S1E11: Fantastic Four #39-42 - Daredevil, Doom, & Ben Leaves The Team

In this episode of Reading the Multiverse, I go over Fantastic Four #39-42, where we see the Fantastic Four lose their powers, Doctor Doom strikes when they’re most vulnerable, and Daredevil unexpectedly steps in to guide the team through chaos. Also, Ben Grim walks away and the Frightful Four strike back making this stretch of issues where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided to trade neat endings for brutal cliffhangers that keep stacking.

Stories Covered In This Episode

Fantastic Four 39, A Blind Man Shall Lead Them!, written by Stan Lee, Penciled by Jack Kirby, Inked by Frank Giacoia and Wally Wood, and Lettered by Artie Simek

Fantastic Four 40, The Battle of the Baxter Building, written by Stan Lee, Penciled by Jack Kirby, Inked by Vince Colletta, and Lettered by Artie Simek

Fantastic Four 41, The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm, written by Stan Lee, Penciled by Jack Kirby, Inked by Vince Colletta, and Lettered by Sam Rosen

Fantastic Four 42, To Save You, Why Must I Kill You?, written by Stan Lee, Penciled by Jack Kirby, Inked by Vince Colletta, and Lettered by Sam Rosen

Resources, Episodes, & Links Mentioned In This Episode:

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• Check out the podcast on YouTube
• Connect with Joe (musclesandthemultiverse) on Threads
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Transcript

Joe: What's going on, Marvelites? Welcome to Reading The Multiverse, A Marvel Comics journey presented by Earth's Mightiest Nerds. I am your host, Joe, and welcome to the podcast. If you're listening to this, the day that it drops, it is January 19th, 2026. If you're new here, we are reading one legendary Marvel Comics Run at a Time, and we're trying to make connections to the MCU.

Uh, the best that we can. And we have started off this first season with the legendary run by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of the Fantastic Four, literally the thing that started the entire Marvel Universe. And we are almost halfway through, which is crazy, crazy to believe that we're almost halfway through this already.

Um, and if you've been following along and listening, you know. Uh, at the end of last episode, I have not read any more issues within this run. I had read pretty much everything up to what we're reading today, uh, with the exception of like, probably a handful of issues in the rest of the run that I've read.

But for the most part, we are getting, uh, real, not real time, but real time thoughts as I was reading these of what's going on, and if you did listen to the last episode, you know that we were left on a big cliffhanger. Uh, and I was excited to read the next issue. So without further ado, let's get into it From March of 1965, fantastic.

4 39. A Blind Man shall Lead Them. Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby Inked by Frank Gia Coia and Wally Wood and lettered by Artie Sek. Now at the end of last issue, if you did not listen, the Fantastic four, uh, were going up against the frightful four and they were on this like deserted island somewhere in the Pacific and there was a, basically a nuclear bomb below.

And the Frightful four set it off and we were left with the Fantastic Four in this force field bubble made by, uh, Sue. And they're all unconscious, laying there in the water. So I was like, wow, I need to know what happens. And I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of let down by the beginning of this issue because they're literally getting saved out of the water by the Navy.

I was hoping for something like them waking up and trying to figure something out. Uh, because they, they didn't have their POGO plane anymore. They had, they had nothing left to them, but they were found by the Navy. However, despite that being not the best continuation in my opinion, uh, we did quickly learn that it gets interesting because the Fantastic Four lost their powers from the radiation of the bomb that went off.

So with that, they're now struggling with how to figure out what you know, how to figure out what they're going to do, because. Obviously they have enemies and now that they don't have powers, they don't know how to protect themselves. So Reed, of course, decides to take it upon himself to use his intelligence and to make some stuff that would duplicate their power.

So he made himself some mechanical arms. He made a robotic duplicate of the thing. He made this like weird flaming suit thing for Johnny and what he called an electro viro suit for Sue that gives her this like. Protective force field and kind of makes her invisible, but not really. She's like in this thing that she can't be seen in, so.

Once we see them making that, our story then gets taken to a lot very, where Doom is being entertained by this hypnotist. And Doom learns that in his last encounter with a fantastic four, that he did actually not defeat Reed Richards, but was like hypnotized. Now this was. In the second stories, uh, second of the two Doom stories in the Fantastic four Annual number two, which we covered back in episode eight.

