Fantastic Four #217

R.I.P. H.E.R.B.I.E.

Feb 12, 2026

It’s the first issue of a new decade, and Bill Mantlo and John Byrne, working from a plot by Marv Wolfman, give us a story entitled “Masquerade!” Reed is working feverishly to overhaul the Baxter Building’s security system, with the help of HERBIE. Johnny is going out dancing, and Sue plans to head to Whisper Hill to spend time with Franklin and Agatha.

By page 3, there is a big problem, as HERBIE is downloading all the data from the FF’s computer and suddenly he starts laughing maniacally. Uh oh!

The scene shifts to Johnny, who’s getting down inside Studio Infinity, where he meets the new Marvel sensation known as Dazzler! Predictably, Johnny is enthralled by the disco-powered mutant.

Back at the Baxter Building, Sue is having second thoughts about going to Agatha’s creepy house. Unexpectedly, HERBIE appears, and Sue mentions that he’s not allowed in the team’s living quarters. He responds by trying to kill Sue.

The robot proceeds to blast Ben into the portal to the Negative Zone, then turns his sights on Reed. Helpfully, he provides some back story: when Dr. Sun was aboard Nova’s spaceship, he managed to merge with Xandar’s super-computers, which were then linked to HERBIE.

Reed and Ben are knocked unconscious, but not before Reed sends a flare to notify Johnny of trouble. Johnny arrives to multitudes of defense systems attacking him. It seems Dr. Sun has taken control of the building’s computers. Reed, now revived, shrinks down and goes inside the computer system to override Dr. Sun’s commands. It works.

HERBIE is then restored to his original programming, but he fears Dr. Sun will take control again. So he chooses his only option — crashing into the FF’s computer, to destroy both himself and Dr. Sun. End of story.

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