Fantastic Four #450
Some Words Can Never Be Taken Back
Mister Fantastic is preparing to transport Wildstreak, an anti-registration hero, into the Negative Zone to be imprisoned. However, the portal isn't calibrated properly and she manages to break free from her containment unit and tries to break out of the Baxter Building. While Reed and the SHIELD soldiers pursue her, somehow Wildstreak manages to become invisible and smash out of a window to freedom. Reed has already deduced that she was assisted by his wife, the Invisible Woman, who is against the Super Human Registration Act.
Richards tells his wife that they have to talk and yet another argument about the SHRA begins. Reed tells her that it is the law and they have to follow it, but Sue compares it to the laws enacted by the Nazis during World War II. This angers Reed so much that he tells her the discussion is over and that they are done. Sue agrees that they are indeed done. When Reed begins trying to tell him that he's following the law so that he can protect her, this enrages Sue even more. To prove how little she needs to be protected, Sue erects a force field barrier around herself that smashes through to the roof and into the parking garage in the basement. Sue explains that she doesn't need protection and she cannot support this law because it's wrong. She also points out that what her husband is doing now is not the actions of the man she fell in love with. After saying her piece, Reed tells Sue that she should probably leave. This causes Sue to cry and she quickly departs.
Later, the Thing returns to the Baxter Building to inform Reed that he is leaving the country until the civil war is over. When Reed asks Ben where he is going, Ben recalls reading about some expatriates who left the country when they disagreed with what was happening and went to France. The Thing decides that he is going to do the same thing until the United States regains some sanity. When Ben asks Reed if he has some kind of counter-argument, Reed tells Ben that if he wants to leave just leave. This causes the Thing to realize that Reed and Sue didn't just fight, she left him. When he asks Reed, he won't talk about it and so Ben leaves as well.
Not long after his departure, Reed is visited by Iron Man and Peter Parker who have come to see the prison in the Negative Zone. After the pair visit the prison, Peter takes a moment to ask Reed why he is going along with this. Reed relates to his Uncle Ted and how his eccentric behavior put him up before a government committee. When he refused to address the committee, he was held in contempt of court. When he was released from prison it ruined his life and was the catalyst for his death. Although Peter finds the story admirable, Reed explains that his uncle broke the law and that without the law we would be consequences. Iron Man then returns to take Peter back to base, and as they leave Peter remarks that he would have liked Reed's Uncle Ted, and points out that Reed once loved him. This causes Reed to pause and think.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing), Iron Man, Peter Parker, Wildstreak, SHIELD
Continuity Notes
This story follows the events of Civil War #4 where the death of Goliath has prompted Sue to leave Reed.
The reason why Johnny isn't present is that he was put in a coma after being beaten by a mob in Civil War #1.
Sue mentions how she has literally followed Reed through hell and back. This is a reference to Fantastic Four #500 when the couple went to hell to rescue Franklin from Doctor Doom.
Reed's recollection of his uncle is told in greater detail in Amazing Spider-Man #535.
Reed specifies that his Uncle Ted was brought before Joseph McCarthy's Committee for Un-American Activities of the 1950s. Because Reed's timeline is subject to the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, this should be considered a topical reference.
