer ends up saving everyone's lives, including Doom's, in recompense for causing the disaster in the first place, so I guess that fixes that with a pretty bow on top…
Now, while everyone else goes home and sings 'kumbaya' or whatnot, Doom's story continues. Still, the subject of that particular story is entirely divorced from the A-story, to the point that it gets a new title, writer, and artist, even though it follows immediately from the last - guess it's a page filler. I actually quite like Doom's characterization in this tale, more than the one in the main story. For one, Doom basically immediately dismisses the loss of his castle, already focusing on a new path to victory while the wreckage of his home is still smoldering in the background. He's in a foul mood because of recent events, sure, but his eyes are always on the plan. Secondly, Doom made groveling robots. It's established here that Doom not only equips his robots with self-destruct mechanisms and uses those to threaten them, but also that he explicitly made these robots capable of groveling and fearing for their existence, or at least of acting as if they are doing so. That's… an ingenious way to make sure your ego remains fed even without human toadies to order around! Love it! Now I wonder if that guy from last issue was secretly a robot too...
This story seems to exist to confidently reestablish Doom's bona fides as a super-genius, by the way. Not only does he instantly deduce the nature of a disaster from some vague news footage of a burning crater, but he comments that it's intriguing that any one individual, other than himself (of course), was able to amass the resources to even engineer a huge gamma core meltdown like this. Since we just learned about his own fusion reactor in his basement, that rather established him as an authority on the topic, I'd say! Doom spots a survivor that his robots somehow missed on their first pass, and also mentally calculates what an untransformed Hulk might look like in less time than his array of supercomputers can manage. Amusingly, he is quite annoyed that he spent weeks concentrating on siphoning energy from the Silver Surfer, and yet a creature empowered by raw gamma radiation is already running around the Earth! Heh, I suppose someone else beat Doom at his own game, even if it's not the exact same type of energy they're trying to master…
The subsequent flashback featuring Doom and Bruce is fun - Doom is the voice of reason trying to argue Bruce out of his Mutually Assured Destruction plans in which he wants to make the world's most terrible, horrible bomb for the express purpose of never using it. Doom rightly calls him an idiot for his naivety, and that turns out pretty prophetic given that the Gamma tests ultimately turned him into the Hulk. How ironic, as Doom himself says, that Bruce would become trapped as a victim of his own ambition. Rather than master technology, he became its slave! In a moment of self-reflection, Doom seems are of how he himself could have gone in that direction - and in a sense he did, when he blew himself up in that lab and scarred himself. There but for the grace of Doom…
Of these two stories, I prefer the second one - but that's almost entirely down to Doom being the main character and getting more internality in that one. Doom doesn't actually do very much in the first story beyond gripe while going along with Reed's plans. That seemed a bit incongruous after the last issue, when he went after him and Sue with a vengeance, even forcing Reed to bend to his will. I suppose this rapport is down to having to face the Super Skrull's power, but it still felt rather sudden for this development, which originally took longer than half an adventure! Reed and Doom getting along during their very first encounter after college is weird. At least Doom still constantly rejects any help from the others, even when it might lead to his death - that much of his character is unchangeable, it appears, even between timelines! I'll give this one three stars, with a tentative four stars for the 'Industrial Revolution' bit because I just really like that groveling robots are canon. Hah!
Oh, and before I forget about it… I did notice Doom tacitly slipping in that he's puppeteering Hydra, so that's something to keep in mind...
Best Panel(s) of the Issues
Doom gets bodied in this issue, but at least the panel in question is pretty cool!
Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes
"Doctor Doom needs no one's help! Enjoy your brief moment of glory while you can, Skrull! The Power Cosmic that you possess belongs to me - and I will not rest until it is mine. It was my transference device that gave you your power -- and can just as easily take it away!"
"Forget her, Richards! Keep your focus on the task at hand! This is no time to play the lovesick fool! Not when all our lives are in jeopardy!"
"Should a single innocent Latverian die today… I will hold you and the other members of the Fantastic Four personally responsible!"
Doom: "Cease self-destruct program."
Robot: "A Thousand th-thank yous, my -"
Doom: "Cease grovel program."
Robot: "Yes, sir."
"Surprises are the domain of the unprepared."
