Good morning, folks!
Hope everyone's been enjoying the weekend. Time for me to summarize the eighty-seventh issue of Marvel Two-In-One. The cover depicted an armor-clad warrior preparing to bring his axe down upon the also armor-clad Thing, with Ant-Man and his ant brigade and a crowd of spectators behind them. The tale was titled "Menace of the Microworld!" The issue had a cover date of May 1982.
The story started in the Baxter Building in New York City, as Fantastic Four members Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm) were working on another one of Reed's experiments. Grimm was holding what looked like an ordinary sphere, but was actually made of a light artificial metal that Richards hoped could change its own density with electromagnetic stimulus.
Reed turned on a switch, and the ball in Grimm's hands started increasing in weight. Eventually, the Thing found himself kneeling on the now-cracked portion of the floor where he'd been standing effortlessly moments earlier. Richards then turned off the switch and retrieved the ball from his friend's hands. Johnny flew circles around his buddy, taunting him as usual.
Ben grabbed for a cigar and asked for a light, thinking that the Human Torch was still near. The Thing was then encased in a glowing aura before he started to shrink down to microscopic size. His sudden disappearance caught his teammates' attention, making them remember the first time the Fantastic Four shrunk down (with the aid of the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, in issue #16 of their team title). Pym now went by the costumed identity of Yellowjacket and had recently run into trouble with the law (a saga covered in the Avengers' book).
As Reed and Johnny worked on a sensor scope to detect their friend, Storm mentioned that he'd heard there was someone else now going by Ant-Man. Neither of them knew that an ant in that very room was listening to the conversation and making an effort to communicate with the new Ant-Man.
At the moment, that hero was busy trying to convince his daughter Cassie to clean her room. Scott Lang was raising his daughter by himself in their Long Island home. She was trying to convince her father that the chore could wait until after she met her friends at the movies, when a swarm of ants entered an open window. Lang knew what that could possibly mean, and ushered Cassie outside as he went to don his costume.
After calling his sister to confirm she could watch his daughter for a while, Lang shrunk down in size and hitched a ride atop a flying ant. He arrived some time later at the Baxter Building, growing to his regular size right behind Johnny Storm. Lang explained his similarity to Pym, but didn't go into details regarding his mentor's current whereabouts.
Reed and Johnny explained the predicament, and Richards suggested that Ant-Man travel to a submicroscopic world to retrieve Ben. Lang had never shrunk down that small before, but was willing to try for the sake of the Thing. He insisted on going alone, to ensure that the process worked.
A short while later, Lang found himself inside a castle. He had only walked a few steps when several guards rushed him. Ant-Man used his shrinking ability to confuse the soldiers, and he strode into the next room, where he found Grimm sitting calmly, his every need being tended to.
Ben seemed quite content where he was. Before Lang could ask more questions, a woman named Pearla, who was a monarch of that planet, entered. She stated that the Thing had agreed to help defend their land from the lizard warriors from the land called Tok. Their leader was a creature named Zorak. Pearla had been assisted by the Fantastic Four before and used a machine in her kingdom to bring the Thing back to rally him to their side.
Ant-Man was later led away to another room that would serve as his quarters until Pearla called for him. Lang examined the viewscreen before him and used his technological expertise to examine the machinery. He was unaware that Pearla's guards could observe him, and when he disappeared from sight, the soldiers ran to his quarters.
The room was now abandoned, and the machine had been disassembled. The guards went to search for their captive, not knowing that Ant-Man was hiding in one of their boots as they moved on. The failure was confessed to Pearla, who disclosed that the great contest between both sides was merely a ruse to serve as an excuse to invade the lizard men's territory.
Ant-Man sent out a telepathic distress signal, and soon found a strange creature behind him. He realized that the alien insect was friendly and took to the air with his new ally. Moments later, the gladiatorial contest began. Grimm entered the arena, where he faced a large, armored opponent.
The combatants began their conflict in earnest, as rulers from both warring nations looked on. The arrival of several native insects, who started swarming around Ben's foe, gave Ant-Man enough time to convince Ben that he'd been entranced. Grimm came to his senses and soon tossed his rival into the box where the leaders were sitting.
Ben was supposed to lose the contest, and he battled Pearla's guards while she escaped. Ant-Man assisted, and Grimm was able to halt the invasion before it even started. Pearla's forces were swiftly defeated, and the heroes would not leave until both sides signed a truce. Things were resolved for the moment, although Lang wasn't eager to return home to another one of his daughter's unusual food combinations for dinner.
This was the first time that Lang met the Fantastic Four. About a decade later, he would become a supporting part of their cast in the FF's own book. This version of Ant-Man grew in popularity with his appearances in several MCU films, and he still remains a fan favorite today. His origin is interesting, and I'm kind of surprised that he wasn't featured more prominently in more Marvel titles at the time.
That's it for this morning. Later today, I'll cover the eighty-eighth issue of Marvel Two-In-One. Grimm takes on another new threat, with the help of someone who would temporarily replace him in the Fantastic Four in a few years. Until then, have a great day and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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