SKRULLS versus WOLVERINE

Eve of Destruction (Marvel)
Where: X-Men #90 When: July 1999
Why: Alan Davis & Terry Kavanagh How: Alan Davis

The Story So Far...
When a trans-dimensional being called Ejulp recruits the X-Men to defend his domain from the unstoppable Juggernaut -- he inadvertently flings them through time & space to a long time ago on a distant planet!

Confusion abounds as the X-Men encounter fallen comrades, erstwhile allies, and even versions of themselves -- but this is no ordinary product of time travel. They are in the domain of the shape-shifting Skrulls -- and the lost world of Tarnax IV!

They are inadvertently deposited on a training moon orbiting the Skrull Throneworld as the great Devourer of Worlds Galactus approaches! Now the X-Men race to change history to save the lives of untold Skrulls -- and themselves! They just have to convince the Skrulls to stop trying to kill them!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Abomination 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Green Goblin 5 (Professor)
Speed: Captain Britain 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Wolverine 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Havok 5 (Lasers)
Total: Captain Britain 29 (Super)

Skrulls specialize in covert infiltration and subterfuge, but what good is a disguise when your opponent can sniff a fake out from a mile away?

Wolverine already knows he's knee-deep in shape-shifters, so he's on alert to suspect even the most convincing doppelganger, but these particular Skrulls aren't just copying the appearance of other powerful figures!

Skrull science is capable of bestowing copied super-powers, technology, and specialist training upon their agents. There are several well-known super-powered Skrulls, chief among them: Kl'rt the Super-Skrull and Paibok the Power Skrull.

Wolverine's up against engineered spies in training, so he at least won't have to worry about seasoned, multi-powered super-heavyweights like Super-Skrull. He does, however, have some powerful imitators to contend with.

The Skrull spies are patterned after: Captain Britain, Havok, Green Goblin, Medusa, and Abomination.

This is the Captain Britain who stands toe-to-toe with Juggernaut, and we all know Abomination as the arch-nemesis of Hulk. Wolverine is no stranger to tangling with those adversaries as well, but usually he only has to contend with one of them. This pairing of powerhouses alone poses a significant challenge!

Add the abilities/arsenal of Havok and Green Goblin for some extra ranged fire power, while Medusa's Inhuman prehensile hair locks down the mutant's mobility, and he's running out of options real fast!

Wolverine's best bet may be immediate surrender to a berzerker barrage to mercilessly wield his adamantium claws against the alien menace.

Animalistic ruthlessness has been the equalizer in his outnumbered battles against The Hellfire Club, Lady Deathstrike and her cyborg Reavers, The Hand, and even The Fantastic Four! Will it make the difference again? Let's find out...

The Tape: Skrulls Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

Familiar faces surround, but he isn't amongst friends. Wolverine, claws out, fights for his life in an arena designated "Stage-Earth". Only it has nothing to do with Earth. It's just another lie. A testing ground for Skrull spies to hone the skills they've stolen from Earth's heroes and villains.

He throws himself through the crowd -- leading claws on his left hand slashing at a face imitating the mask of the Green Goblin, while his right hand trails behind, having already raked against an imitation Captain Britain.

They might not be the genuine articles, but each of these doppelgangers shares the might of the people they imitate. They're still training, but they're dangerous.

His mutant healing factor is already working to stitch pierced flesh back together when a thick shock of hair wraps around Wolverine's torso!

His instincts are almost as sharp as his claws. A single slash is all that's needed to separate the attacking Skrull from her living, prehensile Medusa hair!

One threat quelled gives way to another. A Skrull with the rampaging strength of The Abomination puts an end to Wolverine's stand -- driving him into the ground!

The crushing slam of Abomination's fist leaves the X-Man dazed & confused!

He can hardly process what he's seeing as another hand grabs Abomination by the wrist and hoists him over head.

A head with another familiar face. One that hits a little too close to home.

John Proudstar -- a comrade at arms who perished by Wolverine's side. A short-lived X-Man, accompanied by Shadowcat. Reinforcements!

Blasts of energy stream towards the phony Havok, Green Goblin, and Captain Britain, as Skrulls with the faces of other deceased heroes -- Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel -- come charging to the rescue!

