Paint It Black

During breakfast, Old John Storm confronts Alex Power, telling him that he has the smell of Doctor Doom on him. Ant-Man's attempts to calm Old John down causes him to freak out. John warns Alex that he is onto him. Checking in with Doctor Doom afterward, Alex is told to kill Old John. Alex balks at this comment, pointing out that this is still the Human Torch they are talking about. However, Doom insists that Power carry out this mission as Old John is insane and dabbles in things that are beyond his scope or understanding.

Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four meet with Tom Brevoort, Matt Fraction, and Mike Allred of Marvel Comics at the behest of Darla's agent. Marvel is interested in doing an FF comic book to boost the team's popularity. Agreeing to have the trio of artists follow them around, Ant-Man takes them on a test drive of his new consumer-grade micro-craft. However, as they venture into the microworld, Scott Lang already starts to have second thoughts about this plan.

Back at the Baxter Building, Alex Power meets with Ahura on the roof and they are joined by others. Alex then nonchalantly asks if any of them know anyone who has murdered someone before. Ahura tells them that he knows someone.

Back on the shrinking-craft, their trip goes pear-shaped when it turns out that Artie and Leech used some of Ant-Man's Pym Dust to shrink a tiger down to size and keep it as a pet. When the tiger tries to escape it causes the ship to spin out of control. Meanwhile, in a prison level of Attilan, Ahura introduces Alex and the others to his uncle Maximus the Mad.

While the Fantastic Four hunt down and contain the tiger, the youths of the Future Foundation are made to play a game of twenty questions with Maximus. After they use up all their questions, Maximus emerges from his cell, telling them that he is now free.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, Miss Thing), Future Foundation (Alex Power, Dragon Man, Bentley-23, Leech, Artie Maddicks, Onome, Ahura, Turg, Tong, Korr, Mik, Vil, Wu), Old John Storm, Doctor Doom, Maximus, Matt Fraction, Mike Allred, Tom Brevoort

Continuity Notes

• Marvel Comics has been publishing comic books adapted from the adventures of the Fantastic Four since Fantastic Four #10.

• Unlike other real-life individuals, Marvel Comics staff appearing in comics are exempt from the topical reference rules of the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Instead, Marvel Comics creators are in the prime of their lives during the Modern Age of Earth-616.

• It is mentioned that Tom Brevoort uses Formspring. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Brevoort stopped using that platform in 2017. He will answer you (if you’re lucky) on Twitter.