Appearing in "The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man"
Fantastic Four #31The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Franklin Storm (First appearance)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Avengers
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Mentioned)
- Walter Cronkite (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- United States of America
- Subterranea
- China (Mentioned)
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- Mole Man's Staff
- Mjolnir
- Iron Man Armor Model 2
- Captain America's Uniform and Shield
- Giant-Man's Suit
- Wasp's Suit and Bio-Synthetic Wings
Vehicles:
- Fantasti-Car MK II
- Pogo Plane MK I
- Modified Hover Cycle
Synopsis for "The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man"
Fantastic Four #31The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man
The Baxter Building is rocked by an earthquake, sending the Fantastic Four to cover. After the confusion, Sue finds a newspaper and is upset to see a story about an escaped convict. When Reed tries to press her for answers, she refuses to explain, which troubles Reed. Later, the Fantastic Four, sans Sue, are called out to investigate the disappearance of a city block that vanished into the ground during the earthquake. Little do they know that this block was lowered into the Earth by their old foe, the Mole Man. Tracking the Invisible Girl, the Mole Man locates her on his scanning devices and begins to sink the city block she is on.
Meanwhile, the male members of the team return home to find a note left behind by Sue when suddenly, they are hit by another earthquake. After the quake, Reed learns that Sue went down to police headquarters. After hearing a radio report that a block on 23rd Street disappeared as well, they realize that is where police headquarters is located. At that moment below the Earth, the Mole Man locates Sue Storm among the people he abducted and has his Moloids subdue her. With the Invisible Girl as his prisoner, the Mole Man plans to keep his foes away. Having deduced the Mole Man's involvement, the other members of the Fantastic Four fly to 23rd Street in the Pogo Plane. They find the Avengers about to descend into the pit but convince them to let the FF handle it. When they enter the crater, they find a number of traps waiting for them below that wreck their ship, but they manage to get down to below the surface. They find the Mole Man, but he has Sue at gunpoint and informs them that he will keep her hostage, to prevent their involvement. With the Fantastic Four unable to do anything, the Mole Man activates a device that returns them to the surface.
As Sue is locked away, Reed designs a highly sensitive detection device to find the Mole Man's lair. When they locate it, the Torch burns a hole directly down to it and they descend. Warned of their arrival, the Mole Man unleashes his army of Moloids to confront his foes. The trio save Sue and flee the area, but as they leave, the Mole Man sets his lair to self-destruct and Sue is struck by a piece of shrapnel.
On the surface, they rush Sue to the hospital where the prognosis is dire, because the surgeon that could perform the much-needed surgery has escaped from prison. Reed, Ben and Johnny are in for the shock of their lives when they are suddenly visited by the man that Reed saw in the paper: Franklin Storm, Sue and Johnny's father, a man that Johnny was led to believe was dead. Franklin performs the surgery to save his daughter's life. With the surgery completed, the authorities arrive to arrest Dr. Storm, but they allow him a moment to see his daughter before returning him to custody.
Appearing in "Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again"
Tales of Suspense #64
(originally printed as Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again!)
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Black Widow (Madame Natasha)
- Hawkeye
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Main story and flashback)
- Nikita Khrushchev (Only in flashback)
- Brushnev (Russian Scientist) (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Unnamed Matron (Only in flashback)
- Vladimir (First appearance)
- Numerous unnamed soldiers and agents (Main story and flashback)
Other Characters:
- Natasha's "Mother" (Only in flashback)
- Natasha's "Father" (Only in flashback)
- Avengers (Referenced)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
Locations:
- Earthspace (Main story and flashback)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- North America
- Europe (Only in flashback)
- Russia (Only in flashback)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- Heaven (Invoked)
Items:
- Iron Man Armor Model 2
- Black Widow's Gauntlets (First appearance)
- Hawkeye's Suit and Bow
- Trick Arrows
- Acid-Spray Arrow
- Flashbang Arrow
- Sonic Boomerang Arrow
- Iron Man's Briefcase
Synopsis for "Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again"
Tales of Suspense #64
(originally printed as Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again!)
