Comics:Fantastic Four Vol 1 5

From Marvel Database

Doctor Doom!? Who—? What is he?

-- Invisible Girl

Appearing in "Prisoners of Doctor Doom!"

Featured Characters:

• Fantastic Four

• Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)
• Invisible Girl (Susan Storm)
• Thing (Ben Grimm)
• Human Torch (Johnny Storm)

Supporting Characters:

• none

Villains:

• Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) (First appearance)

Other Characters:

• Doombot (First appearance)
• Pirates
• Hulk (In a photograph only)

Locations:

• Baxter Building
• Doctor Doom's Castle (Upstate New York) (First appearance)

Items:

• Fantasti-Flare
• Doctor Doom's Time Platform (First appearance)
• Merlin Stones (First appearance)

Vehicles:

• Doctor Doom's Helicopter
  
  

Synopsis for "Prisoners of Doctor Doom!"

Part 1: Prisoners of Doctor Doom!

Johnny, while reading an issue of The Incredible Hulk, compares Ben to the monster. Ben grabs the comic, but Johnny sets it afire. Reed and Sue stop them before they come to blows. The lights go out, despite their emergency generator. Doctor Doom, in a helicopter, drops a net over the Baxter Building. When Doom calls out to them, Reed recognizes the voice: Victor von Doom, an old college classmate. After an experiment, during which Doom tried to communicate with the dead but instead caused an explosion, he was expelled. Doom demands Sue as a hostage, and she agrees.

Part 2: Back to the Past!

Doom next demands that the other three board his helicopter and pledge not to attack him. He lowers a cage over Reed, Ben, and Johnny, and takes them to his castle. Once there, he tells them that he has invented a time machine and that they must retrieve Blackbeard's treasure chest from the past. With Sue as Doom's hostage, they must agree. Doom presses a button, activating the time platform they were unwittingly standing on. They appear in a port, where they come across two brigands arguing over a stolen bundle of clothes. Ben scares them off. With the clothes, they disguise themselves, including a heavy black beard for Ben. Looking for someone in Blackbeard's crew, they go to a tavern. Two pirates tell the barmaid to serve the strangers drugged grog.

Part 3: On the Trail of Blackbeard

Reed, Ben, and Johnny wake up in the hold of a pirate ship. Ben bursts through the deck and subdues the entire crew. When another ship appears, Ben takes command and orders his crew to attack!

Part 4: Battle!

Johnny flames on, harrasses the other ship, and raises a cloud of steam. Reed stretches to the other ship like a gangplank, over which their crew passes. A quick fight ensues. While Reed and Johnny haul a treasure chest out of the hold, the crew hails Ben as Blackbeard. Reed empties the chest, reminding Johnny that they only promised to bring back Blackbeard's chest, not the treasure itself, and he replaces the treasure with chains. On deck, they realize that Ben is the Blackbeard of legend. He refuses to return with them, ordering the crew to douse Johnny, wrap Reed in a sail, and set them adrift in a lifeboat. Before they can launch the boat, though, a huge waterspout strikes the ship and destroys it. Reed and Johnny make it to shore, where they find Ben and the chest.

Part 5: The Vengeance of Doctor Doom!

The time platform appears above them and returns them to the present. Doom says that the treasure includes gems enchanted by Merlin and that they will make him "invincible." He opens the chest and sees that he's been cheated, which gives Ben the opportunity to attack. A single punch shatters the armor—and the machinery inside. It's a robot! The real Doom, in another part of the castle, activates a screen and tells them he will draw the air from their chamber. Sue, still his hostage, sees her chance. She turns invisible and short-circuits his control panel, which explodes. Doom is caught in the blast. She runs to the chamber and opens the door. Rather than confront Doom, who Reed assumes has traps everywhere, they decide to escape. Reed stretches through a window across the moat, Ben pushes that section of wall open while Reed pulls, and Johnny uses "atomic heat" to make a path across the moat. Doom escapes with his Rocket-Powered Flying Harness.

Notes

• Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing all last appeared in Fantastic Four #4. They all appear next in Fantastic Four #6.
• Doctor Doom appears next in Fantastic Four #6.
• Doctor Doom's Time Machine appears next in Fantastic Four #19.
• The Merlin Stones appear next in Marvel Comics Presents #62.
• Johnny Storm is seen reading a copy of Incredible Hulk #1. The Hulk would make his first appearance in this series in #12.
• This issue is reprinted in Fantastic Four (Pocket Books) and Bring on the Bad Guys.
  

Trivia

• In our history, Blackbeard was a documented person (real name Edward Teach) rather than a legend. He practiced piracy for 27 months, beginning in 1716. In the Marvel Universe history, some events happened differently, presumably including the career of Blackbeard.
• In this first appearance Doctor Doom's costume has a large black collar and lacks the cloak that he would soon add. His heir Kristoff Vernard would later wear an outfit similar to this one.
• Future Fantastic Four writer Roy Thomas had a letter printed in this issue, in which he praised the title's attention to continuity.

See Also

• Write your own review of this comic!
• Discuss Fantastic Four Vol 1 5 on the forums
• Cover gallery for the Fantastic Four series

Recommended Reading

• None.

Links and References

• FF Plaza entry on this issue