Fantastic Four #175
When Giants Walk the Sky!
With the Fantastic Four stranded on other worlds, the High Evolutionary has increased his size in order to battle Galactus to save Counter-Earth from being the world devours next meal. Attempting to appeal to Galactus one more time, the High Evolutionary has to admit that the Fantastic Four have failed in finding a replacement world willing to let Galactus consume it and is forced to resort to physical combat to stop Galactus. The battle is very brief as Galactus banishes the High Evolutionary to the Negative Zone and begins drawing his machines from his World Ship in order to consume Counter-Earth.
Just then Mr. Fantastic and the Thing find themselves transported to Counter-Earth by some unknown means. Surprised to find themselves back on the world they have come to save the two are also joined by the Human Torch and Gorr who are likewise teleported to Counter-Earth. They waste no time in trying to stop Galactus from completing his task. Detecting something different about the Thing, Galactus blasts him with a cosmic eye beam which seemingly has no effect on him.
During the fight, Sue teleports on site and tells Galactus that she found a suitable world for him to consume. She shows him the world that he has not seen before, however, when he sees the people of the planet beconing him to come, Galactus gathers up his devices and heads toward the planet immediately. As Galactus departs the High Evolutionary returns from the Negative Zone to learn that his created world has been spared. Resuming his original size he takes Gorr and the Fantastic Four to his asteroid to investigate. They watch as Galactus consumes his world and is suddenly wracked with pain as he absorbs the energy. The High Evolutionary, feeling kinsman-ship with Galactus attempts to save his life by speeding up his evolution turning him into a giant brain, however, this proves to be too little too late and Galactus is seemingly destroyed.
With Galactus destroyed, the heroes are surprised when another Sue Richards enters the room. This one proves to be the real Sue and the one who showed Galactus a planet to consume was in reality the Impossible Man. The Impossible Man explains that Sue was teleported to his world, in learning of her plight he decided to help out. He explains that the reason why his people agreed to pose as a suitable planet for consumption is because they all evolved to the point where they shared the same mind, and in consuming their entire planet the group mind would live on in the single remaining Impossible Man. He goes on to explain that his planet must have been difficult to digest and that Galactus likely died of terminal digestion. In repayment for offering up his home planet, the Impossible Man asks that the Fantastic Four adopt him and take him back to Earth with them.
Using Gorr's ship to return to Earth, Ben begins to feel strange, and as he removes his exo-suit he suddenly mutates back into his Thing form breaking the suit into pieces.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), High Evolutionary, Impossible Man, Galactus, Gorr
Continuity Notes
The members of the Fantastic Four and the High Evolutionary make reference to how many billions of people live on Earth (between 3 and 4 billion). However, this should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, particularly since this number has more than doubled since its publication.
Although the rest of his people are wiped out in this story. The Impossible Man creates an entirely new family, starting with the Impossible Woman in Marvel Two-In-One #60 and his Impossible Children in Marvel Two-In-One #86. Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #1-4 later reveals that the Popuppians exist in a hive mind and that the collective memory of every member continues to exist so long as one member of their race exists.
Although Galactus is seemingly slain here, Fantastic Four #210 reveals that Galactus was merely turned into energy and late absorbed into his Worldship and revived anew. He next appears in the first flashback in Fantastic Four Annual #24 where he attempted to use the Ultimate Nullifier to slay Korvac during the "Korvac Saga" that occurred in Avengers #170-177.
The Thing's powers return at the end of this story after they were taken away from him at the end of Fantastic Four #167. Although the exo-suit is destroyed here, Reed eventually rebuilds it, and Ben uses it again during another period in which he lost his powers in Fantastic Four #327. He wore it again during the Atlantis Attacks crisis, starting in Avengers Annual #18.
When the Impossible Man poses as Sue he does not appear in his trademark purple and green color scheme. As established in New Mutants Annual #3, Poppuppians cannot change their color, only their shape. At least this has been the usual constant after that story. While there is no explanation for this continuity glitch, one could assume that extra precautions were taken to make this deception worked.
