Appearing in "The Man with the Power!"
Fantastic Four #234The Man with the Power!
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Skip Collins (First appearance)
- Mick Clancy
- Frankie Raye
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Leroy Collins, Jr. (First appearance)
- Louisa Collins (First appearance)
- Jackson Leigh Baxter (Referenced)
- Mr. Wilkins
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- Outer Space
Items:
- Fantasti-Flare
- Fantastic Four Space Rocket
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Man with the Power!"
Fantastic Four #234The Man with the Power!
L. R. ‘Skip' Collins is an ordinary Joe, a typical middle-aged family man who holds down a regular job for a regular day's pay, lives in an unexceptional suburban home, drives an unexceptional car, and has a wife and a dissolute hippie son who are something of a disappointment to him. His is an ordered but frustrated existence, an anonymous existence, and almost crushing in its mundanity were it not for the fact that he possesses a singular super-power that grants his every wish. But being an unimaginative ordinary Joe he is completely unaware that he has these powers, so when he wishes his house were a little tidier, so it becomes; when a traffic jam threatens to makes him late for work he unwittingly turns back the clock a half hour to avoid the jam.
His life takes a startling upturn when he gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to New York, where he sees the tourist sights, the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers of the WTC, the Flatriron Building, the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, and last but not least the Baxter Building. ‘Skip' is fortunate enough to catch sight of Reed and Sue Richards on the sidewalk, and decides to follow them in the hope of getting their autographs. He is on hand to see the Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic rescue a young girl from a derelict building due for demolition, just before the building unexpectedly collapses. Reed is convinced the collapse was no accident, and sure enough a series of powerful shock waves begin to rock the city, reducing the proud skyscrapers of Manhattan to rubble.
The tremors are felt downtown by The Thing who is passing the time with an old test pilot buddy in Clancy's Irish pub when the building is completely destroyed. As Ben emerges from the rubble he surveys the utter destruction of New York. Across town at the same time, Frankie Raye and Johnny Storm feel the effects of the shock waves as Frankie's apartment collapses underneath them. The Human Torch is able to rescue the other quake victims in the block, but wonders what could have caused earthquakes in a city built on solid bedrock. The answer is found back at the Baxter Building, where Reed discovers that the effects are not just localised, but world-wide, with all the major cities of the world now lying in flaming ruins. Reed has some theories he wants to explore, and sends the other three members of the group out to help the city-wide rescue. As Ben tries to hold together a collapsing Brooklyn Bridge long enough to allow a ship to pass beneath it, ‘Skip' Collins suddenly appears and unwittingly helps Ben hold the cables together until the danger has passed.
Unfortunately ‘Skip' is thrown off the bridge and into the river, but Ben's search for him is fruitless and he heads back to the Baxter Building. There Reed reveals that the gravity waves that have destroyed most of the cities on the planet originate from outer space, and as the FF leave Earth to investigate, ‘Skip' surveys the damage and destruction and wishes it gone, and so his powers kick in for one final time, restoring all the cities to their former state and exhausting his powers in the process. In outer space ship the FF finally confront the source of all the devastation: Ego The Living Planet, threatening the total destruction of the planet Earth.
Appearing in "To Dare the Devil"
Daredevil #161To Dare the Devil
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Turk Barrett
- Eric Slaughter
- Cutter (First appearance)
- Bullseye
Other Characters:
- Ben Urich
- K.O. (First appearance)
- Jack Murdock (Mentioned)
- Fixer (Roscoe Sweeney) (Mentioned)
- Louie (First appearance)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis for "To Dare the Devil"
Daredevil #161To Dare the Devil
Ben continues to dig into Matt's past. Daredevil takes on Bullseye and Slaughter's gang to rescue the Black Widow.
Appearing in "The Spy Who Killed Me!"
Iron Man #117The Spy Who Killed Me!
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Bethany Cabe (First appearance)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Nick Fury
- Adam
- Buck Richlen (First appearance)
- Sergei Kotznin (Behind the scenes)
- Mounteback (Senator)
- Val Adair
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City
- Queens
- Manhattan
- Upper East Side
- Carnelian Embassy (First appearance)
- Upper East Side
- Long Island (Referenced)
- New York City
- New York
- United States of America
Items:
- Iron Man Armor MK IV
- Tony Stark LMD (Final appearance)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Spy Who Killed Me!"
Iron Man #117The Spy Who Killed Me!
From a rooftop across the street from Tony Stark's penthouse, the Spymaster fires a sniper rifle. The bullet smashes through the office window striking Tony Stark in the back of the head. Content with a job well-done, the Spymaster runs off. What he doesn't yet realize, is that the man he "killed" was actually Tony's artificial Life Model Decoy designed to resemble Tony Stark. The real Tony Stark, garbed in his Iron Man armor, steps out from behind a concealed wall panel. After examining the remains of the destroyed LMD, he flies out the window after Spymaster. He catches up to Spymaster's getaway hover jet, but the vehicle is on automatic pilot. The real Spymaster is miles away.
