Fantastic Four #508
Authoritative Action: Part 6
In attempting to trap Doctor Doom in a Mobius dimension, Mister Fantastic failed when his teammates tried to prevent him from trapping himself there as well. As a result, Doctor Doom was able to escape by using his Ovoid mind-swapping technique to take possession of Sue's body. The combined forces of the Fantastic Four and a United Nations response team are unable to pierce the invisible force fields that Doom is generating. As Doom lashes out, he knocks the Human Torch into the dimensional portal preventing them from sending him back into the Mobius dimension. During the fight, Nick Fury arrives he prevents the guards from shooting the "Invisible Woman" down because he knows that Sue isn't a killer and figures out that she is possessed.
Doom bursts out from out of the castle and sees that Reed Richards has taken over his country during his time trapped in Hell and is furious. The Fantastic Four and Fury catch up with Doom and even though he is more lethal using Sue's powers he is ill-prepared to use them against the Fantastic Four. While the Thing pounds on the force field to create feedback, the Torch uses heat illusions to distraction. When Reed blasts Doom with a device that nullifies Sue's powers. Doom then does a body swap taking control of Johnny's body. With Doom flying off, Reed doesn't have time to downgrade the other weapons the UN created to stop them so that they are non-lethal. With the Fantastic Four needing to stop Doctor Doom, Fury has to go report back to the United Nations and reminds them that even though Doom is back they are still in deep trouble for their attempted coup of Latveria.
Meanwhile, Doctor Doom pilots Johnny's body down into his armory and finds it empty. Mister Fantastic catches up to him with a weapon designed to stop the Human Torch. They are joined by Fury and another group of soldiers. During the fight, Doom comes across the discarded portrait of his mother and goes ballistic. When Reed tries to suck out Johnny's flame by opening a portal, Doom does another body swap: taking possession of the Thing this time. Doom then grabs Johnny and threatens to kill him if they don't fire the weapon designed to kill the Thing. With Sue's powers still scrambled, Reed struggles with the fact that the only way he can stop Doctor Doom is to kill the physical body of his best friend. Victor taunts Reed by telling him that he will murder Sue next and then everyone else in the castle. Ben forces his personality to the fore, but cannot fight off Doom's influence. With a tear coming from his eye, Ben begs them to kill him.
With no other choice, Reed grabs the weapon from Nick Fury and unleashes the lethal blast on Ben. The shot burrows through his chest. Reed, Sue and Johnny run to Ben who tells him that Victor's influence is gone. Dying, he tells Reed that this isn't his fault. After telling Reed to tell Franklin and Valeria that he loves them. He then remarks how he thought that when he died it would be a little closer to Yancy Street. His final words are an attempt to say "Wot a revoltin' development"...
.... Six weeks later
A new democratic government is voted into Latveria, however, while the people of that country credit Reed Richards, the United Nations and American opinion polls are not favorably looking upon the Fantastic Four's coup. As a result, the once busy Fantastic Four gift shop is empty and the team is forced to close it. Sue is walking around the empty store looking at all the memories of her time with the Fantastic Four. Her cell phone then alerts her that she has a voice mail. Calling it up it's a message from Reed telling her that he will no longer be keeping secrets from the family anymore and tells her that he is going to find a way to bring Ben back from the dead.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Nick Fury, Doctor Doom
Continuity Notes
All the trauma caused to the Fantastic Four by Doctor Doom occurred in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #67-70 and Fantastic Four #500. That story ended with Doom being trapped in Hell. Reed's scarred face is eventually healed in Fantastic Four #511.
Doctor Doom managed to swap bodies using a technique he learned from the Ovoids back in Fantastic Four #10. Typically it is a mind-swap. This is the first time where Doom uses this ability to possess his victims as opposed to swapping their bodies.
Doctor Doom reveres his mother because she was murdered by the soldiers of Vladimir Fortunov the former ruler of Latveria, as first explained in Fantastic Four Annual #2. Marvel Graphic Novel #49 and Books of Doom #1 explain that she was put to death due to her use of witchcraft accidentally killing the population of a small village. Doom avenged his mother by killing King Vladimir in Books of Doom #6 and claiming the country as his own.
Although the Thing dies here he is resurrected in Fantastic Four #511, while Doctor Doom's soul is returned to his body in Hell, as seen in Fantastic Four #537.
This story states that following Doctor Doom's defeat, Latveria elected a new ruler. This is later revealed to be Lucia von Bardas. Nick Fury later led a team of heroes to overthrow Von Bardas due to her ties to the Tinkerer as seen in Secret War #1-5.
In the Fantastic Four store, there is a poster of the Sub-Mariner carrying Sue into the ocean with the other members of the Fantastic Four chasing after him. This is a reproduction of the cover for Fantastic Four #4.