Mar-Vell kicks Green Goblin in the face while blasting Havok with cosmic power, as Adam Warlock directs a full mental energy bolt to subdue Captain Britain!

They're Skrulls. Each and every one of them. Empowered with super-normal abilities taken from well-known counterparts, but there's not much use for infiltrating society with a dead man's face. Spies who can't hide in plain sight.

The genuine Shadowcat helps untangle Wolverine from Medusa's hair. Thunderbird makes sure the Abomination Skrull has been slammed unconscious, while Warlock drops Captain Britain next to the other bodies.

The Hammer...

It looked like Wolverine was on the ropes, but we'll never know if he could've turned it around on his own. Kitty Pryde showed up with Thunderbird, Adam Warlock, and Captain Marvel Skrulls to make the big save!

There's a whole lot more Skrull on Mutant action in this issue, with the rest of the X-Men battling elsewhere, and our unlikely quintet sticking together to fight towards an exit.

I kinda like the idea of deep-cover Skrulls whose imitation is engineered to be so complete and convincing that it's permanent.

Taking away the common ability to shape-shift is a pretty heavy-duty fate for a Skrull, and the predicament it leaves agents in, whose double has very publicly met their demise, is kinda interesting. Not that it stopped later iterations once Marvel Comics truly fulfilled a revolving door of death.

I suppose these permanently altered Skrulls become a mutant caste in a vaguely analogous fashion to our X-Men. Thematic consideration that bridges the gap between these two groups -- even if Wolverine remains guarded as he receives help from his apparent saviors, who are further ostracized by their correct belief that the X-Men are trying to warn the Skrulls of impending doom.

Wolvie's canny enough to know you can never let your guard down when dealing with Skrulls, and indeed, the next time we see him -- on a hijacked Skrull ship as the X-Men are emerging from "cryo-stasis" on the way back to present-day Earth -- he has been replaced by a Skrull doppelganger. Shades of an Alien 3 fast-one.

As I've mentioned in the past: 1999 was the first real down period for my comics reading, but the significance of this story extends in both directions, continuing into the mildly interesting reveal that the real Wolverine has become Apocalypse's Horseman of Death, and backwards to 1983's Fantastic Four #257, when Nova led Galactus to feast upon Tarnax IV - the Skrull Throneworld.

If you really wanted to do some mental gymnastics, you could further weave this episode into the contemporary significance of Secret Invasion, which continued to reckon with the destruction of Tarnax IV, and led to multi-powered Skrulls created after its own retro-active fiction - an encounter with The Illuminati.

We might reason the Secret Invasion super Skrulls are all part of the same program that created the permanently altered spies seen today, destined for obsolescence. It can be debated if a second Mar-Vell Skrull appearing during that event supports this theory, or challenges it. It might've been nice if it were the same Skrull, but this one appears to die later this issue, and they went with a more recognized blonde version of Mar-Vell for the 2007 "return".

Thinking this much about Skrulls in relation to the X-Men is kind of an odd fit, and I wonder how it all came about. Even taking previous space adventures into account - returning to a then-sixteen year old issue of FF is quite a leap.

Maybe it speaks to the slight chaos of Marvel at the turn of the millennium. A time that sometimes felt like creative freefall as the content of comics negotiated a transition from familiar styles and subject matter, to slightly new approaches.

X-Men #90 feels more consistent with the slightly old-fashioned vein that ran through Marvel into 2001 and the space-centric Maximum Security event. It butts up against a grounding of the X-Men, with deeper investment in their natural habitat of frictious co-existence between mutants & humans, and the coming of Grant Morrison's New X-Men. Both fuelled by the X-Men movie in 2000.

Amusing that the next most prominent X/ET encounter that comes to mind is the Shi'ar Imperial conflict in New X-Men, 2002. Something about that Great British diet of sci-fi keeping the space classics in the minds of Morrison, and Alan Davis?

The presence of Captain Britain feels like a quirk of Davis' dual role as plotter & penciler. I wonder if he may also be the key to the entire Skrull affair. I certainly enjoyed his brief time on the first three issues of Fantastic Four (Vol.3), introducing the Kirby-inspired Iconoclast, and revisiting the classic Super-Apes & Red Ghost. Perhaps Galactus and Skrulls were unfinished business.

