Just Imagine...

Abraxas has arrived on the world of Fantastic Four, causing it to merge with other realities. New Yorkers try to make sense of the situation when such impossibilities, such a world where Three Stooges actor Curly Howard is the Mayor of New York City, musician John Lennon is still alive, and Nazis and Jews fight it out in the Diamond District. As heroes and villains from other worlds also begin appearing, Abraxas watches as the city spirals into chaos before turning his attention to the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building. Watching the chaos from the street is Marvel Girl, the teenaged daughter of the Fantastic Four from a possible future. As she goes to warn her brother Franklin about what has happened she bumps into Abraxas who instantly realizes that she does not belong to this reality. Valeria time dances away to another floor of the building where she finds that Namorita has been reverted to her Kymaera form that can't breath out of water. When Abraxas continues his pursuit of Valeria, it forces her to teleport away and leave Namorita behind.

Meanwhile, the Human Torch and the Nova from another world race through outer space while trying to find the location of the Ultimate Nullifier. Johnny has part of the location in his mind, but the other members of the Fantastic Four have travelled to alternate universes to cull the rest of the coordinates from the minds of Johnny's counterparts in those realities. As Johnny wonders what sort of worlds his teammates have gone, the three other members of the Fantastic Four travel through the infinite alternate dimensions trying to find that they seek. They see worlds where Mister Fantastic became Doctor Doom and another where the creature called the Brute. Worlds where Ben Grimm never left the military, where he became Mister Fantastic and won the heart of Susan Storm, and a world where he still became the Thing but became a pro football player. Sue sees worlds where she marries the Sub-Mariner, where her Malice persona killed the rest of the Fantastic Four, where he second child survived child birth, and yet another where she became the Human Torch.. And on and on and on...

Sue finds herself taking possession of an alternate version of herself wherein she does not have powers and is apparently a doctor. Having come in while her alternate self has a young patient, so is thankful for her powers still working, allowing her to isolate the fact that her patient has a broken arm and is able to set a cast and send him on his way. Sue is later surprised to see that her father, Franklin Storm, is still alive on this world as well. Helping her father to a chair they catch a newscast about how President Kang of the Atlantean Empire is planning on bringing ice asteroids to Earth to balance the tides. Suddenly their viewing is interrupted by the sound of gunshots. Sue goes to the door and finds this world's version of her brother who has been in a gunfight with his friend, a man called Mac. Johnny asks her to patch up his friend. Sue agrees, they witness as a number of Atlantean ships fly out of the nearby ocean.

On another world, the Thing appears to a version of New York that is in a state of panic. With the mob of people attacking him, Ben's attempts to explain that he is trying to save the multiverse they will not listen. Stumbling back into a hole in the street, Ben finds himself in the sewers. This gives Ben the time to revert back to his human form so he can seek out this world's Johnny Storm without attracting undue attention. Returning to the street, Ben passes by an electronics store with television broadcasting an address by the Challengers of Doom. The Challengers are this world's version of the Fantastic Four who include Doctor Doom, Reed, Sue, and the Hulk among their membership. They are addressing the public informing them that the so-called alien invasion is nothing more than Soviet propaganda. When images out of Russia are being shown, Ben recognizes the invader as Galactus who is preparing to consume this version of Earth. While Doom thinks this is a hoax in an ongoing Cold War, Ben Grimm knows a whole lot better. Soon Ben makes his way to Latveria Fall's Plaza, the home of the Challengers. However, as he tries to approach the front door his DNA is scanned and is barred access. He is then confronted by holograms of the Challengers. Doom tells Ben that he has a lot of nerve showing up after his ex-wife, Sue Storm, put a restraining order on him.

In yet another universe, Reed Richards materializes in the body of his counter-part and is shocked to find that he has lost his stretching powers just as he drops his scanning device onto the ground below. He is falling from the sky from a zeppelin and is saved by this world's Ben Grimm in an auto-gyro. Apparently he had arrived on this world just as this world's version of the Fantastic Four -- The Five For the Future -- had just finished their battle against the Monocle. Pretending that he has suffered temporary memory loss, he is quickly introduced to his "teammates" Mister Feral (Hank McCoy), Mister Franklin Nelson, Mister Stephen Strange, and Mister Fixit. They are quickly greeted by this world's Sue Storm who had recovered Reed's device. Getting it back from her he asks where Johnny is. Sue then "reminds" Reed that Johnny had died two days previously.

Meanwhile, in Otherworld, Franklin and Valeria wait for the arrival of Roma who Franklin is convinced will help them fight Abraxas. Roma appears before them and agrees that they must join forces to stop this menace or all time will be lost to them.

Continuity Notes

• All of the unique realities seen where were all indexed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2. However, two of the realities viewed here have been previously seen, namely the original Counter-Earth (which is not really from an alternate reality, but existed in a pocket dimension) and Earth-721 where Ben Grimm became Mister Fantastic. First seen in Marvel Premiere #2 and Fantastic Four #118 respectively.

• Valeria von Doom is actually an adult version of Valeria Richards the stillborn second child of Reed and Sue. Valeria didn't survive the child birthing process as depicted in Fantastic Four #267. This is revealed in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #49. Franklin ultimately uses his powers to restore Valeria to her newborn state so Sue can give birth to her again in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #50.

• Abraxas reverts Namorita to her Kymaera form. She held this form from New Warriors #44 until she was reverted back to normal in Nova Vol 3 #2.

• Mention is made about Johnny's past relationship with the Nova of Earth-616 and how at the time of this story she was dead. Some facts:

  • Johnny and Frankie dated between Fantastic Four #164-204 and 232-244. In issue #244 she agreed to become a herald of Galactus.

  • Frankie served with Galactus for years until she was murdered by Morg in Silver Surfer Vol 3 #75.

  • Per the Sliding Timescale, Nova will be resurrected as seen in Heralds #1-5, roughly two years (in Marvel time) after this story.

• Sue is shocked by a number of things on the world she ends up in:

  • The fact that her father is still alive. On Earth-616 Franklin Storm sacrificed his life to save the Fantastic Four from a Skrull bomb back in Fantastic Four #32.

  • Although not implicitly stated in this story, "Mac" is really the Sub-Mariner with amnesia. On Earth-616 the Sub-Mariner was stricken with amnesia by the villain known as Destiny as seen in Sub-Mariner #1. Decades later, Namor's memories were restored by the Human Torch back in Fantastic Four #4.

• The Challengers of Doom are a homage to the Challengers of the Unknown, a group of adventurers from the DC Universe. They were co-created by artist Jack Kirby prior to his creation of the Fantastic Four for Marvel.

• The Thing recently gained the ability to change back and forth from his Thing forms in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #39; he maintains this ability until Fantastic Four Vol 3 #58.

• The Five For the Future is a homage to the pulp magazine character Doc Savage and his supporting cast. Incidentally, a version of Doc Savage existed on Earth-616 in the 1930s. However, due to Marvel Comics no longer maintaining the license to publish stories about the character, his adventures are seldom referenced.