The Supreme Power universe - where, after a myriad of events, have led to this: Dr. Doom has arrived. The heroes of two worlds - this world and the Ultimate Universe - have been left scattered. Iron Man battles Dr. Doom, while his teammate the Scarlet Witch, the Thing of the Fantastic Four, and Arcanna Jones of this universe, lie motionless in the rubble nearby, while fire rushes around them.
Aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, 10,000 feet above Washington D.C. of this universe, and Spider-Man tells SHIELD’s commander, Nick Fury, that he wants some answers. The young hero pushes Fury against a console, demanding that he tell him what is going on, or else face having his lungs filled with webbing. ‘Kid, you’d be dead before your first thread left your wrist’ Fury replies, motioning to his officers who have surrounded Spider-Man and aimed their guns at him. ‘Wanna bet?’ Spider-Man asks.
‘Okay, what do you want to know?’ Fury asks. Spider-Man points to a monitor depicting Dr. Doom. ‘That!’ he exclaims, remarking that the Fantastic Four told him about Doom, and asking what he is doing here. ;Kicking some serious ass as far as I can tell’ Fury replies. ‘Funny. Don’t quit your day job. I’ll handle the quips from here on in’ Spider-Man remarks, before suggesting Fury start at the beginning. Fury explains that, like most big things, they start with something small - a broken promise in this case.
(Flashback, takes place behind-the-scenes of Ultimate Power #1)
‘I promise you, Ben. I’ll find a way to change you back to normal’ Mr. Fantastic told his friend and teammate the Thing after part of his rock-hard skin came off in battle. Mr Fantastic met with General Fury, Carol Danvers and various other important officials, showing them an interdimensional data retrieval device, explaining that it will retrieve data from other dimensions and broadcast that data back to the Baxter Building. But Fury told Reed Richards that the mood wasn’t right for this, reminding him that they have just had Gah Lak Tus, an alien invasion, Atlantis, mole men, and the Hulk out there doing God knows what.
It was a swift rejection, but Carol Danvers pointed out to Fury that Reed is a teenager. ‘You know he’s going to defy you’ she told him. ‘I’m counting on it’ Fury replied. Secrets - lots of secrets - led to strange bedfellows, as Fury showed the data retrieval device to Victor von Doom. ‘Slightly primitive. But, I can see why it’s giving your scientists so much difficulty’. Fury told Doom that he doesn’t like him being here - any more than he liked dealing with Saddam back in the say. ‘But I can’t have that kid sending sensitive information through dimensions without us having a look at it first’. Fury explained.
‘So…you need me to reprogram the probes so it will relay data directly to SHIELD - and then on to the Baxter Building. Child’s play!’ Doom declared.
Fury and Doom established the ground rules - the Fantastic Four kids had to be sleeping, and Doom was never to be out of Fury’s sight. They broke into the Baxter Building for the probes and only the probes. Part of Fury hoped that Doom would decline the offer - but by then, it was too late. Entering the Baxter Building on a rainy night while the kids slept, Fury put on a glove that had the imprints of Reed’s finger prints, gaining security clearance to the dimensional portal. ‘We’re on a clock here’ he told Doom. ‘Do not test me’ the villain replied as he went about doing his work.
Reed Richards woke in the middle of the night as the thunder boomed and lightning struck. And upon entering his lab with the dimensional portal, Reed reacted exactly as Fury hoped he would have, and without any authorization, he launched the probes throughout the universe. The Fantastic Four proceeded to go on about their lives - which is when it all came down like a house of cards - literally - as the so-called Squadron Supreme arrived from their own universe, seeking vengeance….
(Present)
‘S’okay…this is where I came in. That Hyperion dude and his merry band dropped by and kicked the crap out of us…all because of something they think Reed did…but really it was Doom! We have to find Reed Richards right away!’ Spider-Man exclaims.
Meanwhile, inside the Pentagon, Washington D.C. of the Supreme Power Universe, Dr. Emil Burbank sits on a chair, while Mr Fantastic lies motionless on the floor. ‘Imagine living your whole life thinking the universe was one way. Wasn’t the world once believed to be flat?’ Burbank remarks. ‘Or don’t they have a “Columbus” where you’re from?’ he asks Reed. ‘I mean, a universe that doesn’t have an “Emil Burbank” just chills me…I half wish you would wake up, Richards, so I could hear you admit that the better scientist won’ Emil remarks.
(Shown with flashback images)
‘The smartest man in the universe - that’s what Time Magazine called me three years running’ Emil remarks. Adding that for his admittedly genius contributions to various fields of science, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. ‘Smartest man in the universe - only one problem with that statement…despite what we all believed…the universe was bigger than we thought!’ Emil mutters that he might as well have grown horns and a tail before he was going to get the kid of recognition those “super heroes” were getting - like Hyperion, who received a massive photo and article on the front page of the Washington Chronicle, while an article about Emil receiving the Nobel Prize gained a small box at the bottom of the page.
Several months later though, ‘You familiar with the expression “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”? a General asked Burbank, who replied that he has heard of it. ‘Good. That’s the situation I fear we’re heading into with Hyperion’ the General explained to Burbank, who asked if Hyperion had done something. ‘Not yet’ the General replied. ‘But before we get to read the writing on the wall seared into there by his heat vision…I want you to find a way to take him out’ the General declared. ‘”Take him out”?’ Burbank replied. ‘Don’t play coy, you hate him more than any of us. Just give me an option’ the General replied.
