Madness Is... the Miracle Man!

The Fantastic Four have returned home to their Baxter Building headquarters where they find Johnny's old school friend Wyatt Wingfoot waiting for them. He has come to tell them that he is graduating from Metro College and has asked that they attend, then return with him to his people's tribe in Oklahoma. When Reed asks if anything is wrong, Wyatt says he isn't sure but has a feeling that the Fantastic Four might be needed. As the rest of the FF prepare to go to the graduation ceremony, Reed declines to go, wanting to wait behind in case Sue decides to return to him. Medusa's attempts to get Reed to go out anyway fail. Elsewhere in the headquarters, Johnny tries to figure out what sort of suit to wear and notices his hairstyle is totally dated and decides to do something about it. Ben then begins to muse over the situation, then begins reminiscing about the old days as a pilot. Deciding to call Alicia, he is five minutes late as she had just left her apartment on a trip that may very well change her life forever. Shortly thereafter the Fantastic Four prepare to leave, taking off in the Pogo-Plane, leaving Reed alone with his thoughts. As Wyatt and Medusa get to know each other, Johnny enters the cockpit with his new hairstyle and is met with teasing and laughter over his new look.

Meanwhile, in the mountains of Oklahoma near the land owned by Wyatt's people the Keewazi, a man tries to flee for his life when he is suddenly attacked by a massive thing. When Silent Fox's people go out to investigate the screams, they are horrified when the mountains suddenly come to life, forming a giant creature that chases them away.

Back in New York City, Ben, Johnny and Medusa are in the crowd to watch Wyatt obtain his diploma. After the festivities Johnny is briefly reunited with Coach Throne, who muses how he never got Wyatt to join the school football team. Suddenly one of the administrators tells Wyatt that he got an emergency call back home, and soon he and the Fantastic Four are heading to Oklahoma to see what danger Silent Fox was speaking of. When they arrive they learn that there has been some strange happenings in the hills and that refugees from other reservations have come to the Keewazi for shelter. Before the Fantastic Four can learn anymore about the incident they are suddenly confronted by their old foe the Miracle Man, who claims responsibility and threatens to destroy them all. Johnny and Ben laugh at this, remembering from their last encounter that the Miracle Man only had hypnotic powers and could not create any real miracles. However they realize how wrong they are when the Miracle Man is able to cause the ground to crack up and stone hands to grab at them, as well as a massive stone monster to fight the Thing. Johnny and Medusa manage to get to safety, and when Johnny disrupts the energy matrix between the Miracle Man's hands, it causes the stone creature fighting the Thing to crumble as well.

Confused, Johnny recounts the group's previous encounter with the Miracle Man early on in their career and how he was merely a stage magician with hypnotic powers who was defeated when Johnny managed to blind him with his flame. The Miracle Man explains that after he was put in prison, he became obsessed with the phenomenon of mind-over-matter and heavily researched the subject in prison. After his release from prison, he sought out the Dark Hills of Oklahoma, where he read of legends of the three thousand year old Cheemuzwa tribe who had master the very craft he sought to learn. He found the cave where they reportedly existed unseen by anyone for centuries. There he was greeted by the specters of these individuals and convinced them to teach him the power of mind-over-matter. After long months of training, the Miracle Man mastered this ability. Eventually, the Cheemuzwa confronted him, revealing that they knew he had less than noble intentions for the powers that they had taught him. The Miracle Man then turned this power against the Cheemuzwa, seemingly burying them alive.

With his tale over, the Miracle Man uses his powers to open up the ground, sending the Fantastic Four, Wyatt, and all of his people falling deep into the ground to their doom. With the Fantastic Four seemingly destroyed, the Miracle Man is now poised to rule over humanity for all time.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Medusa, Thing, Human Torch), Wyatt Wingfoot, Alicia Masters, Miracle Man, Silent Fox, Light Horse, Sam Thorne, Belle Thorne

Continuity Notes

• Reed states that he wants to wait for Sue to come back home to him. Sue separated from Reed over growing marital problems back in Fantastic Four #130.

• The Thing mentions how he fought in World War II and flew a B-29 Bomber. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. The fact of Ben Grimm fighting in the war would eventually age the character prematurely as time slides forward on the scale. As such, future stories merely reference Ben as a test pilot for the military and no longer fought in World War II.

• Alicia Masters was last seen in Fantastic Four #135 wondering why Ben had not gotten in touch with her recently. As revealed in Fantastic Four #141 she is traveling to Europe to investigate a potential medical procedure that will cure her blindness.

• In this story Coach Thorne states that he couldn't convince Wyatt to join the football team. However, this is not entirely accurate, as in Fantastic Four #61, Wyatt played for Metro University for at least one game.

• The Miracle Man was last seen in Fantastic Four #3, his encounter with the Fantastic Four is recapped in this story.