former guardian of X-Nation. Despite chemical brainwashing, the three heroes help Whisper take her rightful place on the throne. Back in the city, Reed and the future Doctor Doom work with the remaining survivors. While fleeing the city towards the Savage Land, the only place on Earth free from flooding, a fleet of Atlantean ships attacks the remaining humans. The human fleet is saved from destruction by the interference of Doom’s Latverian Luftwaffe, and finally by Whisper, as she asserts her newfound control. Savage Land The Fantastic Four, along with the last refugees of Earth, finally settle in the Savage Land to rebuild humanity. Their next step is to send out a ship piloted by the Thing, and crewed by Father Jennifer and the mutants December, Twilight and Smith. The goal is to rendezvous with the human colony on Mars, in order to establish relations and ask for help. Cosmic rays cause the ship to crash. Back on Earth, Johnny and Susan despair as Reed drives himself to exhaustion to establish a technological infrastructure for the remaining humans. All three grieve for Ben's presumed loss, but Reed takes it the worst, actually hallucinating at one point that Metalhead is Ben. Sue and Johnny confront Reed, who states his intention to stay in the 2099 era. They leave him behind. Reed accomplishes his goal, creating a repository of knowledge for the last of humanity. Shocked back to sanity by the databank's physical resemblance to his son Franklin, Reed races back to Four Freedoms Plaza just in time to join Johnny and Sue. They vanish into the Negative Zone, destination uncertain. The mutants later return to Earth with Martian aliens and resources in an attempt to help the survivors. Later is shown this team was copies made by the powerful Watcher to help 2099 humanity which is in danger of extinction. The Watcher is persuaded to keep the current Fantastic Four around and they prove invaluable to rebuilding Earth. Some of the highlights of their careers including becoming official Avengers, removing a barrier to space exploration and establishing a peace treaty with Atlanteans. References 1996 comics debuts Marvel 2099 characters