"So, in essence, what you're saying, Bruce - is that you're dedicating your life to the creation of a bomb you can never dare use for fear of its destructive potential? Congratulations, my friend: you are an idiot."
"How ironic. It would seem Bruce has become trapped, in a fashion, a victim of his own ambition. Rather than master the technology we all once worshiped, as I have done, he has become its slave. There but for the grace of myself…"
"All my old 'friends' … my most bitter enemies. Soon they will all fall - and it will be Victor von Doom alone who will stand tall amongst the wreckage they have made of their petty lives."
Doom-Tech of the Week
I suppose we could argue that the reversion source code that Doom provides is critical to re-empowering the Silver Surfer here, and there's also the world's most advanced computers that are called out in the secondary story, though they're still not quite fast enough to keep up with Doom's unmatched mind! Oh! And of course there's the nuclear fusion reactor that regrettable gets slagged in this issue, though I'm sure it'll be replaced soon enough.
Cover
The cover, this time, is a generic group shot of the Fantastic Four once again, with Johnny and Sue using their powers while striking a pose, and everyone else just doing the pose thing and looking mean. This time, however, there's a fifth member of the band - Doctor Doom is very notably standing with the team instead of in opposition to them, which makes sense given the sudden alien interrupt at the end of the last issue. Whatever differences Doom and Reed might have, it's hardly relevant compared to giant super-powered Skrull with all the powers, is it? There's also an 'Industrial Revolution' prologue marked here, which is a storyline unconnected to Doom, but the prologue is nevertheless all about him. Go figure!
Story Overview
Retribution
We begin with Alicia Masters, who's sipping from a cup of wine and waiting for a call. When her phone goes off it's her publicist, Cass, though she suspected it'd be Ben. Cass wonders if that means he left already, and Alicia admits he hasn't shown up yet for their date - he's three hours late! Alicia argues he probably has a good reason, and Cass jokes he must be off saving the world or something, huh? He's probably just out there somewhere getting mobbed by adoring groupies! She did warn Alica that something like this would happen, and wonders if she should come over. Alicia says that it's alright - she's a big girl, she can take care of herself. Besides, she's got her cat Otto to keep her company. Cass reluctantly goes with it and tells her friend to give a call if she ever wants to just talk. After she hangs up, Alicia again wonders where on earth Ben is. Is she just fooling herself with this relationship, or is he really off somewhere saving the world…?
Back in Latveria, it turns out that Ben and the others are indeed facing an alien menace, with the future of all mankind hanging in the balance! We get an extended recap of the previous issue, in which every character verbally recounts what happened to a room of people who already know - and apparently time isn't moving when this happens, or the alien is just being very calm about the conversation going on here. Looks pretty menacing, though...
Doom declares that despite the recent turn of events, he is still in control of the situation! In fact, everyone's continued survival is dependent on him! Reed asks why they should believe him, and Doom snaps at him that he has no choice - with its newly gained powers, this Super Skrull seeks -- He can't finish his sentence before a blast of dangerous pink energy rockets him off his feet.
While Reed belatedly warns Doom of the attack, the Super Skrull announces that all he seeks at this moment is his death! The arrogant pawn, Doom, has outlived his usefulness! But first he'll give the monarch a taste of the prize he so desperately sought to possess! The alien then blasts him away again, and Doom screams in pain. Ben comments that this is a revoltin' development - there's a part of him that wants to root for the Skrull to sock it to the tin-plated tyrant, but that'd mean they'd have to take care of the big green toad themselves! T'Challa decides they must choose the lesser of two evils here. Doom, furious, starts taking potshots back and declares that he needs no one's help! The Skrull should enjoy his brief moment of glory while he can, for the power cosmic he possesses belongs to Doom, and he won't rest until it's his again! It was his transfer device which empowered the Skrull, and it can just as easily take it away!
