Fantastic Four #116
The Alien, the Ally, and -- Armageddon!
The remaining members of the Fantastic Four are reeling after their battle with their leader Mister Fantastic, who is now in the thrall of the Over-Mind. While trying to figure out what to do next, they are interrupted by an alarm from one of Reed's machines. They quickly realize it was a machine Reed had slipped through to escape them. Upon examination, they learn that it would have bombarded their leader with enough radiation that would allow them to track him. With a tracking device, Johnny and Ben head outside of the Baxter Building but are barred by an angry mob led by their landlord, Walter Collins. Collins has brought the authorities and demanded that they arrest the Fantastic Four for refusing to vacate the premises after his failed attempts to evict them. Fed up and with no time to waste, Johnny sends the crowd fleeing with his flame powers, and Ben leaves the cantankerous Mr. Collins suspended from a bent-over signpost. Continuing their search, Ben and Johnny are taken into the New York City sewers on their way to find Reed and the Over-Mind.
At the junkyard that serves as the Over-Mind's hideout, the alien finds that Reed Richards is resisting his attempts to mentally control him. As the Over-Mind increases his influence, Reed tries to keep his enemy out of his mind by reciting complex equations. When this becomes too difficult, he attempts to focus his mind on his wife and child. Before he can re-establish full control over Reed, the Over-Mind is attacked by the Thing and the Human Torch, who have just arrived on the scene. Seeing this battle on a view screen at the Baxter Building, Sue rushes to their aid in a one-person craft and tries to lend a hand in battle. All is lost when Ben and Johnny are defeated in combat, and Reed is once more taken under the Over-Mind's control. Unwilling to fight her own husband, Sue flees the scene to find allies that she hopes will assist her in saving the world. Her first stop is Avengers Mansion where she learns from Jarvis the butler that the Avengers are busy on another mission.
Searching the city of New York for other heroes who could help fight the Over-Mind, Sue can locate none of the Fantastic Four's previous allies. Feeling that all hope is lost, Sue lands her ship to lament over the situation. She is suddenly contacted by a mystical projection of Agatha Harkness and her son Franklin. Agatha tells Sue that there is only one person who can help Sue save the world. Sue is shocked when the old witch conjures up the image of the Fantastic Four's old foe Doctor Doom. With no other options left, Sue flies to the Latverian embassy. When the guards refuse to let her in, Sue crashes through a window and confronts Doom directly. Initially, the Doctor refuses to help, as he enjoys seeing his greatest enemies brought low. However, when Sue reminds him that the Over-Mind intends to take over the entire world, she suggests that he is afraid of facing the Over-Mind. This finally convinces Doom to get involved. Doctor Doom then orders Sue to take him to the Baxter Building and Reed's lab.
Back in the junkyard, Johnny and Ben have been defeated by the Over-Mind and Mister Fantastic. The invader then leaves with Reed to enthrall others in the city still not under his control. Ben and Johnny are revived by Doctor Doom, and they almost come to blows before Sue stops them to explain their uneasy alliance. They track down the Over-Mind as he and Reed are rounding up people to be enslaved. When the Fantastic Four and Doom attack, the Over-Mind attempts to use his mental powers but has them redirected back to him by Doom's psionic-refractor device. Although this device initially manages to stagger the Over-Mind, the alien catches Doom off guard and bombards him with mental attacks and eventually overloads the device. With Johnny, Ben, and Sue incapacitated, it appears that the Over-Mind will finally succeed in his quest to conquer the Earth. But the Over-Mind is suddenly shocked when the cosmic being known as the Stranger suddenly appears before him.
Meanwhile, Sue continues to struggle with her mind-controlled husband, who continues to overpower her. As he begins to squeeze the life out of her, Sue tries to remind Reed of their child, and the thoughts of Franklin cause Reed to fight free of the Over-Mind's control. Meanwhile, the Strange and the Over-Mind begin to clash. The Stranger tells the Over-Mind that he was created by the people of Gigantus to counteract his threat. Unwilling to believe this, the Over-Mind is no match for the Stranger and is soon shrunken down to the Microverse where he can be a threat to nobody. The Stranger then departs from Earth, returning to the stars from which he came. As the Fantastic Four recover from the battle, Doctor Doom departs from them, telling them that, when they meet again, it will be as enemies once more. Johnny is upset that they were unable to defeat the Over-Mind without the intervention of the Stranger, who could have done the job anytime he wanted and storms off. The rest of the Fantastic Four are then visited by the Watcher, who explains to them that their battle drew the attention of the Stranger after forcing the Over-Mind to unleash his power battling them. Without that, the Over-Mind would have been able to take over Earth and many other worlds before being noticed by the Stranger.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Doctor Doom, The Stranger, Overmind, Agatha Harkness, Franklin Richards, Edwin Jarvis, The Watcher, Walter Collins
Continuity Notes
Jarvis the Bulter says the Avengers are away on a mission in this story, which is putting it mildly. At the time of this story, Earth's mightiest heroes were caught in the middle of the Kree-Skrull War which happened between Avengers #89-97.
As a form of narrative pacing, the splash page for part two of this story features the visages of the various heroes that Sue went to look for to help battle the Over-Mind, but to no avail. Here is what the characters she was looking for were doing at the time of this story:
As stated above, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor were with the Avengers and involved in the Kree-Skrull War.
The Hulk was battling the Horusians in Egypt, as depicted in Incredible Hulk #145.
Daredevil and the Black Widow were busy battling the Owl as seen in Daredevil #80-81.
The Silver Surfer. His activities during this story cannot be easily determined, but he appears next in Marvel Feature #1 when he forms the Defenders with the Hulk, Namor, and Doctor Strange.
On the same token, the Sub-Mariner was in a long-running battle against a cultist named Tuval from Sub-Mariner #41 to 43.
Spider-Man was pre-occupied trying to cure himself of having six arms after a botched attempt to remove his powers caused him to grow four extra limbs. This occurred between Amazing Spider-Man #100-102.
In this story, the Stranger claims to have been created by the Gigantians as a counterforce to the Over-Mind. However as Quasar #16 reveals, the Gigantians did create a being to counteract the Over-Mind, but it was not the Stranger. The Stranger found the creature and accidentally killed it before it could carry out its intended purpose, and decided to adopt it as his own. The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #11 including an entry about the Stranger remains ambiguous about these facts, pointing out that the Stranger is not above using deception to suit his needs.
The Stranger states that he has trapped the Over-Mind in the Microverse on a "lifeless mote of dust". At the time it was believed that the Microverse existed within the atoms of the universe. However, as per Fantastic Four #282 it was revealed that the Microverse was not a microscopic realm but a parallel universe and when one shrinks down small enough they breach the barrier between dimensions.
