main imageDINOSAUR ISLAND

Classification: Time-displaced terrestrial island

Creator: Naturally occurring

User/Possessors: A slew of Mesozoic era (and some late Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic) dinosaurs;
the 82nd Airborne US Army unit out of Ft. Bragg (Lt. "Flattop" Glazier (first name unrevealed), Jensen (first name unrevealed), Klunkle (first name unrevealed), Wabash (first name unrevealed), several unidentified others), Fantastic Four (Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Invisible Woman (Sue Richards), Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), Thing (Ben Grimm)), She-Thing (Sharon Ventura)

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#345 (October, 1990)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: Dinosaur Island was an island composed of land from Earth's various prehistoric eras that had become temporally displaced within a temporal pocket in the present day via a temporal storm. As time corrected itself, parts of the island (and eventually, the entirety of it) disappeared and returned to their respective eras.

History: 

(Fantastic Four I#345 (fb) - BTS) - During a temporal storm, parts of land from the Mesozoic, Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic eras of prehistory were pulled from their natural era and placed together as an island within a self-contained pocket of time in the present day.

(Fantastic Four I#345 (fb)) - Lt. Glazier and the 82nd Airborne unit from Ft. Bragg were caught in the same temporal storm, destroying their planes and the pilot crew. Parachuting, the unit arrived on the time-displaced Dinosaur Island, where one of the 82nd's parachute became caught in the trees, breaking the soldier's neck.

(Fantastic Four I#345) - Six hours later, while returning to the present day after an adventure through time, the Fantastic Four and the She-Thing crashed onto Dinosaur Island, thinking it was just a normal island. Shortly after the crash, the team was met by Lt. Glazier and Jensen, part of a military unit that had also been stranded on the island. Upon seeing the Fantastic Four, Glazier demanded to know who they were, not believing they were the real Fantastic Four, but his interrogation of the FF was interrupted by a large spinosaurus. Banding together, the FF and Lt. Glazier fought the spinosaurus until Ben Grimm managed to blow the spinosaurus' head off with a rocket blaster from the FF's ship. After hearing Lt. Glazier's story about how his unit had arrived on the island, Mr. Fantastic suggested they all find some protective shelter for the night. The Fantastic Four and Glazier's unit made their way to the top of a nearby volcano, where they surveyed their surroundings and determined its status as an island. They then made their way to a cliff, where they set up shelter for the night. The Fantastic Four and the 82nd Airborne were awoken just before dawn when a triceratops attacked their camp followed by a deionychus attack that claimed the life of another of the 82nd Airborne. Ben Grimm eventually used his Thing suit to ward off the deionychus, finally convincing Lt. Glazier that they were the real Fantastic Four. After Mr. Fantastic thought that he might be able to build a transmitter out of the Fantastic Four's ship parts, Thing suggested they might also build a signal fire, which Lt. Glazier offered to help with. As the duo prepared to travel back to the FF's ship, they realized that a whole section of the island had vanished, taking the Fantastic Four's ship and several of Lt. Glazier's men along with it. Mr. Fantastic quickly deduced that the timestream must be correcting itself, causing portions of the island to return to its natural era. He warned that if a portion of the island they were standing on disappeared, they would disappear along with it.

(Fantastic Four I#346) - Having noticed plant life from various prehistoric eras present on the island, Sharon Ventura determined that the island seemed to be zoned with sections of the island containing plant life from the Mesozoic, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Deducing that the parts of the island from the earliest prehistoric eras were disappearing first, the Fantastic Four and Lt. Glazier's men began a trek to the far side of the island where the most recent prehistoric plant life appeared. Two days later, Glazier's men and the Thing had begun building an escape raft out of chopped trees in hopes of using it in case of emergency. When another part of the island disappeared as the Thing and Sharon Ventura went out looking for more wood, Lt. Glazier ordered his men to get the raft moving into the water. The Thing and Ventura quickly caught up to them and, with the Thing's help, everyone made it safely onto the raft as the island volcano erupted and the wind picked up. Not making any headway in the turbulent seas around the island, the Fantastic Four and the 82nd Airborne soon found themselves hitting the edge of the temporal pocket containing the island. A prehistoric underwater dinosaur soon attacked their raft and when it crashed into the temporal barrier, it was destroyed and the impact allowed the Fantastic Four and the 82nd Airborne to force their way through the barrier, effectively escaping the temporal pocket that contained the island. As they watched from a distance, Dinosaur Island completely disappeared, taking with it the trees that made up the raft. Fortunately, the Fantastic Four's powers returned and Invisible Woman was able to create an invisible force raft for everyone to use. With the return of their superhuman powers, the Fantastic Four rescued the other members of the 82nd Airborne in the water and Invisible Woman created an invisible sail to get them all back to civilization, unaware that the disappearance of Dinosaur Island was caused by the Time Variance Authority.

Comments: Created by Walter Simonson.

Lt. Glazier's nickname of "Flattop" was only revealed when one of his soldiers died by deionychus and yelled "Flattop! Look out!" That either confirmed Glazier's nickname of "Flattop," or the word balloon had to come FROM Glazier and the soldier who died was nicknamed "Flattop."

Klunkle and Wabash were named as members of the 82nd Airborne unit by Lt. Glazier when he yelled to them to help cast off the escape raft. Due to the large number of soldiers helping to cast the raft off, it was impossible to determine which soldiers were Klunkle and Wabash.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dinosaur Island has no known connections to

GlazierLt. "Flattop" Glazier

Lt. Glazier was head of the 82nd Airborne military unit out of Ft. Bragg. Glazier's unit was on a flight from the American west coast to Guam when they were caught in a temporal storm that destroyed their plane. Parachuting out after the plane crew perished in the storm, the unit arrived on Dinosaur Island, where one of the unit was caught in the trees and broke his neck. Six hours after parachuting down, Lt. Glazier and the others saw the Fantastic Four's ship crash. Glazier and Jensen went to investigate and, not believing they were the real Fantastic Four, began to interrogate the heroes before a spinosaurus attacked them. Deciding to band together with the Fantastic Four, Lt. Glazier and his men accompanied them to a cliff on the island, where they set up camp for the night. Awakened just before dawn by a triceratops attack, Lt. Glazier and his men was soon attacked by a pack of deionychus as well, which claimed the life of another of Glazier's men. Continuing to aid the Fantastic Four when parts of the island began disappearing, Glazier had his men work with the Thing to build an escape raft in case of an emergency.

 

--Fantastic Four I#345 (#346,

JensenJensen

Jensen was a member of Lt. Glazier's military unit that had become stranded on Dinosaur Island. He accompanied Lt. Glazier to investigate the Fantastic Four's crash on the island and was ordered to run when a spinosaurus interrupted their interrogation of the heroes. Jensen presumably continued to accompany the 82nd Airborne as they aided the Fantastic Four in escaping Dinosaur Island.

 

 

 

--Fantastic Four I#345 (#346

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#346, p2-3, pan6 (Dinosaur Island, main image)
Fantastic Four I#346, p19, pan1 (Dinosaur Island disappearing)
Fantastic Four I#346, p20, pan4 (Glazier)
Fantastic Four I#345, p6, pan3 (Jensen)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#345 (October, 1990) - Walter Simonson (writer, art), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#346 (November, 1990) - Walter Simonson (writer, art), Ralph Macchio (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last Updated: 11/22/13

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