Jonathan Storm (Earth-616)/Expanded History

=Early life=
==Childhood==
Johnny Storm and his older sister, Sue, lived uneventfully on Long Island until their mother, Mary Storm, died in an automobile accident. Their father, Franklin Storm, a doctor, failed to save her. Despondent, Franklin descended into booze and gambling, eventually winding up in a penitentiary for murder. Sue led Johnny to believe that their father had died rather than let him know that Franklin was in jail. The children went to live with their aunt Marygay. Growing up in suburban Glenville, Johnny Storm was drawn to automobiles despite his mother's death in a car accident, and became quite a mechanic at a young age. Sue spent much of her time looking after Johnny, and while Johnny was a constant source of grief, Johnny cared for his sister and saw her as a surrogate mother.
==The Amulet of Zarathos==
At the age of 15, Johnny's life took a strange turn when Harry Brandeis, a professor of religious studies (and father of Sue's friend Cammie, Johnny boyhood crush), was slain while examining the Amulet of Zarathos. Shortly after his death, Johnny sneaked into the Brandeis house to snoop around the crime scene and came into contact with the amulet, and it bonded to him as the demon Zarathos sought to make Johnny his Spirit of Vengeance. This made Johnny the target of St. Germaine who sought to claim the amulet for his master Dracula who was trapped in his Transylvanian castle with a stake in his heart. At Henry's funeral, St. Germaine and his minions went after Johnny, but he was saved thanks to Sue and Henry's brother-in-law Max Parrish, who sought to solve the mystery surrounding his brother-in-law's death. As they sought to learn the secrets behind the Amulet, they were pursued by St. Germaine and his minions still, while also being secretly pushed toward the truth by the spirit of Zarathos. Since the Amulet would teleport into Johnny's possession whenever it was taken away from him, the quartet used this to their advantage to keep it away from St. Germaine. However, Sue and Cammy were cornered while trying to escape from their foe. At that point, Zarathos appeared before Johnny and told him of his intentions to make him the new Spirit of Vengeance. In order to save Sue and Cammy's lives, Johnny agreed to become the vessel for Zarathos, but before he could be possessed by the demon, Max grabbed the amulet becoming the Ghost Rider instead. As Ghost Rider, Max destroyed St. Germaine, and struggled for control over Zarathos until Johnny ripped the Amulet from his makeshift motorcycle, restoring Max to normal. They then tossed the Amulet in a junk yard where they hoped it would not be found. After this adventure, Sue decided to go to Hollywood and pursue a career in acting.
Johnny spent his high school years attending Glenville High, during his junior year Johnny was briefly tormented by David George Munson. Johnny also attempted to use his prowess with mechanics to build a hot rod to try and gain popularity. However his attempts to pick up girls was thwarted by the athletic Mike Snow, the schools star wrestler. Johnny was frequently in trouble with school administration who feared that he didn't take his education seriously.
==Birth of the Fantastic Four==
When Johnny was 18 he followed his sister to Central City, California. By this time, Sue was the fiancée of scientist Reed Richards who had been developing a rocket that operated on a hyper-drive technology. However just as the Reed neared completion of the rocket, the government pulled the plug. Reed determined to fly the rocket before the government could shut him down. Reed's pilot Ben Grimm warned that the ship wasn't properly shielded against radiation but Reed pressed along anyway. Not wishing Reed to go alone, Sue insisted on coming along, and Johnny also insisted on doing so. While the rocket launch was a complete success, while passing through the their ship was bombarded with cosmic rays causing the rocket to crash land back on Earth. Each member of the crew was mutated by the cosmic rays and endowed with fantastic powers. Reed gained the ability to stretch his now mailable body, Sue gained the ability to turn invisible, and Ben turned into a monstrous thing. Johnny meanwhile gained the ability to burst into flame. Johnny decided to name himself the Human Torch, after the similarly powered hero from World War II.
Reed convinced the group to use their powers for the good of mankind and they became the Fantastic Four.
The quartet were quickly picked up by the government and were then contained in a government quarantine facility for those exposed by cosmic rays under the command of Reed's colleague General Walter Montgomery. Johnny was placed in a room that kept subzero temperatures to control his flame powers. There Reed was contacted telepathically by Professor Franz Stahl, another cosmic ray mutate who saw their transformations something that evolved them beyond humanity. Stahl caused another mutate, Raymond Perry to go on a rampage in the facility. While the fledgling Fantastic Four stopped Perry's rampage, Stahl escaped from his cell. Having demonstrated the effectiveness of their new powers, Reed managed to convince General Montgomery into releasing the Fantastic Four and allowing them to operate freely. When a series of nuclear facilities began to vanish, Montgomery convinced his superiors to give the Fantastic Four a change to prove themselves.
==Early Adventures==
Johnny and his teammates first adventure occurred when Reed began investigating earthquakes that caused atomic facilities to crumble all over the world. Johnny joined the team as they traveled to Monster Isle where they discovered the Mole Man and his creatures who were trying to take over the surface world. The Fantastic Four defeated the Mole Man and he seemingly perish when Monster Isle exploded. Their first mission was a success, but the group faced some publicity issues due to the damages caused by the group. Meanwhile, Franz Stahl continued to contact Reed to try and convince him that they were beyond normal humans.
Soon after this, Johnny and the others were framed for crimes by members of the shape-shifting Skrull race as part of their grander scheme to invade the Earth. When the Fantastic Four escaped the authorities, Johnny purposely attacked a rocket test site to draw out their impostors allowing the Fantastic Four to capture them. Reed then use his intelligence to trick the Skrulls invasion fleet that Earth was filled with giant monsters, forcing them to flee. Three of the Skrull impostors were later hypnotized to believe they were ordinary cows. Reed then set up temporary operations for the group in a warehouse along the New York City shoreline. Discovering that the cosmic rays also altered their space suits so that they could meld along with their powers. Reed decided that they should wear them as costumes until he could better examine them. The threat from the Mole Man was not yet over however as one of his creatures, Giganto attacked New York City. The Fantastic Four quickly defeated the creature which then fled out to sea, revealing themselves to the public and the press for the first time.
Reed then began to examine Ben's transformation, feeling guilty over transforming his best friend into a monstrous form, Reed began investigating how to return him to human form. However the group began to show signs of falling apart, particularly Reed's relationship with Sue, which Sue believed was taking a back seat to the establishment of the Fantastic Four. After Johnny, Ben and Sue stormed out on Reed, he was contacted once more by Stahl who was going to unleash the cosmic rays within a meteor at the decontamination facility and mutate the entire world. Reed went after Stahl alone, and soon found himself caught in a telepathic conflict with his foe. Meanwhile, the other members of the group reunited and went after Reed, only to have to face an army of soldiers mutated by cosmic rays. During the conflict, the Fantastic Four defeated the cosmic ray mutated soldiers, and Reed and Sue defeated Stahl in mental combat with the strength of their love for one another. With Stahl seemingly slain, all those affected by his cosmic ray bombardment were restored to normal. The Fantastic Four however only saw a temporary reversal of their powers. In the aftermath of the battle, Reed and Sue reconciled, and Reed vowed to focus on their relationship, fashioning her a ring out of a fragment of the meteor that Stahl attempted to use against the world. Johnny and the rest of the team spent much of their early career rounding up various monsters such as Fin Fang Foom, Gruto, Klagg, and Googam and imprisoning them on Monster Isle. Reed next rented out the top floors of the Baxter Building in New York City as their new headquarters. With his sister creating new costumes for the team, Reed moved the group to the Baxter Building in New York City, where Reed then revealed the group to the public in a press conference.
