Fantastic Four #54
Whosoever Finds the Evil Eye..!
While the Fantastic Four enjoy a playful baseball game with the Black Panther and his people in Wakanda, in the Hidden Land, the Inhumans try to convince Maximus to work on a device that will break down the barrier that keeps them trapped in their land. While back in Wakanda, Johnny wishes he could see Crystal again and so with a all terrain vehicle provided by the Black Panther, he and Wyatt Wingfoot travel to find a way to get past the barrier and get into the Hidden Land.
They come across an ancient temple where they rouse the last survivor of Avalon, Prester John, keeper of a powerful weapon known as the Evil Eye. Displaying it's power, he shows that it can fire destructive beams of force as well as create, when he seals Johnny and Wyatt in a force dome.
While in the Hidden Land, Maximus builds a device for Triton that allows him to survive outside of water, which irks Gorgon because Maximus should be building a device to free them, Black Bolt then tries to breach the barrier by using his destructive vocal chords.
While back at the temple of Prester John, Johnny takes the Evil Eye in hopes that it can free Crystal and the other Inhumans, however Prester was unable to push the safety switch on the device and it is now building up energy that will cause the device to explode. Rushing out to stop Johnny before it's too late, Wyatt uses a gun to shoot the Evil Eye out of Johnny's hand and knocking it a safe distance away before it explodes in a giant nuclear explosion. Even though his life was saved, Johnny takes this most recent failure very personally.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Wyatt Wingfoot, Prester John, Black Panther, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Maximus)
Continuity Notes
A flashback in Marvel Knights: 4 #21 takes place between the events of that story. In that story, it is revealed that Sue resisted the urge to cheat on Reed with T’Challa. What makes this incredibly awkward is this Wakanda trip is also when Reed and Sue conceived their first child, Franklin Richards.
Prester John is based upon the character of Christian folklore, and his full past origins are merely glossed over here. Later in Thor Annual #17 it is explained that prior to his going into suspended animation by sitting on the Chair of Survival, Prester was briefly banished to the year 911 AD by Kang the Conqueror, he was returned to his proper time after an encounter with Thor before sitting on the Chair of Survival.
As revealed in Avengers #226 the Evil Eye was originally formed in Avalon as a weapon against the Fomore. The device wasn't destroyed as it seems in this story, it actually broke up into into six parts and scattered across the globe as revealed in Avengers #116.
In this story Maximus constructs the device that allows Triton to breath on dry land. The invention of this device is incorrectly attributed to being invented by Mister Fantastic in X-Factor Annual #2.