The Super-Skrull bats away Doom's attacks with a wave of pink energy and says that Doom - just an insignificant human - has no conception of the sheer magnitude of the Power Cosmic! He and his mechanical devices will be destroyed before he has the opportunity to do anything! Nearby, Wyatt Wingfoot yells at Reed that if the source of the Skrull is the other alien's life force, then they'll all have to work together with Doom to find a way to transfer that energy back to the original host! The Skrull, meanwhile, batters Doom down with yet more pink energy and starts overloading his personal force-field, snarling that while Doom might speak of wielding absolute power, he doesn't know the meaning of those words - but he can show Doom what it looks like! With that the shields overload and Doom goes down with another agonized scream…
The Super-Skrull turns to the rest of the group, and Wyatt asks who he even is - what's this all about? Kl'rt responds that this is about a simple emotion, one that even humans are capable of grasping - revenge! Retribution against the one known throughout the stars as the Silver Surfer! The Surfer is the sworn enemy of every Skrull, for he is the harbinger of death to the entire living universe! The accursed Herald of GALACTUS! He who is the destroyer of worlds! The godlike being responsible for the death and destruction of the Skrull Throneworld. The few surviving sons of Skrull have sworn to avenge their fallen people, and to that end they have tracked Galactus and his herald on their journeys through the galaxy. He asks if the fools on this planet really thought that the coming of the Surfer was an accident? The foul seeds of Galactus have already been rooted here! The Skrulls bided their time and waited, for they knew it would not be long before Galactus returned to reap the harvest. And now, their plan to capture the herald and rob him of his cosmic power has succeeded! At last, the Skrulls possess the power to stage their final reckoning with Galactus himself!
J'Far, one of the other Skrulls in the castle, calls up Kl'rt and tells him that the sensors are reporting the presence of unidentified aircraft trespassing into Latverian airspace - and they're closing in on this location! Initial scans indicate that they're SHIELD attack-craft! Wyatt muses that these must be the extraction team, and Ben wonders what he's talking about - is there something else he forgot to mention? Wyatt admits it was a contingency plan in case something went wrong, and - yeah, it totally slipped his mind. Guess old habits are hard to break.
The Super-Skrull announces that all Wyatt has done is consign those men to their deaths, for he can instantly create an impenetrable shield around the entire castle, and destroy these would-be-rescuers before they can fire even a single shot! Sure enough, the two planes smash to smithereens against empty air…
Ben, furious about the sudden murders, lashes out against the Super-Skrull and asks if this is what it means to be a Skrull warrior - to hide behind a force-field instead of facing one's enemy? Well, let's see how well he holds up against someone who's up close and personal!
Kl'rt gets knocked down, but angrily gets to his feet and declares that like Ben himself, Kl'rt was touched by the herald's cosmic energies as well - however, since Kl'rt's existing Skrull abilities were enhanced, including their imitation abilities, he can now easily replicate Ben's own powers to much greater effect! He turns his fist into rock and bowls Ben over with it. Johnny rushes in to assist, declaring that he won't be such an easy target, since the alien can't reach him while he's being blasted to a crisp. He starts burning the Skrull, only for the alien to attune to the new power and combine both the rocky fist of Ben and Johnny's own fire and smashing him out of the air with an enormous punch.
Watching on, T'Challa comments that this strategy isn't working - direct confrontation is futile. Wyatt may have been right before - if Doom does know a way to rejuvenate the Silver Surfer, then he holds the key to defeating the Super Skrull! Susan points out that the Super-Skrull said the Surfer was some kind of harbinger of death, but Reed isn't sure he believes that's the truth - it's hard to tell who's being honest in this situation. In order to learn the truth, they may need to revive the Surfer anyway. Doom approaches them, having regathered himself, and declares that in order to achieve this goal they'll need his help, because he's the only one who knows the reversion source code. Make no mistake, however - if they are to succeed, Reed must do exactly as Doom instructs!
Kl'rt manages to knock Johnny out and says that this one was no match for his power - who else is left to challenge him? He'll slay them all! In fact, he might make this one his first trophy kill! T'Challa suddenly comes flying into frame and kicks the Super-Skrull away from his prey, freeing Johnny, and he declares that so long as the Black Panther lives, the human spirit will never surrender to his will! Kl'rt, furious, responds that he's not interested in surrender - he wants death! T'Challa quips that it'll take far more than haughty words to make that happen, so the Super-Skrull starts blasting beams of pink energy at him, declaring that his actions will speak for him! T'Challa dodges out of the way, and Susan says she'll take it from here…
Using her invisible force fields, Sue curves the pink blast towards the Silver Surfer, leaving the rest up to Reed and Doom. The huge amount of feedback knocks her back afterwards and sends up a huge plume of smoke, hiding everything from view. Reed wants to go help, but Doom warns him that he should forget her and keep his focus on the task at hand. This is no time to play a love-sick fool, not when everyone's lives are in jeopardy! Reed tells Doom to shut up - he knows what has to be done. According to his readings the transfer is complete - now they just have to hope that the flux inhibitor worked properly! Plasma vapor still obscures their view, and Reed says he can't see anything - what's happened? Doom coolly notes that it should be obvious - they succeeded!