Davis has a pretty safe & soft style, and it's pleasant here in the colourful world of classically-tinged X-Men. I don't particularly love this issue or time period, but it's fairly inoffensive, and I hope to explore more in the future.

If you enjoy these explorations and would like to see more -- consider becoming a supporter on Patreon. As a thank you for helping make it all possible you'll unlock additional content, an invite to the Discord community, and options to sponsor your own choice of featured content. Special thanks to new patron Dominic!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has recorded over 700 battles and ranked well over 1,000 characters! Find them all by following links throughout each and every post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

Get free daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to Twitter and Facebook, or by becoming a freebie follower on Patreon. Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share -- and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday on Twitter, Patreon & Discord!

Winners: Thunderbird, Warlock, and Mar-Vell Skrulls (w/ Wolverine & Shadowcat)
#364 (new) Thunderbird (Skrull)
#365 (new) Adam Warlock (Skrull)
#366 (new) Captain Marvel (Skrull)
#5 (--) Wolverine [+1 assist]
#126 (--) Shadowcat [+1 assist]
#1014 (new) Captain Britain (Skrull)
#1015 (new) Havok (Skrull)
#1016 (new) Green Goblin (Skrull)
#1017 (new) Abomination (Skrull)
#1018 (new) Medusa (Skrull)

CAPTAIN BRITAIN versus JUGGERNAUT

Moving Day (Marvel)
Where: Excalibur #3 When: December 1988
Why: Chris Claremont How: Alan Davis

The Story So Far...
Juggernaut's time in Great Britain hasn't gone according to plan. Defeated by the X-Men and incarcerated in Her Majesty's Ultra Maximum Security Prison, Crossmoor, he has finally been stopped -- held by a stasis cage!

When the villainous Vixen leads an attack on the prison in order to stage a break-out: Juggernaut finally has the chance to stretch his powerful limbs free from bondage!

During the escape, Juggernaut engages in a little light tank destruction, delighting in demonstrating his unstoppable nature to the local military. An act that can only bring forth the United Kingdom's greatest defenders - Captain Britain & Excalibur!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Juggernaut 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Captain Britain 5 (Professor)
Speed: Captain Britain 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Juggernaut 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Draw 2 (Average)
Fighting: Captain Britain 4 (Training)
Energy: Captain Britain 2 (Projectiles)


Last month we finally inducted Betsy Braddock into the fighting ranks of the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths. This time around we're welcoming her big brother Brian into the fold -- better known to the world as Captain Britain!

Brian Braddock was once a meek physicist who found himself out of his depth when the nuclear research facility he was interning with was attacked! A desperate search for aid brought him into a chance encounter with the magician Merlyn, and his daughter Roma. They bestowed upon him the gift of The Amulet of Right - an artefact that fulfilled his destiny to become Captain Britain!

Over the years Captain Britain's powers have been adapted, altered and increased. The definitive modern Captain Britain is endowed with super-human strength, speed, endurance, stamina and the power of flight. His abilities may be at their strongest whilst in special costume, or at close proximity to Britain itself. Note: These provisos have been lifted in many modern incarnations.

Given the mythic, magical nature of Captain Britain's uncanny strength -- he's a perfect challenger for the unstoppable Juggernaut!

Cain Marko's powers come from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and render him nigh invulnerable to physical assault! That could make things tricky for Captain Britain, whose greatest asset is his phenomenal super-strength! That said, the Juggernaut can be physically bested in some rare instances.

Time travelling super-robot Nimrod was able to take Juggernaut down, prompting a team-up with the X-Men [Uncanny X-Men #194]. DC icon Superman knocked him off his feet in a surprise encounter [DC versus Marvel #1]. Even Wonder Woman managed to stop the unstoppable with a little help from Spider-man, and the villainous New God: Mantis [Unlimited Access #1]! Encouraging examples -- especially given the home ground advantage Captain Britain takes into today's feature fight!

Of course, for every tough guy (or gal) who succeeds in going toe-to-toe with the Juggernaut, there are those who live to regret it! Colossus [Uncanny X-Men #183], Captain Marvel Jr [Unlimited Access #3], and Magneto [What If...? #94] are but a sampling of previous opponents who've felt his irresistible force!

