Fantastic Four #157
Fantastic Four #157 is the sole appearance and destruction of Doomsman II, a cosmic-powered android that stands as one of Doctor Doom's most audacious weapons — a giant synthetic being imbued with a duplicate of the Silver Surfer's own Power Cosmic. Beyond that singular creation, the issue delivers the first appearance of Mephisto within the pages of the Fantastic Four title itself, bridging the Silver Surfer's solo mythology — where the demon had long tormented Norrin Radd — into the broader FF universe. The closing revelation that Mephisto secretly orchestrated the entire three-part arc, using Shalla-Bal as an unknowing pawn to torment the Surfer while duping even Doom into believing he held the strings, is a textbook example of Bronze Age Marvel's layered, cross-title continuity storytelling. As the capstone of a three-issue arc (FF #155–157), it demonstrates Roy Thomas's conviction that the Marvel Universe should function as a tightly interlocking whole, with readers rewarded for following multiple titles simultaneously.
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Issue #157 is Roy Thomas's first full solo issue in his second, longer run as the Fantastic Four's writer, having returned to the title around FF #156 after a prior stint in the early 1970s. Thomas also served as his own editor on the book at this point, giving him unusual creative latitude; the story explicitly cross-references Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 — another Thomas-written comic on sale simultaneously — and draws heavily on Doomsman lore he had established years earlier in Astonishing Tales #1–3. Penciller Rich Buckler and inker Joe Sinnott provided the interior and cover art, with Len Wein sharing co-writing credit (having plotted the preceding chapters), letterer Joe Rosen, and colorist Petra Goldberg (Scotese) rounding out the production team; Marv Wolfman was editor-in-chief of Marvel at the time.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First and only appearance of Doomsman II, a giant android created by Doctor Doom to house a duplicate of the Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic; the character is introduced, given an origin, and destroyed all within this single issue.
- First appearance of Mephisto in the pages of the Fantastic Four series; prior to this issue, Mephisto's ongoing campaign to claim the Silver Surfer's soul had been confined to the Surfer's own cancelled solo title.
- Concluding chapter of a three-part arc (Fantastic Four #155–157) co-plotted by Len Wein and Roy Thomas, with Thomas scripting this finale; the story is structured around chess terminology (Part One: 'Check…'; Chapter II: 'Zugzwang!').
- Cover date April 1975; on-sale date January 28, 1975; written and edited by Roy Thomas, pencilled by Rich Buckler, inked by Joe Sinnott, colored by Petra Goldberg (Scotese), lettered by Joe Rosen.
- The twist ending reveals that Mephisto — not Doom — was the true architect of the arc: he transported Shalla-Bal to Latveria, implanted a false peasant-girl identity in her memory, and manipulated Doom the entire time, leaving the Surfer believing his true love is still light-years away on Zenn-La.
- The original Doomsman was introduced by Thomas in Astonishing Tales #1 (1970); this issue's new version, Doomsman II, is described as possessing all of the Surfer's strengths but none of his moral reluctance to kill.
- The issue cross-references Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (also by Thomas, on sale concurrently) to explain how Doom survived his apparent death in FF #144, tying both books together as part of a deliberate shared-universe continuity push.
- Reprinted internationally and domestically: in The Complete Fantastic Four (Marvel UK, 1977 series) #24; in Fantastic Four (Editions Héritage) #46; in I Fantastici Quattro (Editoriale Corno) #167; and collected in Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 9: The Crusader Syndrome (2023).