Fantastic Four #568 — Nick Peron

Mar 5

Mar 5 Fantastic Four #568

Doom's Master: Part Three

In the middle of a worsening storm, the Thing shows up at the home of his fiancee Debbie Green and her family. There he learns that the Greens are unimpressed with the publicity Ben and Debbie's engagement has generated. To punctuate this point, Mrs. Green shows Been a congratulatory wreath sent to them by the Frightful Four. When Ben goes up to see Debbie she tells him that she is scared of Ben's temper tantrums, but still doesn't want to break off their engagement, but tells him to keep his temper in check for the big problems. Suddenly a Molotov cocktail is tossed into Debbie's window, but Ben shields it with his body. He smashes out of the window and finds a group of young punks who are blaming him and other super-heroes for the strange weather. The Thing disperses the trouble makers and Debbie informs him that the television is reporting that the disturbance is coming from the Baxter Building. The Thing heads home, unaware that he is secretly being observed by the Marquis of Death and his Apprentice. As the two villains fly across the city they detect that planet in the death throws due to their arrival.

When Ben arrives at the Baxter Building, the Marquis and his Apprentice make their presence known. The Marquis easily overpowers his targets and forces them to kneel before them. When Reed asks what happened to Doctor Doom, his former master shows the Fantastic Four that Doom met his apparent demise in the distant past. The Fantastic Four vow to stop him, and point out that if they don't, the Avengers or the X-Men will. When Ben quips that his Aunt Petunia could answer the call to arms as well, the Marquis decides to respond to this mirth. He teleports the Thing before his Aunt Petunia and then forces him to watch as the Marquis kills his beloved Aunt Petunia with the wave of a hand. He then begins mentally torturing the members of the Fantastic Four until Mister Fantastic gives himself up to the Marquis.

The Marquis explains that his power is limitless and that he can do. To prove this, he teleports Reed away and makes him watch the moments when he and the male members of the Fantastic Four traveled to the Negative Zone to steal the Cosmic Control Rod of Annihilus. He explains that he could stop him from succeeding making it so his son Franklin would die during childbirth. He offers to spare Richards and the Earth if he allows Franklin to die before he was born. When Reed refuses to play ball, the Marquis teleports him to the space flight where the Fantastic Four first gained their powers. He makes Reed recall how many times Ben wished he were dead instead of being the Thing. He once more offers Reed the salvation of the Earth he were to allow to the Thing to die in the shuttle crash. Once more Richards refuses and the Marquis teleports him off again. This time, he takes Reed to Area 87 where the reality-altering mutant named Clyde Wyncham has been in a sedate since being brought from another dimension to try and find a way to control his powers. He shows Reed that in the not-too-distant future, Wyncham was freed by the Fantastic Four's many foes. However, with his mind restored, Wyncham would be destined to slay them all and then escape in the multiverse where he extinguished reality after reality. This Clyde Wyncham is who the Marquis of Death once was. The Marquis gives Reed the opportunity to switch off Clyde's life support before his mind can heal and become the monster he is now. When Reed refuses, the Marquis gives up on trying to corrupt Reed.

He then teleports Reed back to the Baxter Building where he was attacked by the Fantastic Four who have mistaken him for one of the thousands of alternate versions of the Fantastic Four that are under the Marquis control and are now storming their headquarters.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Clyde Wyncham, Debbie Green, Marquis of Death, The Apprentice, Aunt Petunia

Continuity Notes

The Marquis and Mister Fantastic travel back in time to the time the Fantastic Four first battled Annihilus circa Fantastic Four Annual #6 and the origin of the Fantastic Four circa Fantastic Four #1.