Black Panther (vol. 4) #29
From Bad to Worse
The Fantastic Four -- Black Panther (T’Challa), Storm (Ororo Monroe), Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm — were trying to return an alien invader back to the Negative Zone using King Solomon’s Frogs. However, the mystical devices instead transported them to the Skrull home world in an alternate universe where Earth’s greatest heroes have all been turned into flesh eating zombies with the powers of Galactus.[2]
Teaming up with a Skrull version of the Fantastic Four (which includes this reality’s version of Lyja, Johnny’s ex-wife),[3] the FF try to convince the Skrulls to work together with them to stop the zombies. That’s when the zombified version of Luke Cage came crashing in through the ceiling. Merely stunned by the violent fall, Cage is immediately hungered by the sight of fresh bodies to eat. The Skrulls infer that Cage’s sudden arrival is proof that the Black Panther is working with the zombies and attack. Johnny flames on and puts up a wall of fire to protect themselves, but this leaves the Skrulls open to being attacked by the zombified Cage.
Disgusted by the wholesale cannibalism, the Fantastic Four attack Cage from all sides causing him to pause his feast. T’Challa then pulls off his mask and tries to reason with Luke, face-to-face. When Cage notices that the Human Torch and Thing are normal, he asks if they were cursed of the zombie virus.[4] T’Challa tries to trick Luke into thinking that he developed a cure. However, Luke can tell when someone is trying to hustle him. He realizes that these humans don’t seem to know what’s going on Earth, which leads Cage to correctly deduce that they have come from another dimension. Seeing this as a means of obtaining a fresh food supply, Luke demands that they tell him how they got to this reality. T’Challa then orders both teams to attack.
Elsewhere, the other zombies continue their systematic consumption of every Skrull in sight. While Wolverine skewers frightened Skrulls in the streets, Spider-Man unabashedly finds and consumes a woman and her child.[5] At the same time, a high ranking Skrull officer flees the scene, leaving his underlings to die at the hands of Wolverine. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get very far as he runs into the zombified Iron Man. Soon, the last surviving Skrulls are fleeing from the entire group — which also includes zombie versions of Giant-Man, and the Hulk — who are all competing with each other for this next meal. However, they are robbed by the insect from the Negative Zone that the Fantastic Four brought with them to this reality.[6] It was bitten earlier and has now turned into a zombie as well. When the Hulk tries to fight the insect, it strikes him with a blow powerful enough to send him crashing into a nearby building. The zombie heroes all agree that the bug needs to be dealt with. However, since the Hulk’s failed attack has frightened more Skrulls out of hiding, they agree to resolve the problem after they eat.
Meanwhile, the two Fantastic Four teams flee to a Skrull ship, a necessity if they are to survive and stop these zombies. When Luke Cage catches up with them, the Skrull “Mister Fantastic” orders his team to stand their ground and fight. Johnny protests this because his feelings for Lyja, but this woman reminds him that he’s in another reality and that defending her world is her duty. With no other choice, the Black Panther’s team get into the shuttle and blast off. Watching them go, Cage amusedly says he’ll see them soon after he is done with his next snack.
Once they are in the air, T’Challa asks the Skrull commanding officer to give him access to the communications so he might try to contact Earth and find out what happened. Even though everyone might be gone, T’Challa needs to try. He is shocked when the person who answers is none other than the Black Panther of this reality, himself![7] It is quickly discovered that in this reality that T’Challa had married Lisa Hendricks, of the mutant Acolytes, rather than Storm.[8] This revelation is quickly pushed aside so they can discuss the crisis at hand.
Meanwhile, Luke Cage returns to his fellow zombies, but gets into an argument with them before he can tell them about the Fantastic Four from another world. Pretty soon, the temperamental heroes get into a brawl with one another.
Back aboard the Skrull ship, the Fantastic Four contemplate using King Solomon’s Frogs to escape this nightmare reallity. However, they aren’t sure it is going to work since the magical artifacts are wildly unpredictable. This leads Ben to suggest that the Frogs might have an intelligence of their own and might be actively trying to screw with them.[9] Overhearing all of this, the Skrull soldiers turn on the Fantastic Four and order them to hand over the frogs. Not willing to give up their only means of getting home, Storm uses her mutant abilities to control the weather to shut down the power in the ship, forcing it to crash.