For Britannia to rule this day, Braddock would do well to draw upon his book smarts as a physicist. Juggernaut's been known to be contained or slowed by turning environmental circumstance against him. Captain Britain has the muscle to enact any plans that might use Juggernaut's momentum to advantage.

The Math: Captain Britain Ranking: Juggernaut (#111)

What Went Down...
Freed from bondage, Juggernaut goes on the warpath! Military tanks and soldiers are no match for the unstoppable villain! He tears through war machine metal like it were paper - until a Great British fist pierces the carnage!

Unfazed, the Juggernaut gets a standing face-to-face introduction with the hero adorned in Union Jack red, white and blue -- Captain Britain! Relatively unimpressed by the obligatory local superhero, he shrugs off the order to cease and desist. In his own words, he's got places to go and things to do.

Captain Britain finds himself dismissed with extreme prejudice! The Juggernaut sends him hurtling across the surrounding British countryside, to a grinding halt in the dirt some miles away!

The impact draws the attention of an airborne Phoenix, who comes to check if her Excalibur teammate is in need of assistance. He rejects her telepathic offer - springing out of the crater at mach speeds to fly back into the thick of it!

While the rest of Excalibur pursues other inmates freed from the Crossmoor Ultra Maximum Security Prison -- Captain Britain meets Juggernaut head-on! His valor is met with unforgiving, unstoppable strikes! His superhuman strength only good for keeping him alive beneath the brutal blows!

A devastating uppercut to the stomach lifts Captain Britain off his feet and draws the attention of his sweetheart & teammate - Meggan. She watches in horror as a stiff right cross sends the Captain to the ground. A finishing blow!

The Hammer...
It started with a one-on-one marquee fight and it ended with a one-on-one result: Juggernaut victorious over Captain Britain!

As you may have surmised, Excalibur still have several other heroes left in the fight. Captain Britain will recover, but won't re-engage in the subsequent battle unfolding under Meggan's lead. It's a follow-up I'm sure we'll be interested to revisit sometime in The Comic Book Fight Club's future!

Meanwhile; the mind boggles that Excalibur #3 is an issue nearly thirty years old at the time of this writing! There are things that date it, obviously, but the dynamic artistry of Alan Davis isn't one of them. At times his page layouts give it all the language of modern comic books coming years later.

Admittedly, some of my favourite panels are the simplest, like Captain Britain rising from the dirt [above]. Heavy blacks, including the background of the night sky, give it a hard edge I love. The simple symmetrical design of his costume lends strength to the anatomy of the character. It's a nice moment that visually highlights Captain Britain, but also sells the conceptual awe of Juggernaut.

This is the first time we've featured Captain Britain. Fans in-the-know will remember his earlier design, later used by Lionheart. I prefer this incarnation. The sweeping, multi-dimensional mythos of the Captain Britain Corps tends to get a bit much, but the big chested superhero costume really clicks for me. It's such a shame a British super-team never seems to last long. There's a lot of hand wringing about diversity in comics, but it usually begins and ends with Americans shouting about Americans. Much of the world still waits.

Ironically, the basic structural element of the issue that may seem the most out of date is the prize fight feel.

As much as we have Batman v Superman in theatres, or Injustice in video games; the popular superhero fight of today always seems to be predicated on some grander, invalidating convolution or complication. The simple appeal of two independently established powerhouses meeting for a showdown seems to be approaching the domain of a lost art. It's rarely as simple as wondering what would happen if X fought X. A proposition that, admittedly, gets harder as time goes on.

I have to give Chris Claremont a lot of credit for his respect for the power of a good superhero fight. It's a quality that isn't just about plotting a break in a usually wordy on-going series. It speaks to his long term perspective and respect for maintaining characters. As an unstoppable powerhouse - Juggernaut always runs the risk of being a fall guy. Someone by which the strength and heroism of others can be proven. Claremont himself uses this, but he always seems to be keeping an eye on balancing those books.

