Fantastic Four Annual 2000

Mar 8

Mar 8 Fantastic Four Annual 2000

Betrayal!

The Fantastic Four are returning to New York City from Latveria where they had just recently freed their leader Mister Fantastic who had been trapped inside the armor of their greatest enemy, Doctor Doom. As they pass the Statue of Liberty the Pogo-Plane is blasted out of the sky and they are forced to crash land outside of their Pier Four headquarters. Recovering from the crash, the Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic are confronted by the press who are surprised to see Mister Fantastic alive and well. Sue announces to them that their "alliance" with Doctor Doom was necessary in order to protect the world from great danger and that her husband will need a few days to recover from his injuries in the ordeal. Suddenly Reed screams in pain and in his mind is the image of Technarx, one of Doctor Doom's minions from Counter-Earth. When the press asks what is going on, Ben keeps them distracted as Sue brings Reed back into their headquarters. Suddenly Technarx attacks both the Thing and Johnny. As Johnny defeats Technarx, Ben gets the reporters to safety. When the technorganic creature breaks through the pier, the two members of the Fantastic Four chase after him, only to find that he has escaped.

Meanwhile inside, Reed's mind is reeling with the fact that Sue sided with Doctor Doom in stopping him and also hallucinations of Doom's other generals: Queen Dorma, Divinity and Shakti. When he tries to explain to Sue what he is seeing, she reminds him that Doom's generals are currently incarcerated. This is when Johnny and Ben return they warn Sue and Reed that at least Technarx is on the loose again. While they bring Reed to bed, Sue takes the opportunity to contact her son Franklin that his father is alive. She reaches Franklin, Valeria and Caledonia from the secret location where Reed had sent them. She keeps Reed's ordeals and the dangers from Counter-Earth a secret from Franklin in order to prevent the young boy for feeling like this entire scenario is his fault. After she ends the call, Sue breaks down in tears. Ben enters the room and asks her what is wrong and she tells him that she betrayed Reed and doesn't know how they can move forward with that looming over their marriage. The Thing assures her that Reed is only going through withdrawal after his ordeals of being trapped in Doom's armor and assures her that he'll eventually come around.

When the alarm goes off shortly thereafter the three members of the Fantastic Four scramble outside of their headquarters to witness the arrival of Queen Dorma and her Atlan soldiers. Dorma is seeking an alliance with the Fantastic Four to get revenge against Doctor Doom, offering them the chance to conquer Counter-Earth alongside her. Naturally the Fantastic Four refuse and they are ambushed by Shakti, who uses her magic to bind both Johnny and Ben in ribbons. Dorma then lunges at Sue, mocking her for marrying Doom and questioning what her husband thinks of that arrangement, unaware of the fact that the "Doom" that she is referring too was actually Reed Richards trapped in Doom's armor. As the battle rages on outside, Reed is awoken by it. Wanting to aid his teammates, he finds that he is still too weak to do anything and collapses on the floor. While outside, the three other members of the Fantastic Four manage to defeat their foes and force them into retreat. However they vow to get back to Counter-Earth and stop Doom from conquering their domains in their absence. Returning inside, the team finds Reed passed out on the floor and revive him. Reed is still critical of Sue for betraying him to Doctor Doom, but when Ben tries to get him to cut Sue some slack but Reed cannot remember some critical point that continues to haunt him.

Elsewhere in the city, Doom's former generals have regrouped and Dorma tells them that the reason why the Fantastic Four keep defeating them is that their foes work as a team. When Technarx poists that the Fantastic Four are concerned about innocents the villains decide to go on a rampage across New York City to draw them out. Sue blames herself for this as if she inadvertently released them when she freed Reed from Doom's armor. As the Fantastic Four rush off to tackle their foes once again, Reed wanders around Pier Four. Seeing the news reports about the General's attacks on the city, Reed continue to struggle with a key piece of information that he is still trying to remember. While Sue tackles with Shakti on a construction site, the Thing confronts Divinity who has taken possession of a police officer and has been using him to gun people down in the streets. The Human Torch follows Technarx to Central Park where he is forced to rescue children that the technorganic being is dropping into the lake. While the rest of the team is distracted, Dorma and her minions attack Pier Four and easily subdue Reed. Dorma demands that Reed build a transporter to send Dorma and her minions back to Conter-Earth. Reed agrees to help them provided that they can show him that his wife is alive. Sue is brought forth and she begs Reed not to do it, but Mister Fantastic tells her if he sends them back their Earth will be safe.