So if you want to go get the full thing on that, go ahead and listen to that. But, which is kind of weird because as I recall, I didn't go back and read it or even look at my notes to be honest, but I don't remember doom being hypnotized basically. Doom had these like berries that. I thought caused like a hallucination, which he put into the Fantastic four drinks except for Reed.

And um, now Reed used that same kind of like berry mixture thing in Doom's drink, and they went face to face and Doom walked off thinking that he defeated Reid Richards by making him disappear essentially. Either way, doom is pissed. That he, uh, thought that he defeated the Fantastic four, most notably Reed Richards.

And so, uh, he is now making his way to New York, New York right away. So as we head back to New York, we see Reed is talking to his lawyer, who is none other than Matt Murdoch, AKA Daredevil, which honestly was a real surprise despite the fact that he was on the cover and. Given the title of this issue, but like we haven't seen, uh, that crossover yet with him.

We've gotten the X-Men, we've gotten the Avengers, we've even gotten a Spider-Man. But, uh, Daredevil was not on my like radar for, for a lack of a better term, and no pun intended for him to show up in this. Issue now when Reed is talking to Matt, he gives Matt power of attorney to say if anything bad were to happen to them, that he wants all of their research and devices to go to the government.

Which, I mean, Reed, this is not surprising coming from him, knowing what he did in Civil War. And if you don't know, all I'll say is that read. Pretty much stood with the government, uh, decided to clone Thor to kill his superhero friends, and also created a prison for superheroes who didn't agree with the government located in the negative zone.

So again, Reid is not the best friend, and again, this is just more of me trying to persuade you that Reid is a terrible person. So again, not surprising that he would side with the government. So as soon as Reid is done explaining that to Matt. The Fantastic Four and Matt are in this explosion and then of course has come from Dr.

Doom. Now out of all of the explosion in the smoke, Daredevil appears and leads the Fantastic Four through New York City as Doom continues to use devices from the Baxter building to attack them. And our issue ends with the team split up partially, but they're all approaching the Baxter building. And one thing that I have to point out pretty much throughout this issue as well as the next, so like.

Matt, or Daredevil I should say, is with Reed for the most part. And like every time something is about to happen via Dr. Doom or just like elsewhere in the city, given Matt's special abilities with like radar sense, he of course knows something is basically going to happen and is able to stop it. And Reed, every single time is like, wow, this is so amazing.

How did you, how did you do that? And all these other things. And Matt's always like, only if he knew I was blind. And it's just like. There's so much of it. It's not just like one time. It's so many times throughout these next two is like this issue and the next issue also doom many times throughout. This is always like, I know exactly what this device is looking for by looking at it because I am just as smart if not smarter than read.

So it's just like it just played upon so many times. Again, I really like this issue. I thought it went by quickly compared to some of the past Silver Age issues that I've read. Again, not expecting to see that team up with Daredevil again, he was on the cover, but overall grossly unexpected. I do like though that generally speaking, Stan and Jack are getting better at leaving cliffhangers at the end of the issue, and this is gonna be like a theme.

Throughout this episode today. Um, 'cause pretty much for the beginning, up until one of the recent episodes we did, most of the stories ended, every single issue. And it was kind of like a happy ending or almost happy ending, but everything was pretty much resolved for the most part at the end of every issue.

Now we're really getting into some. Big cliffhangers at the end of every issue. And I really like that part of it could just be my bias of watching TV and just having, like, being used to that and also just like modern comics. Um, but I, I really like that this is the way that they're leaning now and just not everything is resolved.

Every single issue. So with that being said, let's go into the next issue from April of 1965, fantastic four 40, the Battle of the Baxter Building written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Vince Colletta, and lettered by Artie Sek. So again, as we know, doom has taken the Baxter building and is pretty much using all of devices.

That the Fantastic Four has against them. He also has been trying to figure out, by the way, like as they're escaping and he sees them throughout the city, like why are they not attacking him? So he finally deduces that they have lost their power. So now feeling like he cannot lose at this point, he's like, I'm just gonna kind of play around because.

