Tokyo was being destroyed. The heart of the city was being consumed by flame as a giant monster knocked down buildings. Godzilla was on a rampage and it didn't appear as if anyone could stop the beast!
Certainly the Japanese super team known as the Honor Guard proved to be no match for the creature. Three of their membership had met horrible death while trying to halt Godzilla's devastating attack. Rising Sun, Judo-Master, and Sumo had all fallen. Only Super-Samurai and Tsunami remained, mourning not only the death of their friends, but also their helplessness against the great beast. They could not save their city!
They turned their attention to damage control, trying to rescue innocent people from the wreckage and flames. Thousands of people fled screaming. Homes had to be abandoned. A great city was being ripped apart from the inside out and there seemed to be no one capable of doing anything about it!
Captain Marvel flew to Japan at incredible speed. He had been sent by Captain America to investigate the stories of a giant monster attacking the city. If Captain America had waited a few minutes longer, he would have seen the attack on CNN himself. But before the story hit the airwaves, Cap and the rest of the Avengers League were whisked away on an adventure that would take them out of our universe and all the way to Limbo!
Captain Marvel had no way of knowing about the danger his teammates were in. He was focused on the sight that was greeting his eyes as he arrived in Tokyo. He saw a giant reptile crashing through the burning city, leveling it. Captain Marvel didn't have to wonder who the bad guy was in this case. His duty was clear.
Captain Marvel swooped and rammed right into the mammoth, 330 foot, 66 thousand-ton engine of destruction. He collided with the beast's chest. Godzilla roared in pain. It was rare that anything hurt Godzilla. The beast didn't know what hit it. Godzilla staggered back a few steps but didn't fall. The beast looked around to see what had hit it. All it spotted was a red streak of light whizzing around. Godzilla tried to swat the little object but the red streak was too fast.
Captain Marvel was surprised that Godzilla had withstood the impact of his attack. Maybe he had held back a bit. He wasn't used to unleashing his total strength. He veered off to get some distance, and rammed the creature again.
Godzilla roared again and staggered backwards again. The monster teetered off balance but didn't fall. It regained its footing and focused its attention on the red streak that plagued it.
Captain Marvel was shocked that he had failed twice to knock Godzilla over. What was this creature made of? He circled, using the Wisdom of Solomon to try and come up with the best form of attack! Godzilla roared a warning, trying to scare off the tiny attacker. But Captain Marvel would not be intimidated. Godzilla fixed two reptilian eyes on the red speck and spit out a heated energy ray. Captain Marvel was taken by surprise. The ray engulfed him and carried him, screaming in agony, several miles out to sea. He vanished into the water.
Nearby, a whale was cruising into Tokyo bay. This was an unusual sight considering that whale hunting was very big in Japan. It was even more unusual considering that the whale had five humanoid passengers riding atop it.
These passengers were the newly reunited Doom Patrol . . . Mr. Terrific, Elasti-Girl, Princess Namorita, Negative Man, and Robotman. They were here to stop Godzilla. Or die trying!
Mr. Terrific pointed to the spot where Captain Marvel had fallen beneath the water. "Nita, go!" he ordered.
Namorita dived off the whale and swam quickly to Captain Marvel's rescue. She brought him to the surface and towed him back to her partners. With Atlantean strength, she easily carried the large, muscular hero back onto the whale. Mr. Terrific kneeled to see the extent of the damage. Incredibly, Captain Marvel was not only alive, but still conscious, although just barely. His costume was singed and his cape was totally burned off, but there were no visible marks on his skin.
"Amazing!" Terrific said. "He must be virtually indestructible. I didn't image that anyone could survive that."
"I'm surprised to see him here," Elasti-Girl said. "He's been keeping a low profile lately."
"I bet he's wishin' he'd kept that low profile today," Robotman said.
Captain Marvel regained his senses and sat up. Mr. Terrific tried to hold him down but couldn't. "Don't get up. Rest."
"I'm all right," Captain Marvel said. "I just got blind-sided. Stupid mistake. I was careless. It won't happen again."
"Well, you know your limits better than I," Terrific said.
Captain Marvel stood up. The other hadn't realized how tall he was. Captain Marvel studied the group. "Who are you guys?"
"We're the Doom Patrol," Mr. Terrific answered.
"I heard about you a while back," Marvel said. "I thought you broke up."
"It's quite a long story. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mr. Terrific."
"Mr. Terrific?" Captain Marvel asked. "I heard you were dead."
