Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re still in space in issue #549, as our heroes take on the Frightful Four and… the destruction of the universe?

Recap: While Reed and Sue take a leave of absence from the team after Civil War, Black Panther and Storm took their place. But now Reed and Sue are back after receiving a message from aliens, and then being attacked by the Frightful Four. Now acting as a makeshift Fantastic Six, the heroes fight the Frightful Four on Jupiter’s moon Titan, only for the Wizard to unleash his secret weapon. It’s Black Panther’s old nemesis Klaw, the master of sound!

Klaw zaps Black Panther, thinking he has an advantage, only to discover that he’s one of the FF now. Klaw knocks the heroes back with a soundwave so he and the Wizard can chat. Wizard says that Klaw is dead, and this is a clone of Klaw recreated from a sound sample. Wizard also gave this new Klaw a way around the Vibranium weave in Black Panther’s armor. Then Ben punches out Klaw, revealing that Black Panther slipped him some Vibranium earplugs while they appeared weakened.

The Frightful Four regroup and are ready for round two, but then Storm reveals she’s rescued Sue, and removed the power-dampening device the Wizard put on her. Sue shows the villains what she’s made of by smashing Titania into the ceiling and tossing Hyrdo-Man out into space, where he freezes in absolute zero. She then destroys the Wizard’s anti-grav tech and tells him off, saying that he’s wasted his genius on trying to outsmart Reed, someone who would’ve never harmed him. Still not done, she turns his chest invisible so everyone can see his beating heart, and she threatens to use her force fields to give him a heart attack. He faints with fear, and Sue admits she was bluffing.

The heroes take the Frightful Four hostage, and take off on the FF’s new Fold Ship. Then Reed fills everyone in on the main plot, how he received a message from aliens called Oditopians, who may be hunted to extinction by a second alien species called Contrasepsis. The ship takes off to the Oditopians’ world, only to drop out of hyperspace unexpectedly. Reed says that when they left hyperspace, they didn’t reenter the universe. Instead, the ship is in an all-white void.

Reed surmises that something’s gone horribly wrong with the space-time continuum. Although they’re no longer in the universe, the ship is still able to contact Hank Pym (secretly a Skrull in disguise) on Earth. Hank says Tony Stark’s people analyzed the object containing the Oditopian message, revealing it to be a quantum destabilizing weapon, which can destroy spacetime. The FF fears they’ve already used it.

Ben flies the Fold Ship in and out of real space, and long-range scans show no signs of life. It appears that the Oditopians succeeded in destroying their enemies, and themselves in the process. But then, as the ship flies closer. We see multiple Watchers standing on nearby floating rubble, observing it all.

Reed and Black Panther agree that the Watchers’ presence means all life in the universe is in danger. They don’t have time to think of a solution, however, because the not-dead Contrasepsis appears and attacks the ship.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed and Black Panther are definitely science bros in this issue, with them finishing each other’s sentences during the exposition, so that one does not comes across as smarter than the other.  

Fade out: Sue states “the honeymoon’s over” as all six heroes regroup, suggesting that this new era (era) of Fantastic Four will be even more short-lived than expected.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is almost always drawn without ears, but this issue confirms he does have them. We can assume his ears are tiny, within the cracks on his rocky hide.

Flame on: Johnny encourages Sue not to be overwhelmed with thoughts of revenge when she confronts the Wizard, but then he’s all about seeking revenge when it appears the Oditopians were killed by the Contrasepsis.

Fantastic fifth wheel: It appears as if Black Panther’s uniform is not made from unstable molecules, but from a fabric containing Vibranium.

In her new status as queen of Wakanda, it’s likely that Storm’s uniform is also Vibranium, even though Reed has provided the X-Men with unstable molecules through their history.

SUE-per spy: The 2019 Invisible Woman miniseries revealed that Sue had a double life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent all along. When she puts so much fear into the Wizard that he faints, that’s got to be her spy training at work, right?

Trivia time: This issue says Klaw died, and the Marvel Wiki adds that his death was in New Avengers #15. But upon re-reading that issue, it’s clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents take him into custody after Ms. Marvel defeats him. Klaw shows up in so many places that his continuity is very hard to track. He’ll later play a major role in the ongoing Intelligencia storyline.

Speaking of which, the fight in this issue ends with the FF putting the Frightful Four in suspended animation and launching them in a slow-moving shuttlepod back to Earth, where it’ll take them years to arrive. (More of Civil War’s “Negative Zone prison” mentality here, I suppose.) We never see how that’s resolved because, also during the Intelligencia plot, they’re back to being the Frightful Four again.

Fantastic or frightful? A lot of fans look down on the Frightful Four as lesser villains, but in reading about them for this week’s blog, it occurs to me just how huge of a thorn they’ve been in the FF’s side over the years. Maybe it’s time to start taking them seriously as one of the big players in the FF’s rogue’s gallery. Either way, this issue is a fun resolution to the big fight, followed by some classic Fantastic Four cosmic weirdness.

Next: Beyond the infinite.

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