So the Mole Man couldn't turn me back to normal! Normal isn't a thing I want to be right now--so to speak! 
Appearing in "The Scenic Route!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Mole Man (Mentioned)
- Lava Men (Mentioned)
- Tyrannoids (Mentioned)
- Lockjaw (Mentioned)
- Frederick
- N'Garai (Referenced) (as "Gods from beyond"/"Elder Gods")
- Shanna (Mentioned)
- Illyana (Mentioned)
- Ka-Zar (Mentioned)
- Tigra (Mentioned)
- Grigar (Earth-616) (Referenced) (as "some Cat-Guy")
- Sorcerers Guild (Referenced) (as "ancient sorcerers")
- ⏴ Doctor Strange ⏵
- ⏴ Master Pandemonium ⏵
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- New York City
- Subterranea
- Dis
- Monster Island (Mentioned)
- Land Within
- Arcturus IV
Synopsis for "The Scenic Route!"
In the aftermath of their failed search to find the Mole Man to cure Sharon Ventura of her mutation into a She-Thing, Sharon assures the rest of the team that she has come to terms with her transformation and has grown to like the changes her body has undergone, seeing it as a refuge after the brutality she experienced as a normal-looking woman. After discussing the situation further, Ben becomes interested in a strange tunnel and asks one of the Moloids where it might go. When they are told that the Mole Man forbade anyone to travel that tunnel, Ben decides it's time the Fantastic Four got back to doing what they do best -- exploring the mysteries of the unknown -- and believes the strange tunnel is just such a mystery. When he and Sharon knock away the debris blocking the tunnel, they are assaulted by the pungent odor that is freed from the other side. Undeterred by the foul smell, the Fantastic Four venture into the tunnel to see where it goes. Suddenly, there is a bright flash of light and they find themselves in a completely different tunnel. They are unnerved at first until Crystal states that their position in the planet has really changed and that the sensation they felt was a lot like when her dog Lockjaw teleports people somewhere. To test the theory out, Ben walks back the way they came and suddenly disappears in a bright flash of light, only to return a moment later to confirm Crystal's hunch. As they continue on, the group begins to theorize that these teleportational warps must be how the Mole Man was able to travel all over underground without the assistance of vehicles. As they continue on, Crystal and Johnny quietly remark about how well Sharon is adjusting and they are happy to see that she and Ben might be falling in love with each other, which is a great relief to Johnny after how upset Ben was after he married Alicia. In his mind, Johnny tries to reassure himself that he loves his wife and Crystal is no longer part of his life.
Meanwhile, back in New York City, Alicia Masters tells a man named Frederick about several new pieces of artwork and invites him to visit her studio anytime. While discussing how her new marriage is an inspiration to her, she and Frederick are shocked when fire suddenly fills the sky.
Back with the Fantastic Four, the group comes across a massive magma fall. Johnny flies ahead to look around and Crystal calls out to follow after him. Thinking they are alone, Ben and Sharon begin opening up about their feelings for one another but are interrupted when Johnny suddenly comes back wondering where Crystal is. Realizing that she didn't go with Johnny, they begin to frantically look around for another teleportal. While searching, Johnny comes upon a glowing pile of rubble blocking another tunnel. Ben and Sharon clear them away and they charge through. On the other side, they are shocked to find a massive fortress with a massive flurry of bats rising from behind its walls. Going to the castle's gate, Johnny tries to use his flame on it, but it has no effect. Suspecting magic is at play, Ben and Sharon try to pry the gate open and succeed. Inside the castle, they soon find Crystal, a prisoner of the demon-sorcerer known as Belasco, who tells them that, although she is nothing like Shanna the She-Devil or Illyana Rasputin, he wishes to make Crystal his mate. When the Fantastic Four balk at this decree, Belasco tries to keep them at bay with a mystical eye blast. Suddenly, he is distracted when there is a massive burst of flame, suspecting that it is the Torch's doing. Johnny decides to take advantage of it and lunges towards their foe, but Belasco uses his magic to turn the hero into a pig. He isn't so lucky when Sharon and Ben charge at him, and Belasco is knocked out with a single punch. With Belasco knocked out, Johnny changes back to normal. With Crystal recovered, the Fantastic Four decide to leave Belasco and fall back. Going the way they came they witness another large fireball above them just as Belasco awakens with a scream. After flying into a dead end, Johnny makes too wide of a turn and discovers another portal in the ceiling of the tunnel. He shows it to the group who use it to escape.
