Now it comes to this: the final confrontation with Psycho-Man, the shock realization from Quiet Man. Plus back-up stories, and fan mail? (Any of you see your names there?)
The Main Story:
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Sleepwalker tells Franklin he simply needs to undo what he created, since the faux Avengers, and the distorted humans, aren't even fully alive and real. Wizard reveals his hand as the Frightful defend New York, having seen Quiet Man's true nature and revolted against it. Wanda takes out her counterpart and brings in the entire Salem's Seven for back-up. Val provides Reed and Quiet Man the final clue to activate the kill-switch to close the portal that Psycho-Man disabled. And as Sue's team begins to retreat back to Earth before the portal closes, Johnny decides to make one final sacrifice, keeping Wyatt away, and then trying to take Jim Hammond's place in staying behind. And as the portal closes with Psycho-Man on the other side, the heroes wait with bated breath… until Jim, and then Johnny, emerge, both aflame. Quiet Man slips away, the real Puppet Master is rescued from confinement, and Johnny lights up the sky with the familiar signal.
So, before we proceed to the next stories, a nice pat on the back to those who correctly guessed way back that Psycho-Man was the ultimate villain behind everything.
The next stories focus on each of the original members.
Johnny's story:
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Johnny defeats Boomerang before getting a surprise visit from a bystander, in the form of… Dorrie Evans, his first college flame, who is now divorced, and who tells Johnny he doesn't need to be a rock star when he's already the Torch. And off they go have a vegetarian steak dinner.
Sue's story:
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Sue goes through the mess of the Baxter Building and finds pictures of her wedding with Reed, and herself with Johnny, when Franklin join her, afraid to sleep and dream because of his powers, when Sue reassures him that everything will be alright as long as they are together.
Ben's story:
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Ben is hauling off debris, somewhat grumpily, when he stops a bank heist getaway and earns the gratitude of the police, but when they ask him what to do with the getaway car over which he dumped the debrid, he just lifts both of them and plods on to cleaning duty.
Reed's story:
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The entire FF take the day off at the beach, at Reed's family cabin (presumably in California), and Reed and Val take a walk down the beach. While she goes all technical about digging for clams, Reed reminisces about his childhood time there and imparts to Val about how being in simple contemplation with nature started his drive to explore, and Val adds that she just likes being there, with him.
As a bonus, various FF writers, artists and editors are asked about which are their favorite FF covers.
And, with a final farewell from editor Mark Paniccia, James Robinson's Fantastic Four run comes to a close.