Fantastic Four #177
Look Out for the Frightful Four
After reading a classified ad in the newspaper about auditions for a new member of the Frightful Four happening at the Baxter Bulding, the Fantastic Four arrive at their base to find that the ad is true and the three mainstays of the Frightful Four -- Wizard, Trapster, and Sandman -- are truly there waiting for potential applicants for their fourth member. The Fantastic Four battle their evil counterparts and during the fight one of the Wizard's anti-gravity discs strikes a nearby television turning it on instantly distracting the Impossible Man.
As the Fantastic Four chase after the Frightful Four, they fall for one of the Trapster's hologram traps and is incapacitated. With the Fantastic Four bound in restraints will prevent them from using their powers. They then begin calling in their applicants, much to the dismay of landlord Walter Collins, who can't get the police to do anything because there are no wanted criminals on the site or anyone doing anything illegal.
Their first interview s with a man calling himself Osprey who has no powers, furious at his fringe interest in super-villainy, the Wizard disposes of him with a anti-gravity disk which causes him to fly out. The Fantastic Four are told by Wizard that the anti-gravity disk will set Osprey down somewhere in the South Bronx. The Wizard then states on the intercom that anyone who doesn't have superpowers doesn't need to audition to be a possible member of the Frightful Four....or else.
Their next inductee is a man calling himself the Texas Twister who has the power to control tornadoes. He explains that he got his powers when being exposed to radioactivity when he was swept up in a tornado that plowed through a nuclear power plant. When he learns that the Frightful Four doesn't have a salary system, he rejects a position and walk out.
Thundra passed herself off as an auditioner with the secret motive to try and free the captured Fantastic Four. However Thundra is easily taken out by one of the Trapster's traps and is bound up with the Fantastic Four.
Their next inductee is a man calling himself is Captain Ultra, who exhibits super-strength and the power of flight. However, he proves to have a phobia to fire when the Wizard lights up a cigarette in front of him and passes out, leading to his rejection.
The next inductee is Tigra, who is only posing as someone interested in joining the Frightful Four only to get close enough to the controls to free the Fantastic Four. She only succeeds in freeing the Human Torch and the Thing.
Caught off guard, the Wizard calls all the would-be villains in the lobby to come help them. All of the applicants flee except for one who reveals himself to be the Brute and bursts into the room, taking on the Thing. While the Wizard, Trapster and Sandman incapacitate Tigra and the Torch, the Brute holds his own against the Thing and defeats him by opening the portal to the Negative Zone, sucking Ben into the anti-matter universe.
Impressed at the Brute's strength, the Wizard welcomes him to the Frightful Four, the Brute then reverts to his human form and reveals himself to be the Reed Richards of Counter-Earth.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Impossible Man, Thundra, Tigra, Frightful Four (The Wizard, Trapster, Sandman, Brute), Texas Twister, Captain Ultra, Walter Collins
Continuity Notes
The Impossible Man mentions the first time he visited Earth, which occurred in Fantastic Four #11.
The Texas Twister mentions he had "other offers" in this story when he's next seen in Fantastic Four #192 he is trying to recruit the Human Torch by some unseen employers. The time he is seen after this in Captain America #228-229 he was a member of SHIELD's Super Agents unit. All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update #4 clarifies that the Twister had been working for SHIELD the entire time.
Some facts about Thundra mentioned in this issue: She was briefly a member of the Frightful Four in Fantastic Four #129-130 and 133. She betrayed them in favour of the Fantastic Four during their last failed attack on the Baxter Building in Fantastic Four #148-149.
After his dismal performance here, Captain Ultra next tries to join the disastrous Defenders for a Day in Defenders #62-63.
The narrative in this story states that Tigera's last appearances where in the pages of Marvel Chillers #7, however her previous chronological appearance is actually in a flashback from Marvel Team-Up #61. In that story she hands over a soul-catcher to the Fantastic Four after using it to trap the Super-Skrull after the events of Marvel Chillers #7.
It is revealed next issue that this other Reed Richards is actually from Counter-Earth and that he stowed aboard the Fantastic Four's ship when they returned home to Earth in Fantastic Four #176. His last chronological appearance was in Warlock #7, when he went on a rampage as the Brute. He was stopped by Warlock and Counter-Earth's Victor von Doom, who restored him to normal.
