Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Continuing the experimental dual run of Fantastic Four and FF concurrently. As events build toward the conclusion of both series, our heroes get one last moment to catch their breath.

We begin with everyone still assembled in the Watcher’s home on the moon, where Alex Power apologies to the rest of the Future Foundation about making a side deal with Dr. Doom. Everyone forgives and hugs him, while Ant-Man, in narration, muses about rallying the team to take down Doom once and for all. In Latveria, Ravonna convinces Doom that Ant-Man and the kids survived getting sucked through a portal, and that Ant-Man wants revenge for the death of his daughter. She tells Doom that it’s time for him to become the Annihilating Conqueror.

Doom further meets with Immortus, who says he’s been seeing anomalies in the timestream. Annihilus, who’s been acting all animalistic during this time, speaks up and says the heroes are hiding in Doom’s “blind spot.”

There’s a lot of business as Ant-Man lays out his plan to stop Dr. Doom. They have the alien posing as Caesar with them, but then he introduces a similar alien who has been posing as Sun Tzu all this time. Bentley-23 will break into the Mad Thinker’s lab and steal all the robot recreations of Marvel heroes. She-Hulk will steal the Gideon Trust’s knockoff version of the Awesome Android. The other kids rewire a Kree sentry found on the moon so it’ll fight alongside them. Medusa time-travels back in time to 1942 to recruit the wizard Dakor, and Dragon Man will build more of Darla’s Thing suits that can be operated by remote control. There’s an ethical debate about whether to create an entire army of clones of Dragon Man, and the kids vote against it. All this happens in a series of short panels.

The plan is set for first thing in the morning. The Watcher allows everyone use of the hot spring inside his house (!). Scott questions the Watcher’s morality, saying that the Watcher has broken his vow of interference in times of great crisis, but the Watcher could do so much more to help others. All the women enjoy the hot spring, with Darla admitting she’s nervous about the battle to come. Bentley wants to peep on the girls. When Dragon Man tries to stop him, he’s the one who crashes through the fence and gets accused of peeping.

Later, Scott and Darla have a heart-to-heart talk. He admits that when in jail, he once unintentionally killed a fellow prisoner who attacked him. He fears that part of himself will come out again during the conflict against Doom. Medusa gives her son Ahura a new uniform with the symbol of House Boltagon on it, asking him to fight alongside her, not as her son but as a prince of the Inhuman royal family.

In Latveria, members of the Council of Dooms – versions of Doom from other timelines – fear they cease to exist if this world’s Doom fails. Doom secures a new cosmic control rod for Annihilus, and he further muses that there is only one Negative Zone throughout the multiverse, connecting all other universes. Doom gives Annihilus the rod, and then Doom uses his cosmic syphon device (referenced in the concurrent Fantastic Four issue) to steal Annihilus’ power.

Cut to the moon, where Scott gives one final speech to the Foundation kids before teleporting to Earth. He says the plan is to take apart Dr. Doom piece by piece, stripping him of his escape routes, then his defenses, then his hostages, this his science, magic, and armor, until it comes to down to man-to-man. “That is when the fight truly begins,” he says.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule/fade out: The Watcher says his house’s hot spring was originally a honeymoon suite made for Reed and Sue. It also included a science lab for Reed.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Ant-Man lays out his plan while ant-sized, speaking to everyone through a little speaker that amplifies his voice. I guess this was just make things more visually interesting.

No, this version of the Awesome Android is not Andy from She-Hulk’s solo series. This is a new Awesome Android that has no Marvel Wiki entry.

When Darla expresses fears about the upcoming battle, She-Hulk says she too gets scared before a fight, fearful that her friends might be hurt. She and Medusa tell Darla she’s got the strength she needs.

Foundational: Artie and Leech’s miniaturized pet tiger makes a comeback, with them offering to include it in the upcoming battle. They’ve named the tiger “Cargo Manshark” for some reason.

Onome is the one who argues against cloning Dragon Man, making several points to convince the others.

Trivia time: Dakor the magician has been around for a long time, first appearing in Mystic Comics #1 way back in 1940. His comeback was short-lived because after this he appeared once again in Uncanny Avengers and then it was back to obscurity.

This is the first appearance of the alien posing as Sun Tzu. He won’t appear again after this story arc concludes. The Marvel Wiki confirms that he and Caesar are members of the same alien species, the Cotta. How many other famous historic figures are secretly these aliens?

Fantastic or frightful? There’s always some good drama to be had in a “the night before the battle” chapter, when characters tend to open up and reveal what’s really going on with them. Therefore, this is a great issue, but it’s nonetheless dependent on what’s to come.

Next: She’s a marvel!

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