Fantastic Four 2

The Fantastic Four Meet the Skrulls From Outer Space!

by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

"Maybe I am a monster!" -Thing

We next find the Fantastic Four as they are being hunted by the military. A group of green skinned, shape-changing aliens called Skrulls have disguised themselves as the Fantastic Four and have committed crimes that discredit the superhero group. The Skrulls’ ultimate goal is to invade the world with the rest of their fleet and conquer it while their greatest heroes seem to be a threat to the public.

The real Fantastic Four are found hiding in a log cabin in some woods. The military take the group into custody, but with their powers they easily escape from their cells. Evading the army again, the Four make their way to one of their secret hideouts. Reading a newspaper, Johnny Storm gets an idea to lure the imitators out. He flies off to a nearby rocket site where a launch is underway. After sabotaging some equipment, the Skrulls disguised as Reed, Sue and Thing stop and bring him in assuming he is the one disguising himself as the Torch. Once inside the Skrulls’ hideout the aliens quickly realize their blunder as Johnny shoots his Fantastic Four flare out a window to summon the rest of the team.

The Human Torch keeps the Skrulls at bay long enough for the rest of the team to show up. The Fantastic Four successfully beat the imitating aliens and force them to send them up to the Skrull mothership in space via a small spaceship disguised as a water tower. Inside the mothership, the real Fantastic Four pretend to be the Skrulls. Reed speaks before a Skrull general to convince him that earth is far too dangerous to invade even with the Fantastic Four subdued. He then hands over evidence of this which are actually clippings from other Marvel monster mags. This is enough to sell to the general that earth is too dangerous. Before the Skrulls can flee with the Four, Reed persuades the Skrull general to let the four of them stay behind to remove any traces of their invasion. The general agrees and awards Reed a medal for being the bravest Skrull their race has ever known.

On the way back down to earth, the Fantastic Four pass through the cosmic ray storm yet again. The only person it effects his the Thing who changes back into his human form. Suddenly a spotlight drops on the group and they are quickly surrounded by law enforcement. They gather the Four together, but Reed has enough clout that he gets them to agree to follow him so they can explain what’s really been going on with the Skrulls and clear their names. They all race over to the Skrull hideout building, where the Skrulls have gotten free and start to attack everyone the moment they arrive. Ben, who has turned back into his rocky Thing form by this point, eagerly fights a Skrull who has changed into a snake-like monster and Torch subdues a spikey gray thing Skrull. The third turns into a bird to escape the scene, but Reed stretches his arms out a window to stop it.  This being enough evidence for the police, they drop all charges from the super group. The Fantastic Four take care of the Skrulls in a very peculiar way. Reed hypnotizes them to forget who they are and forces them to change to a form where they will remain at peace and unable to disturb the earth. The 3 Skrulls promise to remain the way Reed says and the Fantastic Four leave them to live out a peaceful existence as cows.

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Reading Guide:

Fantastic Four #1
Fantastic Four #2