FANTASTIC FOUR #196 (1978)
by Marv Wolfman & Keith Pollard
cover by George Perez
This is the beginning of the last Doctor Doom storyline of the Silver Age, culminating in issue 200.
Last time Doom appeared on this title was in issue 157. That was published just 3 years ago before this, but in the meantime Doom had 22 other appearances!
Nice cover, although admittedly a bit silly.
We begin with Reed Richards being experimented on by Cynthian Associates.
And no, I haven’t skipped anything in my review of the previous five issues. This just happens.
The scientist in charge of these experiments is the brother of the Hauptmann that was killed by Doom aaaaall the way back in Fantastic Four #87, although it’s not spelled out until later.
Today’s villainous plot is brought to you by a gizmo stolen from Psycho-Man.
Covering Psycho-Man would take way too much time, but this is basically a throwaway reference.
Remember that the Fantastic Four had disbanded so that we could focus on the individual members for a while? That’s basically over already.
The three have basically decided that they’re going to reform the team, with Reed being the only one who still needs to be convinced.
Hhmmm I wonder what Susan’s going to tell Reed to convince him to change his mind.
Ah, I knew I would find a way to use that panel again.
The trio goes to a fancy restaurant, where they are recognized… as different celebrities.
I’m not very good with topical references; my best guess is that Susan is being mistaken for Angie Dickinson. I can’t really see Johnny Storm being mistaken for Mark Hamill, though.
Then Susan gets a hallucination of her dead father!
And the Thing sees his girlfriend Alicia in his soup.
“Whaaa??” indeed.
This could’ve worked if we didn’t know about the Psycho-Man technology, but it’s worth it just to see Alicia knock out the Thing.
Then the Invincible Man shows up! Which is odd because he’s not supposed to be a real character: it was a secret identity for the Super-Skrull and for Franklin Storm (it’s complicated).
If they hadn’t spoiled it, this could’ve been a cool hint of a possible return of Psycho-Man.
Invincible Man defeats the FF absurdly easily, leading to a hilarious panel with the rest of the customers oblivious to the whole thing thanks to his mind tricks.
Then he takes the prisoners to a lair in upstate New York, and we see who is presumably his boss.
This scene is going to cause trouble soon.
Invincible Man turns out to be a hypnotized Reed Richards…
…and he’s thrown into a dungeon with the rest of the team, who are given handcuffs that hurt them if they try anything.
Reed learns that he’s actually been working on a rather weird-looking solar power station.
The leader of Cynthian Associates (who Reed doesn’t recognize; more on that later) explains that anyone looking at the station’s mirrors without being properly shielded will go insane.
Basically it’s Checkov’s Mirror.
Meanwhile the FF escape from the dungeon and fight some familiar robots.
Or perhaps they’re just human guards?
They eventually come face to face with the real leader of Cynthian Associates…
…which is supposed to be a surprise, but come on.
So… remember when I said that Reed and the Thing not recognizing the leader of Cynthian Associates would be a problem?
That’s because he has the same face of Doctor Doom! We will learn HOW soon enough, but… unlike Susan and Johnny, the other two actually KNOW what Doom looked like before his incident, she there’s absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t recognize him!!!
Doom significance: 4/10
The whole storyline is very important for Doom’s history, but this one is little more than a footnote.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
“Whaaa??” indeed. Pretty standard for 70s Marvel.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
Reed is hypnotized off-screen, we waste potential mysteries with Psycho-Man, and the whole part with hallucinations is pretty silly.
It was a Doombot all along
No clear indication, but to be honest it would make more sense to make this a Doombot considering how little he has to do.
Destroy the FF!
Yes, leading to one of the most famous examples.
Take over the world
It’ll take a while to figure it out, but that’s the other objective.
Crazy tech
A solar power station that drives you insane!