"I got better," Terrific answered.
"Well, thanks for your help, but I have to get back to the battle!" Captain Marvel said.
"You can't stop him by force," Terrific said. "He's like a force of nature."
"I can't stand by and watch this destruction either," Captain Marvel said. "I'm a member of the Avengers League now! I have a duty!"
"Is the rest of the Avengers League coming?" Elasti-Girl asked hopefully.
"I've been trying to contact them but I'm not getting an answer."
"Figures," Negative Man said. "Big shots are too busy to come and save the world."
Captain Marvel was annoyed at that comment. "I have to go!"
"Be careful!" Elasti-Girl said.
Captain Marvel nodded and flew back to the fray.
"Brave man," Elasti-Girl said.
"He's going to get himself killed," Mr. Terrific said. "Godzilla can't be stopped by conventional means. We need to use our brains."
"That's your line," Robotman said. "Thinkin' ain't my thing."
"Tell us something we don't know," Negative Man said.
"Go sit on a reactor!" Robotman said.
"A reactor!" Terrific said. "That's it!"
"That's what?" Namorita asked.
Mr. Terrific pulled out a communications device. "Adam!" he said. "Adam Strange! Come in!"
"Strange here," a voice said over the communicator.
"Have you been able to get in touch with planet Rann yet?" Terrific asked.
"Not yet," Adam Strange answered. "There's a long time lag on interplanetary communications."
Terrific grinned, glad at what he was hearing. "Good! When you do reach them, here's what I need you to tell them . . . "
In the far-off nation of Latveria, Dr. Doom watched the destruction in Tokyo via one of his special spy satellites, as well as the normal TV new services. He was satisfied with what he was seeing thus far. The Simian Assassin Mallah stood next to him.
"Godzilla is as unstoppable as I had believed," Doom said to Mallah. "Not Captain Marvel, nor the Honor Guard, nor all the weapons of man can stand against this titanic mutation!"
"Are you going to summon your super-villain army now, Doctor?" Mallah asked.
"Not just yet," Doom answered. "I need to do one more thing first. I have to take control of the beast, otherwise it will attack my army of super-lackeys, just as it attacks everyone else."
"I imagine your super-powered servants wouldn't appreciate that," Mallah said. "So what is the next step?"
"Next, I launch the cyber-implant," Dr. Doom said. "And we must wait for satellite-G to get in range! After that, the world is mine!"
Things had not improved in Tokyo. The city was being evacuated and the army was in retreat. Tsunami was using her powers to try and control the spreading flames. Super-Samurai joined Captain Marvel in trying to contain the beast. So far, they had barely slowed Godzilla down.
The Doom Patrol had come ashore. They were sickened by the devastation.
"Horrible!" Mr. Terrific said.
"We have to end this quickly!" Elasti-Girl said.
"Yeah, what's the plan?" Robotman asked. "I'm tired of bein' a spectator."
"For the moment, there's little we can do except to help these poor people," Mr. Terrific said. "They need any assistance we can give!"
"You mean we just take care of the symptoms and ignore the disease?" Negative Man asked. "That doesn't seem like great strategy."
"I hate ta agree wit' Radiation-brain, but Larry's right," Robotman said. "We gotta take the fight right ta the big G hisself!"
"Trust me!" Mr. Terrific said. "Things are in the works. We have to wait exactly one hour! There's nothing we can do until then!"
"All right, if you say so," Elasti-Girl said, "We trust you. Let's roll, guys!"
Elasti-Girl, Namorita, Robotman and Negative-Man rushed into the center of the action, doing what they could to help people who were hurt or trapped under rubble. Mr. Terrific kept in contact with Adam Strange and coordinated the efforts of his team, as he counted down the minutes until the creature could finally be stopped.
For fifty-five minutes, nothing changed. The beast continued destroying while the heroes did their best to keep him in check. Mr. Terrific checked the time. The moment was almost here. He checked Godzilla's progress. Terrific nodded. It was just as he expected. Godzilla needed to feed and radiation was his food.
Godzilla had reached the nuclear reactor in just the amount of time that Mr. Terrific had calculated. Terrific had taken the distance, the obstacles in the beast's path and Captain Marvel's interference into account. Godzilla was right on schedule. Mr. Terrific contacted Adam Strange again.
"He's arrived just when we thought he would," Terrific said. "He'll reach the reactor in two and a half minutes. It should take him several minutes to drain its energy. He'll be right where we need him to be when the Zeta-Beam strikes!"
