File:Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 61 001.JPG

Description
After Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and Equinox depart, Spider-Man begins the thankless Job of straightening up the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters. But suddenly his spider-sense tingles, and he ducks to avoid being hit by the Thing's powerful fist. Then a blast of flame chases him up a wall, an invisible force field knocks him off, and a pair of elastic arms encircle him. He cannot understand why the Fantastic Four would be angry enough to pursue him so relentlessly, and he does not understand why they are attacking him one at at time. But before he can ponder these questions, an invisible force field surrounds his head and begins to suffocate him. Weakened, he falls to his knees, and then the force field vanishes. Just as the fresh air revives Spider-Man, the Thing's fist slams his Jaw and knocks him out the window. Still alive but in pain and shock, he is unable to use his web-shooters to save himself. Fortunately, the Human Torch happens to fly by and catches him. Finding it very odd that the Human Torch would save him after the Fantastic Four tried to crush him, Spider-Man slowly regains the use of his body and decides to retaliate against his rescuer. First he snags the edge of a roof with his webbing, and then he allows the momentum of their flight to slam the Torch into the roof of an adjacent building as he rolls clear. But the Torch quickly recovers and angrily berates Spider-Man for his apparent ingratitude. When Spider-Man explains how the Fantastic Four tried to kill him, the Torch becomes puzzled, because he knows that the Fantastic Four are not at home. Even if they were, says Johnny, they would not have attacked Spider-Man. Then Johnny realizes that Spider-Man's attacker must be able to mimic their powers and he quickly figures out who that is. He streaks away to the Baxter Building with Spider-Man web-swinging behind. When they arrive, Spider-Man's spider-sense does not tingle, so he knows the attacker is gone. Johnny then points to the green, carved stick on the floor, and Spider-Man, totally puzzled, asks him to explain. A few months ago, replies Johnny, Tigra and Red Wolf battled Joshua Plague and his gang, the Rat Pack. Plague had stolen the stick, which is actually the Soul Catcher wand, from an Indian tribe, and Tigra and Red Wolf were trying to get it back. Plague turned out to be the Super-Skrull in disguise, and when he tried to use the wand to absorb Tigra's soul, his plan backfired and he was absorbed instead. The wand was then confiscated by police as evidence in a murder, in which Tigra was one of the chief suspects. Tigra realized that the wand was too dangerous to be left to the police, so she stole it and brought it to Reed Richards. The Thing wondered why Tigra didn't simply destroy it, but when he tried to break it, he found he could not. Then Reed placed the wand in a stasis safe until he could figure out how to neutralize its powers. When the Torch concludes his narrative, Spider-Man says that during the battle against Equinox, the safe was torn open and the Super-Skrull escaped. But Just then, Spider-Man's spider-sense tingles a strong warning, and the Super-Skrull challenges Spider-Man and the Torch to battle. At the Midtown-North Precinct stationhouse, Captain Jean DeWolff and Lieutenant Rafael Scarfe are just finishing the paperwork in the Equinox case. Jean comments that Terry Sorenson was probably insane when he was Equinox. As she offers to buy Scarfs breakfast, Malloy buzzes her on the intercom to tell her about the battle taking place at the Baxter Building. In moments, she and Scarfe are in her roadster headed downtown. The radio informs her that the commissioner has given her tactical command. Lieutenant Kris Keating's SWAT team, however, is unavailable, and as Jean ponders how to deploy her scant manpower, they pass by the West Side Penn Central trainyard. There they spot Spider-Man and the Torch battling the Super-Skrull. The Skrull uses his flame against Johnny, but Spider-Man blinds him with web fluid. Irritated, the Skrull punches Spider-Man, then extends an arm and flings him away. But Spider-Man snags a building with his webbing, and as he swings above the ground he sees Jean DeWolff's roadster. When he alights, Jean introduces him to Scarfe and asks for an explanation. Spider-Man tells her about the Super-Skrull, but then he notices the generators at a nearby electric power plant. Acting on a hunch, Spider-Man asks Jean to order her men to keep the Skrull busy for a while, and the police, armed with special blasters designed by Reed Richards, open fire. With the Super-Skrull distracted, Spider-Man pulls the Human Torch down to the ground with his webbing and explains his plan. Then, working quickly, they bend lengths of rail into a hoop that Spider-Man electrifies. All they have to do now, says Spider-Man, is to trick the Skrull into flying through the hoop. Meanwhile, the Skrull forces the police to retreat, and as he attacks Johnny and Spider-Man, he increases the intensity of his flame until Spider-Man can barely look at him. Spider-Man begins to doubt that his plan will succeed. A thousand yards up the Hudson River, aboard the liner S.S. Queen Elizabeth ll, whose departure was delayed by a wildcat strike, Carol Danvers and other passengers watch the battle, fascinated. Carol is with the ship's Wing Commander, Daniel, so she cannot change to Ms. Marvel and join in the battle without compromising her secret identity. As the Torch fights the Super-Skrull, he finds himself considerably stronger than he was the last time he battled the Skrull, but the Skrull is powered by an immense energy beam directed toward Earth from an asteroid orbiting the Skrull Throneworld. This beam makes him virtually invincible, and he easily resists Johnny's onslaught. Then he punches Johnny, and Johnny falls to the sidewalk at the feet of Jean DeWolff, stunned. By this time, Spider-Man's "power grid" is set up, but Lieutenant Scarfe asks him to await the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, who can fight the Super-Skrull on more equal terms. Johnny and Jean join the lieutenant in trying to dissuade Spider-Man, but Spider-Man web-swings away. He soon finds the evildoer aiming a small device at the Queen Elizabeth ll, gloating that the sensor he built in Reed's lab indicates that the thing he is looking for is aboard the vessel. When Spider-Man snatches the sensor with webbing, the Skrult angrily flames on in pursuit. The Skrull follows Spider-Man through the electrically wired hoop, and Spider-Man throws the switch. But although the massive Jolt briefly immobilizes the Skrull, he remains unharmed and smashes the trap. Then, angered beyond measure, he advances menacingly toward the brave but nearly defenseless Spider-Man.