Juggernaut had been around for about twenty-three years in 1988. He'd already suffered some of his most famous defeats. He even starts this issue incarcerated in the UK -- antithetical consequence of his Muir Island defeat in 1987's Uncanny X-Men #218. Claremont isn't just continuing the Juggernaut's story -- nice in itself, but also topping up the tank. Captain Britain will have many opportunities to prove himself as the star of Excalibur, but first he gives a little credibility back through today's feature defeat.

We saw Claremont doing similar rehab in Uncanny X-Men #183, where Colossus took the fall in a massive 1984 showdown that was concerned with Juggernaut's famous loss to Spider-man two years earlier [see; Amazing Spider-man #230 for more].

Was a professional wrestling mentality always what steered Chris Claremont's writing? I'm sure many readers will have examples where a character was let down. I'm happy to give credit where it's due, though. The primary concern of The Comic Book Fight Club is what's put in print, and I really enjoy these examples of fighting cred maintenance.

It's another win in the books for Juggernaut and a welcome induction for another classic hero - Captain Britain! An unfortunate defeat that in no way comments on the state of the United Kingdom's current Brexit politics.

Looking to get ahead of the fight and away from European turmoil? Use the Amazon purchase link provided [right] to find this issue and others in collected edition. Doing so helps the fight remain infinite!

You can also help out by finding more classic and obscure battles in the Secret Archive and by sharing links with friends!

Winner: Juggernaut
#66 (+45) Juggernaut
#789 (new) Captain Britain

ICONOCLAST versus FANTASTIC FOUR
Be It Ever So Humble... (Marvel comics)
Where: Fantastic Four #2 When: February 1998
Why: Scott Lobdell How: Alan Davis

The story so far...
After the battle with Onslaught, the world believed the Fantastic Four and Avengers had perished, but to the delight of the world, the heroes returned a year later to the world they had left behind.

Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four, life had moved on in their absence, and their base of operations had been liquidated and revamped as the headquarters for the new team of super heroes: The Thunderbolts.

In need of a home, Reed Richards moves his family to his storage facility on the highliy appropriate Pier 4, but even as he gives his loving wife a new tour of their base of operations - something sinister is lurking in the shadows. Peril waits not for the Fantastic Four, as the Invisible Woman finds herself targetted by a mysterious assassin from another world!

Previous Form:
Fantastic Four [#3]: Victories over Frightful Four, Secret Avengers & Sinister Twelve.
Invisible Woman (#32): Unsuccesful against Wolverine and Death's Head, away from the FF.
Iconoclast: Has not yet been featured on the site.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Iconoclast 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Invisible Woman 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Iconcolast 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Invisible Woman 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Iconoclast 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Draw 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Iconoclast 3 (Explosives)


Iconoclast represents an incredibly interesting and rare phenomenon in modern comics. That's the introduction of a character who is relatively interesting with allusions to an established motivation and history, but lacks any real definition.
What makes this particularly unique is that the character, as far as I know, and as far as I could find out, has never been followed up on.

In fact, even browsing Marvel's own Wiki-formatted database, there are not even any apparent references to the character, to be found. So, how to we measure such a character? Well, with some license, I suppose you could say.

It's not the first time we've analysed a character that hasn't appeared again in the broader medium, and as is always the case, we draw what we can from the pages in which they have appeared.

Perhaps the most distinctive technique exhibited by Iconoclast is his ability to exist somehow on two planes of existence. While he remains invisible and intangible to those of us in the regular realm, a character such as the Invisible Woman represents someone able to see and interact with that plane of being.

In that respect both Invisible Woman and Iconoclast are on relatively equal terms. Working in the Invisible Woman's favour are a few factors:
The Invisible Woman has the back-up support of one of the most seasoned teams in the Marvel Universe, which includes the brilliant mind of Reed Richards, inventor and thinker extraordinaire.

Invisible Woman also carries with her an inherent range of abilities thanks to her versatile application of forcefields and tactile invisibility. While she cannot fade from Iconoclast's sight, she can certainly rough him up with forcefield backed punches!

The Iconoclast appears to come, if not naturally, equipped with energy based "bio-blasts" with explosive results. Also working for the Iconoclast is an impressive degree of agility, and fighting skills that clearly rival the moderately trained Invisible Woman's.