During these early years, Johnny was constantly at odds with his teammates and frequently rebelled due to his youth. He also took enjoyment tormenting Ben whenever possible. It was during their next battle, against the hypnotist calling himself the Miracle Man that Johnny's hot-headed behavior caused tension between the team. After they rescued Sue from Miracle Man and captured the criminal, Johnny was so fed up that he quit the team. While his teammates were actively seeking him, Johnny sought to hide from them, eventually running off to a flop house in the Bronx. There Johnny encountered an derelict with no memory of his past and phenomenal strength. Johnny recognized the man as the long lost World War II hero known as the Sub-Mariner, and tried to restore his memory by dumping Namor in the ocean. While Namor's memories did return, the Sub-Mariner was furious to find that his kingdom of Atlantis was destroyed in atomic testing and came to wage war against the surface world, attacking New York City with his massive beast Giganto. Johnny reunited with the Fantastic Four, and clashed with Namor who became smitten with his sister Sue. Eventually, the Sub-Mariner was defeated and he retreated back into the ocean.
By this time, Reed's old college rival Victor von Doom had resurfaced as an armored villain calling himself Dr. Doom. Doom kidnapped Sue and forced Reed, Ben and Johnny to use his Time-Platform to travel back in time to recover the long lost treasure chest of the pirate Blackbeard. Doom sought to obtain a jewel that was supposedly was once owned by the wizard Merlin. Johnny and the others recovered the treasure chest, but Reed replaced the jewels with heavy chains before they were returned to their own time. Furious at being tricked, Dr. Doom put Johnny and the others in an airless room, but they were saved by Sue and they defeated Doom who managed to escape. Not long after this, Johnny discovered that Sue had feelings for the Sub-Mariner and confronted her over it, her in ability to decide between Reed or Namor. Soon after, Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner teamed up to attack the Fantastic Four. Namor broke into the Baxter Building and put a magnetic device to pull the Baxter Building into the sun. When Doom double crossed the Sub-Mariner, he and the Fantastic Four put aside their differences to defeat Doom, leaving him lost in space while the Baxter Building was brought back to its proper place, but Namor managed to escape. Johnny and the rest of the team were later manipulated by Kurrgo the ruler of the planet Xanth (aka Planet X) who sought to use Reed's scientific brilliance to save his people from a rogue meteor that threatened to wipe out their entire planet. Reed created a shrinking gas to reduce the size of the Xanthians so they could all fit in one of the two alien's only space ships. After saving the Xanthians, the Fantastic Four returned to Earth.
During this time, Johnny continued to go to high school in Glenville. Johnny at first bragged to his classmates that he was the Human Torch, but nobody believed him, so Johnny decided to put up the pretense that he was maintaining a secret identity although eventually the Fantastic Four's fame made that impossible. During some time in Glenville, Johnny investigated threats from a saboteur calling himself the Destroyer who was sabotaging the local amusement park. Working on his own, Johnny defeated the Destroyer, revealing him as a communist spy who also worked for the local newspaper. Eventually, Johnny revealed his double identity to his follow classmates, earning him popularity, a girl named Hannah, and the ire of Mike Snow. Eventually, Mike took a disliking to Johnny's popularity and tried to pick a fight. During their struggle, Johnny's powers suddenly flared out of control burning Mike's face. Johnny rushed Mike to a hospital, saving his life and Mike vowed not to tell anyone the real cause of his burns. Johnny next clashed with Bentley Wittman a brilliant inventor who called himself the Wizard. The Wizard challenged the Human Torch, due to the fact that the youthful hero stealing his fame. The Wizard was defeated by Johnny with the help Sue, who Johnny used to trick the Wizard into thinking that he could move things without touching them, and was incarcerated. Returning to the Fantastic Four, Johnny assisted the group in clashing with the Puppet Master who attempted to use his radioactive clay to try and take over the world, ending in the apparent demise of the Puppet Master. During this incident, Johnny and the others became close friend with the Puppet Master's blind step-daughter Alicia, who began a relationship with Ben.
Going solo again, Johnny began to investigate why a new housing development was fraught with incidents where newly built homes began to sink into their foundation. He soon discovered that the swamp land was a portal to the so-called Fifth Dimension which was under the totalitarian rule of Xemu. Taken prisoner there, Johnny broke free and helped liberate the Fifth Dimension, restoring Phineas as the realms true ruler. Also during this adventure, Johnny became smitten by Phineas' daughter Valeria, but soon returned to his home dimension. Shortly thereafter the Fantastic Four faced financial problems and the group went bankrupt. They found seeming salvation when they were made an offer from SM Studios to go to Hollywood and appear in a movie about their lives. They soon found out that the company was owned by the Sub-Mariner. Namor tricked the Fantastic Four into thinking he legitimately wanted them to appear in a film, but was secretly sending Johnny and the others into traps in an attempt to get at Sue. Johnny was taken to Africa where he was left in the hands of a tribe that was immune to fire. Johnny managed to escape and returned to Hollywood where he and his teammates defeated the Sub-Mariner. Namor agree to remain faithful to his deal and the Fantastic Four film was a commercial success, allowing the group to earn enough money to resume operations. Johnny next encountered the novice hero the amazing Spider-Man when he came to the Fantastic Four's headquarters seeking employment with the group. After a brief clash, Spider-Man angrily left when he learned that the Fantastic Four were a non-profit organization. Also during this period Johnny met the extremely powerful hero known as the Sentry, who fought along the side the Fantastic Four against such foes as Dr. Doom, and later the Android Pirates of Dimension Nine.
Returning to Glenville, the Human Torch next clashed with a new foe calling himself Paste Pot Pete, who used a specially made paste to commit his crimes. The Torch managed to defeat Pete, leaving him stranded in the ocean. Doctor Doom soon returned to Earth thanks to the alien Ovoids who also taught him how to change bodies. Doom used this to switch bodies with Reed and tricked Johnny and the others in capturing "Doom". Reed broke out and prevented Doom from tricking the others from being exposed to his shrink ray. Convincing Johnny and the others what really happened, the body swap reversed itself, and Doom became a victim of his own shrink ray and seemingly shrunk to nothingness. The Wizard soon broke out of jail and sought to get revenge against the Human Torch, but Johnny managed to stop him with the help of his sister Sue. Later Johnny was approached by the Acrobat who convinced Johnny to quit the Fantastic Four to join his Torrid Twosome. This was all a ploy by the Acrobat to trick Johnny into assisting in robbing a bank. The other members of the Fantastic Four exposed the Acrobat's plot and Johnny brought him to justice. 
