Fantastic Four (Vol 2) #13
World War 3, Part 1 - Life In Wartime
Following the various time disruptions during the battle against Galactus, reality is shattered causing this reality to merge with that of another universe, creating a dangerous new world that is an amalgam of both. This new world is a world under siege by two invading alien forces: The Skrulls and the Daemonites. During a recent attack on New York by the alien forces, the members of the Wild C.A.T.s face off against the invaders, able to drive them back with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their Black Knight squad led by Dane Whitman. This battle is being used to help raise support and encourage young people to enlist into the military to face the threat looming over America, a society steeped in paranoid due to the alien invaders ability to assume human form. Rick Jones meets up with his friend Edmund Chung, after verifying their identities with good-lights they discuss enlisting into the military to do their part in the coming struggle.
Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building the members of the Fantastic Four return home from a trip into the Negative Zone. Although they entered the Zone to try and find their missing teammate the Thing, they found distressing news that they need to communicate to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately. However with the portal still their foes Annihilus and Lord Defile try to cross over into Earth. Although caught off guard, Burnout and Maul quickly fight back against the invaders and manage to push them back through the portal and seal it although Mister Fantastic almost gets trapped along with them, his teammates manage to pull him free at the last minute. When Reed finally puts a call into SHIELD he gets Colonel John Lynch and learns that Nick Fury was killed in action along with Dum Dum Dugan while they were gone. Although he reports that they were unable to find the Thing, he found a means of banishing their invaders and asks Lynch to call in everybody. The call soon goes out gathering members of the Avengers, StormWatch, Wetworks, and the Wild C.A.Ts. After the initial call goes out, Lynch's assistant Kitaen informs him that she was unable to get a hold of Majestic or Iron Man as they are busy elsewhere. When he asks about Captain America, she states that she contact the Avengers already. Lynch clarifies that he is not referring to the android who now poses as Captain America, but Steve Rogers, who has since gone under the identity of Nomad. He tells Kitaen to find Rogers no matter what.
Meanwhile, Rick Jones and Edmund Chung are shown more propaganda from the United States Army: the lost battlefield in Europe, heroes fighting and dying against the invaders, as well as Doctor Doom exploiting the current ongoing crisis. With heroes dying and Americans in fear of secret invaders, the military is ramping up efforts to train new soldiers to fight for their country. After hearing this and having their identities verified by a recruiter both Rick and Edmund state they would like to enlist. Meanwhile in a featureless void, Ben Grimm drifts helplessly in non-space when he comes across another person in the void with him, the mercenary known as Deathblow...
This story is continued in Avengers (vol. 2) #13…
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Burnout, Maul), WildCATS (Lord Emp ,Zealot, Giant-Man, Gorgon, Grifter, Warblade, Void), Avengers (Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Hellstrike, Swordsman, Freefall, Brass), Stormwatch (Weatherman, Hawksmoor, Fuji, Fairchild, Winter, Jenny Sparks, Vision, Triton), Wetworks (Dane, Claymore, Jester, Mother-One, Pilgrim, Hawkeye), Skrulls, Daemonites, Annihilus, Lord Defile, Doctor Doom, SHIELD (Black Knight, Johny Lynch, Priscilla Kitaen), Nomad, Black Bolt, Rick Jones, Grunge, Thing, Deathblow
Continuity Notes
The world presented in this story consists of characters owned by Marvel Comics and Wildstorm Entertainment. However due to the ever-changing universes with respect to both publishers this cross over is much more complex than it appears:
In regards to the Marvel characters: As becomes evidence in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 this world exists in a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save the lives of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers after they sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught during Onslaught Marvel Universe #1. Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, Giant-Man, the Scarlet Witch, Thor, the Vision, Hawkeye, Nomad, and Doctor Doom are all the original Earth-616 versions. All other Marvel characters featured in this story are all products of Franklin's imagination.
Since their creation, the Wildstorm characters were originally published by Image Comics, became an independent publisher, then an imprint of DC Comics and incorporated into the DC Multiverse. The versions of the characters that appear here are part of the original Wildstorm Universe their history taking place after Shattered Image (which separated the Wildstorm properties from the Image Comics shared universe) and years before Infinite Crisis merged it with the DC Comics Universe. Per Convergence #8, the original Wildstorm Universe continues to exist as part of the DC Comics Multiverse.
