> Reprinted in: Fantastic Four Masterworks Volume 5  •  Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 2
 
 


From the Mouths of the Marvels:

"Wedding or no wedding, as of right now we’re all on the alert!"

-- Reed Richards, page 8


'Nuff said!

 

Fantastic Four Annual #3
1965 • 23 pages

Publication Date: August 1, 1965

Ranked #80 in 100 Greatest Marvel Comics of All Time list

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I: Feature Story: "Bedlam at the Baxter Building!"

Pages: 23

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Vince Colletta
Letters: Artie Simek

Villain: Dr. Doom, Puppet Master, Red Ghost, Super Apes, Mole Man, Subterraneans, Mandarin, Black Knight, Kang, Awesome Android, Grey Gargoyle, Super Skrull, HYDRA, Cobra, Executioner, Enchantress, Mr. Hyde, Electro, Loki, Beetle, Melter, Unicorn, The Eel, Mad Thinker, Human Top, Attuma

Guest Appearance: Tony Stark/Iron Man, Patsy Walker, Hedy Wolfe, Nick Fury, X-Men: Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Beast, Angel; Alicia Masters, Dr. Strange, Thor, Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Avengers: Captain America, Quicksilver, Hawkeye; Spider-Man, The Watcher, Gabe Jones, Dum Dum Dugan

Cameo Appearance: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, FF Fan Club: Brooklyn Chapter

Gadgets & Technology: Emotion Changer, Brain-Wave Camera, Electrode Scrambler Gun, Vortex Bomb, Sub-Atronic Time Displacer

Marvel Milestones: Reed Richards and Sue Storm get married!

Synopsis: Doom has found the perfect opportunity for revenge; the day of Reed Richards and Susan Storm’s wedding! He’s invented a weapon called the Emotion Changer that will reach out and incite all the villains it reaches to attack the Fantastic Four at once!

The media is camped outside the Baxter Building as the Thing, dressed in his snazzy tuxedo, welcomes the guests, including Tony Stark in a top hat and fashion plates Patsy Walker and Hedy Wolfe. The Puppet Master sends a brainwash victim to deliver a poisonous handshake to the Thing, but Nick Fury and his SHIELD agents sense his presence with their Brain-Wave Camera and stop him. The Puppet Master slips away in the crowd.

While the Red Ghost and his Super Apes plot their terroristic move, the Mole Man takes a more direct approach, drilling up through the floor of the Baxter Building with his Subterraneans. Professor X has shown up for the wedding, and calls on his X-Men to help fight them off, with the team pushing them back down into the hole they came from, Iceman sealing them up. The Red Ghost and the Super Apes attack Sue but Dr. Strange is there and whisks the villains to another dimension. Reed realizes they are under a full-frontal assault and pushes his friends to be on guard.

Doom’s machine stirs more villains to disrupt the proceedings. Thor stops the Super Skrull, Daredevil commandeers a truck carrying a Vortex Bomb from an army of Hydra soldiers, and Captain America takes on Cobra, the Enchantress and the Executioner single handed. Mr. Hyde prepares to join the fight but Hawkeye handcuffs him to a brick wall with an arrow before he can act. The Enchantress sends a safe falling seemingly out of nowhere towards the Avenger, but Spider-Man catches it before it lands.

The Black Knight attacks Daredevil but the Angel swoops in to the rescue and starts to beat the medieval villain down. The Mandarin shocks Angel out of the sky and the Beast catches him. Iceman is ambushed by a squad of Electro, Mandarin, Unicorn, Melter and the Beetle until Cyclops comes to his aid.

Now it’s a free for all! Iron Man fights the Awesome Android. Quicksilver battles the Human Top. Attuma rises his forces from the river to destroy the surface world! Incidentally, Daredevil, still driving the truck with the Vortex Bomb on its back, sends it flying off a pier and into the Attuma’s fleet with a great explosion!

The Watcher descends to the wedding and takes Reed to his home where he allows him to take possession of a powerful weapon to take on his foes. Reed returns and places the object in front of the melee. The Sub-Atronic Time Displacer sends all the villains back in time with no memory of the fight. Reed assumes it will also wipe Doom’s memory so he won’t remember starting the whole affair.

The wedding takes place as scheduled with all but Sue in costume. Nick Fury makes sure no gate crashers attend the ceremony, including Stan Lee and Jack Kirby who wander off to discuss the next issue.

--synopsis by Jonathan Clarke, aka doesitmatter, with Gormuu

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Issues Reprinted
Fantastic Four #41-50 and Annual #3

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

 

FF #41

FF #42

FF #43

Ann #3

FF #44

FF #45

FF #46

FF #47

FF #48

FF #49

FF #50

 

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