Of course they can't defeat me. They don't have their power, so he's like, I'm just gonna play a little bit with him and kind of like torture them before he takes care of them for good. However, that is going to end up being his demise. So the Fantastic Four and Daredevil make their way inside the Baxter building and Doom is so focused on the Fantastic Four that Daredevil is able to sneak up on him and attack him, which is enough time for re to grab the electric.

Stimulator, which we saw in the last episode in issue 37, where Reed used it, uh, to get the fantastic force powers back after they were kinda like blunted when they were on the scroll home world. So Reed is able to use this electric stimulator and shoot it at everyone, so they get their powers back. But Ben, once again, before he gets shot, has thoughts of getting his powers back.

He's once again, happy being Ben Grim and being his. Old self and doesn't necessarily want to be turned into the thing, but Reid shoots him anyway because it's in the betterment of mankind. This is one of the things, by the way, that is kind of, it's just, I get it. It's part of like Ben's character development over time.

He's always going back and forth, back and forth of like, I like being the thing. I don't like being the thing. And I've talked about this before, so I'm sorry if you're hearing it. And it's just kind of like ad nauseum, but it, I don't know. It's just, to me it's frustrating that he's always complacent with how he is and then.

He just isn't, I don't know. He just, he's so hot and cold. It's so annoying. It's so, it's so annoying and I kind of just am like, I'm over it. Like let's just accept the fact that you're happy about it and let's move on with our lives. So after, after Ben gets turned back into the thing, it's basically doom versus the thing for like the next six pages, which ultimately ends with the thing stopping doom.

And he actually has to be stopped by Reed to not kill doom. So doom with his metal armor ruined and falling apart, hobbles away. And the Fantastic four rejoices that they've stopped him. But Ben has said he has had enough. Of being the thing and getting the short end of the stick and decides that he is leaving the Fantastic four.

And that is the end of our issue. So again, we're kind of left with a, uh, a little cliffhanger here of like, what's gonna happen next. This is not the first time someone has left the Fantastic four like Johnny left before, mainly because of the thing was always like. Annoying him. In my opinion though, this issue was not as good as the previous one.

I just felt like there was a lot of like back and forth of like, we have this device, we're gonna try this device now. There was a lot more dialogue and it's having a little reprieve in the previous issue to this one. I was like, this is taking forever to get through. Oh my goodness. I did not mention one thing, but the one thing is we did get to see, uh, some hand-to-hand fighting with Zoom in this issue, which we haven't really seen yet.

He always has some sort of like gizmo or gadget that he uses against someone, but we finally get to see some hand-to-hand fighting and he literally handled Johnny who had powers. No problem through him and at the same time decided to punch Ben. Now, Ben was still in his human form at the time, so not as powerful as the thing, um, but taking care of two people at once, no problem.

And then he took care of Daredevil with no problem. Like yeah, Daredevil got some of his shots in, but Doom was like, nah, I got you bro. So. To finally see just how strong doom is and kind of starting to add to that lore. 'cause we really haven't seen that again. He's always used like these gizmos and gadgets to defeat people.

So it was nice to finally see him fight. And um, the other thing is we really still, obviously this is like going to be developed at some point, but we really haven't seen him use any of his magic yet. And I just. Again, think that they've really been leaning heavily into the science aspect of doom and they just haven't developed the magic side just yet.

I'm sure that it'll happen at some point, um, but it will be interesting to see when it does. Now, before we get into the next issue, we don't have an ad today. We don't have an ad read, but. From one of my trusted sources in lava, we did get another excerpt from Doom's Diary. So this is after, uh, what just occurred in these past two issues, and we are going to read it.

The Fools of New York believe they have won. This is the first and most laughable error. Doom returned to lot Vari today. Not as a defeated man, but as a corrected one. The Richards nuisance was exposed for what he truly is, a fragile intellect propped up by cosmic accident and borrowed power. Strip him of it and he panics, and yet.

Richards persists. He always persists. The blind acrobat interfered beyond statistical probability. Doom will account for such variables next time. Doom always does. Still, it is noteworthy that a man without sight navigates chaos better than Richards does with all his vaunted brilliance. As for Benjamin Grim, his strength is impressive.

