Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Matt Fraction’s dual-series epic continues on, with a brawl between two heroes that you could’ve sworn were friends.

Recap: When the Fantastic Four seemingly vanished during their expedition through space and time, a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – are taking care of the Future Foundation and barely keeping things together. When a future version of the Human Torch known as John Storm appeared through a portal with a warning of Dr. Doom gaining power in the future, Ant-Man decided it was time for this new team to deal with Doom. After hearing this, Alex Power of the Future Foundation ran off for a secret meeting with Doom.

 We begin with the new Baxter Building returning to New York from the Negative Zone after last issue’s adventure. Annihilus is on the roof, saying “Finally.” Cut to Latveria, where Alex sees this in the newspaper (The Daily Bugle delivers to Latveria?) and he considers going back home, now that he’s told Doom everything. Doom loses it, throwing a metal goblet at Alex, and telling him that he has no agency of his own now. Doom takes Alex down to caverns beneath Castle Doom where Doom has Alex’s parents held captive. Doom insists that Alex call him “Master” from now on.

Then there’s something for the true old-school fans. At the Baxter Building Ant-Man and Dragon Man give Darla a pair of rings that we recognize as the ones from the old Thing cartoon. They explain that these can summon her Thing costume to her in an instant, so it’s not so cumbersome. She quotes the classic “Thing Ring, do your Thing,” and it works.

In the Himalayas, the team meets with the Inhumans for a trial of sorts, where they chide Medusa for letting the Wizard exploit a weakness within her (seen the previous few issues). Medusa enacts a ritual where she drops a sword, symbolically dropping the veil of nobility and allowing anyone to speak against her. Gorgon (who, let’s not forget, once singlehandedly defeated the entire Fantastic Four) says all is forgiven, but She-Hulk steps up and says Medusa shouldn’t be around the children anymore after what happened.

At the Baxter Building, Bentley-23 and Ahura teleport into the place to find it empty. Then soon realize the other Future Foundation kids have set up Home Alone-style traps for them, thinking they are villains. A big slapstick fight breaks out, with the kids asking whether Bentley and Ahura are bad guys now.

In the Inhumans’ floating city of Attilan, just above the Himalayas, Medusa confronts She-Hulk in She-Hulks bedroom, having been offended by She-Hulk’s words earlier. She-Hulk again says Medusa shouldn’t be trusted and shouldn’t be near the kids. When she points a finger at Medusa, Medusa swats it away with her hair, and then the fight is on. The battle cuts back and forth between this and the one in the Baxter Building. Ant-Man breaks up his two teammates, and Dragon Man breaks up the kids.

Ant-Man tells She-Hulk and Medusa that Alex Power just returned home. We see him looking beaten and bruised, but welcomed by the Foundation kids. Medusa and She-Hulk agree to go back and check on him. At the Baxter Building, John Storm wakes from unconsciousness, crying “Doom!” In Latveria, Dr. Doom meets with Kid Immortus, a version of Kang from three hundred centuries in the future, and a woman named Ravonna. Kid Immortus says everything is going according to plan. As such, Annihilus appears, revealing that the Negative Zone plot of the last few issues was all part of Doom’s plan to get Annihilus to Earth. (Remember John Storm’s warning from the future, that Doom will eventually gain the powers of both Kang and Annihilus.) Kid Immortus says this is “the beginning of the end.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk’s dislike of Medusa seems to come out of nowhere. She does accuse the Inhumans of hiding away from the world instead of being a part of it. This seems to call back She-Hulk’s huge self-confidence, always proudly strutting around NYC in full Hulk mode.

Crystal is once again seen standing alongside the Inhuman Royal Family during the trial, with no dialogue.

Two H.E.R.B.I.E. robots are arguing whether Daft Punk are actual robots before getting burned up as John Storm wakes. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Foundational: While Bentley insists that he’s a bad guy, he refers to his Foundation classmates as “sweet kids” and tells Kong she looks great when he sees her.

There’s a reference to Medusa’s daughter Luna returning to New York with her, and the Marvel Wiki confirms that Luna is considered a member of the Future Foundation from this point forward.

Trivia time: What was that Thing cartoon about? It was a wimpy teenager named Benjy Grimm who could turn into the Thing thanks to two magic rings and the catch phrase noted above. While he did fight villains, the series was mostly a comedy having to do with Benjy and his schoolmates. No other Marvel characters appeared on the show. The cartoon was actually called Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, as each half hour would be one short Thing cartoon, and one Flintstones short. The show ran for 26 episodes in 1979.

The servant girl who gets scared off during the She-Hulk/Medusa fight is Minxi, who has a surprisingly long history. An Inhuman pickpocket with shape-changing powers, she was originally a spy posing a Medusa’s maid, only get into a love triangle of sorts with Gorgon and Kanrak. She eventually became one of the good guys (or did she?). This is her second-to-last appearance.

Fantastic or frightful? Again, I’m impressed with patience that writer Matt Fraction has with this storyline. The Dr. Doom plot is moving forward slowly, with just enough info to keep us involved, with a lot of character work along the way. This is just about the halfway point in the overall story, so we’ll see how (or if) he pulls it all together.

Next: The good ol’ days.

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.