It is a happy day in Latveria as its citizens proudly celebrate in the return of Doctor Doom. Dr. Doom is doing his own form of celebrating in his castle's quarters. Doom lifts a pen from the desk where he sits and pulls out a journal. Doom began to write about the past and the present;

"Doom has finally done what he has planned to. The Fantastic Four is mine. Though it was interesting spending time in that other universe, Doom found it to be weak and no challenge to him. All that tried to oppose Doom failed. Doom even brought it upon himself to construct his own enemies. Still, even they could not stand against Doom's might. Bored, Doom began to delve into new technologies. He turned his back for a time from computers and began exploring genetics and viruses. As Doom sat studying in the other universe, his insides began to nag Doom. It was time for Doom to face one who could be his equal. With this passion, Doom returned from the other universe with the aid of a dimensional transporter. The Fantastic Four must be mine, but this time Doom wanted to play with the prey first. When Doom first returned to my beloved homeland of Latveria, he had discovered a mutant reigning over his proud people. The miscreant called himself Stryfe. Nonetheless, Doom utilized his newfound knowledge of viruses. Needless to say, Stryfe no longer poses a threat. The body was fine, just the brain had been eaten by Doom's microscopic creation."

As Doom continued to write in his journal, there came a knock.

"Enter."

One of the Doombots entered.

"Lord Doom," it began. "The Fantastic Four are prepared."

Doom gave a satisfying nod, and turned back to his journal:

"As Doom went through his computer banks, Doom had discovered that Latveria had another intruder while Doom was missing. This Nathaniae Richards had the gall to masquerade as me for a short period of time. Doom thought again Richards, hmm... Merely out of a whim since Nathaniel and Reed share names, Doom chose to do an experiment which ended with positive results. Doom had crashed one of his airships on an island in the Atlantic. Then, after copying the voice of Nathaniel Richards', which was filmed on Castle Doom's surveillance cameras, Doom sent out a message with his voice calling the Fantastic Four for help. They came to save this Nathaniel Richards. Reed with his stretching powers, Sue, his harlot, the thug-like Thing, and the Torch entered the vessel. Unbeknownst to them, the doctor had been working in the laboratory. Doom left them a virus quite milder than the one given to Stryfe. It shut their brains off and Doom collected the bodies...

Doom closed his journal, walking to the window with high spirits.

Several hours passed, and Doom's ultimate revenge on the Fantastic Four was about to take place. The unconcious bodies of the four heroes were strapped into a machine. All four members found themselves encased in pods and beginning to show signs of life. The first reaction made is from Ben Grimm, otherwise known as the Thing.

Powerless to move, he shouted out to Doom.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to crush that tincan head of yours!!" he exclaimed.

Doom scoffed at his remark.

"You would be quite capable of that," the armored monarch began. "Had Doom not injected you with a muscle-numbing serum. Now, you are all Doom's play things."

From another pod, Reed Richards, also called Mr. Fantastic, began to stir and awake.

"You're foolish, Victor," he interjected. "Even if you eliminate us, there will be others to take our place."

"Ahh Richards..." Doom begun. "Always the optimist. Victory is now Doom's to claim. You all will live your lives fully, knowing that Victor Von Doom has finally bested you."

Reed peered through his transparent pod to his wife. Susan Richards, the Invisible Woman.

"Why isn't she moving?" he asked.

"Doom's intellectual genius is second to none, Richards," Doom replied. "As such, Doom foresaw the need to take extra precautions with your 'beloved.' She is simply on a stronger sedative. Her invisible constructs are a nuisance."

Doom turned his attention away from the cries of his enemites, activating the machine. A bright light fell upon the whole team.

Reed watched in astonishment as Ben started to shift to a human state.

"Impossible..." Reed said. "You're doing what I deemed impossible. You're stripping us of our powers."

"Richards, you would wish it when Doom is through with you," he said. "Impressed, are you not? After the process is complete, the fun shall begin. Oh yes, before I go, the machine is supposed to automatically self destruct. You may survive, Richards, but it is quite doubtful that the others could handle the blast."

Doom walked out of the room, his green cloak flowing.

Reed began to realize what Doom's sinister comments meant as he looks at how much larger his pod is compared to the others. Reed looked at his hands and begins screaming in agony as they turn orange and gain a rocky appearance. Pulling his fist back, he slammed it into the pod, shattering it. Now that he was free, his first priority was to the rest of the Fantastic Four.

"Sue, Johnny, Ben!!"

Running over to the pod containing the Invisible Woman, he lifted Sue out. Next was Johnny Storm, Sue's brother, the Human Torch.