They find themselves in yet another underground realm and before a strange underground city that is lit by an artificial sun. Ben recognizes it as the domain of the Cat People that he visited during his brief time with the West Coast Avengers. Thinking they found salvation, Ben leads them to the gates and he asks the guards to let them in. However, the felines are not as friendly as when Ben last visited and the FF are attacked. The Fantastic Four fight back until the Cat People fall back. When the FF speak to the one leading the attack, their king, the Cat-Man tells them that they will fight the intruders to the death. When Ben declines to fight and says they'll go back the way they came, Belasco suddenly appears before them, stopping them. As the Cat People bow down and begin worshipping him, Belasco informs the group that, although the Cat People had previously helped Ben and the West Coast Avengers, they were really demons who are loyal to him because he was one of the ancient sorcerers who banished them to the Land Within, and he retains his mastery over them even though he had later turned his attention to the Elder Gods. When Ben asked if he moved down there to be close to his pets, Belasco states that he was previously unaware that there was a portal that connected these two realms until he followed after his foes.
Before another fight can break out anew, the sky suddenly erupts in fire again. This time, an image of Doctor Strange battling the demon Shuma-Gorath can be seen in the flames. Just as Doctor Strange tosses a flaming image of the Earth at Shuma-Gorath, the image suddenly explodes. Fearing that all the nether-realms will collapse, Belasco becomes focused on trying to stop that battle, allowing the Fantastic Four to slip away. They come to what the Cat People call the River of Oblivion and find a boat and use it to slip down river. At the end of the underground river is a stone wall but, instead of slamming into it, the Fantastic Four find it's another teleportational warp. Teleported away from the Land Within, they fall out of the warp and land at the feet of the demonic Master Pandemonium who welcomes them to a distant alien planet, the fourth world of the star-sun Arcturus.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- Sharon talks about the various traumas she experienced that got her to this point:
- As revealed in Fantastic Four #306, Sharon was raped by the minions of Karl Malus while she was his prisoner in Captain America #330–331.
- Later she was exposed to cosmic rays in Fantastic Four #310 and mutated into a She-Thing.
- Initially in Fantastic Four #311 the transformation made Sharon suicidal, but she started coming to terms with her transformation after meeting X-Factor's Beast in Fantastic Four #312.
- Ben mentions how he used to live with Mole Man. This was in Fantastic Four #296, before he rejoined the Fantastic Four after a long estrangement from the group.
- The teleportational warp that transported the Fantastic Four from the Land Within to Arcturus IV was first seen when it did the same to Morbius in Fear #22-23. This story implies that all three of the warps seen in this issue share a common origin. However, since no such origin has been revealed in the decades since this story was published, that explanation has never been confirmed.
- Another teleportational warp will be used to get the FF, Master Pandemonium, the Comet Man (Stephen Beckley) and his companion Max back to Antarctica from Arcturus IV at the end of Fantastic Four #315, and the fact that a warp from Pangea to Arcturus IV was discovered by the alien Caretakers after they crashed on Earth over ten thousand years ago will be revealed in Fantastic Four #316.
- The city where the Fantastic Four first encounter Belasco is, like Subterranea, located beneath the surface of the planet Earth and is not within Limbo. Although its name wasn't mentioned in this issue, it looks identical to the city of Dis that Ka-Zar, Shanna, Buth and Zabu discovered and entered in Ka-Zar the Savage #10-11. That city was part of the long-abandoned Atlantean amusement park that was located beneath the surface of Pangea in Antarctica.