Burbank was given unlimited funding and his own personal “Manhattan Project”. But he knew that Hyperion could withstand an atomic blast, so this had to be particularly special. And so, he found success, but never believed his superiors would go along with the cost of it. Burbank explained that the infection would grow exponentially upon contact with the air, as the organism emits a kind of radiation which Hyperion will not be able to survive. ‘But it will not be inexpensive’ Burbank told his superiors, who asked him: ‘In human lives. Give me a number’. ‘Conservatively?’ Burbank replied, ‘On a worldwide scale, ten million at least’.
‘Well, those are acceptable losses given the nature of the problem’ the General replied. ‘Never underestimate the hubris of the military industrial complex’ Burbank decided, before telling the General that may be all well and good, but that he would rather not go down in history alongside Hitler and Stalin. ‘We’re going to need a fall guy’ he remarked. ‘How about an invasion from another universe?’ the General asked, holding up one of Reed’s devices in a plastic case….
(Present)
‘And that, deer Reed, was the beginning of your end…’ Burbank exclaims, unaware that Reed has extend his fingers behind Burbank’s back, while revealing that they hid his probe within the ever growing organism and let Hyperion’s arrogance take it from there. ‘So Reed, you see you had nothing to do with -’ Burbank is cut off as Reed wraps his stretched-out fingers around Burbank’s neck and lifts him off the ground. ‘Can’t breathe?’ Reed asks the shocked Emil. ‘My guess is you can’t hold your breath as long as someone who expands his lungs…when someone is trying to gas him’.
‘What’s the matter, Burbank?’ Reed asks. ‘Don’t people “play possum” on your world? Or don’t you have possums here?’ he asks sarcastically. ‘We’re going to leave now, you megalomaniac. Find Hyperion. And start with the truth!’ Reed declares.
Thirty minutes away, ‘ENOUGH!’ bellows Thor as his hammer spins around, crackling lightning all over the place, he sends a massive surge of it into Hyperion, who falls to the ground. Thor stands over Hyperion and holds his hammer, ready to bring it down upon him, ‘Now, Hyperion…you will learn what it is to bring forth a God without mercy!’ And with that, Thor smashes his hammer down against Hyperion, splattering blood everywhere.
Thor brings his hammer down against Hyperion again, but as he prepares to do it a third time, a hand grabs it. ‘We have our own Gods without mercy’ a voice exclaims. ‘And Goddesses’ she adds - it’s Power Princess, who smashes Thor in the face. ‘Then I spit on your gods’ Thor declares, before smashing Power Princess aside with his hammer, ‘I am THOR! God of Thunder!’ he bellows, when, suddenly, Doctor Spectrum arrives, flying down towards Thor, he orders him to step away from Hyperion.
But before Doctor spectrum can strike, the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four flies towards him and engulfs him in a massive burst of flame. ‘I hope you wanted him extra-crispy!’ the Human Torch jokes as he flies past Thor. The rain continues to beat down as Thor grabs Hyperion by the face and shouts ‘Villain, we shall have some answers!’.
Back aboard the Helicarrier, Fury marches down a corridor, with Spider-Man crawling along the roof above him, excusing himself for not being the super-dooper James Bondy that Fury is, Spider-Man asks if nobody at spy school told Fury that when you put the fox in charge of the henhouse, all you get is chicken salad? ‘We took a chance, yeah’ Fury replies as he punches a code into a console. ‘Uh. Not buying the extended warranty on your cell phone is taking a chance - what part about the name “Doom” in Doc Doom hasn’t rung your bell? And where the Hell are you taking me now!?’ Spider-Man asks.
Fury motions to his eye-patch and tells remarks ‘Look, I know you think that because I have one eye I can’t see - but I have been doing this job longer than you’ve been alive!’ he exclaims angrily, adding that one of the things he has learnt is that if you have a fox in your chicken house, you get a bigger dog. The door opens and Spider-Man looks into the room. ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me. You brought him!? You brought the Hulk!’ he shouts, staring at the green behemoth restrained in countless contraptions.
Back outside, Quicksilver has found the Scarlet Witch, and tells his glamorous sister that she needs to clear her head. Wanda asks Pietro what happened, to which the speedster replies that they have one chance, and tells her to focus all her energies on their enemy - this Squadron Supreme - then they can win the day. But Wanda replies that she cannot take that chance. ‘My power is unpredictable enough, but here - on whatever world this is in, whatever universe…’ her voice trails off. Quicksilver looks her in the eyes, ‘Take the risk. Or would you rather one of our own deaths be on your head?’ he asks. ‘All right, brother. But, the Squadron’s fates will be on your head then!’ Wanda replies as she unleashes her power, causing the conscious members of the Squadron Supreme to begin screaming….
Inside the Pentagon, Reed tells Burbank to say the password so the door can open, ‘Or you’ll never say another word’ he adds, with his fingers still wrapped around Emil’s neck. Suddenly though, a laser beam passes by and cuts a hole in the wall, before the wall is knocked out by a powerful blast, and standing in the doorway are Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm. ‘The X-Men!’ Reed exclaims. ‘Either one of you girls need a ride home?’ Wolverine jokes. Reed smiles and begins to explain something, when, suddenly, the other side of the building is blown apart by yet another group of super beings that arrive on scene.
Brightly dressed and looking mad, one of them shouts ‘You’ve destroyed out world - and you will answer for what you’ve done!’ Hyperion, Power Princess, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, Arcanna, Whizzer, Amphibian, Skymax, Skylark, the Shape - the Squadron Supreme!?!?!
