Vengeance of the Molecule Man!

The Thing, still trying to get home, sees a magazine cover featuring the Man-Thing in a small town Bus Station. Upset by the similarity of his and Man-Thing's names, he decides to travel to Florida instead of New York.

The Molecule Man, confined to his other-dimensional prison, tells his son to avenge him by destroying the Fantastic Four, and then apparently dies. The construct then undergoes a process similar to that which gave Molecule Man his powers. He attempts to teleport to New York City, but instead appears in the Florida Everglades, face to face with the Man-Thing.

The Thing arrives and is surprised to see the Molecule Man. He charges the villain, but the Molecule Man uses his wand to transform both the Thing and the Man-Thing back into their human forms. The two men are believed to be human again, but realize that they must still stop the Molecule Man before he fulfills his vow to destroy the entire Fantastic Four.

By the time they catch up to him, the Molecule Man has reached the nearby town of Citrusville and is wreaking havoc with the powers of his wand. He even turns an innocent pedestrian into a likeness of Mister Fantastic and kills him. The Molecule Man notices that Ben Grimm and Ted Sallis seem more compassionate and driven to stop him in their human form than in their more monstrous forms, so he transforms them back to the way they were before. It is his wish see the two destroy each other. The Thing punches his fist through the Man-Thing's body and withdraws a fistful of muck. He hurls the slime at the Molecule Man, striking his wand. The cosmic device flies from his hand and rolls through some cracks in the wreckage. As the wand is the reservoir for his power, the Molecule Man desperately tries to retrieve it. His power levels are quickly depleted his life essence drains away. After the construct dies, the Thing recovers the Molecule Man's wand, while the Man-Thing instinctively begins lumbering back to his swamp. The Thing hands the now-powerless device to a nearby child.

Recurring Characters

Thing, Man-Thing, Molecule Man

Continuity Notes

• The Thing recalls his battles against the Hulk in Marvel Feature #11 and when he teamed up with Iron Man to battle the Blood Brothers in Marvel Feature #12.

• The Molecule Man has been trapped in this dimension since he was defeated by the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #20.

• This story is ambiguous about the nature of the Molecule Man's "son", Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7 clarifies that in this case, the Molecule Man actually transferred his mind into the body of his "son" when his creation recreated the accident that gave him his powers.

• The reason why the Molecule Man needs a wand to focus his powers is due to his low self-esteem as specified in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #11.

• When the Man-Thing is reverted back into Ted Sallis, Sallis does not recall any of his activities as the Man-Thing. As such his last memories were the accident that led to his transformation (As seen in Savage Tales #1). This story references Monsters Unleashed #3, which features a reprint of the Man-Thing story from Savage Tales. The other instance that Sallis remembers was when the Man-Thing was turned briefly back into human form battling Thog in Fear #13.

• Although the "son" of the Molecule Man dies here, the Molecule Man's mind lives on in the wand, as revealed in Iron Man Annual #3. The Molecule Man remains trapped in the wand until he discovers a way to reform his body in Avengers #215.