Fantastic Four #409
Supreme Be My Power!
Credits
Hyperstorm has given the Fantastic Four and their allies an ultimatum: bow to him or die. The Thing answers for the group by taking a swing at their foe, but the punch does little to harm their enemy, who simply slaps Ben aside. When the Sub-Mariner tries to swoop in and attack from the air, Hyperstorm commands some vine to wrap around the former Atlantean monarch which then begin absorbing the moisture in Namor's body, sapping him of his strength. With the situation getting desperate, Sue takes command of the situation ordering Johnny and Lyja to make run a distraction. She then tells Reed that they need some kind of super-weapon to defeat Hyperstorm, she tries to tell Reed that he will need to create this device, but notices that her husband has been shaken to his very core after being stranded in the distant past. Reed's father Nathaniel also agrees with Sue's course of action, telling his son and daughter-in-law that their only hope for salvation is inside Hyperstorm's citadel.
While inside the very same citadel, Doctor Doom and Kristoff are working one a device that will allow Doom to leech the power from Hyperstorm. When Kristoff mentions how the Fantastic Four were integral to mounting Doom's rescue, he asks if his master will reward them, Doom responds that he will use the power stolen from their foe to annihilate everyone who saw his humiliation while a prisoner of Hyperstorm. While outside, the Torch and Lyja free Namor from the vines but he has been significantly weakened from the attack. Quick thinking, Lyja shape-shifts in a form that will allow her to burrow through the ground to an underground water source. As the water rushes up in and rains down, it's life giving moisture restores Namor's depleted strength. Not far away Ben renews his attack on Hyperstorm, but his foe uses his powers to cause the very ground to spring up and attack the Thing. While inside, Kristoff pleads to Doom to spare the Fantastic Four, this only prompts Doom to strike his ward across the face. He reminds Kristoff that as his ward, his destiny is to continue on should Doom perish. As Doom finishes his rant, he notices that the youth has slipped away and decides that the boy may have outlived his usefulness.
Back outside, Johnny lashes out at Hyperstorm with a full nova blast but this has no effect on their foe either. In response Hyperstorm summons up a powerful wind that snuffs out Johnny's flame. Watching the battle rage on, Reed refuses to leave until both Sue and Nathaniel convince him that they need to get to the castle. Surrendering to this fact, Reed and Nathaniel make a break for Hyperstorm's citadel, leaving Sue and the others to continue the battle. While back inside, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man wakes up after being restored to his own body. Deciding that he must flee he tries to make a break for it but runs into Kristoff. Kristoff is about to get revenge for how Zarrko posed as Boris the whole time, but the cowardly Tomorrow Man begs to Kristoff that he is willing to do anything to make amends. Back outside, Ben and Lyja dig up Johnny and when the Torch complains about being buried, Ben cusses him out. When Lyja scolds Ben for talking out of turn, Ben feels jealous about how Lyja still regards Johnny with the love he so craves. Their attentions are soon turned to Sue who is lashing out against Hyperstorm with the full force of her powers, but their foe only laughs as Sue can only harness a fraction of the hyperspace power that he has at his command. However at that very moment, Doom finishes his device and activates it and it instantly begins siphoning energies from Hyperstorm, finally weakening their foe and causing him to fall to the ground. But this proves to be only a minor victory because the power that Hyperstorm can channel is near infinite. Furious at Doom's attempts to usurp his power, Hyperstorm suddenly flees back to his fortress.
Inside, Reed and Nathaniel have found Doom who is soaking in the power that he is stealing from their mutual foe. Realizing what Doom will do with such power, Reed insists that they try and stop him. When Reed tries to subdue his long time foe, Doom blasts him with the energy he has been stealing. But before Doom can move in for the kill, Hyperstorm comes smashing into the room. Hyperstorm then gloats at Doom's paltry attempts to stop him, claiming that he left the equipment Doom needed to make his attempt. Doom isn't convinced of this and vows to make Hyperstorm bow before him by the time he is through. Hyperstorm laughs at this and is about to land a killing blow when at that very moment Kristoff and Zarrko activate a time transport that teleports Doom away from the scene of the battle. Hyperstorm then reveals that this is also a situation he allowed to happen. Having grown fed up of Hyperstorm's manipulations, Reed demands to know why he is allowing all this to happen. Hyperstorm explains that his intended goal was to allow Doom to live with the shame that he had been so humiliated and to show that it was within his power to stop the escape, Hyperstorm snaps his fingers causing the time device to explode. As Kristoff goes to join the Fantastic Four, Zarrko decides that it is time for him to make his departure and activates his own time travel mechanism to teleport away as well.