The Silver Surfer steps out of the vapor and into the light, announcing himself as the herald of Galactus. Kl'rt, furious, snarls at the 'deathbringer' that he hails from the Galactic Skrull Empire, and he challenges him to mortal combat! He and his master are responsible for destroying the Skrull Throneworld, but today the surviving members of that species will exact their revenge! Despite the humans' efforts, he still retains part of the Power Cosmic within him, and he shall use it to destroy the Surfer once and for all! The Surfer catches the next blast of pink energy with a golden one of his own and proclaims that what the Skrull possesses is nothing more than a pale reflection of the Surfer's life-force, much as he is but a mere shadow compared to Galactus. Kl'rt cannot hope to defeat him!
The Super-Skrull accuses him of lying, and explains that he knows the herald's deepest secret - he is Norrin Radd! He can be destroyed! The Surfer responds that the one he speaks of no longer exists - instead, only the Surfer remains. Kl'rt figures that just means he'll have to kill both of his personalities at once! The two then do a full-on Dragon Ball beam-conflict, and the sheer energy unleashed starts destroying the environment, lighting it up like the Fourth of July.
While everyone runs off to escape the castle, Doom warns that things are worse than they appear - his sensors tell him that the massive energy fluctuations are rupturing the containment walls of the Fusion Reactor he's built under his castle, and which is running everything. It's about to breach! Reed realizes what that means, and quickly asks what they can do about the problem. Doom just tells him that there is no role for him to play here - this is where Doom will leave him to his own devices. Doom must do what he can to salvage the reactor core - but should a single innocent Latverian die today, he'll hold the Fantastic Four responsible! Reed quickly departs with the rest of the team, T'Challa, and Wyatt, telling everyone to hang on to his stretching body while the castle's walls collapse around them as they flee.
Once they make their way clear of the castle, they go the rest of the way on foot towards their ship, until a huge Krakaboom confirms the destruction of Doom's castle behind them. The explosion is too localized to be a fusion detonation, however, so perhaps Doom managed to shut down the reactor in time? Reed is doubtful that even Victor could have done it so quickly, and suspects more powerful forces are at work here. Ben decides that now is not the time to debate the issue, as he's picking up a lot of satellite communications, and it sounds like the entire Latverian air force is on its way towards them. It's time to get their own plane in the air and hit the road! Besides, he's running late for a date…
Atop the ruins of the castle, a lone figure watches the ship depart - just moments earlier he sealed the breached containment walls of the reactor, averting a catastrophic explosion. It only seemed fair. After all, humans did save his life! Of all the beings encountered in his travels through the galaxy, these were the first to show the Silver Surfer… compassion. It's an observation that gives the Surfer pause…
Industrial Revolution - Prologue
Miles from the ruined site of Castle Doom, in a considerably smaller secondary facility, we catch up with Doom again. While lesser men may consider the past day something of a disaster, Victor von Doom is no lesser man. In the ever-burning blackness that is his heart, he knows that victory is always a whisper away. While he's working on something at his multi-monitor computer setup, a stammering robot cuts into his musing. Doom immediately declares that it has sixty seconds to self-destruct as punishment for interrupting him. The robot nervously begs for leniency, and explains that it brings news. Doom starts counting down to fifty, declaring that recent events have put him in something of a foul mood. The robot hastily explains that there was a broadcast from the United States which it thought he should see.
