Fantastic Four #214
...And Then There Was -- One!
Inside one of the Baxter Building's labs, Johnny looks over the stricken bodies of his teammates and blames himself for their imminent death. Realizing that there is just a slim chance that the effects of the Skrull aging ray can be reversed, he seeks help from Tony Stark, the Avengers, and finally S.H.I.E.L.D., but his efforts meet with no success. In desperation, he contacts Queen Adora, who knows of no cure for the metabolic booster and has her hands full with Xandar's final push against the Skrull Empire.
As Johnny's hopes fade, he is attacked by Skrull X who had been hiding in the lab disguised as part of the machinery. Possessing the ability to duplicate the powers of the Fantastic Four simultaneously, the Skrull is worthy adversary for the Human Torch, and the two join battle before Johnny, his anger pushed to the limit, consumes the alien in a huge wall of flame, only to find that he has defeated not a Skrull but a robot!
Now in possession of the Skrull's metabolic booster, Johnny removes Reed from stasis in order to get his help to find a way of reversing its effects. The effort nearly kills Reed, and Johnny puts him back into his chamber before testing the weapon. As he laments his apparent failure, Johnny all but gives up hope, but he is soon surprised as Reed, Sue and Ben emerge from their stasis chambers restored to full health and the team ready to help mankind again.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Skrulls, Queen Adora, Bambi Arbogast, Tony Stark, Edwin Jarvis, Dum Dum Dugan, Nova
Continuity Notes
Dum Dum Dugan's appearance here is a complicated one. As revealed in Original Sins #5 Dugan was seemingly killed in action back in 1966 and it was suggested that he was replaced by a complex LMD that thought it was Dugan. However as revealed in New Avengers (vol 4) #17, Dugan's body was kept alive and his mind was transmitted into LMDs.
Skrull-X has been hiding out in the Baxter Building since he was briefly deactivated in Fantastic Four #205.
At the end of this story, the eldest members of the Fantastic Four are made younger by the Skrull ray. This was likely an attempt to explain the passage of time as Marvel still tried to hold onto a "real-time" universal model. Eventually, this will become a moot point once the Sliding Timescale model begins being practiced.