If Reed Richards can get the rest of the team into the fight, then this becomes decidedly one-sided, but without the assistance of her team, it becomes much more difficult to say for sure that Invisible Woman would win. I'd like to think she has the broad tools, but Iconoclast makes for a convincing threat!

The Math: Iconoclast (Champion Class)
The Pick: Invisible Woman (Champion Class)

What went down...
Sue and Reed Richards share a hug in their son's bedroom when the Iconoclast makes himself known to Sue. He declares his intentions to "null" her before she can null him and his people. His hand begins to glow as energy builds in it, released in a massive explosion!

The Invisible Woman is able to protect her and her family with an invisible forefield, and while Mr. Fantastic consoles his son, Sue Richards' motherly instincts tell her to kick the Iconcoclast's arse!

Invisible Woman propels herself at Iconoclast with an invisible shield, extending beyond her fist to knock him through the window!

Mr. Fantastic quickly follows, initiating the appropriate security measures to see the broken window sealed, and his son protected from any other would-be invaders of the Pier-4 facility.

Out in the snow, Invisible Woman is knocked about by the Iconoclast, who not only remains invisible to Mr. Fantastic, but who also appears to have no effect on their surroundings, either. As he trails his wife's footsteps, he notes that there are no such accompanying imprints.

Mr. Fantastic leaps into the air stretching himself out to blanket the area in the hopes of ensuring physical contact with the Iconoclast so he can restrain him. Unfortunately he remains intangible to all but the Invisible Woman, thus provoking a more developed theory from Richards.
While he ponders the situation, a concerned Franklin Richards triggers the Fantasti-flare, alerting the attentions of the rest of the team who are busy messing around in the city.

As Reed begins to postulate, Sue continues to fend off the flaming attacks of the Iconoclast. Richards scoops his wife up and makes a stretched leap to put some distance between them, enquiring about any potentially valuable information.
As Richards reaches an epiphany, the Iconoclast makes contact, stretching Mr. Fantastic's stretchy gut out and around, before flattening him with a blow to the face.

As his own jaw stretches away from his face, Mr. Fantastic makes an intellectual note, "Apparently even though I am unable to "see" him -- or to affect him -- he has no such limitations -- OWNLPHN! -- in regards to harming me!

If I didn't know better, I would've thought Mr. Fantastic had just recalled his trumph seen in last week's Fantastic Friday entry against Sub-Mariner. OWNLPHN! [Fantastic Four #412]

Tired of the assault, Invisible Woman slams the Iconoclast with an invisible battering ram! Iconoclast, on the back foot, concedes his conflicted state, but reveals the stakes of too many millions of his people's lives.
Susan tries to stem his concerns, assuring him that he wishes for noone to die, but the word of a would-be tyrant means little to one so afraid. He slices through her invisible construct, and then shatters a defensive field she forms.

As the Invisible Woman falls to another blow, the Human Torch and Thing arrive on the scene. For the first time during the battle a footprint emerges in the snow, allowing Mr. Fantastic to deduce the effects of heat on the Iconoclast.

He instructs the Human Torch to send his heat in the direction of the print, resulting in the emergance of a shimmering figure that is the Iconoclast!
Visible to everyone, the Thing charges at their mysterious foe, but his fists find nothing but air. The ghostly apparition flings Thing into the air, and turns to meet Johnny Storm, who flames his way through the air in retort.

The Iconoclast's ghostly hand plunges into the Human Torch, seemingly intangible, but still capable of inflicting great pain on the flaming hero.

The Invisible Woman comes to the desperate aid of her brother, again the only member of the team able to see the threat.

She uses her invisible powers to yank the Iconoclast from her brother!
The Iconoclast voices his conflict again, as the Invisible Woman questions the necessity of the death of herself, or others. Despite his reluctance, the Iconoclast remains vigilant in his goals.

Again he punches his way through an invisible barrier with a glowing fist. Invisible Woman backs up, noting that with every field Iconoclast breaks, the weaker her efforts seem to become. She continues to back up, reaching the edge of the pier as the Iconclast smashes wall after wall.