"Ben, what just happened?" Johnny Storm, the Human Torch asked.

"Hey Matchstick," Ben said from his respective pod. "Could ya give me a hand down here?"

Ben lay in his own pod, human, and his body completely elongated. Johnny slowly picked him up, lying him on the ground.

"Wait a minute..." Johnny said. "If you're Ben, then who's..."

Reed placed a large, rocky hand on Johnny's shoulder.

"Hurry, Johnny," he said. "We'll worry about details later. First, let's get out of this death trap. We don't have much time left."

The Fantastic Four made it out of the building just in time to watch it explode. Johnny after breathing hard from running out of the building with Ben in tow said, "My flame powers are gone. What's going on?"

Right after Johnny's comment, Reed informed the team of their current predicament.

"So, it appears our foe has gotten the best of us."

"That means I got Strecho's powers now," Ben observed. "How long am I gonna hafta stay like this?"

"Probably a few hours before you're able to gain your composition," Reed replied. "After what happened to Ben and I, it's a safe assumption that Sue and Johnny have also exchanged powers. Sue, my darling, wake up."

He slowly began to shake Sue in his arms.

Sue slowly began to awake, and she looked up at the man whom she believed to be holding her.

"Ben, how dare you speak to me like that," she said. "I'm a married woman."

She looked into Reed's eyes and noticed the change in color from Ben's blue eyes to Reed's brown.

"Brown eyes...?" she asked. "Reed?"

Reed solemly nodded.

"My god, what has that monster done to you?"

"Thanks a lot, Susie," Ben said, draped around Johnny.

"Sorry, Ben," Sue said apologetically.

"No need to worry quite yet," Reed said. "Once the fire goes out, we'll search the site. Perhaps Doom left us a clue."

Suddenly, Sue burst into flames and a startled Reed dropped her in shock.

"Sue, are you all right?"

Burning hot, Sue promises, "The brain of my life, as soon as I figure out how to cut this flame down, you're getting a big sloppy kiss on that orange mug of yours."

The brain always knows how to romance the ladies, Ben thought, observing.

The team called the pogo plane to pick them up. In a matter of minutes, it arrives to their location. Reed is the first to enter and looks around the cockpit in order to asses the current situation.

"I believe I'll be flying us home," Reed said.

"I'd volunteer, but right now I'm a little mushy," Ben noted.

"Maybe next time you'll build the pogo plane with larger seats," Johnny said. "And actually install the autopilot controls Ben was so strongly against."

"Enough Johnny," Sue ordered. "This is no time for j--"

"Johnny's right," Reed said. "This new form is going to take a lot of adjusting."

"Reed we've been through more, and we've always gotten through it whole," Sue said, comfortingly.

"Hey," Ben said. "Where'd Matchstick go?"

"I'll get back to you once I know the answer," Johnny said with a snicker. Obviously, the power he gained due to Doom's experiments became apparent. He was now invisible.

They arrived at their headquarters, desperately in need of rest.

As Reed stepped out of the plane, he accidentally hit his head. He barely noticed it.

"Watch yer head, Stretcho" Ben said.

"Thanks for the belated warning," Reed said.

Johnny then steps out of the pogo plane with Ben wrapped around his body.

"So Ben," he began. "I guess we won't be having anymore of our famous tussels." Ben's eyes lit up with anticipation.

"In yer dreams, kiddo," Ben said. "Even like this, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing could take on a chump like you."

"Is that so?" Johnny asked, pulling Ben off of him.

"I'm gonna clobber you fer that!!" Ben exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Johnny said in mock apology. "Let me get a sponge to wipe you up."

"What about Franklin?" Sue asked, picking Ben up. "We just can't go in there like this."

"Sis, I think Franklin's seen stranger things," Johnny said.

Almost as if on cue, Franklin ran into the room as any innocent four-year old would to see his parents. He immediately leaps into his mother's arms.

Sue hugs him for a moment, then releases him, realizing she's not fully in control of her flame powers yet. Franklin then greets everyone else. "Hey Unca Ben, Unca Johnny. Where's daddy?"

Reed then stretches his arms out towards Franklin to give his son a good old fashion hug, "Franklin, You aren't going to give your old man a hug?"

Franklin jumps into Reed's arms and asks, "Daddy why are you looking like Unca Ben?"

"Its a long story, Franklin," Sue interjected. "One I think that you are too young to hear."

Seeing his parent's predicament Franklin thinks to himself that he can make everyone all better. At that thought a galaxy, away a bright light glows. Johnny then picked up Franklin.

"Come on, kid," he said. "Let's get some ice cream and let the grown-ups worry about it."

He carried Franklin on his back to the kitchen.