His rage predictable, his hands regrettably, effective. The pain was substantial. Doom records this only because pain is. Data and doom learns from all things, even humiliation. Doom does not complain. Doom calculates. The hands will heal. The armor will be reforged. The mind remains untouched. And when next doom stands before the Fantastic four, it will not be an anger nor haste nor wounded pride.

It will be with inevitability. Doom always returns. Wow. That was a piece. That was, wow, that was, that was something to read, uh, a little bit into the mind of Dr. Doom and, and see what he does after a defeat like that. I really, I appreciate my, my source, my unnamed source, by the way, in la Very, thank you so much for that.

And, uh, always, always looking forward to the next little piece of paper that you can steal from, from doom's diary. So as we head into our next issue from May of 1965, fantastic 4 41, the Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grim, written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby. Inked by Vince Colletta, and lettered by Sam Rosen.

Our issue picks right up where we left off in the last one with Ben leaving the Fantastic Four in classic dramatic Ben fashion. So he decides to take a nap in the back of this pickup truck, which apparently went to New Jersey and while going down this bumpy road, Ben gets bounced out of it, but.

Continues to stay asleep. Um, he then gets picked up by this like external force and brought into this like very creepy looking old house. Uh, that's when we find out it is the frightful four has found him and plans on making him a part of their foursome by brainwashing him. Before that happens though, we do have a little fight breakout between the frightful four, between Trapster and the Sandman, because Medusa is now cozying up to Sandman, which in the last issue, uh, not last issue, but the last issue we saw the frightful four issue 38, I believe Trapster and Medusa were kind of hitting it, hitting it off.

So we, we got a little bit of, uh. Uh, a little rivalry here happening between salmon and Trapster, which by the way, if you don't know Trapster, is pay spot. Pete, he decided to change his name a few few issues ago from Pay Spot Pete to the Trapster. Uh, so there's that. So we of course, head back to the Baxter building where Alicia has shown up and the team has to break the news to her about Ben and how he's left.

And of course, we get some classic read being mean. To Sue because Sue says, oh, Ben will definitely come back. He's supposed to be our best man. And Reed says, how can you think of a wedding at a time like this? So Sue tries to get this off of Reed's mind, but he says, let go of my arm. This is no time to go off Feminine, romantic.

I've got things to do. Reid read Reed. Again, if this isn't more just like fuel to the fire that you shouldn't, like Reed Richards. I hope it is. I hope it's, I hope it's more kindling to that fire of you not liking Reed. So the Fantastic four are on their way to go find Ben and after they've like gotten word from someone that they saw him on the back of a pickup truck that was headed to New Jersey.

So they eventually find this big old creepy house that the Frightful four is in with Ben and they get into this back and forth with the Frightful four and a Brainwash Ben who. By the way, is now like smoking a cigar for the rest of the issue as he's fighting. And I do have a question about the fighting because at some point during the fighting, Sue, uh, puts up a force field to protect herself from, uh, the Trapster and Medusa.

And then Ben says, get outta the way. I'll threaten her. So he threatens her and Sue faints from the threat from Ben. That's literally it. He doesn't even do anything but literally. Two or three issues ago, back in 38 when she, the nuclear bomb went off and needed to protect the entire team in a, in a force field bubble and like stayed there.

As they floated in the ocean for like hours, apparently while she was unconscious, was able to do that, but she fainted and now her, her force field just dropped immediately. So a little, uh, confusing or like, again, continuity issues of like how powerful that, you know, what, how long she's able to maintain that for either way.

Uh, eventually. Reid, Johnny and Sue all get tied up and there's a discussion of what they should do with them. And Medusa continues to speak up as the leader of the group, which has also been happening throughout this like issue. And you can tell that like the Sandman and the Trapster kind of like go along with it.

They like her ideas, but the Wizard, of course, who is quote unquote, the leader of the Frightful four does not like it. So you can kind of see his internal monologue to himself, his thoughts that he is not liking what Medusa is doing. We then have the frightful four say, Hey, we are going to end the Fantastic Four and we're gonna have the thing do it.

So they pretty much go to Ben and say, here's Reid. He is the one that has changed you into the thing. He doesn't like you. He's never gonna change you back into him. And we're gonna end the Fantastic four. And you're gonna start with Reid. And so we're pretty much left at the end of this issue with Ben facing Reed saying just that this was.