Finally, Sue Richards springs her final gambit. Having retreated far beyond the edge of the pier to over the water, she peels back her invisible platform, leaving the Iconoclast to drop into the icey waters below. The Iconoclast plunges into the water with a spectacular explosion of steam and energy!

On the pier, Mr. Fantastic reveals he theory he shared with his wife while Human Torch and Thing provided a distraction. A theory that Iconoclast himself was not manipulating his existence on our plane of reality, instead he employed a technology in-built into his suit, that could presumably be shortcircuited with water.

Though the Fantastic Four make efforts to find and retrieve the Iconoclast from the river, Reed Richards' most advanced scanning technology cannot find him. And as someone or something watches their heat signatures, Richards predicts that eventually their invisible menace will return.

The hammer...
Of course, Mr. Fantastic was thus-far wrong, as the Iconoclast never returned after his defeat at the hands of Invisible Woman! Full assist to the rest of the team, too.

I don't think we've loitered too much around this period of history, but I have to admit that I really enjoyed this era of Fantastic Four. It represents a large chunk of an otherwise modest collection, following the heights of the Heroes Reborn storyline into something more familiar.

Heroes Reborn was the Ultimate line before the Ultimate line, without the benefit of long term commitment. In that respect it was a condensed retelling of the character's origins, and their first encounters with many of their most recognisable villains, all put under a microscope of thirteen issues in four different series. In it's own way, it was actually very good, and Ultimate fans will note many simiarlities with one or two ideas developed in those books.

Things had become pretty garbled and distracted by the mid-nineties, so apart from streamlining the major Marvel properties, this was an opportunity to take a good look again at the classics, and put them all back in the spotlight.

When the heroes returned [as part of Heroes Return], it was a chance to move away from that magnifying glass and come out fresh. This is where we arrive at Lobdell and Davis on the new Fantastic Four; a delightful take that clearly takes inspiration from the classic intrepretations of Lee/Kirby and beyond, but brings it to readers with what was a contemporary sensibility.

Heroes Reborn was perpetrated by Image founders Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld (and others), so it had it's own version of the gaudy of the nineties, complete with trimmings and gimmicks. While FF post-Heroes Reborn appeared to be moving away from that, it was only a year later. Only so much could change.

It's almost hard to look at Iconoclast without a little bit of cynicism.
Granted, he provided some positive creative decisions. It cast a spotlight on Invisible Woman as an individual, something that happened with some of the team on and off during this run [like Mr. Fantastic in issue #3].

He also made for a convenient villain in a story that was very much establishing the team's new base on Pier-4, that could provide action, without taking the story away from the new HQ, and without demanding the destruction of it. It's probably not the kind of story you could have told with Annihilus.

Even so, there's something about Iconoclast that almost reads like an opportunity to explore with the technology becoming available. It's almost like someone sat down in editorial, and proposed the idea of experimenting with creating a Predator-style invisible character, who can be seen as an exciting computer-generated silhouette of distortion.

Granted, I say that with cynicism, but not outright negativity, because I think it's a great thing to do. This was an application of the computer technology becoming available that far outshined experiments with colouring, and special effects, ala some of the less attractive issues of Steel that spring to mind.

Ultimately the Iconoclast ball gets completely dropped, and certainly there's still potential for that concept to be picked up and run with. The basic ideas speak for themselves, but there's room for a lot of interpretation there.

What's clear is Invisible Woman's potential threat to the millions of people that exist in Iconoclast's world. I know a lot of popular interpretations take that to be something along the lines of Joss Whedon's Breakworld story in Astonishing X-Men, but I've always felt it might be a bit more indirect than that.
Rather than imagining some grim future where Invisible Woman gives in to malice, or anything like that, I thought it might have been something far more innocent.

I like to think Iconoclast hails from a sub-dimension along the lines of the Microverse, and that Invisible Woman's powers somehow impact on their way of being. Something that subtly ties her to them and explains her ability to see and interact with Iconoclast, beyond just invisible people seeing invisible people.
Something more along the lines of a human unwittingly stepping on a family of tiny bugs, or something.

Anyway, we're still over a week behind (today being the 18th), so I'll shut it down here. Next week we continue Fantastic Fridays with a special look at the Human Torch! Stay tuned, folks!