Back in New York, Johnny assisted his teammates in trying to stop the so-called Impossible Man, an alien from the planet Poppup who came to Earth to vacation. During their attempts to stop the Impossible man from running amok, Johnny and the others met Turbo, a time displaced hero from a few years in the Fantastic Four's future who was briefly trapped in their time. Eventually the Impossible Man was defeated when Reed convinced the entire city of New York to ignore the pest and the Impossible Man eventually got bored and left Earth. Left out of the Fantastic Four's most recent case, Johnny decided that he could prove himself to the rest of the team by going after the Sub-Mariner. A foolish move, Johnny just barely managed to defeat the superior Sub-Mariner and returned home too tired to tell anyone of his accomplishments. Johnny soon joined his teammates in traveling to Nevada at the request of General Thaddeus Ross to stop the gamma spawned Hulk who was accused for sabotaging atomic tests. Although the team briefly clashed with the Hulk, Johnny and the others discovered the real saboteur was really a communist calling himself the Wrecker. Returning home, Johnny began cracking down on "Scar" Tobin and his gang. Tobin in retaliation hired the Painter of 1000 Perils, whose alien paints could come to life. Johnny managed to defeat the Painter, burning his paints and brought the Tobin gang to justice.
Johnny next joined Reed and others in a rocket flight to the moon to explore its Blue Area. There they found that the Blue Area had the ruins of an ancient civilization and a breathable atmosphere. They were followed by Russian scientist the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes who had also achieved super-human powers by exposure to cosmic rays. The two groups were confronted by Uatu the Watcher, an alien who was charged with watching and recording Earth history. The Watcher ordered them to battle to determine whose nation was the better. Ultimately the Fantastic Four won and were allowed to return to Earth. Upon their return, the group was menaced again by the Puppet Master who used his abilities to take control of the Sub-Mariner and force him to kidnap Sue. Johnny and the others went after her and when the Puppet Master's sub was crushed by a massive octopus, Namor was freed from his control and he allowed the Fantastic Four to leave with Sue. Back in Glenville, Johnny put a stop to the so-called Sorcerer a old curmudgeon who used Pandora's Box to terrorize the town with demonic imps. Down with a viral infection, Johnny was unable to assist the New York authorities in dealing with the menace of Doctor Octopus who had taken oven an atomic facility. Johnny instead gave a speech at Midtown High School. Unaware to Johnny, Spider-Man in his guise of Peter Parker heard the speech. Having been defeated by Doctor Octopus previously, Johnny's speech inspired Peter to try again. When Spider-Man ultimately defeated Doctor Octopus and thanked the Torch for inspiring him.
Not long after this, Johnny's foe Paste Pot Pete broke the Wizard out of jail and the two conspired to frame Johnny for various crimes, but the Torch ultimately defeated the two foes and turned them over to the authorities. The Fantastic Four were next targeted by the Mad Thinker who was plotting to defeat the group by taking over the Baxter Building. To this end, the Thinker caused financial problems for the circus run by Johnny's cousin Bones. Bones came to New York and asked Johnny to help revitalize his failing business. Johnny decided to would be exciting and found that the rest of the team also decided to take a brief break to follow other pursuits. However Johnny found the circus dull compared to his adventures with the Fantastic Four and eventually returned to New York and found that the rest of the team had returned as well. To their surprise the Mad Thinker took over their headquarters, but the Four managed to fold their own against the Baxter Building's defences and his Awesome Android until a fail safe in the building let to the Mad Thinker's defeat. Johnny next clashed with scientist Orson Kasloff who attempted to defeat Johnny in battle as the Asbestos Man. Although fire proofed, the Asbestos Man proved all too immune to the Torch's heat and was easily defeated. Shortly after this Thor was convinced to go to war against humanity by his half brother Loki. During their attack on New York City the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man attempted to stop their rampage and were slain in the process. However, when Thor regained his humanity and fought back against Loki, Odin restored all the damage and returned all the dead back to life.
Johnny and the others were next attacked by Dr. Doom who had taken over the realm of Sub-Atomica in the so-called Microverse. With the assistance of the size changing Ant Man, Johnny and the others liberated Sub-Atomica and forced Doom to retreat to Earth. Doom then kidnapped Alicia and kept her prisoner aboard a ship containing disintegration ray to keep the FF out. Reed ultimately found a way through and Johnny and the others defeated Doom who seemingly fell out of the ship to his death. Doom survived however and attempted to lure the Fantastic Four in a trap by taking Spider-Man hostage. Doom erred in actually capturing Flash Thompson, Spider-Man's biggest fan. Johnny and the others arrived to rescue Flash only to find the real Spider-Man already defeated their foe. Johnny next assisted the team in clashing with the Super-Skrull, a Skrull who could imitate the entire team's powers. Johnny and the others managed to defeat the Super-Skrull from cutting off his power source and left him trapped in a dormant volcano. During this period, Johnny suffered a brief bout of unpopularity due to the damaging editorials of reporter Ted Braddock. When the Eel who had stolen Project X, a miniature nuclear pile. Johnny was able to stop the Eel, but not before Project X went critical. In order to save countless lives, Johnny absorbed the blast but was seriously injured. Restored to health by Reed Richards, Johnny was found that his reputation had been repaired thanks to his heroic act. By this time, Spider-Man had begun to generate a lot of press much to the annoyance of Johnny. When the master of disguise known as the Fox framed Spider-Man for an art theft. Looking over police evidence Johnny deduced the Fox's involvement and the two heroes teamed up to bring him to justice.
Around this time, Namor had finally found his lost people and reclaimed the Atlantean throne. When the Fantastic Four went on a cruise vacation they were captured by Namor who ordered them to deliver an ultimatum to the United Nations: give him sovereignty over the world's oceans or face invasion. When Reed went to the UN he petitioned against giving Namor what he wished leading to an invasion of the surface world from Atlantis. Reed managed to force back the invasion using a device the evaporated the water in their helmets forcing them to retreat back into the oceans. Angered by this, Namor kidnapped Sue and fled into the sea. Johnny and the others went after her, but the battle soon ended when Namor's minions Lady Dorma and Warlord Krang dumped Sue in the ocean to drown. Namor rushed Sue to a hospital where she was expected to recover and found that his people abandoned him for choosing a surface woman over one of his people. Also during this period, Johnny began dating Dorrie Evans, and frequently took flak from her for being late for or cancelling their dates due to his activities with the Fantastic Four. When Dorrie's father fired their gardener Samuel Smithers, he reinvented himself as the costumed criminal known as Plantman to try and get revenge, but was stopped by the Torch.
Shortly thereafter, Reed began investigating hieroglyphics and learned of an ancient Pharaoh named Rama-Tut who apparently cured his blindness using a radioactive herb. Using Dr. Doom's Time-Platform, Johnny and the others traveled to the year 2954 BC to obtain the herb to cure Alicia's blindness. There the group were shocked to find that Rama-Tut was really a time traveler himself from the 30th Century (of Earth-6311). Johnny and the male members of the team were enslaved while Sue was forced to become Rama-Tut's new bride. Johnny and the others were secretly assisted in freeing themselves from the Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange, who came to that era from a few years in the Fantastic Four's future. Johnny and the others led a revolt against Rama-Tut, forcing him to flee back to his own era. The team recovered the needed herb and returned to their own era. However when they returned to their own era, the Time-Platform sanitized the radioactive herb rendering it useless.
