Black Panther (vol. 4) #34
Endgame
The Fantastic Four — Black Panther (T’Challa), Storm (Ororo Monroe), Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm) — have been stranded on the Skrull world of Kral IV. It is a society where the ruling class have taken on the Earth mobsters from the 1930s. With the rest of the team captured, Storm has discovered another society of Skrulls who are patterned after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. She has joined up in the Black Panthers to assist them in overthrowing the gangster and freeing her teammates.
Disguised as common labourors, Ororo and the others are led to the mobster’s colosseum via the sewers by a Skrull patterned after Bumpy Johnson. Storm doesn’t trust “Bumpy” and sure enough he is leading them into a trap. However, rather than climb up the manhole and face first into mobster guns, Storm uses her mutant powers to generate a powerful wind that sends the manhole cover shooting upward, knocking them out. When Ororo confronts “Johnson” about the guards, he denies knowing anything about it. She then uses her powers to throw “Bumpy” up to the surface. When the recovering guards point their guns at him, he pleads with them to hold their fire. That’s when “Malcolm X” and his Black Panthers emerge from the sewers with guns blazing, shooting everyone in sight. With the battle underway, Storm learns the location of her husband, teammates, as well as a cannon that has been pointed at the Earth.
In the arena are the Black Panther and the Thing, who are being forced to fight to the death or else the Skrulls will destroy Earth. Ben Grimm still tries to be defiant. He bellows to the watching audience, reminding them all how he tore down their oppressive society in the past.[1] He then warns that if they do not release him and his friends, he’ll dismantle them again, this time for good. This annoys Biggie Smalls, the leader of the mobsters, and he orders one of the other alien slaves to electrocute Ben. The two appear to spar with one another, but Ben quickly picks up T’Challa and throws him up to the observation box. There, he grabs Biggie and uses him as a human shield. He threatens to kill the mob boss if he doesn’t let them go. However, Smalls isn’t willing to surrender and orders his men to blow up Earth.
Outside, the violence has got the attention of the police who arrive on the scene to try and break things up. However, when Storm summons a powerful lightning bolt to destroy the planet killer weapon, the cops cowardly retreat.
Back in the arena, Ben frees Johnny who flames on and joins the fight. With the cannon destroyed, the other mobsters have lost their bravado and they flee for their lives. Abandoned, Biggie Smalls has his throat sliced open by T’Challa and bleeds to death. When the Black Panther emerges from the burning colosseum, the Black Panthers cheer him on. Storm is happily reunited with her husband. She then introduces him to this world’s version of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. They explain that they will round up the remaining mobsters and mete out the proper justice so they can rebuild a new peaceful society.
That’s when “Bumpy Johnson” is hauled up before them. Storm thinks that he should be given a speedy trial and execution as an example to the others. However, “Johnson” convinces the Fantastic Four to spare his life if he promises to take them to a ship that will take them back home. “Bumpy” is true to his word, but before T’Challa can figure out how to get the ship operational, King Solomon’s Frogs reappear before them. They have come to collect the heroes and teleport them again. Pleased by this unexpected turn of events “Bumpy Johnson” vows to rise again![2]
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Black Panther, Storm, Human Torch, Thing), Skrulls (Biggie Smalls, Barnsworth, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Bumpy Johnson)
Continuity Notes
The Thing was a prisoner of the Skrulls of Kral IV in the past and liberated its slaves. See Fantastic Four #91-93.
As of this writing (Feb, 2024), the ultimate fate of Bumpy Johnson and the revolution has not been depicted. At the very least there are some vestiges of the mobster society on Kral IV as we’ll see in USAvengers #12 and Guardians of the Galaxy Annual (vol. 3) #1.
