Gangster Lean

The alien planet of Kral IV is a unique place in the universe. It is home to a colony of Skrulls who pretend to be Earth gangsters from the 1930s. As entertainment they have alien slaves fight to the death in a coliseum. Today, mob boss Biggie Small is annoyed that the reigning champ is fighting a creature that regenerate limbs, making for a boring fight. He is also annoyed that Poog, a rival mobster, is in attendance. He knows Poog is waiting for the right time to try and take over. That’s when Biggie’s aide, Barnsworth comes to tell him something important. Impressed by the news, Smalls tells his men they’ve got business to attend to.Poog notices when Biggie and his men leave their seats. Seeing this as his moment to strike, he asks his right-hand-man if everything is ready.

Outside, Biggie Smalls can hardly believe the news as he goes to his replica of a 30’s model Rolls Royce. He hopes the news from One-Eyed Joe is accurate. Barnsworth assures him that Joe would know for sure because he used to work as a janitor back in the old days. The takes to the air and flies over to where One-Eye Joe is waiting for them.

Ol’ One-Eye is at the scene where a bunch of Biggie’s men just incapacitated the Fantastic Four — Black Panther (T’Challa), Storm (Ororo Monroe), Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm). He is mortified to see that they are leaving the Thing in passed out in the middle of the street. They are lucky that they got the drop on Ben Grimm, because Joe remembers him from the old days, when the old mob bosses of Kral IV forced him to fight in the arenas.[1]

While One-Eye squabbles with the others, the Fantastic Four recover and Storm takes out the mobster who stunned them with a bolt of lightning. That’s when a squad of police officers show up on the scene. T’Challa tells the others that he has it under control and uses a device that renders firearms useless.[2] With the immediate threat out of the way, they assess their situation. They know they aren’t on Earth and wonder if they are in the right dimension. When Ben Grimm notices they are on Yancy Street, he takes it as a bad omen, regardless of where they are. They were brought here by one of King Solomon’s Frogs, which can transport people through time and space. Having figured out that the frog is sentient and has been messing with them, Storm tries to threaten it in order to be brought back home. The frog then speaks, telling them that it’ll see who destroys who before teleporting away, leaving the heroes stranded.[3] That’s when some more cars carrying more mobsters arrive.

Annoyed by all the interruptions, Ben smashes the vehicles with a single blow. He then tells the others they should find some cover before the Skrull mobsters start using the big guns. He quickly tells Storm and T’Challa about how he was once enslaved here until Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four rescued him.[4] That’s when Biggie Smalls and his men arrive with some of their gladiatorial slaves to try and recapture the Thing. T’Challa then has Ben perform the X-Men’s trademark Fastball Special to throw him onto the flying car. There he manages to get his claws onto Biggie’s throat. He demands that they stop fighting or else he’ll kill Biggie.

While this is happening, the Thing fights the slaves but one of them manages to clamp a slave collar around his neck from behind. Meanwhile, Johnny is somehow burned by the flames of a fire breathing creature. Storm rescues him and carries the Torch to a nearby rooftop to recover. She then summons a powerful storm to deal with their attackers. While Johnny cheers on from the sidelines, he is also tagged with a slave collar.

Meanwhile, T’Challa makes Biggie’s car crash into a nearby apartment building. He then leaps to the ground and begins fighting a growing mob of mobsters. With more arriving in flying cars, T’Challa tells Storm to run for it before she is blasted out of the sky. She tells her that he’ll look after Johnny and Ben. Moments after Ororo leaves, T’Challa finds himself completely surrounded and surrenders. Biggie Smalls then boasts that he will force the Black Panther to fight in the arenas until he’s dead!

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Black Panther, Storm, Human Torch, Thing), Skrulls (Biggie Smalls)

Continuity Notes

1. The Thing was once kidnapped from Earth and forced to fight in the gladiatorial arenas of Kral IV until the rest of the Fantastic Four rescued him. See Fantastic Four #91-93.

2. T’Challa states here that his people have had gun neutralizing technologies for centuries. We saw this for the first time in Black Panther (vol. 4) #1.

3. The Fantastic Four have been trying to get home ever since King Solomon’s Frogs transported them to Reality-2149 in Black Panther (vol. 4) #27. They ended up on Kral IV last issue.

4. In the flashback, we see Crystal with the rest of the Fantastic Four. The FF’s first mission on Kral IV happened during a time when Crystal was acting as a member of the team. This was during the period when Sue Richards was pregnant and gave birth to her son Franklin circa Fantastic Four Annual #6. Crystal served on the team from Fantastic Four #81 to 105.