Back in his own era, Johnny was surprised to read about the apparent return of Captain America as he was to appear at an antique car show. Going to investigate, Johnny foils "Cap's" attempt to steal the auto-show's box office receipts, revealing "Captain America" as his old for the Acrobat. Next the Fantastic Four were approached by the Watcher who warned the group of the danger posed by the Molecule Man. Johnny and the others clashed with the Molecule Man, keeping him distracted long enough for the Watcher to contain him. When the Sandman broke out of prison, the Torch disguised himself as Spider-Man—the hero who previously defeated him—to lure the criminal into a fight. The Torch proved to be the Sandman's better, defeating the crook and returning him to the authorities. Johnny and the rest of the Fantastic Four briefly broke up again when they were exposed to the Hate-Monger's Hate Ray, making the group violent against each other. Reed tricked the rest of the group into following him to the country of San Gusto where he administered a cure for the Hate Ray. When the Hate-Monger died in battle they were shocked to learn that he was a clone of Adolf Hitler. The Puppet Master resurfaced again and attempted to get revenge against the Fantastic Four by taking control of the Thing and making him attack the Human Torch. Johnny ultimately learned of the Puppet Master's involvement and destroyed his clay doll, freeing Ben from his control. The Mole Man resurfaced and tricked the Fantastic Four to seek to purchase an island to store some of Reed's equipment, leading themselves into a trap. Johnny and the others managed to stop the Mole Man from lowering Manhattan and Moscow into the Earth to trip off World War III. When the Eel was released from prison, the Torch followed him until he committed a crime and brought him to justice. Sometime after this, Johnny was present when Reed began experimenting with the Cosmic Cube with the Sentry. When the Cube took possession of Cloc, the Sentry's computer system, Johnny helped defend the group from various threats created by the computer until the Cube was ultimately stopped.
Soon Johnny and the others became discontented with Reed's leadership and fought over who would be the new leader of the team. Dr. Doom resurfaced around this time and empowered Bull Brogin, "Handsome" Harry Phillips and Yogi Dakor as his Terrible Trio to fight with the Fantastic Four. Doom sent the flame proof Yogi Dakor to go after the Torch, trapping the hero in a flame proof car. The group was captured and Doom intended to trap them in a room that would dump them into space by the passage of a solar wave that would create an opening through time and space. Johnny and the others managed to escape and left Doom to fall through the solar wave. Realizing that Reed is indeed the only person fit to lead, the Fantastic Four stopped seeking a new leader among the group. The Wizard resurfaced shortly thereafter, seeking revenge against the Torch once more. This time Johnny clashed and defeated his old foe with the help of Spider-Man. The Wizard broke out of jail again and tried once more to try and defeat Johnny, this time using an anti-gravity disc. The Torch caused this disc to malfunction sending the Wizard flying uncontrollably out of Earth's atmosphere, however he would eventually survive. Doris, having had enough of being constantly stood up or left high and dry began dating other men. Johnny took his frustrations out on a communist spy known as the Rabble Rouser. Doris soon returned to Johnny telling him that she only dated another man to make him jealous and the couple reconciled.
Johnny and his teammates next defended New York from the so-called Infant Terrible, an infant alien with reality altering powers, stopping mobster Big Joe from manipulating the creature until the alien's parents came to recover their child before it could destroy the Earth. When the Hulk arrived in New York seeking to destroy his former teammates the Avengers, Johnny was injured when the Fantastic Four initially clashed with the creature. Hospitalized, Johnny eventually could not bring himself to stand on the sidelines and rejoined the battle assisting the rest of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in defeating the Hulk who fell into the Hudson River and was swept away in the currents. The Torch later consoled Spider-Man when the hero confided in him about the death of his classmate Sally Avril. While on a cruise boat with Doris, Johnny found competition for Doris' affections from Bobby Drake secretly Iceman of the X-Men. When the ship was attacked by modern day pirate Captain Barracuda the two young heroes used their abilities to defeat him. The Plantman returned to get revenge against Johnny and the Evans family. With the help of the Thing, Johnny managed to defeat the Plantman once again.
When the Sub-Mariner once again kidnapped Sue to force her to be with him, Reed—who was about to propose to her—went after Namor alone. Not wanting Reed to go up against their foe, Johnny and the Thing enlisted the aid of Dr. Strange to help them locate Namor and rescue Sue. The Terrible Trio resurfaced shortly after this and they attempted to deal with the Fantastic Four one-by-one starting with the Torch. Although they initially captured the young hero, Johnny managed to break free and stop them before they could attack his sister. The Puppet Master and Mad Thinker soon joined forces and used a puppet to take control of the X-Men's leader Professor X in order to trick the X-Men into battling the Fantastic Four. Johnny clashed with the group until Professor X managed to fight off the Puppet Master's control and the two teams defeated their foes, who managed to flee. Johnny next took Doris on a double date with Ben and Alicia to the World's Fair grounds. Their date was interrupted by the armored criminal calling himself the Beetle, whom the duo managed to defeat. Not long after this an ancient mummy named Gomdulla was re-awoken and went on a rampage. Johnny and his teammates attempted to go after the creature with the help of Spider-Man. Later when Spider-Man accidentally knocked out Sue while trying to stop Electro from robbing a bank, the Fantastic Four fought with Spider-Man until Sue stopped them and they all worked together to bring Electro to justice.
The Red Ghost later resurfaced and attempted to kill the Fantastic Four by stranding them on the moon. The heroes managed to seek refuge in the Watcher's citadel, defending it from Red Ghost. When the Red Ghost was defeated the Watcher returned the group to Earth. Johnny later had to abandon Doris during a date when Paste Pot Pete returned to try and steal the Fantasti-Car, Johnny and the Thing managed to stop Pete and turn him over to the authorities. Johnny joined his teammates on a vacation to Transylvania where the Thing freed the ancient alchemist known as Diablo who offered him the false promise of a cure for his mutation. When Diablo tried to take over the world, the others stopped him with the assistance of Ben who quickly realized that Diablo couldn't cure him. Fearing that they were getting less publicity, Johnny and Ben attempted to get a name for themselves by attacking the Sub-Mariner, foiling a plan of Reed's to make peace. Adding insult to injury, the reporters whom they believed were covering stories on Sue and Reed turned out to be researching a surprise article for both Ben and Johnny. Later the Torch offered his assistance to Spider-Man in battling the Sinister Six, an offer that Spider-Man refused.
Johnny and Ben were once again targeted by the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker, turning the Thing against the Torch. However one of the Thing's unstable and temporary reversions to human form eventually freed Ben from their control. With the help of Reed, the duo foiled the Thinker and Puppet Master's plot. While out on another double date with Ben, Doris and Alicia, both Johnny and Ben had to defend the city from a reptilian creature calling himself the Golden Gator, who was trying to use alligators from the sewers to invade the city. Unknown to them at the time, the creature was an aspect of the demon KhLΘG. Johnny is in attendance at the first meeting of Flash Thompson's Spider-Man fan club. When Spider-Man makes an appearance the webhead is attacked by his foe the Green Goblin. Johnny led a hand when suddenly Spider-Man abruptly fled the battle (unknown to all, a call for Spidey's alter-ego Peter Parker regarding the health of his Aunt May prompted his sudden departure). With the public calling Spider-Man a coward, the Torch suspected something was wrong and attempted to draw the hero out, to no success. The Torch was later captured by the Sandman and the Enforcers in order to draw Spider-Man out. Spidey came out of hiding and freed the Torch and the duo rounded up the villains. Once more having issue with Reed being the leader of the team, both Johnny and Ben are set straight when Reed posing as a mysterious villain and soundly defeats them.