The monitors turn on and start showing a destructive event on a massive scale which has destroyed Avengers Island in Manhattan, and Doom mouths 'By the ebon winds…' before commenting on the scale of the destruction, the power. How was this done? The robot explains that as near as can be discerned, it was overrun by unidentified terrorist factions. The energy spewing forth from the wreckage… Doom recognizes it as gamma radiation, any fool can see that! He then commands the cessation of the robot's self-destruction program, and it begins thanking Doom profusely, upon which he commands the end to the grovel program as well, and the robot immediately goes back to being a mindless automaton. That… He programmed his robots to grovel. I love Doom.
Doom observes that what's more intriguing than the loss of lives as a result of the total meltdown of a gamma core is how one individual other than himself was able to amass the resources to even engineer such an event! The robot opines that it might have been Hydra, but Doom scoffs and dismisses that idea out of hand - without his blessing? He doesn't think so! (...That's a bit of a revealing line.) Doom zooms in on a part of the footage, and the robot states that it has already scanned for survivors, and found nothing.
The robot trails off as Doom zooms in on a large green figure amidst the devastation, commanding another 'zoom, enhance!' until the figure is life-sized before him, towering within the room in all its naked, very green glory. It's the Hulk! Doom is not accustomed to surprises, since they are the domain of the unprepared - as he was fond of explaining to his friends a long time ago, when he once upon a time allowed himself the burden of friendship. Doom declares that what he's seeing is impossible. For weeks he's concentrated his efforts on siphoning the cosmic energies which rage through the Silver Surfer, while this creature of raw gamma radiation has walked the Earth? And yet, how can it be that something as fragile as a human body can contain such power? The robot tries to argue that there was no way it could have suspected that all the damage was done by this creature, but Doom ignores it.
He then commands the computer to project a gamma dissipation of 97% - no, 98.37% - with a bio-genetic purge of excess physiology resulting from direct infusion of pure gamma radiation. In the instant before the world's most advanced computers can calculate the information, Doom's mind races ahead to the image that will result - a hologram of the human being which served as a host for the gamma radiation. Though he's loath to admit it - for the second time this evening Doom finds himself entirely unprepared. He makes a comical face of shock, eyes wide, as he recognizes… Bruce? Can it be?
Memories bubble up - memories of the Atomic Knights of the Round Table. Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Rebel O'Reilly, Henry Pym, Reed Richards, and Victor von Doom… in their youths, they fancied themselves architects of the future, or as Ben Grimm was wont to refer to them - the legion of eggheads. In the flashback, Ben wonders if they can't all get ready to pose for Pym's keepsake album so they can get back to the real world already? The geniuses are too caught up in their conversation, however. Doom incredulously asks Bruce if he's really saying that he's dedicating his life to the creation of a bomb that he'd never dare use for fear of its destructive potential? Bruce argues that it doesn't have to be used - the very existence of the gamma bomb will ensure that it will never have to be deployed! Mutually Assured Destruction. Doom, exasperated, congratulates Bruce for being an idiot.
Bruce, affronted, sees nothing idiotic in trying to protect the world from its own basest instincts - not when he believes that within each of them, even Victor, there lies the capacity to wield such unbridled power for the benefit of all mankind! Pym asks if everyone is done plotting their industrial revolution already - how about one for the history books? He grabs his camera to snap a picture of the group, and everyone gathers together, tossing minor insults at each other as the flash goes off and immortalizes the moment…
How ironic, Doom comments - it would seem that Bruce has become trapped, in a fashion, as a victim of his own ambitions. Rather than master the technology they all once worshiped, as Doom has, Bruce has instead become its slave. There but for the grace of Doom…
The robot wonders if there's anything they can do, and Doom says that they'll wait and see how things develop. It's evident that the forces unleashed this day will result in a confrontation between all his old friends, who are now his most bitter enemies. Soon they'll all fall - and it will be Victor von Doom alone who will stand tall amongst the wreckage they make of their petty lives! Doom laughs, a seldom heard sound, and it is clear that - quite by accident - their long-debated industrial revolution has begun…
Rating & Comments
We're back, once again, with yet more hasty retellings of classic Fantastic Four adventures, now merged into a single timeline instead of discrete and separate tales! Joy! I was perhaps a bit harsh in my coverage of the previous issue, but I figure that was mostly because I got impatient with the rehashing and the incredibly stereotypical depictions of the characters. That was ultimately the point of Heroes Reborn, it seems, and as individual issues these aren't bad, just a rather lame replacement for new stories - they don't really eclipse the classic issues they're referencing. Merging the Silver Surfer Saga with the origin of the Super Skrull is creative, at least, but it ultimately feels like it diminishes both a bit, which is unfortunate.
