When Opens the Cocoon!

After examining the footage of Alicia's abduction, Mister Fantastic begins working on replicating the device that allowed her abductor to pass through a solid wall to wherever he came from. After getting components from Tony Stark, Reed is finally ready to complete the process that will eventually help them find out where Alicia was taken.

Meanwhile, deep within Lock 41 of the Beehive, Alicia Masters and Hamilton continue down the tunnel to find the artificially created man known as Him. The scientists' creation fights back with blasts and beams of energy that keep Hamilton back, but Alicia presses along on her own despite his protests. When Hamilton tries to go after her, he is caught up in strange tendrils that come out of the walls. While outside in the main lab, the other scientists monitor the progress. With fears that Him may be impossible to control, Shinski shows them their final fail save, a device that will create an ultrasonic wave that will send Him into the deepest reaches of space where the artificial man will be no threat to them.

Back at he Baxter Building, Sue, Johnny, Ben and Crystal all sit down for breakfast while they wait for Reed to emerge from his lab. After two days of work, Reed believes that the device used to kidnap Alicia has been correctly duplicated. Back at Lock 41, Alicia finally makes it to Him where she learns that the artificial being has sealed himself in a cocoon. Ready to emerge from his chrysalis, Him admits that he is weak and frightened, but Alicia assures Him that she will remain there for the duration of this metamorphosis. At that very moment, Reed completes his assembly of the device. He tells Sue and Crystal to remain behind. Holding Ben and Johnny's hands, Reed surprises everyone when the trio suddenly pass through a solid wall and end up at the Beehive complex where Alicia is being kept. There they are attacked by the guards, and respond in kind.

Deep within Lock 41, Hamilton catches up with Alicia and is surprised to find that Him will emerge from his cocoon in moments. Seeing their creation as an evil abomination of science he tries to destroy it but Him fights back with a single blast, stunning both Alicia and Hamilton before beginning his final transformation. By this time, the Thing has managed to force Alicia's location out of one of the guards and the Fantastic Four rush to her rescue. Inside Lock 41, Hamilton is leading Alicia to safety when a wall collapses on him, killing him. Alicia is then found by Ben and Johnny. They quickly flee the scene as Him's power levels continue to rise. As the Fantastic Four leave, the scientists who created Him realize that their experiment has gone too far and try to activate the device to abort Him into space, but it fails to work. As the Fantastic Four and Alicia pass through the doorway back home, Him emerges from Lock 41. The perfect, golden skinned and blonde haired man, admonishes his creators for creating him for their evil ends and sentences them to death. Suddenly, the Beehive explodes, seemingly slaying all within.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Alicia Masters, Him, Crystal, Enclave (Jerome Hamilton, Maris Morlak, Wladyslav Shinski, Carlo Zota)

Continuity Notes

• The Enclave is not officially named here, but later on in their appearance in Fantastic Four #207. The full names of each member of the Enclave was revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #4. Morlak, Shinski, and Zota survive and are all seen again in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comics Magazine #1 where they are hired by Doctor Doom to loot Reed's lab.

• The Enclave’s motivation for creating Him is explained in further detail in Marvel Comics #1000 which reveals that the creation of artificial life is part of a grander scheme of world domination.

• As explained in Thor #165, after his appearance here, Him ventured into space to try and find a suitable mate when the Watcher deemed it necessary to interfere. Forcing Him to change back into his cocoon form, the Watcher then placed him on a US defense satellite that was then sent back down to Earth. The cocoon was then collected and placed in an atomic research facility, where it was found in Thor #164.

• The period of time is briefly visited by the spirit of Reed Richards' future self in Domination Factor Fantastic Four #2.3 who was on a quest to retrieve a slice of a Golden Apples of Idunn. As a result of the events in Domination Factor Fantastic Four #1.1-4.7 and Domination Factor: Avengers #1.2-4.8 a divergent reality of Earth-8921 is created.