Fantastic Four #513 — Nick Peron

Mar 6

Mar 6 Fantastic Four #513

Spider-Sense: Part 2

Caught in the middle of a battle against Hydro-Man at a Hoboken water park the Human Torch finds himself in a compromised position: Stark naked in the middle of a kiddie pool. When he announces this to all around he is accused of being a pervert. Spider-Man is busy fighting Hydro-Man, when he's knocked over by Johnny, he helps his problem by webbing him up make-shift shorts. Johnny has knocked aside again, and patrons being berating him for being responsible for this attack. Fed up, Johnny flames on and rejoins the fight. The media shows up at the scene to report the battle, and word about Johnny's blunders in the battle are told to the audience. Watching at home on television the Thing wishes he had a means of recording the broadcast for his collection.

Back at the waterpark the Human Torch and Spider-Man resume their battle with Hydro-Man. Their foe tries to escape through a drain pipe. With it connecting to the washrooms, Johnny rushes in to head him off at the pass. He makes the mistake of going into the women's washroom using women to run out in a panic. While he and Spider-Man argue, Hydro-Man comes out of one of the toilets and attacks Johnny while his back is turned. While Spider-Man goes to head off Hydro-Man and get people to safety, Johnny recovers his clothes. Johnny is berated by people some more before he flames on to rejoin the battle. He comes up with a solution to their problem. Because the trenchcoat Spider-Man was disguising himself in is made of Unstable Molecules. With Spider-Man's help, they wrap up Hydro-Man in the jacket and seal it shut trapping him inside.

Soon Spider-Man is swarmed by fans who want his autograph. When he notices that one of the part mascots is about to fall off a wrecked waterslide, Johnny rescues the person. Meanwhile, a mysterious foe who has been watching the whole battle recovers Hydro-Man for his own schemes. Johnny's daring rescue hails him as a hero and he suddenly has his damaged reputation repaired. Moreover, the mascot turns out to be a cute girl who asks Johnny out on a date. The people also suddenly turn on Spider-Man and with the status quo re-established, Johnny flames on and carries Spider-Man away. Johnny admits that he wasn't able to find his shorts, unaware that Spider-Man webbed them up onto a flag pole as a joke.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Thing, Spider-Man, Hydro-Man, Wizard

Continuity Notes

Johnny's concerned about his popularity after the Fantastic Four became unpopular due to their occupation of Latveria between Fantastic Four #501-508.

Best Left Forgotten

Alyssa Moy has come for the Fantastic Four's help recovering an artifact from the past. Reed sends both Alyssa and the Invisible Woman through the Time Platform. They find themselves in a Mayan temple of Xunaguero. There Alyssa assures that Reed told her this story, but Sue doesn't recall it and cattily suggests that it happened a long long time ago. There she manages to recover the Face of Xibolu, which was something she and Reed failed to recover when they were there years earlier.

Suddenly a portal opens up and Sue turns herself and Alyssa invisible. This is because the people coming out of the portal is Alyssa and Reed's younger selves. They have just unlocked the Maw of Xuanguero and have the key to the portal. Sue remarks over how young Reed was at this point in time. She is suddenly shocked when the young Reed Richards asks Alyssa to marry him. It's at this point that Alyssa tells Sue they'll need to get back. Just then Xuanguero's tentacles come out of the portal and try to grab the young explorers. While they struggle with the key, Sue uses her powers to lend her future husband a hand in recovering the key and using it to close the portal, saving their lives.

With their mission a success the two women are brought back to the present. There Alyssa tells Reed and Ben that their mission was a complete success. Sue suspects that Alyssa wanted her to see that moment where Reed proposed to her. Cattily, Sue says they'll probably see her sooner than later, Alyssa tells Sue that she can count on that.