To Save You, Why Must I Kill You?

The Frightful Four attempt to goad their brainwashed pawn, The Thing, into killing his best friend, Reed Richards, for causing the accident which transformed him into the monstrous Thing. Regaining consciousness, Richards finds himself stuck to a large board by the Trapster's paste, and at mercy of the enraged Thing. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm manages to flame on at his highest intensity and thereby vapourize the harness which has been rigged to him that would otherwise have doused him with water. The Torch then frees his sister, the Invisible Girl, from a massive plastic bag she is trapped in. While the Torch and Sue battle the Frightful Four, Mister Fantastic tricks the Thing into shattering the board he has been glued to, freeing him. This does not save him from the Thing's wrath, as Grimm easily overpowers Richards and then crams him into a small metal urn, and jams the lid on tight.

Sue and Johnny are soon outnumbered. In order to allow his sister to escape, Johnny lets off a flare to blind their foes; but although Sue manages to get away, Medusa douses Johnny's flame by soaking her hair and then wrapping him in it, whereupon the rest of her team incapacitate him. Meanwhile, Sue finds the urn Reed is trapped in and flees outside to try and free him. With the battle over, the Wizard remarks on how savage the Thing is and how difficult it is to control him. While the others are squabbling again, he subjects the Human Torch to the ID Machine, seemingly making Johnny Storm evil. Meanwhile, outside, Sue manages to use her powers to pull the lid off the urn, freeing Reed from captivity. However, both pass out from the strain.

When they revive, they chance on an equipment shed in the grounds of the mansion. They ambush the Frightful Four, tagging them with the Wizard's own anti-gravity discs, which they have coated with the Trapster's paste. While the Sandman, Medusa and the Trapster are busy floating away, Reed grabs the Thing and flees. The Wizard and the Human Torch follow, but the Wizard becomes frustrated by the Torch constantly getting in his way. However, before Reed and Sue can escape with Ben, Johnny traps them behind a wall of flame.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Frightful Four (The Wizard, Trapster, Sandman, Medusa)

Continuity Notes

• As revealed in Fantastic Four #44 Medusa is a member of the Inhumans. She was stricken with amnesia during a battle against the Triton a few years earlier as depicted in Inhumans Special #1. It was later revealed in X-Men First Class (Vol. 2) #15 that the Wizard kept Medusa complaint and her memories jumbled with a device that he planted on the base of her neck. (If you consider that series part of continuity, like I do.)

• As revealed next issue, Sue sabotaged the ID Machine while fleeing the Frightful Four's headquarters and Johnny is only pretending to be loyal to the Wizard.