Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

TITANIA versus FANTASTIC FOUR

Tempest Without, Crisis Within! (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #3 When: July 1984 Why: Jim Shooter How: Mike Zeck

The Story So Far...
In the cold vacuum of distant space -- the sudden emergence of a space station filled with some of the mightiest heroes and villains of Earth!

Gathered together by some awesome, unknown force, they are issued a simple decree: "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all your desires shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!"

Deposited to a planet created by this mysterious Beyonder from pieces of other worlds -- forces align to fight a war of good & evil unseen by human eyes. Leading a rabble of the disagreeable and devious: Doctor Doom seeks to enhance his forces with the creation of two new super-villains to join an attack at dawn!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Human Torch 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Thing 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting: Thing 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Human Torch 7 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Human Torch 23 (Champion)

Plucked from the obscurity of a Denver town during The Beyonder's construction of Battleworld; Mary MacPherran was discovered by Doctor Doom and granted super-human powers using alien technology found on the composite planet.

As Titania she gratefully received super-human strength, durability, and stamina, further bolstering Doom's forces in the Secret Wars against Earth's mightiest heroes -- and a few of his conspiring contemporaries as well!

The Fantastic Four are: Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, and Thing.

The foursome is actually a trio -- unaccompanied by the Invisible Woman, who stays safe at home, heavily pregnant.

Further depleting the ranks is the unexpected transformation of The Thing into his human alter-ego of Benjamin Grimm. It marks a noted loss of strength for the seasoned threesome as they find themselves under surprise attack from an unfamiliar adversary!

Ordinarily Thing would probably go head-to-head with Titania without too much issue, but it'll be up to Mister Fantastic and Human Torch to fend for themselves and their powerless friend. A rare, but not unheard of predicament.

Though generally known for his smarts, Reed Richards can stretch his abilities to combat - particularly when the family's involved.

We saw Reed rough up the Sub-Mariner during a jealous grudge match in FF #412, and outfight the Super-Apes in a dramatic lone stand during FF (Vol.3) #3. Of course, he also found himself twisted and tossed aside by the likes of Hulk in FF #12 and FF #374, and the impossibly powerful Gladiator in FF #249.

In her first outing it remains to be seen if Titania is as strong or durable as those high-level competitors. She's certainly highly motivated and eager to test her strength. So let's see what happened...

The Tape: Fantastic Four Ranking: Mister Fantastic (#11)

What Went Down...

There are no obstacles awaiting Doctor Doom as he pilots a flying ship filled with an army of villains towards the heroes' headquarters. Unchallenged -- he prepares them for ramming speed and crashes directly into the undefended complex!

From the heart of the sprawling facility Doom strikes -- directing The Wrecker to his mission to free Kang, Enchantress, and The Wrecking Crew from imprisonment -- while the other villains spill outward to cause maximum mayhem!

The first heroes alerted to the assault are the Fantastic Four -- now a threesome, with the powerless human form of Ben Grimm standing to his feet as Human Torch and Mister Fantastic spot the disturbance outside.

The very window they're peering through betrays them as Titania comes calling.

Her newfound super-human strength gets its first test drive as she smashes the exterior wall into the large table seating the FF!

Only the Human Torch remains conscious, nursing a broken arm and ribs as he points his right hand toward the attacker and douses her in flames!

The blazing fire engulfs Titania, deterring her just long enough for the Human Torch to blast his way through the floor, allowing he and his fellows to drop to the safety of the lower levels.

Titania stands ready at the hole's edge -- a job well done.

The Hammer...

I suppose I should take a moment to bask in the collective sigh of relief now that Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars is finally on the record!

In the age of SEO you might've presumed it would be one of the first things featured on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths, but life online wasn't always about being so damn obvious, and I've always preferred to go where whim takes me.

Once we finally crossed off Crisis on Infinite Earths, Secret Wars obviously started burning up the To Do list -- and let's be honest: It has always been a point of interest that I've wanted to get to. I just never imagined this is where we'd start!

With Titania making her live-action debut in She-Hulk on Disney+, it felt like the right time to finally dig into the famous Marvel maxi-series, which essentially came together to sell some action figures, but also introduced a few enduring ideas and new additions to the Marvel pantheon.

Titania's first official fight in print wasn't exactly a barn burner, but she makes a heckuva strong impression with her total bamboozling of the Fantastic Four!

Today we might think of her as more of a She-Hulk villain, but it makes sense that her first conflict might be with the FF. After all, she was granted her super-human strength by Doctor Doom, and was itching to prove herself with worthy combat.

It's actually one of several small skirmishes breaking out, by happenstance, as Doom deploys his villainous troops to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting heroes while The Wrecker recovers prisoners.

That element of tactical deployment and human-resource management is one of the things that makes Secret Wars appealing. It won't quite achieve the status of a true war story with super-heroes, but it at least flirts with the concept beyond a clumsy series of indistinguishable fights transparently advertising a toy line.

She-Hulk happens to be the next target featured after today's fight, surprised by another Secret Wars debutante - Volcana. Proximity that perhaps subconsciously alludes to the characters' future associations, including She-Hulk's admission to the Fantastic Four as a stand-in for The Thing, who'd already subbed out in the pages of Fantastic Four #265.

A lot of what makes Titania enduring is here right from the start.

As soon as she receives her powers -- a painful process that requires whole-heartedly embracing them at risk of destruction -- she has a costume ready, and  comes up with an alias on the spot. Truth be told it's probably my favourite Titania look. Leather pro wrestling chic with thorny spikes up & down the sleeves.

A quick flex lifting & throwing a few tonnes of slag melted by Volcana, and she's ready to rumble. Doctor Doom introduces his new recruits to the rest of the squad, and Titania makes a beeline for a lazily lounging Absorbing Man looking for a rumble: "I'm going to do anything I want to you! Everything I always wanted to do to everybody who used to be bigger and stronger than me! Maybe I'll just play with you... or maybe I'll make you eat dirt..."

The vaguely flirtatious threat is met with indifference as Absorbing Man blows off the challenge from "a dame" at least until tomorrow. A dynamic that might be seen as dismissive, but feels more like the playful preview of a lasting relationship that will be forged between the couple as super-human equals.

That's a combination I look forward to exploring further in future updates. For now: we need to make a call about this result.

Although the Fantastic Four look in pretty bad shape, Human Torch ensures they slink away quickly before the fight really takes off. In the next issue Hulk will still be carrying an unconscious Mister Fantastic and Ben Grimm, with the Torch nursing his injuries. I'm inclined to take this compelling outcome into account and deem this a debut win for Titania. Agree or disagree? Hit the comments below.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured almost 700 battles and ranked well over 1000 characters! You can find more from your favourite characters & topics by following links throughout each entry, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights by publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winner: Titania
#352 (new) Titania
#14 (--) Human Torch
#11 (--) Mister Fantastic
#13 (--) Thing