Fantastic Four #280
Tell Them All They Love Must Die
The Fantastic Four have returned to the now-empty lot where their headquarters, the Baxter Building, used to reside. Reed explains to a police officer that the entire building was shot into space and blown up by Kristoff Vernard, the heir of Doctor Doom. The scene gets heated when Abraham Shoenstein, the owner of a deli that used to reside in the Baxter Building, arrives at the scene upset that his store is now gone. When Reed promises to reimburse him for the damages, Shoenstein tells Reed it'll never be enough as the only picture of his late wife hung over the door of his deli. When Reed tries to comfort him, one of the officers on the scene tells Reed to save his breath and then begins roughing up Shoenstein simply because he is Jewish. When Wyatt steps in to get the officer to back off, the cop belts Wyatt across the face with his nightstick. When She-Hulk steps in to help her boyfriend, officers start to swarm her. Before she can fight them off, Reed tells her that she must not resist arrest and that things should get cleared up at the police station. Listening to Reed, both She-Hulk and Wyatt allow themselves to be arrested and taken away in a police wagon.
After they leave, Reed and Sue notice that the gathered crowd is growing hostile. Things heat up even more when someone in the crowd tries to toss a brick at Alicia. This upsets Johnny who tries to scare off the mob by flaming on. But this only serves to inflame the people who begin to charge at them. Thankfully, Sue is able to erect a force field to keep their attackers at bay. The four decide to split up, Sue using her invisibility to help Alicia get out away from the mob and back home, while Johnny carrier Reed to their temporary home at Avengers Mansion. As they leave, the Hate-Monger and his master Psycho-Man keep track of Sue and Alicia's progress through the mob with a scanning device. Disguising himself as Reed Richards, the Hate-Monger is sent to intercept Sue.
When Reed and Johnny arrive at Avengers Mansion they see an anti-mutant mob has formed around the mansion. Inside they are told by Jarvis that the Avengers are out examining the increasing acts of violence breaking out all over the city. Reed deduces that it may have something to do with some hate pamphlets that have been circulating around and so he and Johnny head down to the lab to examine one of the pamphlets further. Elsewhere in the city, the police wagon carrying She-Hulk and Wyatt is suddenly knocked over when a bomb goes off under manhole cover it is passing by. When a group of men try to raid the truck, they suddenly run away when She-Hulk busts her way out. She-Hulk then begins heading to Avengers Mansion to find out what's going on, leaving Wyatt with the guards. Along the way, she sees anti-Semitic slogans painted on Jewish owned buildings and other acts of vandalism all over the city. Suddenly another explosion goes off in front of her, and She-Hulk is confronted by a leather-clad woman calling herself Malice, the Mistress of Hate. When She-Hulk tries to punch out her foe, she is shocked to find that she can handle the blow. Suddenly the chunk of street she is standing on is shot high up in the air and then dropped. Trying to reach up at her foe by digging under the street, She-Hulk is not prepared when Malice causes the street she is standing on to collapse. The final victor is in Malice's hands when she somehow cuts off She-Hulk's air until she passes out.
Malice is then visited by the Hate-Monger who resumes his natural form and congratulates her on a job well done. Malice removes her mask, revealing herself to be Sue Richards, as the Hate-Monger plots to use her to kill the rest of the Fantastic Four. Back at Avengers Mansion, Reed has examined one of the hate pamphlets and concludes that it has some kind of alien molecules that are effecting those who come into contact with it. As Reed and Johnny try to figure out who might be responsible, they are interrupted by Franklin who has had a terrible dream where they were attacked by his mother, and killed Reed.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl/Malice, Human Torch, She-Hulk), Wyatt Wingfoot, “Alicia Masters”, Hate-Monger, Psycho-Man, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
The destruction of the original Baxter Building happened in Fantastic Four #278. Reed begins constructing its replacement the Four Freedoms Plaza in Fantastic Four #285, construction is completed in Fantastic Four #296. The FF Plaza is destroyed years later and dumped into the Negative Zone by the Thunderbolts in Thunderbolts #10. Noah Baxter later constructed a new Baxter Building in Fantastic Four (Vol 3) #38-39.
Reed refers to the person responsible for blowing up their headquarters was someone claiming to be Doctor Doom. He is referring to Kristoff Vernard who was imprinted with Doom's memories in Fantastic Four #278. The real Doctor Doom is believed to be dead at this time following the events of Fantastic Four #260 when his body was atomized in a battle between the Silver Surfer and Tyros.
This is not the real Alicia Masters but a Skrull spy named Lyja who took her place around the events of Fantastic Four #265 in order to spy on the group. This fact was revealed in Fantastic Four #358.
Some of the events of this issue are repeated or expanded on in Secret Wars II #2, they are:
Reed and Johnny examining the pamphlets
She-Hulk and Wyatt being arrested by the police.
Any the Psycho-Man and Hate-Monger tracking Sue and Alicia. In this story, they show the Transformation of Sue into Malice.
Sue mentions that she defeated the Hulk on her own. That's kind of true. She is referring to Fantastic Four #167 when she used her powers to cut off the Hulk's oxygen long enough for the Thing to knock her out.
Franklin has had another precognitive dream in this story, making mention of his last one which occurred in Fantastic Four #276.
