A World of Madness Made!

Reed plummets from the 36th floor of the Baxter Building, but fortunately, Thundra catches him in her powerful arms, to the amazement of the bystanders. Reed has had the wind knocked out of him, but he is still alive, and Thundra asks Medusa to help him while she climbs the Baxter Building to battle Mahkizmo. When she finds the warrior in Reed's laboratory, standing over the downed figures of the Human Torch and the Thing, his exhibition of male egoism nauseates her. Mahkizmo commands her to beg for mercy, but she asserts that no male alive can defeat her. Then Mahkizmo exclaims that he likes a woman with spirit, and the two figures slam into each other with explosive power. The energy of their collision revives the Human Torch and the Thing, but before the teammates can enter the fray, Thundra and Mahkizmo vanish in a flash of light.

As Ben and Johnny try to figure out what happened, Medusa and Reed enter the room. Ben becomes annoyed when Medusa seems more concerned about Thundra than himself and Johnny, but Reed calms him down and reminds him that Thundra probably saved their lives. When Reed wonders how Thundra is involved with the giant, Medusa repeats Thundra's story about the world of Machus and the world of the Femizons. Thundra was sent to defeat the Earth's most powerful male, says Medusa, and Mahkizmo was sent to stop her. Somehow the world of Machus has begun to "slip over" into Thundra's world, and now Mahkizmo has taken Thundra back with him to Machus. Seven hours later, Reed is busy working on a modification to Dr. Doom's time machine. Sue has returned from her country vacation to assist him. Reed explains that Thundra allowed herself to be captured because a battle between herself and Mahkizmo could have destroyed the Earth. Three hours later, as dawn breaks over New York, the Human Torch enters through the window, and Reed announces that the machine is ready for testing. Reed hopes that the time machine will now be able to travel "sideways through time" as well as backward and forward. Ben has been holding up a piece of heavy equipment for the better part of an hour, and Reed, at last, tells him that he doesn't need it after all. Ben splutters in irritation, but Reed orders him, Johnny, and Medusa onto the circular platform of the time machine, and he tells Sue that they are all depending on her to pull them back to the present if anything goes wrong. Then he flicks a switch on the master control board and stands next to his teammates, and as Sue and Franklin watch, Reed and his companions fade away in a blaze of light.

The four time travelers are amazed to see the world around them change as Reed works the controls. When they time traveled before, they were never able to view the effect of their passage. Reed says that this is due to the modifications he made. As the centuries rapidly pass by, they see New York City Sink into the sea. It's buildings crumbling into dust. When Reed decides he has traveled far enough, he sets the machine to move sideways through the alternate futures, passing in turn through Earth's own timeline, the future of the Femizons, and finally the future of Machus. Their journey finally ends on a rocky plain outside one of that world's major cities. Johnny immediately flames on and flashes toward the city, saying he has a score to settle with Mahkizmo. Reed cautions him to be careful, but no sooner does Johnny go that he spots a group of men brutalizing some women. Johnny flashes down to break up the melee, but one man, Gagnor, fires at Johnny with an energy pistol. Johnny dodges the bolts as Reed, Ben, and Medusa attack. Just as the tide of battle turns in the Fantastic Four's favor, Mahkizmo himself appears. Ben rushes to attack him, but Mahkizmo shoves Ben aside as though he were weightless. If Ben were a woman, shouts Mahkizmo, he could understand his brainless stupidity, but Ben is a man, and that makes him simply a fool. Seeing his teammate in trouble, Johnny soars to attack, but Mahkizmo drops him with a single punch. Then Mahkizmo attacks Reed. Medusa tries to warn him, but a stun blast hits her from behind and knocks her unconscious. This enrages Ben, and he bowls Mahkizmo's men over. But Mahkizmo threatens to kill Reed unless Ben surrenders, and the four companions are taken, prisoner.

The Fantastic Four are brought to Machus's city, where they are shown a totally subservient Thundra being whipped like a slave. Again Ben is enraged, and he breaks his chains and attacks. Unfortunately, Mahkizmo stops him with one punch Reed tells Ben that resistance is useless because the men of Machus have some kind of ray that saps the will and makes it impossible to act. Mahkizmo then orders the three male teammates placed in a stasis cage to be disposed of later in the "arena." But Medusa, he gloats, will stay with him tonight. When evening falls, Medusa is forced to entertain Mahkizmo in his palace chamber, but soon she sees the opportunity to shatter a wine bottle over his head. Feeling disgusted by what she had to endure, she leaves the warrior unconscious. As she passes by the stasis-cage, Reed asks her to release them, but Medusa says that she cannot. There is no time to explain, she says apologetically as she hurries out of the castle and back to the time machine. Having seen Reed control it, she hopes she can do likewise, and she turns the machine on and fades away. Ben, Johnny, and Reed can hardly believe that Medusa has betrayed them.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Medusa, Human Torch, Thing, Invisible Girl), Franklin Richards, Thundra, Mahkizmo

Continuity Notes

• Femazonia is indexed as Earth-715 and Machus as Earth-74101 in Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four.

• Reed modifies Doctor Doom's time platform, here are some facts about this time machine:

  • Doctor Doom first used his time machine against the group Fantastic Four #5. It was located at Doctor Doom's castle in upstate New York.

  • There have been ongoing continuity conflicts as to where Doctor Doom's time machine is located. Fantastic Four #19, 23, and 34 all depicted and stated that the Time Machine here was Doctor Doom's from Fantastic Four #5 and confiscated by Reed Richards. However Avengers #56, Annual #2, and Marvel Super-Heroes #20 show the time machine still at Doctor Doom's castle.

  • It was finally clarified in Fantastic Four Annual #11, that Reed was unable to actually stake Doom's time machine from his castle due to Doom's diplomatic immunity, but he was able to duplicate it. Which explains this ongoing discrepancy.

• Sue has been on a vacation in the country after she ended her separation with Reed in Fantastic Four #149. The couple had separated in Fantastic Four #130 over escalating marital problems. This grew when Reed was forced to shut down the mind of their son Franklin in Fantastic Four #141, which prompted Sue to file for divorce in Fantastic Four #148 before she and Reed reconciled the following issue.