Another decent issue, in my opinion at it is always interesting to see that like Ben always ends up getting brainwashed somehow. He's always like that person that gets brainwashed. This isn't the first time. He was also brainwashed when, uh, they went up against Diablo for the first time, which I believe was issue 30 back in.

Episode eight maybe, and now he's, he's taken, taken again and brainwashed. Whereas like Sue was always like the one that is taken as hostage, I believe, like Johnny was taken once to be a hostage. Reid has never been taken, by the way, I don't think. I don't, I can't recall. I'm pretty sure he's like, never been taken again though.

As you can see, another cliffhanger, and I'm really enjoying that they're doing this. So let's, without any further ado, let's head into our last issue of this episode from June of 1965. Fantastic. 4 42 to save you. Why must I kill you? Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby. Inked by Vince Colletta, and lettered by Sam Rosen.

As expected, we pick up right where we left off with a thing and Reed face to face, well, Reed does this like stretching thing with his chest to bump Ben and the frightful four backwards. And for literally about half of the issue, we have Reed and Ben fighting. Johnny escapes his trap and once he does, he releases Sue and again.

Reed and Ben are just fighting and it's just this back and forth of all of those things pretty much happening. Eventually the thing puts Reed into this like steel container that he can't get out of. Uh, Johnny gets captured and gets put under the same brainwashing device that the thing did. So now he's on the side of the frightful four and Sue meanwhile found the container with Reed in it and they kind of run away and.

She sets him free. So Reid and Sue then find this storehouse of the wizard, and they take some tear gas, and then they flood the house with it, which causes the frightful for Ben and Johnny to escape the house, of course. And as they're doing that, Reid throws anti-gravity discs that belong to the wizard at them, which get on everyone.

Well, I shouldn't say everyone onto the Wizard Sandman. Trapster and Medusa. So they're all going beginning to float away essentially. Um, so, and then Reed grabs Ben and Ben with Reed and Sue all start to run away, and Johnny is flying up with the Wizard now. Pretty much as they're running through the woods, Ben Reed and Sue, they're trying to take cover and kind of hide, but the wizard with Johnny says, I'm gonna take care of them and uses his anti-gravity powers to pretty much pull all of the trees out of the ground so they can't hide.

Uh, which I thought that was pretty cool. Like I wasn't expecting that, nor did I think that the wizard could do that. So I thought that was honestly like a good use of his powers. And I thought that was, that was, uh, very inventive, I guess for a lack of better term to to see. Um, but he then sends Johnny down and he pretty much lights up a wall of fire in front of them and we see their silhouettes of Ben Reed and Sue in front of this wall of fire.

That's where our issue e ends. So again, another big cliffhanger and we're not gonna get to it until we head to the next episode. Now, in my opinion though, this issue wasn't that great. It was great if you love fighting. Uh, but literally half of the issue, half of the issue was just like, again, back and forth between Reed and Ben fighting, which is fine for a little bit, but.

Again, after a while, just to me gets a little old. The better part was like towards the second half of the issue, or last quarter of the issue where, you know. We, we get released and we're starting to get further, and now Johnny gets taken and brainwash and all this stuff. Right? Overall though, like I said earlier in this episode, I'm loving the cliffhangers that Lee and Kirby are putting into these stories.

Instead of giving every single issue kind of like a. A happy ending and, and resolve every single time. It's nice to kind of want to read the next issue. Not that I don't want to, but it's like I need to kind of know what happens next. And like I said, with that being said, we're gonna have to tune into the next week's episode to know how this ends and how Johnny and Ben get.

Un brainwashed, that's not a word, but un brainwashed. I can't think right now. And how they're gonna get out of this situation. And to make sure that you don't miss it, make sure you hit that subscribe and follow to wherever you're listening the to this podcast on. As always, I'm always appreciative for you listening, uh, if you have the time rate and review the show to wherever you're listening to this on.

And, uh, I truly appreciate that. Also, if you didn't know, you could send me a text of your thoughts. Uh, if you have questions about something, there should be a link in the show notes. To get in contact with me and I'll mention it here on the show whenever that comes through. Also, if you want to be part of a great, nerdy community that trends towards Marvel, but we have a lot of other nerd discussions in there, make sure you head to the Earth's Mightiest Nerds discord.

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