We get an irrelevant scene about Alicia Masters and a confusing opening recap wherein the real Wyatt Wingfoot only realizes now that there's a Skrull duplicate of himself running around - which doesn't make too much sense since he also found out last issue, and was a major reason he even came along. After that, we finally get to the story proper when the Skrull gets fed up with everyone discussing things right in front of him and blasts Doom off his feet with dangerous pink energy. Honestly, Doom gets bodied pretty hard by the guy - for all his bluster, he gets properly crushed! Interestingly, it then turns out that the Skrulls actually have a relatively understandable (and perhaps even justified) reason to seek out and steal the powers of the Silver Surfer - in this timeline, Galactus visited the Skrull throneworld first and ate it (as he did in Fantastic Four v1 #257, after Reed already ensured that he wouldn't eat the Earth.) He thereby orphaned the few remaining Skrulls in the universe, and with the Surfer now interested in Earth as Galactus' next all-you-can-eat buffet, they're here to try and take him out once and for all. We'll be getting back to that plot thread in a few issues…
Doom's characterization is a bit odd here. This is still part of his alternative 'first meeting' with the Fantastic Four, and despite proving extremely willing to horrifically murder his own henchmen if they step out of line just last issue, Doom is actually very quick to go along with the heroes' plan to cooperate against the Skrull invaders. Perhaps it's because he's realized that on his own he'll just get knocked down to the floor again in a flood of pink rays, but Reed and Doom instantly team up and work together to channel the energy of the Surfer back into him after Sue redirects one of the Super Skrull's blasts - and despite Doom's kvetching about Reed being a love-sick fool, he does his part of the job without any hidden tricks or greater plans, thus ensuring that the Silver Surfer regains his powers. I really expected him to send the powers into himself, honestly... Anyway, Doom is quite confident they've succeeded before the results of their work even becomes clear, and even permits Reed and his family to leave since he has bigger issues at the time, which all seems a bit fast. The relationship between Doom and Reed changed a lot in a short time there, moving from overtly antagonistic and hateful to begrudging tolerance in mere pages.
The Silver Surfer has mostly been a paperweight up until this point in the series, but as he is revived here, he proves to be his usual powerhouse self - he easily overpowers the Super Skrull, who is running around with a fraction of his awesome powers yet still eclipses the Earthside cast. That said, their final conflict is violent enough that it starts ripping Doom's castle apart from the inside, going so far as to destabilize what is apparently a highly important part of Doom's technology that's never been explained before - where he gets his limitless power to run all his things! Doom just has a functional nuclear fusion reactor in his basement, huh? Okay! When Reed asks what they can do about it going critical, Doom immediately rejects any help from Reed and goes to fix it, even foregoing any further revenge in favor of protecting his people, which at least incorporates his less evil aspects. He then, of course, accuses the Fantastic Four of being responsible for any deaths that result from this whole affair, though they really had no role in any of this. They weren't responsible for kidnapping the Surfer or for the fake Wyatt Wingfoot's intervention, right? The Surfer ends up saving everyone's lives, including Doom's, in recompense for causing the disaster in the first place, so I guess that fixes that with a pretty bow on top…
Now, while everyone else goes home and sings 'kumbaya' or whatnot, Doom's story continues. Still, the subject of that particular story is entirely divorced from the A-story, to the point that it gets a new title, writer, and artist, even though it follows immediately from the last - guess it's a page filler. I actually quite like Doom's characterization in this tale, more than the one in the main story. For one, Doom basically immediately dismisses the loss of his castle, already focusing on a new path to victory while the wreckage of his home is still smoldering in the background. He's in a foul mood because of recent events, sure, but his eyes are always on the plan. Secondly, Doom made groveling robots. It's established here that Doom not only equips his robots with self-destruct mechanisms and uses those to threaten them, but also that he explicitly made these robots capable of groveling and fearing for their existence, or at least of acting as if they are doing so. That's… an ingenious way to make sure your ego remains fed even without human toadies to order around! Love it! Now I wonder if that guy from last issue was secretly a robot too...