- Johnny mentions how Ben was upset that he married "Alicia Masters" and almost broke up the team as a result. The situation is far more complicated than Johnny is making it sound. The drama is as follows:
- Ben and the real Alicia Masters dated for a long time, since Fantastic Four #9.
- Meanwhile, Johnny and Crystal dated between Fantastic Four #65–105 until the outside world's pollution forced her to return home to Attilan.
- Crystal ended up rescuing Quicksilver along the way and the two fell in love as seen in Fantastic Four #131–132. Crystal and Quicksilver later got married in Fantastic Four #150. Johnny had a series of failed relationships while Ben and Alicia remained together over the years.
- In Fantastic Four #245 Reed had realized that Ben could change back and forth between his human and Thing forms at will, but his belief that Alicia only loved him as the Thing subconsciously prevented Ben from doing so. Reed kept this a secret.
- When most of the Fantastic Four were among those kidnapped by the Beyonder to battle in the first Secret Wars on Battleworld, Ben discovered he could change back and forth and believed it was because of Battleworld itself. He decided to stay there in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12.
- Ben remained in Battleworld between Thing #11–22 where he eventually lost his ability to change back into Ben Grimm and returned to Earth.
- As explained in Fantastic Four #358, Alicia was secretly replaced by the Skrull spy Lyja who was sent to infiltrate the Fantastic Four. With the Thing no longer part of the team, she focused her attention on Johnny. Lyja took Alicia's place during the events of Fantastic Four #265.
- When Ben returned to Earth and went to Alicia's apartment in Fantastic Four #277 he discovered that Johnny was now in a relationship with "Alicia."
- In Thing #23, the truth of what Reed had known came out and the Thing quit the Fantastic Four.
- Ben ended up joining the Mole Man's society in Fantastic Four #296, and he still held a grudge against Reed and the Fantastic Four for everything that happened to him. Despite this, he grudgingly rejoined the team when they later came looking for him.
- Johnny recently married "Alicia" in Fantastic Four #300
- Meanwhile, Crystal had an affair with Norm Webster and that affair was eventually exposed during the events of Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #6-12.
- In Fantastic Four #303, Ben realized that he still loved Alicia Masters.
- Reed elected Ben to replace him as leader of the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #304
- Ben then asked Crystal to join the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #305. Johnny believed that ben had done this to force him to leave the team or ruin his marriage.
- Johnny went so far as to accuse Crystal of trying to break up his marriage in Fantastic Four Annual #20.
- Johnny and Crystal later buried the hatchet in Fantastic Four #306.
- Belasco appears here following the events of Ka-Zar the Savage #29 when he tried to interrupt the wedding of Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil in order to make Shanna his bride. That plot ended in failure.
- Belasco mentions two other women he tried to make his brides. They are:
- The aforementioned Shanna the She-Devil, who at this point he had tried to take as his bride on two previous occasions: Ka-Zar the Savage #11–12 and Ka-Zar the Savage #29.
- Illyana Rasputin, the young sister of the X-Men's Colossus, in Uncanny X-Men #160 & Magik #1–4.
- Ben remembers the realm of the Cat-People from when he visited it with the West Coast Avengers in West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #6-7. Ben wasn't present when the Cat-People later turned on the Avengers in West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #15.
- The battle between Doctor Strange and Shuma-Gorath is depicted from the events taking place in Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #14. Following his brief appearance here, Doctor Strange next appears in Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #15 while Shuma-Gorath next appears in the third story of Fantastic Four Annual #27.
- The narration borrows a line from Marvel Premiere #10, the story where Doctor Strange battles Shuma-Gorath for the first time.
- Master Pandemonium appears here following his last appearance in West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #15 when he fled both the Avengers and the Cat People by jumping into the River of Oblivion.