Fantastic Four Vol 1 217

 How about lightin' my see-gar before you hustle your way out? 

—Ben Grimm

Appearing in "Masquerade!"

Featured Characters:

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

Supporting Characters:

• ⏴ H.E.R.B.I.E. ⏵ (Destruction)
• ⏴ Dazzler (Alison Blaire) ⏵

Antagonists:

• ⏴ Doctor Sun (Revealed to be possessing H.E.R.B.I.E.) (Destruction)

Other Characters:

• Master Xar (Only in recap)
• Champions of Xandar (Only in recap)
  • Nova (Only in recap)
  • Powerhouse (Only in recap)
  • Comet (Only in recap)
• Sphinx (Only in recap)

Races and Species:

• Humans (Main story and recap)
• Mutants (Main story and recap)
• Robots
• Xandarians (Only in recap)

Locations:

• Earth
  • United States of America
    • New York
      • New York City
        • Manhattan
          • Midtown
            • 42nd Street and Madison Avenue
              • Baxter Building
          • Studio Infinity
• Negative Zone

Items:

• Fantastic Four Uniforms
• Ka Stone
• Negative Zone Portal
• Fantasti-Flare

Vehicles:

• Nova Prime Ship

Synopsis for "Masquerade!"

As Reed immerses himself in the task of repairing the Baxter Building's systems from last issue, Sue berates her husband for sending Franklin to Whisper Hill to be looked after by Agatha Harkness, and for ignoring her protestations before walking out on her husband. Reed, however, is oblivious to his wife's complaint and sends H.E.R.B.I.E. to the central computer core to run a systems check. Inside the core, H.E.R.B.I.E. interacts with the main computer and, with access to all the secrets of the Fantastic Four's systems, laughs ominously to himself.

Johnny, meanwhile, is enjoying a night out at a New York discotheque and meets Alison Blaire, the Dazzler. Having defended Alison from the unwanted attentions of a customer, Johnny settles back to watch her at work. As she goes through her act, Johnny is mesmerized by her mutation-powered performance. In Sue's private quarters, she comes under attack from H.E.R.B.I.E., who threatens to kill her. Turning invisible and trying to escape doesn't help as H.E.R.B.I.E. uses infrared sensors to track Sue's movements before knocking her out with an energy blast and binding her helplessly to the wall.

Reed and Ben are busy installing a new lock on the portal in the Negative Zone chamber, but they, too, come under attack from H.E.R.B.I.E., who manages to blast Ben through the portal and into the Distortion Area. Reed tries to rescue Ben but is kept at bay by his robot creation, which reveals that it is possessed by Dr. Sun. Ben makes it back through the Negative Zone portal and grabs H.E.R.B.I.E., but the robot dissipates a massive electrical current into the Thing, flooring him in the process but giving Reed precious time to activate the FF's emergency signal.

Across town, Johnny cuts his dance short with Alison and blazes away to answer the distress call. As he returns to the Baxter Building, he is attacked first by compressed air guns and then by flame-retardant foam before finally being imprisoned in a vacuum chamber. Reed manages to enter the circuitry of the building's computers and over-ride Dr. Sun's control, thus releasing Sue and Johnny from captivity and restoring H.E.R.B.I.E.'s personality. Realizing that Dr. Sun could easily regain his control, H.E.R.B.I.E. chooses to sacrifice himself, destroying the main computer and Dr. Sun in the process.

Notes

See Also

• 4 image(s) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 217
  • 1 reprint(s) of Fantastic Four Vol 1 217.jpg
• 2 reprint(s) of Fantastic Four Vol 1 217

Links and References

References