Fantastic Four #183
Battleground: The Baxter Building
Returning from their investigation of the scene where the Thing and Tigra battle the Metalloid, Tigra, Thundra and the Impossible Man witness as Sue is thrown out of the upper stories of the Baxter Building. With the Impossible Man the only one with the ability to save him, Thundra is forced to throw him at Sue when he proves too slow to realize that a fall from that hight will kill her and he rescues her in the nick of time. Watching this from the window, the Brute is furious but decides to set up the Baxter Building's defences in order to prevent them from stopping him.
While in the Negative Zone, Annihilus tells Reed, Ben and Johnny the origins of the creature they just battled. He explains that it is in reality the Mad Thinker's old android the Monster Android that the FF were forced to eject into the Negative Zone to defeat. Annihilus would take it and recreate it into the loyal Scavanger. However, at his last defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four, the Scavanger would pull Annihilus' cosmic control rod form his body, gaining full sentience and mutating into his current form. With the Scavanger's origins told, Annihilus tries to flies off to stop it, but Reed and the others stop him and agree to go back to the positive matter universe and stop the creature and send back Annihilus' cosmic control rod for him.
As the Mad Thinker heads to the Baxter Building hoping to retrieve the Scavenger without issue, the Invisible Girl, Tigra, and Thundra head toward the Baxter Building to confront the Brute. The Impossible Man, finding the days ordeal boring decides to wander off and find fun elsewhere. As they fight through the bases defences, the Scavanger arrives through the Negative Zone portal and thinking that the Brute is the person who summoned him and not wanting to be a slave again attacks him. As Sue and the others break through the various defences until the shut them down, Reed, Ben and Johnny travel to the Negative Zone portal when their ship is attacked by Borers.
While on Earth, the Scavenger gains the upper hand against the Brute by blasting him with cosmic rays causing him to revert back into his Reed Richards form. As Reed and the others fight off the Borers in the Negative Zone, Sue and her friends enter the lab and battle the Scavenger. When Reed, Johnny and Ben make it back to Earth they join the fight as well, and during the fight the Mad Thinker arrives and realizes that his calculations were incredibly off and retreats before he is discovered. When the Thing knocks out the Scavenger, Reed recovers the Cosmic Control Rod and is about to re-enter the Negative Zone to give it back to Annihilus, his counterpart from Counter-Earth would snatch it. Telling them that he has regained his sanity and realizes how noble the Fantastic Four are and having nothing left to live for, the Counter-Earth Richards would dive into the Negative Zone portal to complete the mission himself.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Impossible Man, Thundra, Tigra, Annihilus, Brute, Mad Thinker, Scavenger
Continuity Notes
The Brute's reference to "sentiment" is in regards to the lingering feelings he has for the Sue Storm of Counter-Earth who remains on that world in a coma since Warlock #6 after a similar space flight that created the Fantastic Four on Earth.
Reed lost his powers in Fantastic Four #178, a natural progression since he first discovered it in Fantastic Four #157. His powers are eventually restored in Fantastic Four #197.
Here Annihilus confirms that the creature they have been fighting was the Mad Thinker's android that was dumped into the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #71. He also reveals that it was the Scavenger creature he used to attack the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four Annual #6. Annihilus also references his last defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four, as seen in Fantastic Four #141.
The ship Reed, Ben and Johnny use to escape the Negative Zone is the same one used by Annihilus in Fantastic Four Annual #6.
The Brute does not die here as believed, he resurfaces again ---evil as ever before--- years later in Fantastic Four Unlimited #3.