Unaware that their foe Dr. Doom had returned from space, nor that he was the secret ruler of the nation of Latveria, Johnny and the others agreed an invitation to the Latveria embassy. There Doom tricked the Fantastic Four into drinking a drugged beverage that made them see the worst of each other forcing the team to fight each other. Johnny and Ben duked it out until Reed uncovered Doom's involvement and defeated him in battle. The Mole Man then resurfaced and sunk an New York City block, taking Sue hostage. Johnny and the others freed her and defeated the Mole Man, but Sue was injured. Johnny and Sue's father Franklin, who had just broken out of prison, treated Sue, saving her life before being apprehended again. Johnny and Sue were in for a shock when he father seemingly broke out of prison again after gaining similar powers to the Fantastic Four and then committed a series of crimes calling himself the Invincible Man. However Reed correctly deduced that Franklin had been captured by the Skrulls and that their agent the Super-Skrull was posing as Franklin in order to prevent the Fantastic Four from interfering with their invasion plans. Reed forced the Skrulls to return Franklin to Earth, but they rigged him with a bomb to kill the Fantastic Four. Unwilling to harm his children, Franklin Storm sacrificed his life to blunt the blow. Dying his final words to his children were how proud he was of them. Later, Oscorp employee David Lowell experimented on himself turning into the super-powered Sundown and began terrorizing the city. Johnny joined Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Avengers, Dr. Strange and the X-Men in defeating the foe.
Johnny next joined his teammates in accompanying Lady Dorma back to Atlantis to assist Namor in repelling the invasion forces of the warlord Attuma. When mutant twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch sought to seek refuge from Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants they sought out the aid of the Fantastic Four. Only Johnny and Ben were home when they came calling and a fight broke out. Ultimately, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch got away, deciding to remain with Magneto for the time being. Johnny was next tricked into thinking his sister by millionaire Gregory Gideon who sought to eliminate the Fantastic Four in a bid to rule the world. However the Four realized the deception and Gideon was stopped when his son was almost harmed in his schemes. Learning that his foe the Beetle had broken out of prison, Johnny was eager to stop him but bowed to Dorrie's demand that he not "Flame On" for 24 hours. Spider-Man attempted to use this opportunity to woo Doris, however this scheme ultimately led to the pair working together to stop the Beetle when he attempted to attack Miss Evans. Spider-Man later attempted to crash one of Johnny's parties, leading to a clash between the wall crawler and the Fantastic Four that was quickly stopped by Sue. Johnny was later shocked when Spider-Man came to the Baxter Building and had the nerve to ask his sister out on a date. Incredibly, Sue accepted although the occasion was marred by an attack by the Sub-Mariner.
By this time the Terrible Trio had broken out of prison once again and targeted both Johnny and Ben. Their ridiculously clichéd plot to tie the two heroes to a railroad track was easily thwarted and the Trio were recaptured once again. Johnny then accompanied the team to a speaking engagement at State University. There their old foe Diablo resurfaced and brought to life Professor Gregson Gilbert's Dragon Man android. Johnny fought the creature along side it's teammates until it and Diablo were seemingly drowned in underwater whirlpools beneath Dead Man's Lake. Following this adventure, Reed finally proposed to Johnny's sister. Johnny later joined Doris along with Alicia and Ben on a date to see a popular British rock and roll group,This story was published in 1965, and the band featured in this issue were the . However due to Earth-616's Sliding Timescale this should be considered a topical reference, as such the band that they went to see is generalized in one of their more mundane roles as super-heroes, the pair stopped a gang of robbers from stealing from the shows box office.
==Reed and Sue's Wedding==
Johnny's rogue gallery soon came back to haunt him when the Wizard organized his counter group called the Frightful Four which consisted of Paste-Pot Pete, the Sandman and the mysterious woman known only as Medusa. Reed, Sue and Ben were attacked after celebrating Reed's proposal and captured. However Alicia managed to signal Johnny who was away from the Baxter Building at the time. Johnny helped free his teammates and they defeated the Frightful Four, who managed to escape capture. After assisting his teammates in defeating the Mole Man once again, Johnny was upset to learn that the front page news was dominated by Spider-Man. Seeking out Daily Bugle photographer Peter Parker (unaware that he was secretly Spider-Man) Johnny hired him to take newsworthy photos of him. Later when Johnny foolishly attempted to challenge Dr. Doom, Spider-Man came to his rescue. Cryogenically frozen, Johnny was freed, but his hair was frozen off in the process. Adding insult to injury, the next day's newspaper focused more on Spider-Man than himself. The Torch stopped employing Parker shortly thereafter. Not long after this both Johnny and Ben were targeted by the Mad Thinker, who unleashed his ridiculous "Bouncing Ball of Doom" against the pair as they attempted to thwart a bank robbery, it was a scheme that the pair quickly foiled.
Before she could go to the alter, Sue insisted that they bring the Skrull responsible for murdering their father. Reed was convinced and soon the Fantastic Four flew to the Skrull homeworld. There they found that their powers were weakening, and they were soon captured by Warlord Morrat the man responsible for killing Franklin Storm. Unknown to the Four at the time, Morrat was attempting to usurp the throne from Skrull ruler Emperor Dorrek and win the hand of Princess Anelle. The Four freed themselves and restored their powers using Reed's power-booster weapon. When Morrat's schemes were revealed he died under the orders of Dorrek VII who allowed the Fantastic Four to return home to Earth.
Johnny was next involved in a series of solo adventures with the aid of the Thing. First he tested out a new rocket capsule for NASA, foiling the machinations of mad scientist Professor Jack. The pair were next attacked by the Puppet Master who briefly used mechanical dolls to try and defeat the pair, but to no avail. The Watcher next recruited Johnny and Ben to travel back in time to 6th century Camelot where they assisted King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table stave off an invasion from Kang the Conqueror a time traveller from the 40th Century, driving him out of that era before returning to their own time. Johnny later answered the summons of Professor X to travel to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters where the X-Men were battling Xavier's mystically enhanced step-brother the Juggernaut. Johnny used his flame powers to melt the rivets off of the Juggernaut's helmet, the one thing making him immune to Xavier's telepathic powers. The Juggernaut was easily struck down by the Professor's telepathy. After the threat had passed, Xavier sent Johnny on his way, but not before erasing his memory of the X-Men's secret hideout and ties to Xavier's School.