"It'll strike exactly on schedule!" Adam Strange said. "Don't worry. My friends on Rann won't let us down!"
Terrific took a deep breath. If everything went according to plan, this disaster would be over in mere minutes. But how often did things go as planned?
Godzilla had sensed the reactor from miles away and slowly made his way toward it. Finally, the beast spotted the reactor and started to head towards it. Mr. Terrific contacted Captain Marvel over his Avenger League communicator. Marvel was surprised by Terrific's request to pull back and let the monster reach the reactor. Marvel didn't understand but since his own method of stopping the giant reptile was not working too well, he decided to give Terrific's plan a chance. He tried to tell Super-Samurai to retreat. Even if the Samurai had understood, he would have refused to do so. He was so tormented by what he was seeing that he couldn't think of anything but revenge. He continued to attack Godzilla. Captain Marvel grabbed the Japanese hero and dragged him away. The Super-Samurai attacked Marvel but his strength was no match for the American. Marvel dragged the Samurai to Mr. Terrific who talked to him in Japanese and managed to convince him to hold off his attack for four minutes.
Godzilla lumbered toward the nuclear reactor. Before he reached it, a small projectile flew toward the monster. This was Dr. Doom's cyber-implant. The device latched onto Godzilla's ear. Thousands of tiny nano-bots flew into Godzilla's ear and attached themselves to his reptilian cortex. They zapped the cortex with massive electrical impulses. This had the effect of rendering the creature extremely susceptible to messages received on a certain frequency.
Doom's Satellite-G moved into the proper orbit. Doom smiled under his mask as his activated the controls. The Satellite beamed the proper frequency into Godzilla's brain. In mere moments, Doom took control of Godzilla. Godzilla stopped heading for the reactor and turned back in the other direction.
Doom was overjoyed. It had succeeded. The most powerful destructive force in the world was under his control.
"It worked!" Doom said, elated. "As I knew it would. I planned it all too perfectly. Even the interference of Mr. Terrific and the Doom Patrol couldn't prevent my inevitable victory. My conquest of the Earth is assured!"
Mr. Terrific was stunned when he saw Godzilla moving away from the reactor. He quickly figured out what had gone wrong. "Doom!"
Terrific had to do some fast thinking. Godzilla had to be standing next to the nuclear reactor in exactly one minute or else the Zeta-Beam would miss. There was only one person who could save them now. Mr. Terrific turned to Captain Marvel who was till standing nearby.
"Marvel, listen to me!" Terrific said, trying to stay calm and cool. "Godzilla has to be standing just to the east of that nuclear reactor in fifty-five seconds. Otherwise, we won't be able to stop him! You have to get him there and keep him there!"
"I don't understand, but I'll do what I can," Captain Marvel said.
"But be extra cautious," Terrific said. "The monster is now being controlled by Dr. Doom. Doom is a brilliant tactician. It won't be like fighting a mindless brute."
"Thanks for the warning," Captain Marvel said. "I'll get it done!"
As Captain Marvel headed back into battle, he used the Wisdom of Solomon to decide how to handle this. Let's see, he thought. Doom, from what I know of him, is conceited. That would make him overconfident. He may underestimate my strength. Also, as a pompous king, he'll be easy to bait. I think I know how to do this!
Captain Marvel landed on the ground in Godzilla's path. He stood looking up at the monster, smiling mockingly. "Here I am, you stupid, mindless, pathetic, overgrown gecko. Come and face me one-on-one!"
Doom monitored Marvel's taunts. He was tired of Marvel's interference and wanted to be rid of this pest. He ordered Godzilla to raise his foot. Doom assumed that Captain Marvel would fly out of the way. Once he was in the air, Doom planned to catch him in a crossfire between Godzilla's flame, claws and tail. One of them, under Doom's quick-thinking guidance, would strike the Captain. Doom was certain of that. It might have worked, except for one thing.
Captain Marvel didn't move out of the way of the massive foot that stomped down onto him. With all his indescribable strength, Captain Marvel pushed upwards, catching the gigantic, clawed foot. Godzilla was thrown off balance by the unexpected resistance. Then, with all the power of Hercules, Captain Marvel pushed upwards against 66,000 tons. It was the hardest thing he had ever done.
But he succeeded. Godzilla teetered backwards, lost his footing and started to fall. The great reptile toppled backwards. He hit the ground like an earthquake. The area shook. Godzilla was down!
The creature landed just to the east of the nuclear reactor. That was just where Mr. Terrific wanted him.
