Fantastic Four #347
Big Trouble on Little Earth!
In deep space the Skrull renegade known as De'Lila is fleeing her pursuers in the Skrull empire. Heading toward Earth with her ship heavily damaged, she is forced to crash land. Although she manages to escape unscathed, her ship explodes stranding her on Earth.
Meanwhile, at the Four Freedoms Plaza, Reed and Sue Richards are spending time with their son Franklin, taking a break from trying to unlock their son's dormant mutant powers. Elsewhere in the facility, Alicia Masters approaches her husband the Human Torch who has been troubled ever since the Fantastic Four returned home from their mission in time and space. Troubled with the fact that he has feelings for Nebula who possessed his mind after the mission, he cannot bring himself to tell his wife about the situation and storms out of the room. In the training room, Ms. Marvel is lifting weights while mulling over how she briefly regained her humanity while the Fantastic Four were trapped on a prehistoric island. She comes to realize that she is trapped in this shell that is keeping her apart from the man she loves. Suddenly, her boyfriend Ben Grimm comes waltzing in with some flowers for her. He also has tickets for a show, but Sharon is less than interested in going out into public that day. Catching on to how Sharon is depressed, Ben relents and tells her if she needs anything to come and see him.
At that moment in deep space, a Skrull warship appears in Earth's solar system hot on the trail of De'Lila. The captain of the ship is furious over how she has escaped their attempts to capture her and demands that his crew capture the fugitive no matter what. Meanwhile, De'Lila has taken on a human guise and takes a moment to distract the security guard at the Four Freedoms Plaza in order to slip inside the headquarters of the Fantastic Four. Finding the Human Torch still brooding over Nebula, De'Lila reads his mind and assumes Nebula's form. Revealing herself to him, De'Lila seduces Johnny, getting close enough for her to knock him out with a weapon she has attached to her hand. Assuming the form of Alicia Masters she then pulls the same trick on Ben, using her "concerns" over Johnny to get close enough to knock Ben out as well. After putting Franklin to bed, Sue is confronted by what appears to be the Sub-Mariner and falls for De'Lila's tricks as well. "Namor" is confronted by the real Alicia Masters who demands to know what is going on, but De'Lila silences her with a single blow across the face. Knowing that Ms. Marvel would be too powerful for her weapon, the Skrull renegade disguises herself as Ben Grimm and tricks Sharon in to drinking a drugged cup of tea. Finally, assuming the form of the Invisible Woman, De'Lila tries to attack Reed in his lab. His naturally pliable body allows him to resist the jolt from her weapon, but after a brief struggle, she manages to knock out Reed as well.
The Skrull ship soon arrives in Earth orbit and seeking a means of tracking De'Lila down, the Skrulls on board begin scanning the planet. They find readings of creatures that share similar features to Skrull physiology and track it to Monster Island. Landing on the island, two Skrull scouts are sent out to investigate and they are horrified to see that the island is infested with monsters and retreat back to their ship. After a deeper scan they discover that these monsters are what their scanners were picking up. Deciding to utilize these monsters to hunt down De'Lila, the Skrulls fire devices that put the monsters under their control, hoping that they will flush them out. Meanwhile, deep below the Earth in Subterranea, one of the Mole Man's Outsider's informs him that someone is stealing the monsters from the island above. Furious at this affront, the Mole Man gathers his forces to confront those on the surface stealing his creatures.
Back at the Four Freedoms Plaza, De'Lila is accessing the Fantastic Four's data banks to locate other super-heroes who she can trick into assisting her on her mission. She is briefly interrupted by news reports about monsters attacking various cities in the world, tipping her off to the fact that her pursuers are getting closer. However, she finds who she is looking for and begins to put plans into motion to gather the heroes she needs.
Later, Spider-Man is swinging through the city when suddenly his Spider-Sense starts going wild and compels him to go to the Four Freedoms Plaza. There he finds the Hulk and Wolverine are already on site in the heat of an argument. Spider-Man interrupts before the pair can come to blows and asks them why they are there. The pair tell Spidey it is none of his business, but before they can talk further the security guard comes out of the building telling them that they have been summoned by Susan Richards and that he is to invite them into the Fantastic Four's headquarters as soon as the fourth guest arrives. They suddenly discover who it is when the Ghost Rider speeds by on his motorcycle and begins driving up the side of the Four Freedoms Plaza to the top floors. Spider-Man and Hulk follow suit, ascending the building in their own unique ways leaving an embarrassed Wolverine behind to take the elevator up. Wolverine arrives to see that what appears to have been a battle in the FF's headquarters. Unaware that "Susan Richards" is really De'Lila, she tells them that her team was attacked. She then shows them into Reed's lab where Reed, Ben, Johnny, Sharon, and Alicia are laid out on slabs with blankets over their faces. She tells them that the Fantastic Four have been murdered.