The Frightful Four then struck at Johnny and his teammates again. This time the villains were successful in capturing the entire group and leaving them stranded on an island with a Q-Bomb. Although the bomb went off, Sue saved their lives with an invisible force field at the last minute. However their exposure to Q-Bomb radiation stripped Johnny and the others of their super-human powers. With no immediate means of restoring their powers, Reed quickly devised crude mechanical imitations of each members abilities. Johnny was given a body suit that could just barely imitate his powers. At this time Dr. Doom recovered from the hypnosis that led him to believe he defeated the Fantastic Four and launched a revenge plot against them. The Four were helped to cover by the masked hero known as Daredevil (who unknown to the team was the Fantastic Four's lawyer Matt Murdock). Doom had taken over the Baxter Building, prompting Daredevil to lead the powerless Fantastic Four into their headquarters. There Reed discovered that his power booster was fully recharged and used it to restore their powers, and Ben easily defeated Doom, although he was none to happy to becoming the Thing again.
Ben then left the group and was captured by the Frightful Four and exposed to their ID Machine, making him evil. Johnny and the rest of the team went after Ben, but found themselves captured. The FF broke free but Johnny was captured by the Frightful Four and also exposed to the ID Machine. Unknown to the foes at the time, Sue had sabotaged the machine during the fight, and Johnny was only pretending to be loyal to the Wizard. Eventually, the Frightful Four saw through this ruse and took Johnny prisoner. Their subsequent clash with the Fantastic Four led to their defeat as they managed to cure Ben in time to turn the tide of battle, although Medusa managed to escape.
Finally it was Reed and Sue's big day and with the wedding well under way, Dr. Doom plotted to spoil the festivities with an attack. Using his "Emotion Charger" device he brainwashed an army of super-villains to attack the wedding. Johnny repelled the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes with the assistance of Dr. Strange when they attacked his sister. He later joined a massive clash between the super-heroes attending Reed and Sue's wedding and the villains drawn there by Doom until Reed arrived with a Time Displacer which he obtained from the Watcher which returned all the villains to wherever they came from with no memory of what they had done. With the interruption over, Reed and Sue's wedding went off without further trouble. Later the Mad Thinker went on a rampage through Manhattan with his Awesome Android again soon after. This led to yet another clash with the Fantastic Four. The Thinker was defeated this time thanks to the assistance of Marvel Girl of the X-Men, who was under evaluation by the Invisible Girl for Professor X at the time. After the Thinker was apprehended, the Fantastic Four and X-Men dismantled his secret headquarters hidden in a rock quarry outside of New York.
==Chasing Crystal==
Following the wedding, Medusa approached Johnny to seek the Fantastic Four's assistance in evading capture by a being named Gorgon, a member of her race of Inhumans. While the others fought Gorgon, Johnny took Medusa to Dead Man's Lake near State University. Their presence there revived the Dragon Man who also attacked. In the three way battle, Dragon Man absconded with Sue, leaving Johnny and the others to be buried alive fighting Gorgon, who escaped with Medusa.
Pulling themselves out of the rubble, they were quickly reunited with Sue who managed to tame the Dragon Man. Waiting to see what the team would do next, Johnny decided to call his girlfriend Doris, only to learn that she had plans with another man. Fed up with their on-again-off-again relationship, Johnny decided to give up and go on a walk. Lost in thought, Johnny ended up in a slum part of town slated for demolition. There he witnessed the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life but when she attempted to approach her she pushed him away with elemental powers and fled. Unable to get his mind off of this girl, Johnny searched the area for her until he found her again. When she fled a second time, Johnny showed off his powers a well. As it turned out, Crystal was a member of the Inhumans as well. Mistaking Johnny for one of her people, she brought him to the secret location where she was hiding out with her leader Black Bolt, Karnak, Triton, her sister Medusa, Gorgon and her teleporting dog Lockjaw. Recognized by Gorgon and Medusa, the Inhumans tried to stop Johnny before someone called the Seeker found them. Johnny in turn summoned his teammates who came to his aid.
During the course of the battle, the Inhumans decided to flee before they were captured. Seeing Crystal in the midst of teleporting away with the others, Johnny tried to follow them but missed the portal. He then accompanied his teammates back to headquarters where they learned that the Seeker captured Dragon Man, whom the Seeker mistook for an Inhuman. The team went after Dragon Man and learned that the Seeker sought to capture the rogue Inhuman royal family to bring them back to his ruler the insane Maximus, in the ensuing battle the Dragon Man managed to escape. Easily subduing Dragon Man, the Four followed the Seeker back to the Great Refuge, home of the Inhumans. They had arrived just as Black Bolt had retaken the throne from Maximus. However Maximus was not ready to admit defeat, seeking to conquer the Earth for his fellow Inhumans, Maximus activated his Atmo-Gun in the hopes of wiping out the human race. However Inhumans and humans proved to be much similar and the weapon had only a mild effect. Furious, Maximus then attempted to seal off the Great Refuge in a impenetrable Negative Barrier. Johnny refused to leave Crystal and was forced to leave by his teammates. Trapped outside the Great Refuge, Johnny vowed to find a way back to Crystal no matter what.
However, this quest was quickly put on the back burner when the Watcher attempted to obscure the Earth from the Silver Surfer, herald of the planet-eating Galactus. Johnny and Ben tried to clash with the Surfer, but were too late to stop him from summoning his master to Earth. Further attacks directly at Galactus also were met with failure. The Watcher then approached Johnny giving him the power to travel great distances via space-time distortion. Johnny was then led to Galactus' Worldship to obtain the one weapon that could stop Galactus. Johnny returned to Earth just as the Silver Surfer joined the Fantastic Four in trying to stop his master. Johnny then turned over the Ultimate Nullifier to Reed who then used it to bluff Galactus into surrendering. Galactus agreed to not consume the Earth, and left but not before exiling the Surfer to Earth.
Having apparently graduated high school previously, Johnny enrolled at Metro College where he became dorm roommates with Native American student Wyatt Wingfoot and the pair became fast friends. However, Johnny's mind was infrequently on school when compared to the adventures he'd had with the Fantastic Four as well as his yearning to find a way to free Crystal. While attending school, he ran afoul of quarterback star Whitey Mullins. Johnny's classes took a backseat in his life when the Fantastic Four accepted an invitation to the reclusive nation of Wakanda by the Black Panther, taking Wyatt along with him. When arriving in Wakanda, the five were attacked by the Black Panther in a hunt to test their abilities. The Fantastic Four ultimately won, winning the friendship of the Panther. Johnny next helped the Black Panther defend his nations supply of rare Vibranium metal from Ulysses Klaw who was responsible for murdering the Black Panther's father. While Johnny and the others fought against Klaw's solid sound constructs, the Black Panther fought Klaw to the seeming death.
Unable to take his mind off of Crystal, Johnny was given a gyro-ship by the Black Panther and he and Wyatt headed toward the Himalayas where the Great Refuge was located. Along the way they accidentally uncovered the hidden realm of the Avalonian warrior Prester John who gave them a show of power with his weapon the Evil Eye. Seeing this as a means of freeing the Inhumans, Johnny forced the Evil Eye from Prester John's hands and fled, unaware that the power-up switch had been depressed and the weapon was now overloading to critical mass. Wyatt and Prester followed after him and shot the Evil Eye out of Johnny's hand, where it was destroyed in a massive explosion, dashing Johnny's hopes once more. The pair continued on their quest and while camping out one night they came across Lockjaw, giving Johnny hope that they could use the dog to transport them into the Great Refuge. However, all the months fleeing Maximus had taught Lockjaw to avoid returning to the Refuge and instead the giant dog transported Johnny and Wyatt back to the Baxter Building. Johnny decided to go out to the desert and practice the use of his powers, when he was suddenly attacked by the original android Human Torch who had been revived by the Mad Thinker and his super computer Quasimodo. Despite the original Torch's years of experience, Johnny still held his own until his teammates arrived. They then convinced the android Torch to help them stop the Mad Thinker. However when the confronted the Thinker, he ordered Quasimodo to seemingly slay the original Torch while he fled his hideout. When Lockjaw began teleporting away again, Johnny and Wyatt quickly followed after him in the hopes they would eventually reach their desired destination.
