Fantastic Four #642

[history79]

Comments

[reveen]

I like to think that this guy literally pulled the "I did it whatever ago" schtick after reading Watchmen.

[sagrada]

It's a shame Reed didn't point out that another guy tried the exact same thing that he's doing, also in an attempt to look the hero, and was also not in his right mind. And that Earth's heroes have been cast into doubt so often that the new guy mysteriously being able to defeat this left-field invasion is going to look more suspect than any of the Fantastic Four. But bringing up Hank Pym's past would be inappropriate.

And it's a good thing countries like France don't have any superheroes. If they beat away that menace things would look really awkward when Eden jumped out from behind a bush and yelled "Surprise! I have the answer!"

[lonewolf23k]

Except France DOES have a team of super-heroes introduced in the Fantastic Four. Les Héros de Paris: http://marvel.wikia.com/Les_Heroes_de_Paris_(Earth-616)

They are a JLA-inspired team of french heroes who befriended Ben Grimm during Civil War in his self-imposed exile to France. So I'm hoping they make a comeback for this storyline.

[icon_uk]

"The Heroes of Paris"? That must be the most generically named hero team I've ever heard.

We also have Euroforce I suppose.

[sagrada]

At least it's not as bad as in the Champions RPG setting, where the main European supercriminal group is called Eurostar, and their main international opposition is named Euroguard.

[grumman]

And his plan is stolen from The Incredibles.

[chrisdv]

Dammit, thanks for the reminding that Marvel are idiots for not publishing an Incredibles/Fantastic Four crossover yet.

[espanolbot]

Hank Pym tried it too in his unstable years.

[icon_uk]

Well, of course he did, it's too well known a plot point to be anything else.

Also, given James Robinson is a 51 year old Brit writing comics, it's pretty much literally impossible that it's not a nod to Watchmen.

[filthysize]

I don't see how the "I'm not a spy movie villain" line isn't an obvious admittance that it's cribbing Watchmen.

[erikred]

Yes, see, it's an admittance that the villain is an unoriginal pretender. It's an homage, really.

I mean, there was a movie, for Moore's sake; turning the cliche on its head has become the cliche.

[grumman]

This villain continues to suck. This is the second time they used "I made something great! But I kept it a secret, because fuck you!" and it is no more interesting the second time. The Quiet Man is little more than another Elliot Rodgers with even stronger delusions of his own worth, and such mediocrity does not deserve to be given a slot as a global threat.

[jaybee3]

It really defeats the purpose when you have a comic starring "The World's Smartest Man" (and at times his almost-possibly-smarter pre-school daughter) and then have a throwaway villain who wants to go by the name of a John Wayne movie be smarter and more brilliant all this time.

And his plan is to use Franklin's creations against the world? How does this dude plant to react if Franklin wanted to think him out of existence? I just love it how Marvel uses Franklin's powers as a deus ex machina but never seems to give him as a character any agency of his own (even his little sister is given more lines!).

[junipepper]

I don't even understand Franklin's powers. I sometimes wonder if anyone really does.

[freezer]

Franklin's power is explicitly "Whatever we need for the plot".

[junipepper]

Ah. The deus ex machina power.

[laughing_tree]

Who says he's smarter than either of them? He's a brilliant mad scientist-type in a fictional world replete with them. His main advantage here seems to be that he's been planning from behind the scenes for god knows how long, but I don't think anything's implying he's actually smarter than Reed.

[freezer]

About the only way this can be salvaged is if DOOM showed up and casualy wrecked everything, told Quiet Man he'd already served him up to the cops, freed Reed with a "You're welcome" and just peaced out without another word.

[halloweenjack]

Oh, why not another word? "...so I thought I'd catch up on whatever Richards is up to at the moment, and Doom's gotta say, it's not like Doom didn't enjoy the spectacle for at least a few seconds, but when this poltroon started monologuing about all his damage from college, I was like, WTF, Doom doesn't even, this is Doom's shtick."

[zechs80]

It needs a, "There is only one person can rid the world of you RICHARDS and that honor lies with DOOM." Of course this also means Valeria has to be there too to say, "UNCLE VICTOR!!!!" Dammit I like the darn family hijinks of those two. CURSE YOU ROBINSON and in a way Hickman since he started that!!!

[thatnickguy]

"Doom has freed you, Richards. Do no thank me."
"But...Victor, you..."
"Doom shall take his leave of you now."
"You can't just..."
"Doom's out, pooches!"

[matrix_dragon]

"Why should they be happier then me? So I destroyed the cure."

... Wow. You are a special kind of stupid, aren't you Emo Man?

[thehood]

Norman Osborn did it first anyway. Though to be fair, Osborn only created a cure for cancer to kill Deadpool.

[dr_archeville]

The Wakandans did it before Osborn.

[captainbellman]

Dr. Strange was somewhere in-between.

Probably Death has a garland of discarded cancer-cures she wears as a necklace for date night with Thanos.

[shadur]

So did Lex Luthor, although he only developed a cure for one specific debilitating condition -- and immediately after proving that it worked, gave the patient another injection that put her right back where she started, all in front of her daughter, saying that nobody was going to get that cure as long as Superman lives.

Top is off, the woman was his sister Lena.

[7dialsmystery]

Not only in front of Lori Luthor her daughter and his niece but also his son Kon-El. I preferred the earlier Lex who wasn't a sociopath that loved (most) of his family.

[freezer]

Is "I have a cure for cancer I'm not releasing" now Marvel's go-to dick move?

[thanekos]

Hey, hey. If he was Emo Man, the last thing he'd want to destroy is the Cure.

[philippos42]

:D

[writeofway]

Quiet Man (QM): I wanted to be a hero! And by faking an invasion in your name, I will be!

Reed: Um, backtracking a bit here...curing cancer would've all but ensured you'd be canonized for sainthood. Also, you know what heroes do? They make people's lives BETTER by protecting and helping others. By being selfless and not thinking of their own possible gain and what people think of them or what they get out of their efforts! With a cure for cancer, you'd get a blank check. The public would be more than willing to put you on a pedestal as a modern day savior. You did something not I, nor Doctor Doom, Nor Hank McCoy, nor any other scientific mind in the world had done. You could've held that over our heads for the rest of our lives and no one would've been able to take that away from you. YOU GAVE UP AN ASSURED LEGACY FOR YOURSELF AS THE MAN WHO ALTERED MEDICAL HISTORY FOREVER, JUST TO HURT SOME GUY WHO DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU EXISTED BECAUSE HE ASKED OUT A GIRL THAT YOU WERE TOO DAMN SCARED TO EVEN TALK TO!

QM: Don't try and use logic on a crazy person, Reed. You embarrass us both.

Reed. You mean crazy AND stupid.