Fantastic Four #5

Prisoners of Doctor Doom!

by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Joe Sinnott

Release: July 1962
Format: Comic Book
Genre: Superhero
Audience: YA and Up
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

The Marvel Comics Brand began in 1939 with the first edition of Marvel Comics. Throughout the ’40s and ’50s, some of the Timely and Atlas comics had the slogan “A Marvel Magazine,” ”Marvel Comic,” or a small “MC” on the cover. As for me personally, I was hooked when Marvel started publishing the Fantastic Four in 1961. During the sixties, I devoured as many Marvels as I could as they arrived at the local Rexall Drug Store or swapping comcs with my pals, and this is the first of those Marvel issues in the ’60s involved superhero time travel.

Nowadays, we all know that Doc Doom is far too smart to think the most profitable way to use his time platform is by sending three of the FF into the past with orders to bring back Blackbeard’s treasure (while keeping the fourth member of their team captive). And yet, the story has a charm that stems from the causal loop of Ben Grimm’s presence in the past actually causing the legend of Blackbeard, which in turn caused Doom to send the loveable lunk back.

And now I shall send you back. . . hundreds of years into the past! You will have forty-eight hours to bring me Blackbeard’s treasure chest! Do not fail!

DEBUT

“Prisoners of Doctor Doom!,” in Fantastic Four 5 (Marvel Comics, July 1962).

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1700 to 1799: the time of Blackbeard
Circa AD 1960 to 1969

Time Travel Methods

Time Catapults
Time Tethers: Doom’s Time Platform is a form of a tether, at least in this first comic

Themes

Causal Loops
Robots or Androids: a Doc Doom robot

Real-World Tags

Blackbeard: although he appears only as the Thing
Pirates

Fictional Tags

Groupings

The Fantastic Four (comic book): #5, July 1962
Fantastic Four (franchise)
Marvel Comics (franchise)
Marvel Multiverse (conglomerate)

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From Doctor Doom’s first castle, Adirondack Mountains, 1962 ⋙ to an unspecified place, in the time of Blackbeard. Round trip. Note: the Thing, the Human Torch, and Mr. Fantastic.