Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Marvel Two-In-One #97 Synopsis by
T Vernon
The Fantastic Four (Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch) with little Franklin Richards and Alicia Masters are at breakfast when Ben receives a surprising offer in the mail. A movie production company offers to pay $10,000 to a children’s hospital if Ben agrees to film a small role in a movie titled MECHAGRUB MEETS GODDANGIT. Ben is elated though Reed is dubious; he looks over the enclosed contract and it seems legitimate. Ben packs for his trip to Hollywood…
…where down-and-out producer Ted Silverberg is meeting with inventor/film buff Professor Frankheimer who shows him his new device, the Holoflex. This machine can look in on any point in space and time and, at the press of a button, create a holographic model of it which can be controlled by the person using the Holoflex, demonstrating with a Gila Monster. Silverberg anticipates making a fortune renting out the machine to other film companies but first he wants to take revenge against the Thing for messing up an earlier production of his. But the machine has overheated and the holographic Gila Monster has become real….
Meanwhile, Tony Stark has been persuaded by his accounting department to invest in a motion picture and as Iron Man, he has flown out to check on the investment. Changing into his civvies on a jungle set, Tony encounters sexy star Bo Drip, who mistakes him for her leading man. Tony then sees Ben Grimm, dressed in a classy white suit that makes him look silly. A brief conversation reveals that the film Ben is in is the one Tony is investing in. While Ben is in makeup he meets the director of the film, Sid Brute, who explains the scene….
Elsewhere, Silverberg is using the Holoflex to create a pterodactyl, triceratops, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex which he sends to the movie set. The first scene has Ben jumping from a roof to land on the Pterodactyl but when he leaps on it, being a hologram, he flies right through and crashes into a billboard. Then he is told to fight the triceratops; he passes through and lands in a noodle restaurant. Silverberg enters, laughing at Ben and Ben wants to clobber him but Tony warns him that he is under contract. Ben gets mad and kicks the T. Rex—which turns out to be solid, the Holoflex having overheated, making the monsters real. Tony changes into Iron Man while Ben grows angry and they battle the dinosaurs through the studio, wrecking other productions and terrorizing the populace. Iron Man uses his freon to freeze the pterodactyl while Ben electrocutes the triceratops. The two heroes discover that a company filming a South Pole adventure are using freon generations to keep the set cold so they lure the three dinosaurs, ice them down and Tony hires helicopters to transport them to their new home in the Savage Land. They discover the Holoflex has been destroyed in the mayhem. Tony suggests to Silverberg that if he hand over the film of Thing looking foolish, Tony will reconsider suing Silverberg for squandering his investment. The two heroes go home and Silverberg is left miserable.