Moon Over Mayhem

[1] The Human Torch is walking down the street when suddenly two robbers rush out of a bank after a successful job. Quickly, Johnny flames on and traps the crooks in a circle of flame for the police who arrive on the scene shortly after. Returning to the Baxter Building, the Human Torch flies in through the window to Reed’s lab and is instantly scolded by Mister Fantastic whose current experiment is extremely sensitive to heat. Johnny quickly flames off as Reed uses his body to smother the explosion. Johnny apologizes for ruining the experiment, and Reed takes this opportunity to be a teachable moment. He reminds Johnny that he is a very bright young man, mentioning how capable he is of working on and improving the Fantstic-Car. However, he says one of Johnny’s problems is that he can only focus on things that are right in front of him at a given moment, pointing out how at this rate the Fantasti-Car upgrades might not get done until the next Skrull invasion if Johnny doesn’t learn to focus and use his common-sense. Johnny apologizes and tells Reed that he’ll get on the upgrades as right away.

Meanwhile, at the Experimental Energy Labs in southern Virginia, Taylor Linnik has once again refused to work with his wife, Cassie, on his latest project anymore even though they are on the verge of a breakthrough. Taylor tells Cassie that his work — that will harness the magnetic energy from the moon is much too dangerous than they realize and he does not want to expose her to that kind of risk. He then shuts Cassie out of his lab without allowing her to come in and double-check his calculations. There’s a reason why Doctor Linnik is shutting out his wife and it’s due to the fact that the Wizard is forcing him to work on his behalf. Although Taylor figures this will kill his marriage, the Wizard doesn’t care because of the breakthrough they will make will get them the adoration and respect that the Wizard believes he always deserved. Taylor agrees with the Wizard and understands that they have to work together in secret, particularly since even his wife would not be able to look past the Wizard’s criminal past. Linnik thinks of all the benefits their experiments will have, creating a world that is powered by the moon’s magnetic field, a totally clean source of energy. However, the Wizard know that this source of power can be used for so much more and intends to harness its full power.

That evening, at a diner to the west of the lab, Bruce Banner reads about the work that EXEL has been doing with magnetic energy conversion. Unfortunately, the owner of the diner doesn’t like the fact that Banner has been sitting around reading a magazine without ordering more than a cup of coffee and tosses him out. By the time Banner hits the pavement his has gotten excited enough to trigger a transformation into the Hulk. The gamma-spawned brute comes smashing through the front door of the diner and chases the owner away before helping himself to all the food in the kitchen. By the time the police have arrived on the scene, the food has given the Hulk a stomach ache, throwing him into a fresh fit of rage.[2] The Hulk smashes the rest of the diner and tosses a squad car into a fuel truck before leaping away. Landing in a nearby forest the Hulk falls asleep and as he calms, changes back into Bruce Banner. The following morning, Banner wakes up and goes to the nearby highway to try and thumb a ride.

By this point, a call to the Fantastic Four has brought the Fantasti-Car to EXEL for an inspection. Spotting the vehicle sends the Wizard into a fit of rage and he begins coming up with a plan to deal with this new development and thinks that Taylor Linnik will prove himself useful. Meanwhile, the other scientists come outside hoping for Mister Fantastic but are disappointed to discover that only the Human Torch has come out for the inspection. However, their attitudes quickly change when Johnny is able to identify one of their malfunctioning gyroscopes and a solution to get it working properly. By this point, Taylor has come out of his lab to see what’s going on. Cassie makes another attempt to get him to help but he shuns her again, even when she threatens to not be there when he needs her.

By that evening, Bruce Banner has hitched a ride up to the EXCEL building where he tries to convince the security guard at the gate to let him in, but the guard refuses him access to the facility. Spotting Cassie Linnik coming outside, Bruce tries to get her attention as they used to work together. When the guard shoves Bruce back, he ends up falling back into the electric fence that protects the perimeter of the facility triggering another transformation into the Hulk. Cassie tries speaking to the Hulk and begins to calm the man-monster down until the guard tries to shoot him, sending the Hulk into another rage. As he begins smashing his way through the security gate, everyone inside quickly becomes aware of the Hulk’s premises. When Johnny initially flames on, he sets off the building’s sprinkler system, dousing his flames. Outside, Cassie tries calming down the Hulk again and it once again starts to work. Unfortunately, Johnny has dried off enough to flame on again and starts tossing fireballs at the Hulk. While back inside, the Wizard finishes the final adjustments to the device and begins using it to tap the magnetic forces of the moon. As he uses the device to power his own armor, the Wizard gloats over his success, considering the Hulk and Torch’s battle outside was just the right distraction he needed to complete his work.

Outside, Taylor Linnik notices that the Wizard has activated his device and rushes inside. There the Wizard says that he will use this new power to take over the world. Not wanting his invention to be used for evil, Taylor tries to rush the Wizard but is repelled by the Wizard’s Wonder Gloves. The villain then tries to fly away just as the Torch has managed to burn away all the oxygen around the Hulk. Unable to breathe, the Hulk passes out and changes back into Bruce Banner once more. That’s when the Wizard attacks the Human Torch and easily defeats him by snuffing out the Torch’s flame. Going back inside, the Torch learns the source of the Wizard’s new powers from Doctor Linnik and his wife. Unfortunately, his flame powers have no effect on the device. However, Johnny thinks they can get the Hulk to help them out. Returning to Banner, Johnny starts throwing fireballs at the startled scientist triggering yet another transformation into the Hulk. Creating humanoid forms out of the flame, the Human Torch manages to lure the Hulk into Linnik’s lab where he smashes the lunar magnetic generator. Unfortunately, this causes the Wizard to be hurtled up into space. Johnny races after the Wizard in an effort to save him but the villain soon gets up too high and there is not enough oxygen to sustain Johnny’s flame any further and he is forced to turn around.[3] Seeing Johnny falling to his imminent death, Cassie convinces the Hulk to jump up and catch the Torch before he hits the ground. The Hulk complies but as soon as he is done, he is fed up with the others. After tossing Johnny to the ground, the Hulk leaps away.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Human Torch, Wizard, Mister Fantastic

Continuity Notes

1. It should be noted that the Marvel Vault one-shots are all previously unpublished inventory stories that were commissioned by Marvel in the past. Back in the 70s and 80s, Marvel got into the habit of doing what was called “inventory stories” that could be used whenever a title was falling behind schedule. This story was originally commissioned as an inventory story for Marvel Team-Up in the 1980s. Chronologically speaking, this story takes place following the events of Marvel Two-in-One Annual #5 (for Johnny) and Incredible Hulk #254 (for the Hulk).

2. One of the officers states that he arrested a Skrull once to which his partner corrects him saying that it was actually a cow. This is a nod to Fantastic Four #2, in which Reed Richards stopped a Skrull invasion by using hypnosis to convince some of the shape-shifting aliens into thinking they were cows.

3. Although the Wizard seems to fly off to his doom, he survives as he will turn up alive again in Amazing Spider-Man #213.