The pair found themselves in a strange dimension, where upon Wyatt's suggestion Johnny began trying to earn Lockjaw's trust in the hope of getting him to help them. This proved to be for naught as the next place Lockjaw took them was a world full of massive reptiles where they narrowly avoided being trampled to death. The pair found themselves returned to the Baxter Building yet again where Johnny learned that Dr. Doom had stolen the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer and now threatened to take over the world. Johnny tried to go up against Doom alone, but was easily defeated. After Reed admitted defeat, Doom decided to let the Four live a while longer while he took over the world. Furious over his defeat, Johnny then began practicing with his powers again intent on a rematch against Doom. Johnny then went off against order to face Doom again unaware of two events that were happening at that time: The first being that the Inhumans had finally broke free of their prison, and that Dr. Doom was coming to finally destroy the Fantastic Four. Johnny clashed with Doom again but fared no better, and had to be saved by his teammates. Eventually Reed managed to defeat Doom by tricking him into flying after his Anti-Cosmic Flying Wing. Doom was seemingly destroyed when he struck the barrier put around the Earth by Galactus intended to keep the Silver Surfer in exile. With Doom defeated, the Silver Surfer regained his powers and the Fantastic Four returned home.
==Romance with Crystal==
When the Sandman, using inventions previously stolen from Reed to build a new high-tech costumes, attacked the Baxter Building, Johnny rushed to his teammates aid. During the fight, Reed's portal to the Negative Zone was accidentally opened and while the Sandman managed to escape, Reed was sucked into it and was at the risk of death as he drifter uncontrollably into a nullification zone between positive and anti-matter. It was during this tragic turn of events that Crystal revealed that she and her people escaped the Great Refuge. Understanding Johnny's plight, Crystal obtain the aid of Triton, who used his swimming prowess to rescue Reed from the Negative Zone. However they were followed back to Earth by an exiled criminal named Blastaar. Unaware of the danger, Johnny had to cut short his and Crystal's first date when Blastaar surfaced with the Sandman as an ally. Johnny aid in capturing Blastaar, but the Sandman managed to escape.
Back at the Baxter Building, Johnny encountered future mercenary Deadpool and his sidekick Hydra Bob who had been traveling through history trying to get back to their own era roughly 8 years in Johnny's future. Johnny joined his teammates in trying to help Deadpool and Bob return to their own time, a task made harder due to temporal flashes that erased their short term memory in order to maintain histories proper order. Johnny and his teammates succeed in returning Deadpool to his own time with assistance of his future self and his team. However, Johnny retained no memory as the temporal flash erased all memories of that meeting in order to preserve history.
When Reed and Sue decided to take a vacation, Johnny decided to stay behind with Crystal so they could spend some time together. However this was short lived when the rest of the team was attacked by the Kree Sentry left on Earth, Johnny rushed to his teammates aid and helped destroy the robot. This earned the ire the Kree's leader the Supreme Intelligence who sent his agent Ronan the Accuser to punish the Fantastic Four. Johnny was teleported away from Crystal during a date to face this foe, who was also defeated. Crystal was upset that Johnny abruptly left her, however due to her own super-human abilities she was more accepting of the difficulties in Johnny's life better than any previous girlfriend before her, strengthening their relationship further.
Johnny next joined his teammates in traveling to the Beehive headquarters of the Enclave a group of secretly operating scientists who were attempting to create new life and kidnapped Ben's girlfriend Alicia so she could sculpt their unseeable creation. Johnny helped free Alicia and protected the Enclave's creation, known only as Him, until he was ready to emerge from his cocoon. When Him finished his development, the FF returned home with Alicia leaving Him to destroy the Enclave's base of operations. Back home, Johnny accepted a role in a film being made in Hollywood unaware that it was backed by his old foe the Wizard and the illusion casting Mysterio, who manipulated his old foe Spider-Man into joining in the production in the hopes of tricking both heroes to fight each other. However, the Torch and Spider-Man uncovered the ploy and brought both men to justice. Johnny returned to New York right after. Not long after their return from the Enclave, Sue collapsed and Reed's examinations found that Sue was pregnant with his child, much to everyone's delight. Soon after this announcement, Johnny and Ben were dispatched to Panther Island to assist the Inhuman Royal Family and the Black Panther in trying to stop the Psycho-Man a villain from the Microverse attempting to take control of Earth. Johnny assisted in destroying Psycho-Man's massive Emoto-Caster, but the Psycho-Man managed to escape. Returning to New York, Johnny went out to show off Crystal to his friends but soon grew jealous when they tried to flirt with her. By this time, Reed had hired famous chemist Dr. Santini to help him cure Ben of his mutation. Unknown to all at the time Santini was replaced by the Mad Thinker who tampered with the experiment turning Ben evil once again. Johnny rushed to the aid of his comrades, but Ben proved too strong and won the first bout. When Reed deduced that the Mad Thinker was involved, Johnny joined the rest of the team in storming his lab, rescuing Santini and apprehending the Thinker. Returning to base, they were attacked by the Thing once again, but Reed managed to blast him with Menta-Wave Unit restoring Ben to normal just as the Mad Thinker's newest android arrived to finish them off. Johnny, Ben and Reed battled the android, ultimately dumping it into the Negative Zone, however the experienced proved to Reed that he and his pregnant wife could not be safe at the Baxter Building and he resolved to leave the group.
