I: Feature Story: Part 1: "Prisoners of Doctor Doom!"
Part 2: "Back to the Past!"
Part 3: "On the Trail of Blackbeard"
Part 4: "Battle!"
Part 5: "The Vengeance of Doctor Doom!"

Pages: 23

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek

First Appearance: Dr. Doom/Victor Von Doom, Doombots, Blackbeard/Ben Grimm

Villain: Dr. Doom, Doombot

Origin: Dr. Doom, Blackbeard the Pirate (aka Ben Grimm!)

Marvel Milestones: Playful banter between Torch and Thing (unlike the serious fights in earlier issues)

Gadgets & Technology: Doombots, Doom's Time travel machine, Blackbeard's magical gems

Synopsis: Dr. Doom stands over his chess board, pushing replicas of the Fantastic Four across a board and gloating, as his pet vulture looks on. He staggers out of his castle and into a waiting helicopter- it is time for his evil plan!

Johnny is reading the first issue of the Hulk and tells the Thing he looks just like the gray monster. Thing snatches the comic away and they get into a fight, only to be split up by Reed and Sue. Reed is exasperated with their behavior but his lecture to them is interrupted by a sudden blackout. Doom's helicopter floats overhead the building, and it drops a huge net over the entire structure and he bellows out his command: "Heed my words!" Reed knows that voice, and explains to his teammates what they are up against.

As Reed explains, Victor Von Doom went to college with him. He was obsessed with the black arts and forbidden experiments, one of which exploded as they worked on it and forever scarred his face. From there, the lost soul wandered into Tibet and was never heard from again. Until now.

Doom demands their total cooperation in his plan, and he further commands Susan to be sent out to him as a guarantee that they won't try anything to stop him. An infuriated Thing grabs the net to attack Doom but find it's electrically charged. For the sake of the others, Sue agrees to become Doom's hostage and waits for him on the roof.

With Sue aboard, Doom cages Reed, Johnny and Ben, and flies them all to his hidden castle. Gathering them in his throne room, he casually pets his favorite tiger and demands the three men go back in time to recover Blackbeard's treasure chest, and the treasure that is sure to be inside. He pushes a button and the floor underneath Reed, Ben and Johnny rises, revealing his awesome Time Machine. Once it lifts over their heads, they are in the past!

Ben, Reed and Johnny find themselves amidst a rabble of pirates. After stumbling across some stolen pirate clothes, they head to the nearest bar. Before they go inside, Reed puts a fake black beard, an eyepatch and a wide-brimmed hat on the Thing so he won't be so conspicuous. A couple pirates spot them sipping their beers and decide to kidnap them and press them into duty on their pirate ship. The waitress slips them a mickey and when they come to, they are already aboard the ship. The pirates are no match for their super powers and they quickly take over the ship. A pirate ship attacks them and Thing assumes command, getting the pirates to follow his orders to defend the ship. Johnny burns through the enemy ship's sails while Reed becomes a human bridge, leading the crew across has back to gain entry to the opposing ship. They win easily.

The crew cheers for their new leader, "Blackbeard", their nickname for Thing. But if Thing is Blackbeard, that means the treasure is rightfully his! Reed figures that the gems of Blackbeard, which Doom so desperately wants, would be too dangerous to fall into his hands, so they dump the treasure into the sea and fill the chest with worthless chains. Returning the treasure chest is what they promised Dr. Doom and that is what they'll do!

But Thing refuses to return to the present. He's found a place where he can be revered for his skills, not shunned for his appearance. He orders his pirates to tie up Reed and Johnny and set them adrift in a lifeboat. But just then, afreak waterspout appears in the ocean and destroys the ship. All three wash up on shore with the chest and the time machine platform returns to take them back into the future. The Thing, realizing he can't stay in the past, travels with them back to Doom's castle.

Doctor Doom opens the chest to discover the chains but Thing clobbers him before he can retaliate. Doom shatters into a million pieces, but they realize it's not Doom! It's just a robot! The real Doom is watching from another part of the castle. He begins to drain the room of oxygen but Sue, held hostage there, short-circuits the mechanism and escapes. She frees her suffocating teammates.

Reed knows Doom's castle is booby-trapped so it's too dangerous to chase him, and their only options is to escape. Reed stretches across the moat and demolishes the wall with Thing's help. Johnny uses a super blast of flame to fuse the water into glass so Ben and Sue can avoid the alligators inside the moat. Johnny tries to smoke Doom out of his castle but Doom flies away with his jetpack. He flies too fast and too high for the Torch to follow. Doom has escaped.

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