Fantastic Four #642 — Nick Peron

Mar 14

Mar 14 Fantastic Four #642

Back in Blue: Part 2

In the ruins of their former home, the Invisible Woman and the Thing turn a corner and run into a group of SHIELD agents securing the sites. This already fractious scenario is made more shocking by the sudden arrival of the Hulk - and then more fractious yet by the arrival of the Invaders. One of the agents, frightened, shoots the Hulk, and this causes a fight where the Invaders back up the agents against the Hulk and the two Fantastics.

Valeria steps out of the shadows and shouts for people to stop. Someone turns and fires on instinct, but no-one is close enough to save her - but rescue comes nevertheless. Johnny Storm, the former Human Torch, drops out of Spider-Man's arms, having been carried from a nearby crime scene, and grabs her, using the mass of his body and the speed of his descent to shove them both put of the way and shield her body as they roll. The Invisible Woman runs to her saved child, and in the silence that follows, no-one wants to move.

The Thing is the first, congratulating Johnny on his heroism, before asking why the Hulk was in their home. Hulk, going by Doc Green now, replies that he needed a place to stay and was squatting. Valeria tells her mother that the data brought her here from Latveria, and she double-checked it on her way over. Something terrible is happening, and it involves Franklin. Jim Hammond of the Invaders interjects, saying that a group of superhumans has kidnapped Franklin and the rest of the Future Foundation children. The Invaders were investigating and planned to look in the Baxter Building because they thought the cases were connected. Valeria says they need to fix the world Franklin imagined that saved his parents, all those years ago. They need to enter Franklin's dreams to do it.

In the Quiet Man's lab at New Eden, Reed Richards, who has been kidnapped, tries to argue down his opponent. He points out that while the Quiet Man disapproves of Richards' "flashy" style of science, his own method has little to recommend it. Despite a lifetime of work and ample financial power, the Quient Man has never worked on something that benefitted a single other people, such as a cure for cancer. The Quiet Man objects, saying that he has in fact... but that he decided that other humans were both too numerous and too happy, so in jealousy, he destroyed it.

In the shocked silence that follows this, the Quiet Man decides to reveal his plan. Framing the Thing for the murder of the Puppet Master and arranging events so that Richards himself was the witness that put him there was the start. Hitting the group with a rushed trial for criminal negligence in his guise as Aiden Tolliver stripped them of their home and wealth. Bribing certain prison officials and then hiring the Wizard led to the recent activity by the Frightful Four. And the Psycho-Man, an old comrade-at-arms of the Quiet Man, rekindled the Invisible Woman's "Malice" persona, leading to her fighting the Avengers. But his greatest recent strike was to use the creatures from Franklin's world to attack New York, engineering them in such a way that the most likely method of their defeat would also strip the Human Torch of his powers.

In another part of the complex, the Wizard is explaining to his son, Bentley-23, that Franklin Richards' mental powers let him create the world where the versions of the Avengers' lived. But, because of its creation, it is curiously limited. No-one on this world needed to visit Venus, and so Venus is just a light in the sky and not a planet. The android Vision, one of the facsimile Avengers who works for The Quiet Man, has been incorporated into a device that will allow them to explore this power. Onome shouts that Franklin is hurt. Bentley follows his father's lead and shouts for her to shut up, but he is clearly troubled.

In the main hall, the Quiet Man gets to his current plan. He wants to breach the walls between worlds again, bringing about a new invasion of the monsters that ravaged New York - but modified so that the previous weakness has been removed. His pet Avengers will help the world's heroes to beat back the threat, and in the aftermath, the lab files of New Eden will show that Reed Richards was the one responsible. His name will be forever blackened, and into this environment, the Quiet Man will reveal himself, saving the world and gaining the public adoration that was always his by right. Richards vows to stop him, but the Quiet Man laughs - this is not a spy movie. The invasion began a few minutes ago, and of the people of Earth, there is no one smart enough to fix this who is brave enough to try...

In the chamber, Bentley-23 suddenly whips out his multi-tool, stunning the human Avengers, then using another function to turn the insides of the Vision to a solid mass of chocolate. As Franklin wakes up, the Future Foundation children cheer and the Wizard is too stunned to move. Bentley explains that actions that make you feel good should not be denied - a lesson he learned from his father.

In a suburban part of Albuquerque, NM, there is a knock on the door. Rick Sheridan answers it, and is informed that due to the training in the Avengers Initiative and the global disaster the heroes now face, he has been drafted back to active superhero service. Glumly, Sheridan agrees to help, but says they should be honest: who they actually want is the entity that lives in his dreams - Sleepwalker!

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Future Foundation (Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Bentley-23, Onome, Wu, Vil, Mik, Turg, Leech), Invaders (Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner), Doc Green, Quiet Man, Counter-Earth Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wonder Man, Hawkeye, Vision, Hellcat, Swordsman), Wizard, SHIELD, Spider-Man, Rick Sheridan, Sleepwalker