With the other members of the Fantastic Four prisoner, Reed constructs a portal that he claims will send Doom's former allies back to Counter-Earth. While Shakti, Divinity, and Technarx enter the portal. However, before Queen Dorma enters she correctly deduces that this is nothing more than a trap to capture her and her allies. Dorma then shatters the floor and escapes with her troops, vowing to conquer this planet instead of the one left in the hands of Doctor Doom. Reed realizes that he accidentally tipped her off, but explains that he transported the others as prisoners for Doom on his world. In the aftermath of the battle, the Fantastic Four explains why Sue had betrayed him to Doctor Doom earlier -- all in order to free him from Doom's armor, which was perverting his mind -- and Reed realizes how foolish he has been acting and he and his wife reconcile.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Queen Dorma, Technarx, Divinity, Shakti, Marvel Girl, Franklin Richards

Continuity Notes

This story follows the events of Fantastic Four Vol 3 #25-31 wherein Mister Fantastic was trapped in the armor of Doctor Doom by the Dreaming Celestial. Reed then posed as Doctor Doom to keep Doom's generals under wraps. While posing as Doom, Reed and Sue staged a mock wedding in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #27 and later tricked the Generals into being incarcerated in the following issue. Reed was eventually freed from Doom's armor when Sue got assistance from the real Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #31.

Franklin, Caledonia, and Valeria were all sent to safety in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #24 and Fantastic Four Vol 3 #26 respectively. This was to protect them from the threat of Doctor Doom and his Generals. Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad #1 reveals that they have been hiding in Otherworld.

Frequent mentions are made to Counter-Earth (or Planet Doom as it is called here) regarding its creation. Some facts:
- This alternate Earth was created by Franklin's mutant powers in order to save his family and their allies when they sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught in Onslaught Marvel Universe #1. There they lived reborn lives during the Heroes Reborn event.
- Later, Earth's heroes were returned to their proper home in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, however, Doctor Doom remained trapped on Counter-Earth.
- Counter-Earth was then altered by the Dreaming Celestial and Doom formed his Generals to help conquer and take over Counter-Earth and bring it out of Franklin's pocket dimension to orbit opposite Earth. As seen in Heroes Reborn Doomsday #1, Heroes Reborn Ashema #1 and Heroes Reborn Doom #1.
- However, the Dreaming Celestial threatened to merge both Earth and Counter-Earth together but were stopped by the Fantastic Four and Doom's generals in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #24-25 which led to Reed being trapped in Doom's armor and Doom sent back to Counter-Earth.
- At the time of this story, Doom was reasserting his control of Counter-Earth as seen in Doom #1-3.

Marvel Girl!

In the alternate future where the Invisible Woman married Doctor Doom, their daughter Valeria von Doom -- Aka Marvel Girl -- is out hoverboarding past curfew on a school night. She goes down into New York City seeking out her bodyguard Lancer, who occasionally goes "off the grid" to venture into the city. Searching the city she spots a bunch of men being literally thrown out of a bar and deduces that's where Lancer must be hanging out. When these patrons get back up and prepare to re-enter the bar with weapons, Marvel Girl leaps in and easily subdues them herself.

Entering the bar, Valeria is surprised to see Lancer fighting off everyone in the bar all by herself. When she sees the bartender pull out a gun, Valeria blocks his shot with her powers, but the blast still hurts. This is when Lancer realizes that her ward is in the bar with her. Realizing she has no other choice, Lancer agrees to let Valeria help her in the fight. The two mop up the rest of the attackers and find a great deal of contraband to turn over to the authorities. Valeria also finds a picture of Lancer and her brother that fell out of her pocket while they were fighting. Lancer explains that her brother died years before Valeria was born and that his death still makes her angry sometimes. Lancer then goes on to explain all that she has is her memories of her family. Valeria then reminds Samantha that she is part of a new family now, reminding Lancer how if it wasn't for her -- Valeria would never have been born.