Fantastic Four #306
The Marvel Rage!
With Crystal agreeing to take the place of the departing Reed and Sue Richards, the Inhuman royal family has arrived at the Four Freedoms Plaza to recover Quicksilver and drop off Luna with her new nanny Maya. Seeing Crystal with her daughter Luna reminds Sue of when Franklin was the young girl's age. The group is introduced to Maya who has the power to create a safe environment around her and Luna at will. She makes it abundantly clear to the rest of the Fantastic Four that her primary concern is the care of Luna and she will only act with the Fantastic Four in cases where Luna's life is in danger. The reunion is less than joyous for Crystal and her sister Medusa, who is still upset over Crystal's indiscretions against Quicksilver. Reed wishes the Inhumans better luck at curing Quicksilver's madness than they had trying to cure Kristoff Vernard -- who recently escaped custody and now lords over Latveria thinking he is Doctor Doom.
Meanwhile, on the streets below, Captain America and Ms. Marvel ride into the city. Dropping Sharon off, Cap thanks her for her help bringing the Power Broker to justice. When he tries to shake Sharon's hand, Ms. Marvel shrieks back -- still suffering from the trauma of being raped by the Power Broker's minions earlier -- without further word, Cap rides off hoping that Miss Ventura can find the help she needs in New York City.
Back inside the Four Freedoms Plaza, Reed opens Quicksilver's cell and Pietro quickly tries to speed out. After a brief struggle, Quicksilver is downed by Lockjaw and subdued. Medusa tells the Fantastic Four that since Quicksilver married into the royal family he is their burden to find a cure for which leads Ben to think about how Crystal's infidelity led to this current situation, and how he is alone. As the Inhuman royal family teleports away with Quicksilver as their prisoner, Ben spots Ms. Marvel in the street below. He abruptly rushes down to the streets below but is unable to find any trace of the only other woman he has fallen in love with after Alicia.
Elsewhere in the city, Ms. Marvel wanders aimlessly and thinks about the course her life has taken: How she got involved with the World Class Wrestling Federation where she first met the Thing. How she became Ms. Marvel and underwent the Power Broker's process but was one of the few who didn't get hooked on the drugs that made the other enhanced wrestlers compliant to him. She remembers her brief battle with She-Hulk over the Thing, and later being lured into the Power Broker's hideout where she was betrayed and left to the machinations of Karl Malus, the Power Broker's scientist. Instead of addicting her to drugs he was more interested in trying to remove her powers, and his minions were more interested in her body. When she recalls how she was raped in his lab, she realizes how powerless she was and how she can never muster up being a super-hero.
Meanwhile, the Thing continues to search for Sharon when he is suddenly interrupted by Crystal who has come to ask him what Johnny meant during their battle with Doctor Doom about her trying to bust up his marriage with Alicia. Ben explains that Johnny figures that he asked Crystal to join the Fantastic Four in an attempt to ruin his marriage, but Ben confesses that such thoughts and insecurities are Johnny's problem and that having Crystal on the team is what is right for him. Suddenly their discussion is broken up by the appearance of Diablo who has teleported in front of them with his renewed Elementals, including a new one he calls the Trans-Mutant. After Crystal fires off a Fantasti-Flare, the Trans-Mutant uses his powers to turn her into solid gold.
However, this advantage is quickly ended when Reed, Sue, and Johnny all arrive on the scene. While Johnny fights Water, Ben fights Air, Reed fights Earth, and Sue Fire, Diablo gloats how they cannot win this time around. It seems as though Diablo is right as individuals, none of the members of the Fantastic Four appear to be a match for their opponents. Suddenly the battle comes to an abrupt end when Ms. Marvel arrives on the scene and sneaks up on Diablo, knocking him down with a single crushing blow. In a raging fury, Marvel begins pounding on Diablo until the Thing recovers from the fight and stops her. With Diablo's defeat, his Elementals have disappeared and the rest of the Fantastic Four are recovering from the fight.
When Ben his happy about their reunion, Ms. Marvel angrily yells at him saying that she was just passing by not seeking him out. Hurt by this, Marvel explains that after her experiences she hates men, but realizes that since Ben is not technically a man she can't bring herself to hate him as well and confides that she does not know what to do with her life. As the Fantastic Four assess the injuries Sharon caused to Diablo, Ben tells her that she is going to join his new Fantastic Four...
