1st story:
Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich is writing an article:
On the anniversary of this auspicious day, let’s all take the time to ask ourselves a question… one that is often posed of this or that event in the past, such as “Where were you, when you heard about Kennedy? When Armstrong took his giant leap or when the Twin Towers fell? Where were you when Charles Xavier died?”
Yes, where were you when? Where were you and what were you doing when the Fantastic Four first came to be?
Flashback:
Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Susan and Johnny Storm infiltrate an army base to reach a certain rocket.
Elsewhere in a Manhattan practice, Dr. Don Blake assures his assistant Jane Foster that he’s fine. She doesn’t believe it. He’s exhausted and needs to get away. She took the liberty of speaking to a travel agent. Apparently, Norwegian tourism is running a promotion…
Elsewhere in New York, Tony Stark is sitting at the roulette table, admired by a bevy of beautiful women. His disapproving assistant Pepper Potts informs him Ho Yinsen – that Nobel Prize winner he is always going on about – is staying at this hotel. Does he want her to set up a meeting? Another time, he decides, he’s busy. Besides, he’s sure fate will have them cross paths one day…
Near an army base in the Nevada Desert, Dr. Bruce Banner and Betty Ross are having a picnic. Betty is surprised at this romantic gesture. Bruce retorts he has a sensitive side. He just doesn’t get to show it often. Besides, this desert is beautiful and, after they test that gamma bomb here, who knows how long it’ll be off-limits.
In his Lab, Dr. Henry Pym decides he will call his invention Pym Particles. A bit vain, sure, but who cares?
Young Peter Parker shows his Uncle Ben pictures he took of his Aunt May and others. Ben Parker praises them and asks if Peter is sure he wants to go into science. Those are good! Peter isn’t sure. He loves all of it. He has time to make his mind up, Ben replies. He should just enjoy being a kid.
In a lonely gym, Matt Murdock secretly practices boxing during night time.
In a bar, Nick Fury tells his friend ‘Dum-Dum’ Dugan he may be leaving the Company after all these years. There’s talk of a new outfit being formed, very ambitious. May need his help getting off the ground.
And an Angel secretly flies in the skies.
The world changed for everyone that day. More so to my reckoning than by the murder of a president, the conquest of space or any other event I can think of.
Of course I realize the world had seen its share of marvels before then.
In the Arctic, Captain America is frozen in a block of ice.
Back during the Second World War, it must have seemed like a golden age of mystery men and super-champions.
In a Russian lab, the Black Widow lies in suspended animation.
But after the return to peace, those same heroes seemingly vanished back into the ether and the world went back to the way it was before.
In a soup kitchen, the amnesiac Sub-Mariner is standing in line for some food.
When Reed Richards, Sue Storm, her brother Johnny and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm took it upon themselves to meet the stars…
In a fighter jet, Major Carol Danvers watches the rocket move past and asks the tower if there is a rocket launch nobody told her about.
In the meantime, young Sam Alexander sits in front of the TV waiting for his father to come home.
When the four of them had their bodies bombarded by cosmic rays and then upon their return to Earth were transformed into the amazing beings they are today, it somehow opened the door to the world’s transformation, too.
Outside a mansion, Professor Xavier informs his newest student Bobby Drake that here he can learn how to be who he is. He and the other gifted youngsters Xavier finds.
In Latveria, Dr. Doom leads a coup d’etat.
Some may argue that as rife as it is now with alien invaders, Earth-bred horrors and the destruction they bring to our lives, it’s a much worse place because of it. While others embrace the unique wonder and scientific advancements that have stemmed from it.
Carl Lucas lingers innocently in jail.
What cannot be denied is that the planet changed forever.
In the wilds of Canada, a feral man with claws runs though the wilderness.
In Kun Lun, Lei-Kung the Thunderer informs young Daniel Rand that his martial skills now match his and that he is ready to face Shou-Lao the Undying.
So, let me ask you the question again.
Millie the Model has her picture taken.
Where?
In Kenya, Ororo Munroe walks across a veldt.
In Greenwich Village, Stephen Strange decides on a house nobody else wants.
Where were you? And what were you doing when it happened?
Standing outside her home, young Kamala Khan is called to dinner.
When the world became fantastic?
- Ben Urich Daily Bugle staff writer
