Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #25
When Worlds Collide!
With a massive chaos wave approaching the Earth, New York City is about to be slammed with a massive tidal wave. Before it strikes a massive ship appears in front of it and Valeria recognizes it as the one owned by her father, Doctor Doom. No sooner is it recognized is Valeria teleported on board, leaving the Fantastic Four to brace themselves for the coming wave. Sue manages to protect them with their invisible force field. While they survive the blast of water, they also notice that time seems to have frozen all around them as nobody appears to be drowning nor are any of the buildings damaged by the violent flooding. Getting to the surface, the Fantastic Four take stock of the situation. Coming to terms with the fact that Valeria was taken from her, Sue begins to wonder what could create such an evil man like Doctor Doom. Upon closer inspection, Reed theorizes that the Earth is being merged with the one that was created by Franklin. With no other help available the Fantastic Four decide to head toward the ship that flew by and set a course due west.
Meanwhile, aboard the ship, Valeria is transported aboard and is upset that they overrode her signal preventing her from teleporting the rest of the Fantastic Four aboard. Greeting her is the woman known as Lancer who is surprised that this mystery girl knows who she is. When Doctor Doom demands to know who is aboard his vessel, Valeria is happy to see her father and runs to him, but his force field blocks her. He demands to know who she is and why she wears his armor and the symbols of his hated enemies. Valeria explains that she is his daughter, a claim that Doom finds laughable. Suddenly the Fantastic Four tear into the ship, Doom is not surprised by their entrance and tells the Fantastic Four that he has been expecting them. It soon becomes apparent that they all must work together. Doom warns then against opposing him, introducing his generals from Counter-Earth: the alien Technarx, the mystic Shakti, the symbiote Divinity, and the Atlantean Queen Dorma. It becomes apparent to Reed that Doom somehow brought Counter-Earth from Franklin's pocket dimension to this one. The accusations back and forth almost lead to a fight when Valeria demands everyone to stop. Doom once again asks who Valeria is and she explains that she is Doom's daughter from the future, a concept that Doom finds interesting.
When Doom tells Valeria to choose a side, she cannot bring herself to do so. Doom then orders Lancer to pull the girl aside while his Generals battle the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four temporarily fell their opponents but before the battle can carry on, the ship is seized by the Dreaming Celestial who rends the ship to pieces. Everyone on board is saved from being crushed to death thanks to Sue's invisible force field and they are teleported into the Dreaming Celestial's temple deep below the American west. There Doom explains that the Dreaming Celestial had been responsible for endless chaos on Counter-Earth before Doom brought it to his native dimension in an attempt to save it. However, this did not end the threat from this rogue Celestial who now is attempting to merge both worlds. Although they begin to argue again, Doom is honor-bound to save both worlds. In the middle of the argument, a strange black void begins swallowing up the combatants. Doom, needing Richards and Valeria to complete his tasks stuns Reed and takes both him and Valeria into the chamber of the Dreaming Celestial.
There they notice that the statues of Celestials along the wall turn into those the shadow consumes. Lancer and the Thing are the last to fall and when the dark mass comes towards them and the statues come to life. As Reed and Doom try to decipher the hieroglyphics around the Dreaming Celestial's tomb, Valeria notices energy coalescing around the statue of Ashema. It forms into the body of the Dreaming Celestial who unleashes his power upon the trio, causing reality to warp along the way. However, the Dreamer offers them to become Celestials by itself. Because they are so close to the key to stopping it, Doom pretends to accept the offer while Reed throws the switches necessary to destroy the Dreamer. When this ruse is exposed, the Dreaming Celestial consumed Valeria as well and is about to consume Reed and Doom just as Reed manages to throw the last switch. This awakens Ashema who fires a powerful bolt of cosmic energy that ruptures the Dreaming Celestial. As it seemingly dies it grabs both Reed and Doom. The temple statues then begin to crumble, freeing those who were trapped. Ashema then unleashes her full power on the Dreaming Celestial despite the protests from Valeria to save Reed and Doctor Doom. These warnings go unheeded and the Dreaming Celestial is seemingly destroyed. When the others believe both leaders have been destroyed they are shocked when it appears that Doctor Doom has emerged from the rubble.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Marvel Girl, Ashema, Doctor Doom, Lancer, Technark, Shakti, Queen Dorma, Divinity, Dreaming Celestial
Continuity Notes
Valeria von Doom is actually an adult version of Valeria Richards the stillborn second child of Reed and Sue. Valeria didn't survive the child birthing process as depicted in Fantastic Four #267. This is revealed in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #49. Franklin ultimately uses his powers to restore Valeria to her newborn state so Sue can give birth to her again in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #50.
There are a number of references to Franklin being sent away, that happened last issue. As revealed in Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad #1, Franklin was sent to Otherworld for protection.
There are multiple references to Franklin's Counter-Earth. Some facts about this:
When the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, and Avengers sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught in Onslaught Marvel Universe #1, Franklin saved their lives by creating a pocket dimension with Counter-Earth where they lived "reborn" lives as seen in the Heroes Reborn event.
As seen in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, eventually the Celestials gave Franklin an ultimatum: choose one Earth to continue and the other would be destroyed. Franklin helped returned his family and their allies to Earth and defeated the Celestials sparing both worlds. Doom tries to steal Franklin but was lost in the dimensional gulf between both dimensions.
Doom returned to Counter-Earth where he discovered that the Dreaming Celestial had altered reality to suit its whims. Doom gathered his generals and took over Counter-Earth, defeating the Dreaming Celestial. They brought Counter-Earth to the Earth-616 dimension in the hopes of cutting off the Dreaming Celestial's access to it. This was depicted in Heroes Reborn Doomsday #1, Heroes Reborn Ashema #1 and Heroes Reborn Doom #1.
The reason why Valeria recognizes Lancer is that on her world Lancer acted as Valeria's bodyguard, as revealed in Fantastic Four Annual 2000.
The Thing recognizes that the Dorma in Doom's army is from Counter-Earth and the one from their reality is actually dead. Lady Dorma, would-be wife to the Sub-Mariner died years earlier in Sub-Mariner #37. This Dorma is a product of Franklin's imagination as first seen in Fantastic Four Vol 2 #2. Dorma was initially a docile woman until the Dreaming Celestial altered her personality into a fierce warrior as seen in Heroes Reborn Doomsday #1.
Although apparently destroyed here, the Dreaming Celestial lives on and continues to exist. It is found sleeping below San Fransico a few years later by the Eternals as seen in Eternals Vol 3 #4.
Although it appears that Doctor Doom survived this encounter this is actually Mister Fantastic trapped in Doom's armor, as revealed next issue. Doom meanwhile finds himself transported back to Counter-Earth, as seen in Doom #1-3.