Tony reflects on the previous evening. He recalls attending a high society party where he met a woman named Bethany Cabe. At the time, he had no idea that he was being secretly watched by a disguised Spymaster. Iron Man has no idea what brought Spymaster back into his life.
Iron Man flies to Stark International where he discovers evidence of Spymaster's actions. He encounters him in the computer center and Spymaster keeps him at bay with an odd array of hi-tech weaponry. Iron Man continues to pursue Spymaster, but Spymaster knocks him off guard by slamming into him with a Monorail car.
While Tony's distracted, Spymaster leaves the plant. Iron Man gives chase and Spymaster launches a missile at him designed to interfere with the armor's cybernetic circuitry. Upon impact, the missile also sets off an incendiary charge, and Iron Man's armor bursts into flames. Iron Man dissipates the flames with his built-in foam ducts and flies towards Spymaster. Spymaster tries to deflect Iron Man's attack with his electrified nunchakus, but the Avenger is ready for him this time. He catches up to the villain, grabs him and hurls him across the facility onto the S.I. airfield. The impact knocks Spymaster unconscious. Iron Man recovers what Spymaster had stolen from the computer center - the file records of Stark International's stockholders.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. presides over a joint conference with NATO. Their goal is to muscle Tony Stark into relinquishing the rights to his weapons technology.
Appearing in "Battleground"
Incredible Hulk #316Battleground
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Doctor Fisher
Races and Species:
Locations:
- New Mexico
- Stoneridge
- La Paloma
- La Paloma medical center
Items:
- Iron Man Armor Model 8
- Wonder Man's rocket belt
Vehicles:
- KLMN helicopter
Synopsis for "Battleground"
Incredible Hulk #316Battleground
The She-Hulk is called to the New Mexico hospital where her cousin, Bruce Banner, has been placed since he was separated from the Hulk. She was called by Betty Ross, as the doctors at the facility need the next-of-kin in order to determine what to do next. Betty tells She-Hulk that they have a difficult decision to make that will determine if Bruce will awaken from his coma or not.
Meanwhile, reporter Dianne Bellamy is live on the location at Stoneridge, New Mexico, where the Hulk has been going on a rampage ever since he was unwisely freed from SHIELD custody by Doc Samson. With the destruction estimated in the billions of dollars, there appears that nothing can stop the Hulk. That is, until Iron Man and Wonder Man of the West Coast Avengers arrive on the scene. While the two Avengers have the element of surprise, they prove no match for a Hulk that is devoid of Bruce Banner's mind and hence, as Iron Man later deduced, truly has no limits to his rage. Back at the hospital, She-Hulk sits down with Doctor Fisher to learn that Bruce is in a catatonic state since his separation. However, Fisher wants to try a new experimental form of psycho-stimulation that may bring him out of his coma, but he admits that it could have the opposite effect. He leaves the decision of what to do up to her.
Back in Stoneridge, the Hulk is about to pound on Iron Man when he is suddenly attacked by the arriving Hercules and Sub-Mariner, who have been dispatched from the East Coast Avengers team to lend and assist. As the Hulk battles it out with the Sub-Mariner and Hercules, the end of the battle is nowhere in sight. Before Iron Man and Wonder Man can rejoin the fight someone tells them to stop. While at the hospital, Betty Ross meets up with She-Hulk while she debates what to do. She tells Betty how Bruce once saved her life. After she was shot by mobsters, Bruce gave her a life-saving blood transfusion. While his irradiated blood turned her into the She-Hulk she had never forgot how he saved his life. At that moment in Stoneridge, the man interrupting the Avengers battle is Doc Samson. He explains how he is taking responsible for the Hulk's most recent rampage and will not broker any interference. This leads to a clash with the four Avengers. However, the Avengers soon notice that the moment they started fighting Doc Samson, the Hulk appears to have forgotten about them and wandered off.
With the battle over for the nonce, Doc Samson explains his desire to stop the Hulk on his own. He manages to convince the Avengers to give him a chance, pointing out that if they continued fighting the Hulk they'd level half the state. The Avengers agree to let Samson handle things his way, but warn him that they will be watching very closely and will step in if Samson fails. While at the hopsital, She-Hulk and Betty agree to let Doctor Fisher inject his psycho-active drugs into Bruce. This causes him to suddenly wake up, and as he struggles with the drugs in his system he begins to normalize. Finally awake for the first time after his separation from the Hulk, the first person that Banner sees is his beloved Betty Ross.
Notes
- Cover art: colours by Golden, separations by Choi.