While Reed and Sue headed off to California, Johnny, Ben and Crystal were left to determine the fate of the group, when they were suddenly approached by the Watcher. The Watcher warned that the Silver Surfer was going to menace the world in a misguided attempt to unify humanity. Johnny and Ben were joined by Reed who was teleported back to New York by the Watcher in stopping the Surfer, convincing the alien the folly of his plans. Having survived his last encounter with the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom tricked the Fantastic Four into thinking that the heroic Daredevil had been possessed by Doom himself, putting the team on alert. Johnny went after DD first, but was easily defeated. Daredevil then enlisted the aid of Spider-Man and Thor to try to convince the Fantastic Four that they had been duped. Johnny fought his rival Spider-Man thinking him to be a robot duplicate created by Dr. Doom, until Sue arrived at headquarters and confirmed Daredevil's claims that they were tricked by Doom. Soon the Surfer sought out the Fantastic Four for help when Galactus was on his way to force the Surfer to be his herald once more. Johnny and the others stood up against Galactus' Punisher robot, while the Silver Surfer—unknown to them—fled into the Microverse. Galactus soon called off his enforcer and demanded that the Fantastic Four find the Surfer or he would have no choice but to consume Earth. The Fantastic Four initially refused and so Galactus created cosmic powered duplicates of Reed, Ben and Johnny to attack the heroes. They ultimately defeated these constructs, but had no choice but to find the Surfer. Reed deduced that the Surfer fled to the Microverse and they followed after him in Reed's newly constructed Reducta-Craft. There they clashed with the Surfer and convinced him to help Galactus. The Surfer did help Galactus in finding the energy he needed in an uninhabited solar system but found himself exiled on Earth to be used by Galactus again in the future. Meanwhile, Johnny and the others were attacked by the Psycho-Man, whom they defeated in battle and convinced to let them go to defend the Earth from Galactus, pointing out that if Galactus fed on Earth, the Microverse would be destroyed as well. However when they returned to Earth they were surprised to find that Galactus had been defeated in their absence. Back on Earth, Reed devised a means of restoring Ben back to his human form, however he cautioned that should Ben change back into the Thing the transformation would be permanent. Soon after they were attacked by the recently escaped Wizard, who nearly defeated the team with his new Wonder Gloves, but was defeated, making Ben question his decision to renounce his powers. Johnny went out on a date with Crystal shortly after but it was cut short when police emptying out the Mad Thinker's hideout accidentally freed his Android Man creation. Johnny followed the Android Man's path of destruction all the way to the restaurant where Ben had taken Alicia on a date. However by the time Johnny arrived, Ben used the Wizard's Wonder Gloves (the very thing that drew the Android Man there) to transform himself back into the Thing and destroy the Android Man.
Johnny later got a letter asking for Johnny's help on the land owned by his people the Keewazi tribe. There Johnny and his teammates learned that the Red Star Oil Company had constructed a massive robot based on the Keewazi god Tomazooma to try to force the Keewazi off their oil rich land. Helping Keewazi leader Silent Fox in driving away the Communist backed corporation. Returning home, Ben and Johnny were shocked to learn that the cosmic rays that powered Sue were complicating her pregnancy threatening to kill both Sue and her unborn child during birth. Reed deduced that he needed an element from the Negative Zone in order to save Sue's life and Johnny and Ben refused to let Reed go alone. Traveling into the Negative Zone together they were captured by the brutal Darwinist known as Annihilus who captured the group. Learning that Annihilus' Cosmic Control Rod was the energy source Reed needed, the trio stole it and attempted to flee the Negative Zone, however caught between Annihilus and the Annihilation Zone, Reed compromised with the strange creature, siphoning the energy he needed and returning it to Annihilus in exchange for safe passage back to Earth. Rushing to the hospital, Reed succeeded in saving Sue's life, who gave birth to a healthy baby boy, making Johnny an uncle.
==Fighting Alongside Crystal==
With Sue unable to play an active role on the team to raise her newborn son, Crystal petitioned to join the team. Both Johnny and Reed were both apprehensive about the idea, but she proved herself during a rematch with the Wizard who attacked them with new and improved Wonder Gloves. Although the Wizard managed to escape, Crystal convinced both Reed and Johnny that she was the perfect replacement for Sue while she was away from the group. Shortly thereafter, Johnny and his teammates were invited to a wedding party being thrown at Avengers Mansion for Yellowjacket and the Wasp. Needing royal approval from the Inhumans, Crystal insisted on returning to the Great Refuge, but upon summoning Lockjaw she was captured by the Alpha Primitives a slave class that carried out menial tasks for the Inhumans. Johnny and the rest of the team traveled to the Hidden Land where they were captured and learned that Maximus had once again taken over the Inhuman throne and sought to take over the world with a Hypno-Gun. Black Bolt managed to free himself and the Royal Family and they in turn freed Johnny and the others. Working together, the two groups destroyed Maximus' Hypno-Gun, but Maximus and his minions managed to flee into space. On their way back to America, Johnny and the others were stopped by Nick Fury and his agents of SHIELD who requested the Fantastic Four's help investigating reports that Dr. Doom was supplying robots to a communist nation in Eastern Europe. Traveling there the group was easily captured and made prisoner in Dr. Doom's homeland of Latveria, unable to leave due to defenses around the nation. Doom intended them to live there until the day they died. With the people of Latveria revolting against Doom's rule, Dr. Doom had the Fantastic Four knocked out and brainwashed into thinking they had lost their powers before ordering all the dissidents, and his hated foes eliminated. Overcoming their brainwashing in the attack by Doom's robots, Johnny and the others succeeded in destroying the robots. Before taking the fight to Doom, the group was joined by Sue who had come searching for them. Splitting up, Johnny, Reed and Ben fought with Doom's minion Gustav Hauptmann, a Nazi war criminal. However when Hauptmann almost destroyed some of Doom's priceless artwork, the monarch grew tired of the match, slew Hauptmann and allowed the Fantastic Four to leave unscathed. Not long after returning to the Baxter Building, their headquarters was broken into and Reed's Space Scrambler device was stolen. Johnny attempted to go after the thief but they flew too high into the upper atmosphere preventing Johnny from following, or learning that the thief was the Silver Surfer who later used the Scrambler in yet another failed attempt to break through the barrier that kept him trapped on Earth.
Returning home, Johnny joined the rest of the team in checking out a the bizarre new home that Sue and Reed had purchased to raise their newborn son in. Unaware that they were being watched, the group were gradually struck blind by elements inside the metallic house, Trapped inside with no vision, their unseen observer—the Mole Man—made his presence known. Johnny and the others were outmatched without their vision, until a stray shot seriously wounded Reed and destroyed the device making them blind. Furious, Johnny savagely went after the Mole Man and subdued him before he could activate a device that would blind the entire world. The Mole Man then managed to escape, then set the house to self-destruct, forcing the Fantastic Four to abandon it before they could be slain in the blast. Returning to New York, Johnny was on his way back to the Baxter Building when he spotted Spider-Man in a battle with the Lizard, unaware that Spider-Man was attempting to cure the Lizard of his condition, Johnny swooped in when Spidey was knocked down by the Lizard. Unknown to Johnny at the time, the Lizard was really renown scientist Curt Connors and that Spider-Man was attempting to restore him to human form in secret to spare him and his family from the legal repercussions of being the Lizard. Unwilling to confide in the Torch for fear of compromising Connors' anonymity, Spider-Man was forced to work against his ally. Ultimately, through trial and error they managed to knock the Lizard out, but before the Torch could get involved further, Spider-Man tricked Johnny into thinking that his teammates were in trouble, prompting Johnny to abruptly leave. This phony warning proved to at least be prophetic as when Johnny returned home he learned that Ben, who left prior to the house blowing up, went missing. Johnny spent fruitless hours scouring the city searching for him. Upon returning to the Baxter Building Johnny was horrified that Reed discovered that Ben had been kidnapped by the Skrulls. After Reed tracked Ben to the planet Kral IV, Johnny joined Reed and Crystal in going after him. On Kral IV, Johnny and the others found that the planet was run by the Slave-Master and a series of Skrulls who were inspired by American gangster culture of the 1930s who captured aliens from all over the universe to put them in gladiatorial battles. Johnny and the others rescued Ben and assisted an alien named Torgo in staging an uprising among the slaves, topping the Slave-Master's empire. With the Skrull mobs defeated, Johnny and his teammates returned to Earth.
==References==
Category:Expanded History