Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #557 answers the question, how do you fight a giant robot? With another giant robot!

Recap: Reed was contacted by his old girlfriend Alyssa Moy and her new husband, mega-millionaire Ted Castle, about their new project. It’s Nu Earth, an exact replica of Earth on the other side of a portal. Alyssa says an unpreventable environmental crisis is on the way, and humanity must be evacuated to Nu Earth. They also have plans for Nu Earth to be a utopia without armies or weapons. To manage this, they have a robot enforcer named Cap, who is programmed to end soldiers and war. Then Cap escaped its lab and waged war on all the Earth’s armies. Three of the FF and a whole bunch of Avengers could not stop him, but then Reed returned from a deep space mission with a promise to save the day.

This issue begins with Sue rescuing Ben from the icy waters where he was trapped, and then Alyssa and all the heroes trying to come up with a plan. We see the Pentagon and the White House being evacuated as the world fears Cap will track down and destroy any powerful military installations. We’re told Cap’s path of destruction has already leveled military bases all over Asia and India. Cut to Central Park in NYC, where we see Reed’s plan – he’s built a giant mech!

Reed calls this his Anti-Galactus suit, and he argues that if Cap is hunting the biggest weapons on Earth, then he’ll come straight for this one. Cap appears at that moment, ready to fight Reed. All the other heroes come through a portal, ready for a fight, but Reed orders them to back off. Reed knows the Cap wants to destroy the Anti-Galactus, but he also deduces that Cap is programmed not to harm Reed. He’s right, as Cap stops saying “Command: Do not hurt.” Reed says he’s under no such restraints. He fights back, with a punch that sends energy waves across all of New York.

Cap collapses, Reed shuts down the power to the Anti-Galactus, and everyone celebrates. Sue asks how Reed knew Cap was programmed not to harm him. Reed looks over at Alyssa and says, “An educated guess.”

At the White House, the president and his staff are dealing with the fallout of Cap destroying military bases all over the world. The president says that the “top-secret plan” is over, but his advisor tells him that foreign nations are willing to “keep a lid on the entire situation.” She then says that Nu-World is “our last hope” and that this incident cannot hold them back.

In New York, Reed and Alyssa are assisting with cleaning up the wreckage. She says she still wants him to work with her and Ted on creating Nu-Earth. He says he doesn’t like all the secrecy, and he’d rather work on saving Earth from the oncoming eco-disaster. Alyssa then gets personal, saying, “We married the wrong people.” She says Ted has the intellect but no passion, and she criticizes Sue for always complaining about Reed spending too much time in the lab. Reed says he loves Sue, and that’s not something Alyssa can work out with a calendar. Reed kisses Alyssa on the cheek, adding that’s a kiss goodbye.

Turn the page, and Reed and Sue are at a fancy restaurant for their anniversary. Sue says she could tell right away that Alyssa had an ulterior motive. Reed assures her she has nothing to worry about. He then gives her a gift, an “eternity ring” that he made himself. The ring’s jewel contains a micro-galaxy with seventy-four worlds inhabited with forty trillion life forms. She says it’s beautiful. Her gift to him a Bob Dylan CD (!).

Then one more surprise. This restaurant is located years in the past, with Reed and Sue having time-traveled there. They watch out the window to see young Reed and young Sue bump into each other on the sidewalk, which Reed says is the first time they laid eyes on each other as adults.

Elsewhere, Johnny returns to his new apartment to find his new girlfriend Psionics in his bed. She’s nude and covered with dollar bills (Wah-hey!). She’s just robbed a bank, but Johnny kisses her rather than call the cops.

At the new Baxter Building, Ben and his new girlfriend, Debbie Green, meet with a woman named Tabitha Deneuve, who is there to interview to be kids’ new nanny. Then alarms go off, and Ben believes the building is under attack. A door tears open, and a battle-damaged Dr. Doom is on the other side. He says, “Find Reed Richards! Now!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: This is the first I can recall of Reed’s Bob Dylan fandom. Any Dylan experts out there who want to tell me which song might be Reed’s favorite?

Fade out: Sue’s micro-galaxy ring is certainly foreshadowing, right? It’s setting up some future story where it’ll be used in a far-out sci-fi way, right? Nope, this issue is the only time it’s ever been seen.

Clobberin’ time: Ben asks a good question in why Cap doesn’t come with any sort of emergency off button. This goes unanswered.

Flame on: Issue #554 stated that Johnny’s new apartment was in New York’s famous Flatiron Building. But in this issue, the building exterior is definitely not that. There are some cardboard boxes in the background during that scene, so maybe he’s already moved again.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Black Panther, Storm, and Luke Cage are shown among the heroes fighting Cap.

Four and a half/our gal Val: This Ms. Deneuve lady missed her job interview because the FF were busy with the crisis. But she did meet Franklin and Valeria, who, we’re told, enjoyed her company. Unlike Sue’s galaxy ring, Ms. Deneuve is setting up a future storyline.

Trivia time: This is the only appearance of the Anti-Galactus mech. This issue references to how expensive and power-consuming it is, so that’s probably why.

Again we see that Reed has this huge staff working for him. This time they’re all flying around on hoverboards to put the final touches on the Anti-Galactus. Reed’s second-in-command is a woman named Rosie. The Marvel Wiki insists that this is the same Rosie who hosted the celebrity date auction in vol. 3 issue #50. We’ll never learn what that’s about, because this is her last appearance.

Fantastic or frightful? Despite wrecking half the Earth and defeating three Avengers teams at once, the menace of Cap ends up being anticlimactic. In the end, it wasn’t about Cap running amok, but about the Alyssa-Reed-Sue love triangle, which is handled nicely in this issue.

Next: Pretty little liar.

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