As Tony Stark works away at making his armor stronger, the Black Widow (in a new costume) tracks down and finds Hawkeye who is testing new arrows. She tells him that following her disappearance (in Tales of Suspense Vol 1 60) she was taken back behind the Iron Curtain and forced to do her government's bidding through fear of her family being punished, they then equipped her with a new costume allowing her to scale walls and ceilings and bracelets that can fire lines to swing on. Following this she was returned to the States with orders to destroy Iron Man, and she had tracked down Hawkeye in hopes that he'd help her.
Later that night Happy and Pepper are out on a date, and Happy proposes to her, a question that Pepper needs more time to think about. They are soon attacked by Black Widow and Hawkeye who kidnap them and hold them hostage demanding that Iron Man show up. Instead Tony Stark does offering to trade them plans for secret weapons for Happy and Pepper's freedom. Ordering one of her thugs to go over the plans, Tony uses this as a chance to create a diversion so that he can change into Iron Man.
He battles Hawkeye and Black Widow, sustaining significant damage to his armor thanks to Hawkeye's arrows, however when the Black Widow is injured in combat, Hawkeye snatches her up and escapes to get her to safety, making the Widow fail at her mission. Iron Man soon makes his retreat so that he can change back to Stark and reunite with the others, where he is greeted very warmly by Pepper, much to Happy's dismay.
Appearing in "The Watcher's Power!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Hawkeye (First appearance)
- Unnamed crook
- Black Widow (Madame Natasha)
Other Characters:
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
- Iron Man Armor Model 2
- Iron Man's Briefcase
- Hawkeye's Suit, Bow and Trick Arrows (First appearance)
Synopsis for "The Watcher's Power!"
Happy Hogan asks Iron Man to speak to Tony Stark about helping him (Happy) get a date with Pepper. When Tony tries to suggest the idea to Pepper, she jumps to the conclusion that Stark wants to go on a date with her. Happy sees the two of them and leaves before Tony can rectify the situation, so he reluctantly agrees to take her on the date.
They visit Coney Island (because Tony secretly doesn't want to go to a place too romantic) and walk by a marskman being sneered at by his audience. Shortly after, a pinwheel ride loses control, endangering the lives of the people on it and bystanders alike. Tony excuses himself, claiming to have to make a call to the factory, and suits up as Iron Man. He puts the full power of his armor against the flying pinwheel, and stops it. From his stand, the marksman observes with jealousy how Iron Man is getting everybody's attention.
Once he returns to his house, the archer uses his basement workshop to make a costume and customized arrow tips. He becomes the costumed adventurer Hawkeye, so people would "never again (...) sneer at his performance." After leaving the workshop, Hawkeye uses one of his trick arrows to pull himself to a rooftop, from where he witnesses a thief stealing jewelry. He uses an arrow to immobilize the thief to a post and then ropes down to the street. However, the thief managed to escape while Hawkeye was going down, and left his loot. When he's inspecting the stolen goods, Hawkeye is spotted by two police officers, who mistake him for the thug's partner. Hawkeye decides to flee, thinking the cops would never believe he's innocent. While running, Hawkeye is stopped by a car, whose driver lets Hawkeye get in to escape. The driver is none other than the mysterious villainess Black Widow, who captivates Hawkeye with her beauty.
As they drive to Black Widow's hideout, she praises Hawkeye and tells him he might be the ally she needs. They arrive at the hideout, and Black Widow leads Hawkeye through a lavishly furnished estate until they reach a stairway leading them to a laboratory. Hawkeye sees he could use the equipment to build stronger arrowheads, and asks the Widow what does she need. Now that he's captivated by her charm, Hawkeye is easily convinced to go up against Iron Man.
Meanwhile, in Stark Industries, Iron Man is changing back to his civilian identity, regretting his behavior towards Pepper, and decides to step up his game and take her to a glamorous dinner. However, when he arrives to his office, Happy is asking Pepper for a date, and she accepts in order to show Tony that "he's not the only fish in the sea," and out of resentment for their date at Coney Island.
