Fantastic Four #220
...And the Lights Went Out All Over the World!
As Ben and Alicia take a cab to the airport to escape the harsh New York winter for a break in the sun, their cab driver worries about the implications for his insurance should a super-villain decide to mount an attack. Suddenly the cab is caught in gridlock as a city-wide blackout brings chaos to the streets. From the cab, Ben sees the boom of a crane on a nearby construction site falling and threatening passers-by. Hurriedly ripping the door off the cab he rushes to catch the boom before it can cause any damage.
Across town, at approximately the same time Sue and Franklin have just finished a shopping expedition when the blackout occurs, and Sue quickly sees that a couple of window cleaners are about to fall to their deaths. Reacting quickly she saves the men by creating a force field cushion. On Long Island, Johnny is tuning a hot rod with a friend of his when the blackout strikes. Hearing the sound of a light aircraft engine cutting out Johnny blazes through the roof of the garage and creates an updraft that keeps the plane aloft long enough until the power is restored. At the Baxter Building, Reed is busy trying to find the cause of the power blackout in his lab.
As Sue, Ben, Alicia, and Franklin enter and relate their experiences to him the leader of the Fantastic Four realizes that the blackout wasn't just confined to his lab, and a call from Avengers' Mansion confirms even worse news: the blackout was worldwide! As Johnny enters, Reed surmises that a global electromagnetic failure would seem to indicate disruption at the Earth's magnetic poles. Leaving Franklin in Alicia's care, the four decide to investigate. Soon the Fantastic Four are traveling high above Canada in their ICBM en route to the North Pole. Reed soon realizes that something is altering the magnetic fields of the Earth, but another power outage soon sends the ICBM plummeting towards the ground.
The ship's emergency wings deploy automatically and Ben is able to bring it under control and execute a crash landing. The Fantastic Four investigate the source of the EM disruption, tracking it to beyond an ice ridge in the distance. There they find a mile-wide hole in the polar ice around which machines of an alien design are gathered, operated by dark alien creatures. Suddenly a tremendous vibration nearly knocks the Fantastic Four off their feet as a mile-high crystal tower rises up menacingly from the ice.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision), Vindicator
Continuity Notes
This story contains a retelling of the origin of the Fantastic Four from Fantastic Four #1. This is the first time the origin story has been updated to include a reference to a "Star Drive"
The recollection of the Thing in a more lizard-like appearance when he first got his powers is explained in Marvel Two-In-One #50 explains that Ben continued to mutate after the crash. He did not adopt his trademark rock-like form until Fantastic Four #4.
The creatures the FF fight here are actually constructs created by the Flb'Dbi race as revealed next issue, their names are revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #3.
