Appearing in "Behold! A Distant Star!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Skrull Empire
- ⏴ Warlord Morrat (Death)
- Princess Anelle ⏵ (First appearance)
- Numerous unnamed Skrulls
- ⏴ Emperor Dorrek ⏵
Other Characters:
- Reverend Miller
- Petunia Grimm (Mentioned)
- Franklin Storm (Mentioned)
- Doris Evans (Mentioned)
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Mentioned)
- Namor the Sub-Mariner (Mentioned)
- Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) (Mentioned)
- NASA (Mentioned)
- Captain Kangaroo (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Beatles (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Albert Einstein (Mentioned)
- Vicar (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Skrulls
- Druffs (First appearance)
- Natives of the primitive alien planet (Mentioned)
- Beasts of burden on the primitive alien planet
- Birds (Mentioned)
- Squirrels (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Prime Marvel Universe
- Milky Way
- Andromeda Galaxy
- Sub-Space (Spacetime Warp)
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- Power Amplifier
- Immobilizer Ray (First appearance)
- Freeze Ray (First appearance)
- Iso-Missile (First appearance)
Vehicles:
- Skrull Space Yacht
- Prototype rocket borrowed from NASA
Synopsis for "Behold! A Distant Star!"
Testing out his new power-ray, Reed accidentally causes Johnny to flame on and destroy his tux. After, when he meets with Sue, she is upset that her father's killers roam free. Vowing to get them, Reed commissions a special space craft with NASA that would allow them to travel through sub-space to the Skrull homeworld.
Traveling there, they fight with Morrat, the Skrull Warlord who has visions of conquest and wants to marry King Dorrek's daughter, Anelle. Battling the Fantastic Four, he defeats them and takes the entire group captive. When Anelle tells her father the king that the Fantastic Four are on their world, the enraged monarch finds Morrat's actions treasonous, and goes to find out what's going on.
Meanwhile, thinking that the power-booster is a weapon, Morrat orders Reed to use it against his friends. Reed does just that and the restored FF battle Morrat and his Skrull army until the king arrives. The king orders Morrat to desist, prompting Morrat to order his men to kill the king. However when Anelle attempts to save her father, Morrat jumps into the line of fire. While Anelle is saved by Invisible Girl's force field, Morrat is killed.
With Morrat destroyed, the king tells the Fantastic Four that it was Morrat who had visions of conquering Earth, and informs them that they no longer need fear invasion from the Skrulls, and allows them to return to Earth. The FF arrive home just in time to go through Reed and Sue's practice ceremony.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- Emperor Dorrek VII was not named until Fantastic Four #205 he is identified as the 4th Dorrek in Marvel: The Lost Generation #11.
- The Skrull homeworld was identified as Tarnax IV in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10.
- This story reveals that Morrat was responsible for placing the bomb on Franklin Storm back in Fantastic Four #32.
- The furry aliens seen on the Skrull homeworld are later identified as the Druffs in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #3.
- Morrat references the Skrulls' previous defeats at the hands of the Fantastic Four: Their first invasion attempt foiled by the quartet in Fantastic Four #2 as well as the Super-Skrull's previous defeats in Fantastic Four #18 and Fantastic Four #32.
- Emperor Dorrek vows to leave the Earth alone after this story, however this turns out to be a lie as the Skrulls gain renewed interest with Earth when they discover the Kree had returned there in Captain Marvel #2.
- The wedding dress rehearsal seen here is practice for the big occasion in Fantastic Four Annual #3
Chronology Notes[]
Events occur behind the scenes in this story that affect the chronology of the following characters:
Mister Fantastic:
- ⏴ Page 1-6 ⏵ - Fantastic Four agree to avenge the death of Franklin Storm, go into space.
- ⏴ Page 7-20 ⏵ - Fantastic Four arrive on the Skrull homeworld battle Morrat to the death.
Invisible Girl: