The New Defenders

A badly beaten Doctor Doom has crashed in on the Baxter Building and the Thing, demanding to be brought to Reed Richards before collapsing. Ben tells Debbie and Tabitha -- the new nanny -- to get Franklin and Valeria to safety. Doom insists that there is no trick involved in his arrival. Suddenly a trio of super-humans -- Lightwave, Alex Ultron, and Natalie X -- teleport into the Baxter Building and demand Doom be turned over to them. Not believing that he is coming to Doom's defense, the Thing tries to attack the intruders. However, he is incapacitated by Alex Ultron. As the children lead Debbie and Tabitha to the panic room, the Thing gets back to his feet. No sooner is he back up does Lightwave blast him, sending Ben crashing out of the Baxter Building and is send crashing a couple of blocks away. With the Thing out of the way, Lightray tells the innocents that the danger is over and teleport themselves and Doctor Doom away.

An hour later, Ben is recounting the events to Mister Fantastic, who cannot identify who their attackers were. Meanwhile, Sue and the new nanny put the children to bed. Sue thanks Tabitha for all her help and tells her that she has proven herself a capable nanny for her children. Back at the scene of the battle, and Avengers Quinjet lands and out emerges the Wasp and She-Hulk who asks if everything is okay. Sue takes the two female Avengers to discuss business. Shaken from the whole ordeal, Debbie Green declines an offer for Ben to drive her home in the Fantasti-Car, but promises to call him tomorrow. This bums the Thing out, as he immediately thinks that the ordeal has cost him his new girlfriend. Debbie exits the Baxter Building where a car is waiting for her. The man driving asks Debbie if she has spent enough time with the freak upstairs.

Later at the Raft, Reed is examining security footage that shows the same attackers breaking into the cell where SHIELD was keeping Doctor Doom imprisoned. During the course of the attempt to capture Doom, the Latverian monarch managed to break free and made his way to the Baxter Building to try and get Richards's help. The review is interrupted when some guards bring Mentallo who claims that he saw these events happening in a dream. Mentallo refuses to tell them outright truth, he gives Richards a cryptic clue, telling him that the one responsible for the kidnapping of Doctor Doom is a really old friend.

At that moment, Johnny is having a band rehearsal when his fling, the super-villain named Psionics, interrupts to brag about her recent robbery. Johnny pulls her away and tells her that they need to talk. He tells her that he isn't comfortable with the fact that she is committing these robberies. Unable to turn her in, Johnny suggests that they stop seeing each other. This upsets Psionics, who points out that Johnny has never asked why she needs the money she steals. When Johnny figures it's drugs, she gets insulted and makes a passing comment about her father saying he was an idiot before walking out on him. When Johnny tries to go after her, Psionics flies away so Johnny doesn't see her crying.

Back at the Baxter Building, Sue completes her background check on Mrs. Deneuve and finds her record spotless. At that moment, Mrs. Devenuve is watching over Valeria in her room. The elderly woman tells the infant that she can stop faking for her behalf as she has turned off the baby monitor and they can talk freely. Valeria stops feigning her sleep and asks how the new nanny could know she could talk. Tabitha explains that she has calculated that Valeria's intelligence would take a massive leap three months prior and she knows that Valeria has been hiding this gift so as not to upset the family. Deneuve assures Valeria that her parents would be very proud to know the truth. However, Valeria disagrees feeling that this revelation would alienate her mother and drive a wedge between her father and Franklin. When Tabitha asks Valeria if she has figured out who she is, Valeria thinks so, and Tabitha agrees to keep her intelligence a secret as long as the young girl trusts her.

Meanwhile, at the New Defenders hideout, Lightwave consoles his daughter Psionics about being dumped by the Human Torch. They are all rejoicing the fact that they have captured Doctor Doom. That's when their leader, the Hulk, tells them everything is going according to plan.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Debbie Green, Invisible Woman-807128, Doctor Doom, Mentallo, New Defenders (Hulk Jr, Hooded Man, Alex Ultron, Natalie X, Lightwave, Psionics), She-Hulk, Wasp.

Continuity Notes

• The New Defenders who appear here are stated as being part of the same universe as Old Man Logan, per Secret Wars: Official Guide to the Marvel Multiverse #1. However, as events of Old Man Logan Vol. 2 saw Old Man Logan pulled into the modern era of Earth-616 and he later died in Dead Man Logan #12. That development clearly created a divergence one where Old Man Logan ended up in the present day and one where he continued to reside in his dystopian future, eventually joining the New Defenders. To date, Marvel hasn’t assigned an appropriate reality designation to differentiate the two.

• The security footage of Doctor Doom in prison follows the events of Doom's capture in Mighty Avengers #11.

• One of the SHIELD guards mentions how Mentallo used to work for SHIELD psi-ops before going rogue, this was first mentioned in Strange Tales #141.

• Sue mentions the Hulk's attack on New York City. This happened in World War Hulk #1–5.