She explains that she hasn't made the news public for fear that the Fantastic Four's enemies may all come out at hiding upon the news getting out and asks the four assembled heroes to assist her on tracking down the killers. She explains that her enemy is responsible for the monsters being set loose all over Earth and provides them with a Sub-Photonic Spectro-Analyizer that she claims will allow them to track the unique energy source of their foe. With "Sue's" proposal finished, Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk and Ghost Rider all agree to help track down the "killer" and bring them to justice.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Ben Grimm, Ms. Marvel), “Alicia Masters”, Franklin Richards, New Fantastic Four (Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Ghost Rider), Mole Man, Skrulls, De’Lilah, Giganto, Tricephalous, Ugu, Skreeal, Vandroom
Continuity Notes
Reed mentions that he is trying to restore Franklin's mutant powers. Franklin voluntarily put dampers on his mutant powers back in Fantastic Four #245 when they threatened to burn out his body. Reed became determined to try and unlock his son's powers after they encountered Franklin's Earth-811 counterpart in Fantastic Four Annual #23.
The woman claiming to be Alicia Masters in this story is actually a Skrull spy named Lyja, as revealed in Fantastic Four #358. She replaced the real Alicia circa Fantastic Four #265 in order to spy on the Fantastic Four.
Johnny is hung up on a woman named Nebula in this story. Some facts...:
In Avengers #291 when she joined the Council of Cross-Time Kangs this woman claimed to be the space pirate known as Nebula.
In reality, she is actually Kang's lover Ravonna who was put in a death like coma in Avengers #24. She was later revived by the Grandmaster, as seen in Avengers Annual #21, after Kang gave up the power to save her life to instead try to destroy the Avengers (as seen in Avengers #71). When the Grandmaster revealed the truth, Ravonna decided to get revenge against her lover, developing the Nebula cover to infiltrate the Cross-Time Kangs and get her revenge.
"Nebula" was seemingly destroyed with the Time Bubble in Fantastic Four #341, however, in reality she survived and is seen again in Avengers Spotlight #37.
Nebula possessed Johnny's body from Fantastic Four #337-341.
Nebula was seemingly slain when the Time Bubble was destroyed, however she appears again in Avengers Spotlight #37.
Ms. Marvel mentions how she gave up her femininity because she hated it. Some facts:
Sharon was raped by minions of Karl Malus in Captain America #330-331. This caused her to be afraid of men, which caused problems when she initially joined the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #307.
Eventually, she was mutated into a She-Thing by cosmic rays in Fantastic Four #310.
Although she was suicidal at first in Fantastic Four #311, Sharon eventually came to terms with her transformation in Fantastic Four #312. Later she and Ben formed a relationship in Fantastic Four #317, due to the fact that they were both Things.
Ben was restored to human form in Fantastic Four #326, leading to some tension between the two over Ben's comfort being human again, and Sharon's desire to remain a She-Thing.
In Fantastic Four #345-346, Sharon briefly tasted her lost humanity when the Fantastic Four's powers were briefly stripped away by the Time Variance Authority.
The forms Del'ila uses to incapacitate the Fantastic Four are deliberate. Other than the above-mentioned relationship between Johnny and "Nebula" the others are:
The form of Alicia Masters was chosen to get close to Ben is because Masters and Ben began dating years ago in Fantastic Four #9 until the Thing decided to stay on Battleworld in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12. Although Johnny eventually married "Alicia" in Fantastic Four #300, per Fantastic Four #303, Ben still has deep feelings for her, made more apparent when he met Alicia's counterpart from Earth-9061 in Fantastic Four #343-344.
While she used the form of the Sub-Mariner to get close to Sue. Namor has had a romantic interest in Sue since he first met her in Fantastic Four #4. This led to romantic tensions between Reed and Sue, however, Reed decided to choose Reed over Namor following the events of Fantastic Four Annual #1 (as clarified in Fantastic Four: The Wedding Special #1) and the pair got married in Fantastic Four Annual #3. Namor didn't get a second chance with Sue until Fantastic Four #147 during a period where Sue and Reed were separated. However, per Fantastic Four #149, that was all a ruse to bring Reed and Sue back together.
The Skrulls find similarities between themselves and the Monsters of Monster Island. This could be because the monsters were creatures created by the Deviants of Earth, as revealed in Marvel Universe #4-7. The Skrulls commonly seen are the Deviant offshoot of their own race as first identified in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #5.
Monster Island is depicted as existing in the Bermuda Triangle of the Atlantic Ocean. It was located in the South Pacific in Fantastic Four #296 and other stories. This is the first time it's been stated as existing in the Bermuda Triangle.