It’s at this point, that Luke Cage finally gets around to telling his fellow zombies about the Fantastic Four from another reality and how they’re a ticket to a brand new Earth to devour.
Lastly, the Fantastic Four are the only survivors of the crashed Skrull ship. However, before they can get free, the Skrull “Fantastic Four” (now turned into zombies) tear their way into the wrecked vessel looking for something to eat!
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Black Panther-616, Storm, Human Torch, Thing), Skrull “Fantastic Four” (only Lyja named), Marvel Zombies (Spider-Man, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Hulk, Luke Cage, Wolverine), Black Panther-2149, Lisa Hendricks
Continuity Notes
The cover of this issue pays homage to John Buscema’s cover art for Avengers #87.
As will be verified next issue, the Fantastic Four have been transported to an alternate reality. Per Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Various Monstrosities #1, this is Reality-2149. As seen in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23, this is a world where a contagion turned Earths superheroes into zombies. In Marvel Zombies #1-5, the surviving zombies consumed Galactus when he arrived on Earth and then went into space to literally eat the entire universe. The FF were stranded here two issues ago.
Johnny Storm has a complicated history with the Lyja of his home reality. She took the place of Alicia Masters, a long time associate of the Fantastic Four, to spy on the team back in Fantastic Four #265. In this disguise, she romanced and eventually married Johnny in Fantastic Four #300. Her true identity and mission was exposed in Fantastic Four #358. Lyja would remain with the Fantastic Four for a time, however at the time of this story she had disappeared following the events of Fantastic Four #416. Johnny will learn what happened to his Lyja in Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1-3.
The Fantastic Four of this reality were zombified as well, but their Mister Fantastic tricked his counterpart from the Ultimate Universe (Reality-1610) to bring him and his team to that Earth, as seen in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23. Later, the zombie versions of the FF (minus their Reed, who was destroyed) ended up getting transported back to their proper reality in Ultimate Fantastic Four #27-32.
While eating the woman and her child, Peter says “With great power comes great hunger!” Which is a play on “With great power comes great responsibility”, Spider-Man’s personal mantra that he learned the hard way back in Amazing Fantasy #15.
This alien invader goes unnamed here. The Negative Zone entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8 identifies the bug as Taptor. It was bitten last issue.
These scene where T’Challa comes face-to-face with his variant via the communications screen pays homage to the variant cover of Ultimate Fantastic Four #21, which depicted the Reed Richards of Reality-1610 meeting his Reality-2149 counterpart (who was hiding the fact that he was a zombie, the cover was a teaser that tricked readers into thinking Marvel was doing crossover between the Ultimate and Prime Marvel Universes).
Hendricks and T’Challa of Reality-2149 formed a relationship and got married during the events of Marvel Zombies #3-5. Meanwhile, the Prime Marvel Universe version of the Panther has been married to Storm since Black Panther (vol. 4) #18.
The Panther briefly explains that King Solomon’s Frogs can transport people through time and space, but also draw warriors from different eras. This was the case in Black Panther #1-4, and Black Panther (vol. 3) #42-46 and 48.
Topical References
Luke Cage compares the Hulk to Shrek, the titular character of a series of films released by DreamWorks. The movies were at the height of their popularity when this comic was originally published in 2007. This should be considered a topical reference as you could replace the Shrek reference with literally any other fictional character known for being green.
The Initiative Reading Order
Civil War: The Initiative #1, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #13, 14, 15, 16, 17, Thunderbolts #112, 113, 114, 115, Omega Flight #1-5, Moon Knight (vol. 3) #13, Captain America (vol. 5) #26, 27, 28, 29, 30, New Avengers #27, 28, 29, 30, 31, New Warriors (vol. 4) #1-8, Black Panther (vol. 4) #27, 28, 29, 30, Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD #15, 16, 17, 18, Avengers: The Initiative #1, 2, 3, Fantastic Four #547, 548, 549, 550, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #6-11, Mighty Avengers #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Sub-Mariner (vol. 2) #1-6, The Order (vol. 2) 1-4, Penance: Relentless #1, 2, 3, 4, 5