Mr. Terrific looked at his timepiece. The hour was up. 57 . . . 58 . . . 59 . . .
Godzilla was climbing to his feet, when he was swallowed by a flash of light. One second later and Godzilla had vanished from the face of the Earth.
Dr. Doom jumped to his feet, shocked and enraged! "What!? What has happened! Where did he disappear to?"
Doom muttered profanities under his breath as his used every scanning device at his command to locate Godzilla. But he couldn't. From all indications, Godzilla had disappeared from the planet.
Doom angrily grabbed Mallah and threw him across the room in fury. Mallah hit the wall, recovered, and ran for safety. Doom was in no mood to be reasonable.
Doom ranted for minutes, and then finally dropped into a chair. "Fate is ever against me! But I will not allow fate to have the last word! I will try again! I will keep trying until I achieve my rightful destiny! Someday, Dr. Doom will rule the Earth!"
The people of Japan didn't know what, exactly, had just happened, and they didn't care. They cheered Captain Marvel as he flew over the city. Captain Marvel was embarrassed by their effusive display but he was also glad that he had put on a good freshman showing as a member of the Avengers League. The team would be proud.
Tsunami managed to put out the rest of the fires, now that Godzilla was no longer starting new ones. She, Super-Samurai, Captain Marvel and the Doom Patrol spent the rest of the day searching for survivors. Adam Strange joined them later on. With all their combined speed and power, the search went quickly and many were saved. Unfortunately, many died.
The next day, there was nothing left for the super-heroes to do but wish the people of Japan well and go home. Super-Samurai and Tsunami said goodbye to their new friends and went to see the leaders of the country to give their reports. Captain Marvel stood with the Doom Patrol and Adam Strange.
"You did good work, Captain," Mr. Terrific said to the powerful hero. "You saved a lot of people today. You did the Avengers League proud."
"I feel bad taking all the credit for this," Captain Marvel said. "It was your plan."
"Don't worry about it," Terrific said. "The Doom Patrol always worked best in the shadows. And it was you who risked your life. That was an incredible feat you accomplished."
"You did great," Elasti-Girl said, kissing Marvel on the cheek. "You should be proud."
Marvel blushed, a little embarrassed. "Well, uh, I guess I should be going."
"Right. Thanks again for all your help," Terrific said.
"You're okay, kid," Robotman said.
"Sorry about that crack about the league," Negative Man said. "You got my respect."
"Good journey," Namorita said.
"Good to meet you all," Marvel said. "Hope to see you again sometime."
Captain Marvel flew off. Again the people of Tokyo cheered him.
Negative Man watched him go. "I can't say it doesn't bug me that we didn't get any credit for this, considering we were on this case long before he was, but I have to admit, that was a pretty cool stunt he pulled."
"All I care about is that we stopped him," Elasti-Girl said. "And we lived to tell the tale."
"Where's that Mason dame, the Fed?" Robotman asked.
"I dropped her off in Hawaii," Adam Strange said. "She's fine. Everything's fine now."
"So the big lizard is on Rann now?" Robotman asked.
"Yep," Adam Strange said. "And hopefully he'll take care of King Ghidorrah for us."
"But then you'll have Godzilla loose on your planet," Namorita commented.
"The Zeta-Beam is only temporary," Adam Strange said. "Godzilla will vanish off Rann soon enough."
"Then we ain't rid of him?" Robotman asked. "This is just a rest between innings."
"I have a plan," Mr. Terrific said.
"I love those words," Elasti-Girl said. "Can I assume that you have a way to keep Godzilla from reappearing back on Earth after the beam wears off."
"Let's just say, that if I'm right, Godzilla's return won't be a problem," Terrific said, "I just need some time to work on it."
"You have about thirty or forty days," Adam Strange said. "We gave Godzilla an extra big dose of Zeta-energy. Combine with the radioactive energy already in his body, he'll stay on Rann for a while. That should give you enough time to do whatever it is you're going to do."
"Good enough," Terrific said. "I'll take care of the rest. But I'll start tomorrow. For today, let's just go home and take a rest. We've earned it. We did good work on this mission, my friends. We stopped Dr. Doom's plans for global domination and survived. Doom will be back, you can be sure of that, but not for a while. In the meantime, let's just be glad that we're all together again. I missed you all while I was exiled from Earth. I thought about you a lot. And here we are, reunited. A team again. Victorious again. The Doom Patrol is back!"
Next issue: The Inhumans.