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Quote1 Forget the Yancy Street Gang? That's like forgetting Pearl Harbor! Quote2
The Thing

Appearing in "The Dreaded Diablo!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #30

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Baron Hugo (First appearance)

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Locations:

Items:

  • Diablo's Alchemy Potions
    • Unbreakable Solution
  • Daily Bugle

Synopsis for "The Dreaded Diablo!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #30

While on vacation in Transylvania, the Fantastic Four get lost exploring the forests and come across an ancient castle, and they are told to stay away from it by Baron Hugo. However, that night the Thing answers a call to the castle and unwittingly frees the master alchemist Diablo.

When the FF arrive to see what happened to the Thing, they find that Diablo has almost succeeded in restoring Ben to his human form. When Reed tries to attack Ben for betraying them to Diablo, Ben defends the Alchemist, hoping that he can succeed where Reed had failed.

Diablo then begins selling his Alchemy potions the world over, and takes Transylvania under his control. Meanwhile, he tricks Ben into taking a potion that turns him into the Thing once more. The Thing then returns to the FF and leads them in trying to stop Diablo. When Diablo manages to capture his friends, the Thing smashes through the castle and frees his friends and traps Diablo back in the holding cell he was originally trapped in, before bringing the castle down with one powerful punch.

The Torch melts the castle down to slag, and the FF take their leave, lost once again in the forest.

Appearing in "Somewhere Lurks the Phantom!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales of Suspense #63

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Synopsis for "Somewhere Lurks the Phantom!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales of Suspense #63
Quote1 I just came back from half-way around the world, after fighting for my life... and you make it sound like I was at the corner drugstore! Quote2
Iron Man

Iron Man just arrives to Stark Industries from his battle against the Mandarin, and Pepper and Happy give him a cold welcome, still bitter at him for supposedly failing to protect Tony Stark. Iron Man returns to his lab, and starts working on a way to remove his armor that he came up with when he was returning from China. After successfully tripling the output of a master transistor, Tony's armor no longer requires the extra output from the belt pads, allowing Tony to remove most of the suit and return to his civilian life.

Joyful for having escaped his predicament, Tony re-enters his office, taking Pepper by surprise and causing her to faint. After realizing that Happy is truly in love with Pepper, and reassuring himself that he can't be with her because of his damaged heart, Tony decides to lie and claim that he's going to get married, in order to prompt Pepper to stop thinkin of him. Tony also claims that his fiancée is from Boston, and that he had been there on a yacht for the past weeks, and that's why he supposedly hadn't heard he was believed dead. Tony begins to walk down Stark Industries, in order to catch up with the developments during his absence, and while doing so, he brushes off mild-mannered Dr. Birch.

At night, a mysterious masked figure plants a bomb in Stark Industries which subsequently damages the missile testing section of the factory. When he investigates the crime scene, Iron Man discovers the instigator, dubbed as a "phantom saboteur," used Stark's own technology in the bomb, meaning it was an inside job.

In the days that follow, Stark Industries becomes the target of many sabotages, to the point its employees no longer feel safe. Fully aware of the grim situation, Tony patrols his factory as Iron Man and catches a glimpse of a human silhouette, giving chase to the figure. In his eagerness to catch the villain, Iron Man sets off a booby trap that makes him lose his balance long enough for the villain to escape.

After failing to capture the Phantom, Stark meets up with the union delegation, who give Stark 24 hours to stop the phantom, or they would call a strike due to the company's state of insecurity. With his company at risk, Stark continues patrolling the factory clad in his armor, when his sensors detect movement nearby. When Iron Man tackles the person in the darkness, it turns out to be Happy Hogan, who was also looking for the Phantom.

The Phantom is soon spotted in a catwalk, and he throws an explosive at Iron Man in order to distract him and escape. The Golden Avenger pulverizes the device before it can explode, and races the Phantom to the control center of the factory. The villain points his blast gun at the computer, but Iron Man disarms him by shooting a repulsor beam that ricochets against the wall and strikes the Phantom's hand. The Phantom throws a smoke grenade and fastens a bomb to the control center before leaving. Iron Man notices the explosive and destroys it before directing his attention back at the Phantom.