By this point, the rest of the Fantastic Four and their allies have caught up with Hyperstorm and the others. The Thing is about to lay into their foe again but is stopped by Hyperstorm who surprises him when he uses his powers to heal Ben's face. Deciding that he has sufficiently shown his unbeatable power, Hyperstorm then teleports all his enemies away, telling them that they will not survive their next encounter with him. The Fantastic Four, Nathaniel, Lyja and Namor soon find themselves teleported back to their own era within the Four Freedoms Plaza where they are greeted by Scott Lang and his daughter Cassie who are glad to see that they are all back in one piece, although Cassie is creeped out seeing Kristoff wearing his armor. Johnny loses his temper at Nathaniel for all the secrets he has been keeping his entire time, but Ben stops everyone long enough to get them to recognize they survived their encounter with Hyperstorm and more so the Fantastic Four are reunited once again.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Sub-Mariner, Lyja, Kristoff Vernard, Nathaniel Richards, Ant-Man, Cassie Lang, Hyperstorm, Doctor Doom, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man
Continuity Notes
Until it was healed in this issue, Ben's face has been scarred since Fantastic Four #374 after he was slashed in the face by Wolverine.
Reed is shaken after being a prisoner of Hyperstorm since Fantastic Four #381.
The forming love triangle between Lyja, Johnny, and Ben is due to the following:
Lyja used to pose as Ben's now ex-girlfriend Alicia Masters. As revealed in Fantastic Four #358 she did so during the events of Fantastic Four #265.
She pursued a romance with Johnny and they were eventually married in Fantastic Four #300 but Ben eventually exposed her as a Skrull in Fantastic Four #357
Although the real Alicia was rescued in Fantastic Four #358, Ben could not rekindle the relationship due to the fact he was currently in a relationship with Sharon Ventura (which had been ongoing since Fantastic Four #317). Although Sharon was mutated further in Fantastic Four #379 and went missing after Fantastic Four Unlimited #5, Ben could not bring himself to renew his romance with Alicia, even when the Puppet Master tried to force it in Fantastic Four #393.
Meanwhile, as revealed in Fantastic Four #390, Lyja sought revenge against Johnny for abandoning her during the rescue mission that she allowed her fellow Skrull Paibok implant a Sha'Barri egg in her body. Since Fantastic Four #371 she led Johnny to believe she was pregnant with their child.
Lyja realized that she still had feelings for Johnny betrayed Paibok to be by his side in Fantastic Four #374. She eventually gave birth to the Sha'Barri egg in Fantastic Four #385. However, she was forced to admit that it wasn't their child in Fantastic Four #390. Horrified by this deception, Johnny rejected her in Fantastic Four #392.
What Ben is not aware of is the fact that Lyja still cares for her ex-husband and has been posing as a woman named Laura Green since Fantastic Four #393 just to be near him.
Ben had secretly realized that he is attracted to Lyja in Fantastic Four #407.
Sue's powers tap into hyperspace as revealed in Fantastic Four #400. The full extent of this revelation is never explored and quickly dropped due to the Onslaught and Heroes Reborn events.
Doom mentions that Kristoff is destined to be his replacement when he dies. This was all part of a plan to have a successor that saw partial fruition when Kristoff was imprinted with Doom's memories and personality in Fantastic Four #278.
Zarrko recalls how Doom hijacked his body in Fantastic Four #407 and released him last issue. Doom did so using a technique he learned from the Ovoids in Fantastic Four #10.
Kristoff is angry at Zarrko for posing as Boris, his retainer. Zarrko did so to spy on the Fantastic Four for Hyperstorm from Fantastic Four #396 to 405.
Ben's aggressive behavior is due to a device that allows him to change back and forth between his human and Thing forms that the group recovered from Brazil in Fantastic Four #405. This plot element is dropped when Ben later sacrifices the device to assist against Onslaught in Fantastic Four #416.
Hyperstorm makes a cryptic comment that he is connected to the Fantastic Four. It is later revealed in Fantastic Four #414 that at least in one future Hyperstorm is the grandson of Reed and Sue.
Scott is surprised to see Reed Richards alive. The Fantastic Four presumed he died battling Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four #381, when in reality he was a prisoner of Hyperstorm the whole time.