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Thing, Human Torch, Crystal, Ms. Marvel, Mister Fantastic, Invisibile Woman), “Alicia Masters”, Franklin Richards, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, Luna, Lockjaw, Maya), Quicksilver, Captain America
Continuity Notes
The woman appearing as Alicia Masters here is not the real Alicia Masters but is secretly Lyja, a Skrull spy, as revealed in Fantastic Four #358. She switched places with the real Alicia to spy on the FF around the events of Fantastic Four #265.
The Inhuman royal family present here were all last seen in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #10 when they discovered that Crystal was cheating on her husband with real estate agent Norman Webster. After they depart from here, both the royal family and Quicksilver are next seen in X-Factor Annual #2 where it is discovered that Maximus is responsible for Pietro's madness.
It's interesting to point out that the nanny appearing here is a woman named Maya. When later on in Avengers #343 the Inhuman known as Marilla states that she has always cared for Luna when Crystal is away. Obviously that statement is not entirely true.
Medusa mentions the recent trouble the royal family has experienced thanks to Crystal's marriage to Pietro. These facts are:
The Crystal cheated on Pietro in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6-12.
Pietro apparently went mad because of this and started attacking his old allies as seen in Avengers Annual #15, West Coast Avengers Annual #1 and Fantastic Four #304.
Medusa refers to Quicksilver as a mutant, however, this is not correct. Nobody, not even Pietro himself, is aware that his powers were the result of genetic experiments conducted on him as a child by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his tracks, he altered Pietro's DNA in such a way as though if examined it would register him as a mutant. This truth was revealed years later in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4.
Captain America and Ms. Marvel appears here after she helped Cap taking down Power Broker, Inc. in Captain America #328-331.
The reason why Sharon shrinks back from Cap in this story is that she was raped by the minions of Karl Malus between Captain America #330 and 331. Because of the restrictions placed by the Comics Code Authority that was in place at the time, this fact is not outright stated but heavily implied.
The long-running romantic drama between Ben, Alicia, Johnny, and Crystal is mentioned again this issue. For those paying attention at home, these are the facts:
Ben and the real Alicia Masters dated for a long time, since Fantastic Four #9.
Meanwhile, Johnny and Crystal dated between Fantastic Four #65-105 until the outside world's pollution forced her to return home to Attilan.
Crystal ended up rescuing Quicksilver along the way and the two fell in love as seen in Fantastic Four #131-132. Crystal and Quicksilver later got married in Fantastic Four #150. Johnny had a series of failed relationships while Ben and Alicia remained together over the years.
When most of the Fantastic Four were among those kidnapped by the Beyonder to battle in the first Secret Wars on Battleworld, Ben discovered he could change back and forth and believe it was because of Battleworld itself. He decided to stay there in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12.
Ben remained in Battleworld between Thing #11-22 where he eventually lost his ability to change back into Ben Grimm and returned to Earth.
When he arrived in Fantastic Four #257 he discovered that Johnny was now in a relationship with "Alicia".vIn Thing #23 the truth of what Reed had known came out and the Thing quit the Fantastic Four.
Ben ended up joining the Mole Man's society Fantastic Four #296, where he still held a grudge against Reed and the Fantastic Four for everything that happened to him. Despite this he grudgingly rejoined the team when they later came looking for him.
Johnny recently married "Alicia" in Fantastic Four #300.
Meanwhile, Crystal had and affair with Norm Webster and was eventually caught during the events ofVision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #6 through 12.
In Fantastic Four #303 Ben realized that he still loved Alicia Masters.
Reed elected Ben to replace him as leader of the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #304 Ben then asked Crystal to join the Fantastic Four last issue.
Johnny went so far as to accuse Crystal of trying to break up his marriage in Fantastic Four Annual #20.
Sharon goes over her recent history as follows:
She omits the fact that she didn't first meet the Thing when he was part of the Unlimited Class Wrestling League. She actually met him earlier when she was leaving the Thunderiders in Thing #27.
Ben was attracted to Sharon due to her resemblance to Tarianna a construct of Ben's ideal woman on Battleworld who Ben fought for and lost between Thing #12-22.
Sharon and Ben later reunited when he was with the UCWF in Thing #30.
Sharon later underwent the Power Broker's transformation in Thing #35 and became Ms. Marvel.
Her battle with She-Hulk occurred in Thing #36 when Ben was infected with a virus by the Power Broker and disappeared (He was later cured in Fantastic Four #296).
Sharon's capture, torture, and rape at the hands of Malus and his minions occurred behind the scenes in the subsequent Captain America #328-331 when she was rescued by Captain America.
Crystal recalls her last encounter with Diablo when he made her his slave, this happened in Fantastic Four #117-118.