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 5

MR. FANTASTIC versus THE RED GHOST & THE SUPER APES
Where: Fantastic Four #3 When: March 1998
Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Alan Davis

The story so far...
Heroes Return saw the triumphant return of Marvel's core cast of characters after a lengthy hiatus from the "616" universe, and the styles that have made them famous.

Having overcome a universe of trouble in Heroes Reborn, the Thunderbolts stealing their home, trouble in France, and a single-celled Iconoclast; the FF were overdue for a visit from a more familiar nemesis.

Staying back to finish some analysis work before a New Year's Eve ball, Reed Richards is available to receive a call ending in distress from an ESU scientist, where Reed is a consulting Professor.

Tale of the tape...
There's a clichè amongst comic fans regarding characters' supposed potential to be the most powerful character in the universe. While in some cases it's an exaggeration, there are sometimes some very real points to be made, and where Reed Richards is concerned, this issue is part of one of those arguments.

Intelligence: 6 (Genius)
Agility: 6 (Rubber)

What makes Mr. Fantastic so fantastic is probably his almost unparalleled genius, and capacity for invention. If you need evidence, check out the last entry, which featured an invention by Richards capable of creating life in the most barren of locations.

Of course, intelligence is really quite relative, and if Richards has a downfall, it's his ability to see the potential in applying his genius to other areas. Areas such as combat, where his rubber malleability, and control over the density of his structure could potentially make him one of the most impressive super powered fighters in comics.
Every character has flaws and weaknesses, and this is Mr. Fantastic's.

On your average occasion, matching wits with the Red Ghost and his Super Apes, I would probably call it 50-50. Sheer numbers are probably more than an equializer against Reed Richards, whose greatest strengths in the field are as a team leader, and cooardinator.

What went down...
Ever the marital moron, Richards is hanging out in his lab, instead of going to a New Year's Eve charity benefit, with his dressed up wife. It's not all bad, because it means when Dr. Polombo of ESU leaves a message that ends in distress, Professor Richards is able to answer the call.

When he arrives he finds something rather surprising. Those damn dirty Super Apes are not only in control of their cosmic powers, but they're also super intelligent now too, at the cost of the Red Ghost's intelligence, it would seem.

Richards shows an uncharacteristically tactical approach to the fight, stretching his eye through a drainage grate to get a scope on the situation.
As it so happens, the Super Apes efficiently incapacitated the lone security guard, and scientist, leaving them to pump powerfully toxic nerve gas into Times Square.

The fun is interrupted by an innocent knocking at the door - or is it?
Using his powers to great effect, Richards takes one of the Super Apes out with a flying fist, before emerging from his hiding place in the drains.

Mikhlo the stretchy orangutan does what he can to wrap the good professor up, but Richards continues to show his offensive enginuity, stretching his head out, and then snapping it back full force. Not the most effective application of his powers, but still impressive.

With the other apes incapacitated, and the Red Ghost tied up in a test bunny's pink eyes, it leaves Richards in a showdown with Praetor - the brains of the group.

Praetor's advanced powers and intelligence prove to be a worthy challenge.
Intangibility and magnetikinesis make for interesting foils for Mr. Fantastic's versatile abilities, but ultimately he's able to get a hand free, and finish the job with the drain grate he came in through.

The remaining members of the Fantastic Four arrive just in time to apprehend the... delighted Red Ghost, still engrossed in the colour of the rabbit's eyes.
Ever the thinker, Reed Richards finds his victory hollow, as he ponders what potential threat merging genetic makeups could pose, as a result of their cosmically irradiated bodies.

The Hammer...
As mentioned last week, this was a relatively deliberate choice for a battle. With the release of Fantastic Four on DVD, I thought it would be appropriate to mark the occasion appropriately, by dipping into the FF longbox.

I'm sure we can all gladly agree that Mr. Fantastic came out with the win, rather conclusively. Something I always like to see in a comic book fight, but don't see terribly often.

Next week I dare say it'll be something from the DC bin, just to assure everyone we're not playing favourites. Of course, this entire website is fairly dependent on my meager comic collection, so equality isn't exactly an option...
Feel free to drop a comment, or even recommend or suggest a comic fight. Cheers!

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4.5 [July 17, 2006]