Fantastic Four #183

Issue Details

Synopsis

BATTLEGROUND: THE BAXTER BUILDING Returning from their investigation of the scene where the Thing and Tigra battle the Metalloid, Tigra, Thundra and the Impossible Man witness as Sue is thrown out of the upper stories of the Baxter Building. With the Impossible Man the only one with the ability to save her, Thundra is forced to throw him at Sue when he proves too slow to realize that a fall from that height will kill her and he rescues her in the nick of time. Watching this from the window, the Brute is furious but decides to set up the Baxter Building's defenses in order to prevent them from stopping him.   While in the Negative Zone, Annihilus tells Reed, Ben and Johnny the origins of the creature they just battled. He explains that it is in reality the Mad Thinker's old Ultimate Android that the FF were forced to eject into the Negative Zone to defeat. Annihilus would take it and recreate it into the loyal Scavenger. However, at his last defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four, the Scavenger would pull Annihilus' cosmic control rod form his body, gaining full sentience and mutating into his current form. With the Scavenger's origins told, Annihilus tries to flies off to stop it, but Reed and the others stop him and agree to go back to the positive matter universe and stop the creature and send back Annihilus' cosmic control rod for him.   As the Mad Thinker heads to the Baxter Building hoping to retrieve the Scavenger without issue, the Invisible Girl, Tigra and Thundra head toward the Baxter Building to confront the Brute. The Impossible Man, finding the day's ordeal boring decides to wander off and find fun elsewhere. As they fight through the bases defenses, the Scavenger arrives through the Negative Zone portal and thinking that the Brute is the person who summoned him and not wanting to be a slave again, attacks him. As Sue and the others break through the various defenses until the shut them down, Reed, Ben and Johnny travel to the Negative Zone portal when their ship is attacked by Borers.   On Earth, the Scavenger gains the upper hand against the Brute by blasting him with cosmic rays, causing him to revert back into his Reed Richards form. As Reed and the others fight off the Borers in the Negative Zone, Sue and her friends enter the lab and battle the Scavenger. When Reed, Johnny and Ben make it back to Earth they join the fight as well, and during the fight the Mad Thinker arrives and realizes that his calculations were incredibly off and retreats before he is discovered. When the Thing knocks out the Scavenger, Reed recovers the Cosmic Control Rod from its neck. As he's about to re-enter the Negative Zone to return it to Annihilus, his counterpart from Counter-Earth snatches it. Telling them that he has regained his sanity and realizes how noble the Fantastic Four are and that he has nothing left to live for, the Counter-Earth Richards dives into the Negative Zone portal to complete the mission himself.