The Night of the Frozen Inferno

Needing to borrow a ship from the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man takes off on his own task. The Human Torch sees him off before returning to the Baxter Building to watch over the place while the rest of his team is gone. Bored, and confused over his current feelings for Crystal, the Torch decides to go out and investigate the jewelry store robbery that Spider-Man tipped him off on earlier. When he arrives on the scene he spots the frozen footprints in the pavement melting. Suddenly, he is struck from behind by a chunk of ice. Flaming on, the Torch flies above the buildings to try and find his attacker. He spots Iceman of the X-Men speeding by on an ice slide and immediately assumes that the mutant was his attacker. The Torch launches an attack, much to Iceman's surprise as he doesn't know why the Torch is after him.

With his ice slide smashed, Iceman asks the Torch what's going on. The Torch tells him about how Spider-Man encountered someone with ice powers who robbed the jewelry store. Since Iceman fits that description, the Torch intends to take him to the police. The two begin fighting in the streets, however, they are an even match. Suddenly, a car pulls up on the scene and Cyclops, Angel, and Marvel Girl come out and tell the pair to stop fighting. When they refuse, Cyclops separates them with an optic blast. As it turns out, Iceman could not have been the one responsible because he was with the X-Men planning a secret mission during the time of the robbery. Iceman asks for permission to go after the one responsible for framing him and it is granted. After the X-Men depart, the Human Torch insists on tagging along in case Iceman needs any help.

Suddenly, there is an explosion at the jewelry store again, and the heroes rush to stop the one responsible. Inside, the pair are attacked from behind, Iceman with fire, and the Torch with ice. When they recover they spot their attacker -- wearing a special metal suit -- leaping out of the hole blasted in the wall with a bag of stolen loot. The two leap after their foe, tearing his protective suit in the process. The thief complains that he was trying to find a cure for himself. Calling himself Equinox the Thermodynamic Man, the thief rips open his suit to reveal that his body is half fire and half ice. The two heroes being fighting with Equinox, but they find themselves equally matched. When the battle attracts the police, Equinox attempts to escape on top of a city bus. However, the Torch and Iceman pursue after him, knocking him back onto the street again. There, the pair blasts him simultaneously causing a thermodynamic response that overloads Equiniox to the point of exploding. Once the smoke clears the Human Torch and Iceman find the blast left a hole in the street that leads to the sewers before. Unsure if Equinox died in the blast or escaped, the pair couldn't find the body in the rushing water anyway and so they depart.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, X-Men (Iceman, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel), Equinox, Spider-Man

Continuity Notes

• This story happens between the events of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, which is where Spider-Man tackles Equinox and borrows a ship from the Fantastic Four.

• The Human Torch is wearing a red and yellow uniform here. He recently changed the colors of his uniform in Fantastic Four #132. He will wear this uniform until Fantastic Four #159.

• Johnny mentions how he isn't sure how he feels about Crystal. This story takes place shortly after Crystal started a relationship with Quicksilver in Fantastic Four #131.

• The secret mission the X-Men are referring to in this story is to investigate the island of Krakoa, as seen in Giant-Size X-Men #1.