Fantastic Four #552 — Nick Peron

Mar 5

Mar 5 Fantastic Four #552

The Middle of the End

When a future version of Doctor Doom has come to warn the Fantastic Four that Reed's future self is bringing about a global catastrophe, Reed has decapitated what appears to be the future version of the Sub-Mariner. When he tries to kill the future Black Panther, he tries to fight back. When he comes dangerously close to killing Mister Fantastic, Sue is forced to intervene and seemingly kills the Panther as well. Doctor Doom points out that this is exactly the proof the others need to verify that Reed will become a tyrant in the future. However, Ben realizes that this was all a plot upon closer examination of the "corpses" reveals that they are actually sophisticated robots. Reed explains how he managed to deduce that they were constructs. Doom, insists that this still proves that Richards will become a menace some 75 years in the future and warns them that item 101 on Reed's formula to fix everything not be implemented.

When the Fantastic Four dispute Doom's claims, he points out how during the recent super-hero civil war that Reed had engaged in activities that the team considered questionable. Doom recounts how Richards created the Negative Zone prison where people were incarcerated without due process, as well as create an illegal clone of Thor which was responsible for the death of Goliath. However, Doom twists the dagger further by pointing out that Richards greatest failures are personal ones, reminding how he kept so many secrets and manipulated them all for the so-called greater good. However, when Doom says Richards is exactly like him, the Thing loses his temper and strikes Doom, sending him crashing out of the Baxter Building and into a nearby building. Ben then piles onto Doom, explaining why he thinks Richards is a better man than Doom. However, Doctor Doom regains his composure and fights back, incapacitating the Thing. He is soon joined by the rest of the Fantastic Four who join the battle. Doom manages to incapacitate them all with his future technology. However, his mocking of Reed Richards is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Fantastic Four from his own era.