The Power and the Pride!

With the Invisible Girl by their side, the Fantastic Four are prepared to storm Doctor Doom’s castle and liberate the enslaved nation. The Thing begins throwing debris at Castle Doom. This causes Doctor Dooms minion, Gustav Hauptman to rush to his master and warn him of the attack. However, Doctor Doom is unafraid of his foes and explains that he has rigged a nearby piano with a powerful hyper-sound weapon that will destroy his foes. As the Fantastic Four approach the castle, Doctor Doom activates a trap door that separates the Invisible Girl and Crystal from Reed and the others. When the male members of the team try to go after the Invisible Girl and Crystal, they are ambushed by an army of Doom’s Servo-Mechs. Realizing that they will have to get to the women another way, Mister Fantastic leads the team through the front gate. Down below, Sue and Crystal are also ambushed by Doom’s robots, but the pair are far from helpless and are able to hold their own against these attackers. Fighting their way into the next room they are shocked to discover that Doctor Doom is waiting for them and has set up a huge banquet for them.

Back in the United States, a group of locals approach the strange house that was recently bought by Sue Richards to raise her newborn son. They wonder where the mystery house came from but are quickly scared off by strange sounds coming from within.

Meanwhile, at Doom’s Castle, the Doctor entertains the two captive women, telling them that he has no desire to harm them. He explains that he will soon show the world that he its master just like he has taught his countrymen. When Sue and Crystal ask what Doom is planning he assures them that all he will do when Reed and the others arrive is entertain them with a song played on the piano. Elsewhere in the castle, Reed and the others enter Doctor Doom’s private art gallery where they are attacked by Gustav Hauptman. When the former Nazi tries to blast them with a ray gun, Doom is furious that his minion would put his works of art at risk of destruction and uses his hyper-sound weapon to kill Gustav.

With his secret weapon exposed, Doctor Doom loses all interest in continuing the battle further and tells the Fantastic Four that they are free to leave. However, he vows that he will return to destroy them another day.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing, Crystal), Doctor Doom, Gustav Hauptman

Continuity Notes

• Hauptman mentions that he was trained by the Nazis in this story. However, the Sliding Timescale makes this increasingly impossible as the Modern Age is bumped forward in time without some kind of process to slow or stop the aging process. Marvle has yet to explain how Hauptman could still be in his relative prime as of this writing (November 2021). However, since many other Nazi scientists cheated death with their inventions, it doesn’t seem too outlandish that Hauptman was able to do the same. Alternatively, one could assume that Hauptman is a war criminal from a more recent conflict as opposed to World War II.

• Gustav Hauptmann is slain in this issue, but is survived by his brother Gert Hauptman, who was also in Doom's employ as early as Fantastic Four #196.