This story seems to exist to confidently reestablish Doom's bona fides as a super-genius, by the way. Not only does he instantly deduce the nature of a disaster from some vague news footage of a burning crater, but he comments that it's intriguing that any one individual, other than himself (of course), was able to amass the resources to even engineer a huge gamma core meltdown like this. Since we just learned about his own fusion reactor in his basement, that rather established him as an authority on the topic, I'd say! Doom spots a survivor that his robots somehow missed on their first pass, and also mentally calculates what an untransformed Hulk might look like in less time than his array of supercomputers can manage. Amusingly, he is quite annoyed that he spent weeks concentrating on siphoning energy from the Silver Surfer, and yet a creature empowered by raw gamma radiation is already running around the Earth! Heh, I suppose someone else beat Doom at his own game, even if it's not the exact same type of energy they're trying to master…
The subsequent flashback featuring Doom and Bruce is fun - Doom is the voice of reason trying to argue Bruce out of his Mutually Assured Destruction plans in which he wants to make the world's most terrible, horrible bomb for the express purpose of never using it. Doom rightly calls him an idiot for his naivety, and that turns out pretty prophetic given that the Gamma tests ultimately turned him into the Hulk. How ironic, as Doom himself says, that Bruce would become trapped as a victim of his own ambition. Rather than master technology, he became its slave! In a moment of self-reflection, Doom seems are of how he himself could have gone in that direction - and in a sense he did, when he blew himself up in that lab and scarred himself. There but for the grace of Doom…
Of these two stories, I prefer the second one - but that's almost entirely down to Doom being the main character and getting more internality in that one. Doom doesn't actually do very much in the first story beyond gripe while going along with Reed's plans. That seemed a bit incongruous after the last issue, when he went after him and Sue with a vengeance, even forcing Reed to bend to his will. I suppose this rapport is down to having to face the Super Skrull's power, but it still felt rather sudden for this development, which originally took longer than half an adventure! Reed and Doom getting along during their very first encounter after college is weird. At least Doom still constantly rejects any help from the others, even when it might lead to his death - that much of his character is unchangeable, it appears, even between timelines! I'll give this one three stars, with a tentative four stars for the 'Industrial Revolution' bit because I just really like that groveling robots are canon. Hah!
Oh, and before I forget about it… I did notice Doom tacitly slipping in that he's puppeteering Hydra, so that's something to keep in mind...
Best Panel(s) of the Issues
Doom gets bodied in this issue, but at least the panel in question is pretty cool!
Most Gloriously Villainous Doom Quotes
"Doctor Doom needs no one's help! Enjoy your brief moment of glory while you can, Skrull! The Power Cosmic that you possess belongs to me - and I will not rest until it is mine. It was my transference device that gave you your power -- and can just as easily take it away!"
"Forget her, Richards! Keep your focus on the task at hand! This is no time to play the lovesick fool! Not when all our lives are in jeopardy!"
"Should a single innocent Latverian die today… I will hold you and the other members of the Fantastic Four personally responsible!"
Doom: "Cease self-destruct program."
Robot: "A Thousand th-thank yous, my -"
Doom: "Cease grovel program."
Robot: "Yes, sir."
"Surprises are the domain of the unprepared."
"So, in essence, what you're saying, Bruce - is that you're dedicating your life to the creation of a bomb you can never dare use for fear of its destructive potential? Congratulations, my friend: you are an idiot."
"How ironic. It would seem Bruce has become trapped, in a fashion, a victim of his own ambition. Rather than master the technology we all once worshiped, as I have done, he has become its slave. There but for the grace of myself…"
"All my old 'friends' … my most bitter enemies. Soon they will all fall - and it will be Victor von Doom alone who will stand tall amongst the wreckage they have made of their petty lives."
Doom-Tech of the Week
I suppose we could argue that the reversion source code that Doom provides is critical to re-empowering the Silver Surfer here, and there's also the world's most advanced computers that are called out in the secondary story, though they're still not quite fast enough to keep up with Doom's unmatched mind! Oh! And of course there's the nuclear fusion reactor that regrettable gets slagged in this issue, though I'm sure it'll be replaced soon enough.