The villain enters Stark Industries' prototype Moon missile and Iron Man follows him. However, the hero can't fly due to the girders and braces inside the structure, and he can't climb up he stairs because of his armor's weight. Iron Man retreats, because there's only one exit and the Phantom would eventually have to climb down. However, the villain plans to reach the missile's capsule, which can fly independently from the rest of the vessel. In a turn of events, Iron Man expected the villain to follow this escape route, so he breaks the control wires and frees the capsule as soon as the Phantom gets in. Iron Man flies the capsule to the security guards, leaving the Phantom with them, and returns the capsule to the missile.

A few minutes later, Tony Stark confronts the Phantom, who has been unmasked and revealed to be Dr. Birch. The doctor claims that he felt ignored, and he envies Iron Man and Tony Stark for the attention they get. After Birch is taken into custody, Pepper and Happy ask for their boss to borrow one of his cars to go on a date. Tony lets them have it their way, in compensation for his absence, and as they leave he wonders why even though everything is going as he wants, Tony feels his heart heavy.

Appearing in "The Man in the Ant Hill!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #27

Featured Characters:

  • Henry Pym (First appearance) (Origin revealed) (Main story and flashback)

Supporting Characters:

  • Ants (First appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Various unnamed scientists (Main story and flashback)

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Synopsis for "The Man in the Ant Hill!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #27
Tales to Astonish Vol 1 27 Title

Doctor Henry Pym declares success! He has successfully used his reducing serum to shrink a chair to doll size and used his enlarging serum to return it to normal size. Pym had been ridiculed months ago by his peers for his outlandish theories but has now perfected a pair of serums capable of changing the size of any object. Confident that his serums work, Pym tests them on himself.

Henry Pym (Earth-616) from Tales to Astonish Vol 1 27 0001

Placing a few drops of reducing serum on his arm, Henry Pym quickly shrinks. Now ant-sized, he realizes that he left the enlarging serum on the window sill; it might as well be on the moon. He goes out into the yard. Ants sense his presence and move toward him. Pym, still not thinking clearly, runs into an ant hill. Fleeing blindly through the tunnels, he falls into a shaft and lands in a pool of honey. Hopelessly trapped, he spots an ant crawling towards him. To Pym’s surprise, the ant pulls him free from the honey and lets him go unharmed. More ants appear. Pym notices a matchstick set in the ground and, hoping to create a diversion, throws a pebble at it. His aim is true, and the match lights.

Henry Pym (Earth-616) from Tales to Astonish Vol 1 27 0002

Pym fashions a lasso and climbs up to a ledge. There, another ant grabs him in its mandibles. Pym uses judo to flip the ant over the ledge and scrambles upward. Once out of the ant hill, with the colony in hot pursuit, he sees the friendly ant who saved him earlier. He points upward to tell the ant where he needs to go. The ant climbs the wall with Pym aboard. He wades into the test tube with the serum and immediately returns to normal. Convinced that his invention is dangerous, he dumps his serums down the drain.

Appearing in "The Hunter and the Hunted!"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Strange Tales #131

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Synopsis for "The Hunter and the Hunted!"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Strange Tales #131

Doctor Strange is pursued by the minions of Baron Mordo in Hong Kong, narrowly escaping each attack with his own mystical aptitude, trying desperately to make an escape. Defeating all attackers in both human and astral forms, Doctor Strange manages to sneak aboard an airplane and trick Mordo's forces in searching for him elsewhere, by disguising his astral form like one of Mordo's minions and trick the others into going the opposite way of the plane.

Solicit Synopsis

(August) Want more of the F.F. — Dr. Strange — and Iron Man? You got it! PLUS, a bombshell bonus — the very first appearance of Henry Pym . . . the ANT-MAN!

  • (September) AND, STILL ON SALE— Want more of the F.F. — Dr. Strange — and Iron Man? You got it! Plus, a bombshell bonus — the very first appearance of Henry Pym . . . the Ant-Man!

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