I: Feature Story: "The Frightful Four!"

Pages: 20

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Chic Stone
Letters: Sam Rosen

First Appearance: Frightful Four, Madam Medusa

Villains: The Frightful Four: The Wingless Wizard, Madam Medusa, Sandman, Paste-Pot Pete

Guest Appearance: Alicia Masters

Origin: The Frightful Four

Cameo Appearance: The Avengers: Captain America, Giant-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp; Rick Jones; The X-Men: Cyclops, Iceman, Professor X, Angel, Marvel Girl; Spider-Man

Marvel Milestones: Sue and Reed announce their engagement, Wizard’s new costume, Wizard changes his name to "Wingless Wizard", Johnny develops power for "colored flames", Sue's develops power to hurl invisible force beams

Synopsis: Reed Richards and Sue Storm make their big announcement to the paparazzi: they are engaged! The media is in a frenzy over the happy couple and even the Yancy Street Gang sends a gift. It’s a bomb that sends everybody running for cover, but it explodes into flowers...Ben is not amused.

Meanwhile, Paste-Pot Pete is lurking around the docks searching for the Sandman. What he doesn’t know is that Sandman is under his feet! He rises up in his sand form, overwhelming Pete. The Wizard floats down and breaks up the two who are bickering. After the events described in Strange Tales #118, Sandman and Paste-Pot Pete had commandeered a plane and spotted the Wizard as he was floating helplessly into space. They rescued him from floating to his death, and in gratitude, the Wizard allows the two criminals to partner with him. They concoct a plan to create an evil versionof the Fantastic Four, and they wonder if they could find the right woman to fill the female role.

The Wizard says that he knows of such a woman. He tells Pete and Sandman that he made a trip to a Mediterranean island, where he met Madam Medusa, a super-powered woman who scared away an entire police squad with her wildly powerful locks of hair. The Wizard decides to offerher membership in the Frightful Four.

Wedding plans have sped up at the Baxter Building. Sue is too busy with caterers to notice Johnny’s new invention. He works with a chemical spray that changes the colors of his fireballs. The Frightful Four notices the fireworks as they have their first meeting together. Madam Medusa introduces herself to hernew teammates, as the Wizard unveils his new costume and new name: the Wingless Wizard!

The Avengers and the X-Men are enjoying Reed and Sue’s engagement party while Spider-Man steals a piece of cake from outside. But once the other super-heroes depart, the Frightful Four silently lands on the roof of the Baxter Building. Thing has taken a nap and is awoken as soon as they attack, when Paste-Pot Pete cuffs and gags him with his paste gun and Wizard hits him with sleep spray. Pete fires at Sue as she enters the room but she throws a force field in his way. Reed soars into the room and is buried by the Sandman. Reed pounds Sandman into submission but Pete nails him to the floor with his paste gun. Sue fights the team off with her force field projections but Medusa traps her in her winding locks.

Wizard hits the couple with sleep spray and attaches anti-gravity devices to the three heroes. But no one has noticed Alicia Masters, who has overheard the struggle and snuck into the room, sneaking away Sue’s flare gun. She’s captured but not before she alerts the one member of the Fantastic Four not in their clutches: the Human Torch. The teenager is working on sports cars when he spots the signal flare, and he speeds off to help.

While Reed, Ben, Alicia and Sue float ever upward into the atmosphere, the Torch zooms out of the skyto the roof of the Baxter Building, where he spots the Frightful Four. He grabs the Wizard and pulls him into the Wizard-ship, forcing him at flamepoint to rescue his teammates.They fly in the ship into the sky and locate the three heroes, and Johnny pulls Reed’s stretched arm into the ship and Reed carries the others along within his stretched body. The Frightful Four has stolen the pogo plane and moves to intercept. Sandman spreads across the ship but Sue brings the pogo plane down with her force field. They land in a field, with the crash landing cushioned by her invisible field, and it's clear that Sue has defeated the Frightful Four by herself! Sandman and Wizard blow up their ship and in the confusion, the Frightful Four escapes.

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

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