A short distance away from Stark's factory, Hawkeye uses a suction cup arrow to jump into a van approaching the plant. Once the truck passes through the guarded entrance gate, Hawkeye gets off and pulls himself to a rooftop. He starts using explosive arrows to catch Iron Man's attention. When the Golden Avenger confronts Hawkeye, the archer uses arrows tipped with a chemical that quickly rusts Iron Man's armor upon impact. The hero is forced to flee, leaving behind the rusted parts. By the time Hawkeye reaches the spot where Iron Man had been, he only finds the discarded armor parts and decides to steal them in order to learn the secrets of Stark's tech.
In another section of the plant, Stark gets his hands on an emergency armor duplicate, but he's missing its right boot, and can't go on without being exposed. He finally finds the boot, which had been left in another area because it needed replating. Now that he's fully armored, Iron Man goes after Hawkeye, having heard a car speed away a few minutes ago. He sees only one car on the road, racing away from the factory and heavily damages it with an intensified blast from his power ray. Hawkeye is forced to exit the trashed vehicle, and he has ran out of rusting-fluid arrow to confront his opponent.
Iron Man easily repels Hawkeye's attacks with a magnetic repulsor ray, and he tries to power dive onto his enemy at top speed. However, Hawkeye uses an arrow that expands into nylon rope strands and tangles Iron Man up. After breaking free, Iron Man follows Hawkeye to the piers at the edge of LaGuardia airport, and hits the pier Hawkeye is standing on with such strength it breaks, ultimately causing Hawkeye to fall into the water. The Golden Avenger retrieves his enemy and leaves him lying on the floor. He turns his back on Hawkeye in order to retrieve the armor parts from Hawkeye's car. Hawekye was faking being unconscious and fires his most powerful explosive arrow, a "demolition blast warhead" at Iron Man. To Hawkeye's surprise, the demolition blast ricochets off Iron Man's armor, while still knocking the Golden Avenger down, and it hits Black Widow, who was on the pier, waiting for Hawkeye. Fearing that his loved one would be fatally injured, Hawkeye carries Black Widow to the boat and they escape. Iron Man recovers from the staggering blow and decides to give chase. However, the fog gets thick and he remembers he's at the edge of LaGuardia airport, and decides to not go airborne, as it would be a menace to the planes taking off and landing. Also beause of the fog, Iron Man can't recognize the Black Widow as the woman ally of Hawkeye.
After returning to his factory, Iron Man changes back to his civilian identity of Tony Stark, and decides to trudge through the beach outside his factory because he had nothing to do but wait for morning.
Appearing in "Face-to-Face at Last With Baron Mordo"
Featured Characters:
- Human Torch (Johnny Storm) (Impersonates Doug Brown)
- Thing (Ben Grimm) (Impersonates Dr. Josiah Verpoorten)
Supporting Characters:
- Fantastic Four
- NASA
- Mr. Pearson
- Doris Evans
Antagonists:
- Professor Jack (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Bill Smith (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Rock Hudson (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Aunt Petunia (Mentioned)
- Millie the Model (Millicent Collins) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Milky Way
- Planet of Skrulls (Mentioned)
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- "Candid Camera" (Television Show) (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Events:
- Project Gemini (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Synopsis for "Face-to-Face at Last With Baron Mordo"
The Fantastic Four are asked to help out with a new space capsule, when Johnny volunteers to pilot it, they are warned that one of the agencies scientists Professor Jack is considered a security risk. While Johnny is in space, Professor Jack captures Thing and informs Johnny that he used slow working acid on various parts of his capsule. When the capsule breaks apart, Johnny allows himself to fall into Earth's atmosphere far enough to save himself with his flame powers, and saves Thing.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- This series continues the numbering from the previous title: Marvel Collectors' Item Classics Vol 1.
- One Page Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups of Hawkeye, Black Widow & Iron Man are also contained in this issue.
See Also
Links and References
- The Grand Comics Database: Marvel's Greatest Comics [1]