Prisoners of Kurrgo, Master of Planet X

Kurrgo the ruler of Planet X is seeking to find a way to save his world from a runaway asteroid that is poised to strike the planet causing an extinction level event. Monitoring the Fantastic Four on Earth, Kurrgo believes that only they can help save his doomed world. This is because the people of Planet X had previously found no reason to explore space and as such only have two working spaceships. Kurrgo takes one of these ships to bring him and his robot to Earth.

On Earth, the Fantastic Four have been invited to attend a government dinner in Washington D.C., although most of the team worries that their powers will cause them to be regarded as freaks or cause embarrassment to themselves, however, they all decide to go when Reed does not accept any of their excuses to bow out. Reed points out to them that he is less than thrilled to go either since he is in the middle of developing a new rocket fuel, but insists that they must attend this social gathering. As they fly to Washington in the Fantasti-Car, Kurrgo's ship lands and his robot uses its atomic scanner to locate the Fantastic Four. As the heroes attend the dinner and are awarded a trophy for their work, Kurrgo activates a Hostility Ray that makes the people of Washington hostile.

This also includes the guests at the dinner who begin attacking the Fantastic Four. Not wanting to hurt the civilians, the Four flee the dinner, using their powers to get past the armed guards who try to bar their path. They board the Fantasti-Car and fly back to New York when they notice that they are being followed by Kurrgo's ship and try to flee it, but it follows them the whole way back to their headquarters the Baxter Building.

There Kurrgo's robot reveals itself to them and shows how the entire population of Earth now hates the Fantastic Four and that they have swarmed the Baxter Building to try and get at the super group. With no other choice, Reed and the others agree to board Kurrgo's ship and return with them to Planet X.

When they arrive on the planet, they learn that Kurrgo has summoned them to use Reed Richard's intelligence to find a way to save his people. Johnny and Ben try to fight against Kurrgo's robot, but Sue makes them stand down and Reed agrees to help. Learning that they have only two working space ships and no time to build more and no means of destroying the asteroid.

Reed devises a shrinking gas that he uses to shrink the entire population of the planet so that they can fit in one rocket, giving the only supposed cannister of growing gas to Kurrgo. As the Fantastic Four blast off back to Earth in one ship, the people of Planet X pile into another. Kurrgo has decided to withhold the growing gas so that he could rule over his diminutive subjects for the rest of his life. However as the planet begins to crumble, Kurrgo trips and falls and witnesses in horror as the ship containing his people blasts off without him. The Fantastic Four meanwhile rocket back home to Earth where Reed reveals to them that he deceived Kurrgo, as he did not create an enlarging gas, telling his teammates that in the vast universe size is relative and that the people of Planet X will find a suitable home, regardless of their actual size.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Kurrgo

Continuity Notes

• The aliens on "Planet X" and the actual name of their planet is not named in this issue. They are officially named the Xantha and their planet Xanth in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12.

• Mister Fantastic recreates Henry Pym's Shrinking Gas formula using Kurrgo's advanced scientific equipment. According to Marvel Saga #5, Reed Richards is "the only other scientist whom the Ant-Man has entrusted with the secret of his reducing formula."