Synopsis
A concerned Sue Richards discovers her husband Reed contacting the X-Men to warn of a threat to the entire universe. After signing off, he tells Sue that he is calling a summit of the world’s greatest heroes to confront this issue, which he is too busy to explain to her. A miffed Sue stalks off but slowly starts to wonder if Reed has been taken over by an outside force. The Encephalizer says no, but Reed has the expertise to tamper with the device. She consults a back-up version she made with the aid of Tony Stark and it reveals that this Reed is an impostor....
At a local coffee shop, Ben Grimm meets with ex-girlfriend Sharon Ventura, who is now working for Doctor Doom. While he tries to sort out his feeling for her, he spies the Puppet Master lurking across the street. Ben rushes out and confronts the Puppet Master who angrily expresses concern for Ben’s longtime love, his stepdaughter Alicia, worried that the rocky gargoyle will hurt her. Suddenly an ugly mutated doppelganger of the Thing materializes behind Ben and assaults him. The two orange giants clobber one another in the alley with the evil Thing constantly harping on Ben’s insecurities....
Back at the Four Freedoms Plaza, Sue sets up a robot as bodyguard for her son Franklin and while pondering what the Reed impostor is up to suddenly discovers Wolverine sneaking into the building via the air shaft....
Back at the Thing battle, Ben has maneuvered his foe to a construction site to get the fight away from innocent bystanders and the violent slugging match continues. The doppelganger slams an earth-mover onto Ben, driving him through the ground and into a subway station below. When the monster announces his plans to kill and replace Ben in order to destroy everything he has ever loved, including Alicia, the Puppet Master takes a hand. He alters his Thing puppet to resemble the doppelganger and hurls it at the third rail. When the figurine is destroyed, the evil Thing is destroyed as well. Ben races back to FF headquarters where Sue seizes him and checks out that he is the real Ben; they do the same to the Human Torch when he arrives, and Sue explains the situation to her teammates. As the summit begins, the false Reed tries to explain the situation but Wolverine announces that Reed and Iron Man are impostors. A massive brawl breaks out among the heroes, most unable to tell who is friend or foe. "Reed" reveals his secret weapon: a gamma bomb, and with the words to Sue, "I have never loved you" he detonates it....