SOLAR WAVE

Classification: Natural phenomenon (presumably, see comments)

Creator: Earth's sun

User/Possessors: Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#23 (February, 1964)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: Apparently some form of electromagnetic radiation originating from Earth's sun, Solar Waves sweep the world every 24 hours.

When objects coated with ionic dust are exposed to Solar Waves, a space-warp is seemingly created, and the objects are somehow transferred into interplanetary space (see comments).








History:
(Fantastic Four I#23 (fb) - BTS) - The history of Solar Waves is largely unrevealed, but unspecified years ago, an abandoned weather station was caught in the path of one. The wave was attracted to ionic dust particles which had drifted down from the atmosphere and had settled on the structure's roof; within seconds, the entire roof of the building was transferred to outer space--Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) somehow learned of this incident.

   At some point, Dr. Doom also learned of Solar Waves, so he devised a master plan to utilize one and finally eliminate the Fantastic Four. Doom first purchased a warehouse--his research had discovered that it was in the path of a Solar Wave; he then obtained a small quantity of expensive ionic dust powder, then he wired a room in the warehouse to cause the dust to settle there.

(Fantastic Four I#23) - After he and his trio of henchmen captured the Fantastic Four, Doom had the heroes confined to the warehouse room. The FF broke free from their bonds, but as the Solar Wave reached the location, an area of the floor slowly began to dissolve, leaving interplanetary space visible in its place. The Invisible Girl (Sue Storm) projected a force-field through the wall, trapping Dr. Doom within it and holding him fast against the adjoining wall, so he would suffer the same fate as the heroic quartet.

   As the floor and walls of the room continued to disappear into space, Doom had no choice but to open the access hatch into the room; but as he reached inside to disconnect the wires that attracted the ionic dust, he was pulled into the vanishing room by the Thing (Ben Grimm). As the Thing threateningly approached him, Doom stepped backward on the dissolving floor, then fell off into space (see comments).

   Correctly figuring that Doom didn't use any ionic dust beyond the room, Mr. Fantastic ordered his teammates to climb through the access hatch and back into the main warehouse.

   Later, after the Solar Wave had passed, the Fantastic Four had one final look at where the room had been--nothing but some girders remained.
 

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

When Doctor Doom fell off into space, he found himself stranded near the planet Jupiter (where he eventually encountered Rama-Tut)--it was unrevealed if this was the usual location where things transported by the Solar Waves were deposited.

I wonder why Doom went through all the trouble of utilizing the Solar Wave in the first place--he'd earlier "rewarded" his three henchmen by giving them each a "priceless dimensional-transport machine" (which transported them into another dimension, until he needed them again), so why not just use the same technology on the FF?

Curiously, when that room began to dissolve, none of the air rushed out into the vacuum of space.

It was never revealed at what point in the past the Solar Waves first began to transport things into space--maybe they were originally caused by Michael Templar when he used his machine to move Earth closer to the sun.

The Solar Waves haven't been known to cause any further disappearances since this story--maybe when the Sentinels used their Solar Flare Energy Disrupter (@ Avengers I#103-104), it altered the sun in such a manner that the Solar Waves were eliminated.

Profile by Ron Fredericks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Solar Wave has no known connections to:


images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#23, p22, pan2-4 (Mr. Fantastic explains Solar Waves to his teammates)
Fantastic Four I#23, p22, pan1 (Fantastic Four trapped in room, as a Solar Wave begins to take effect)
Fantastic Four I#23, p22, pan8 (Fantastic Four trapped in room, as interplanetary space continues to close in)
Fantastic Four I#23, p23, pan2 (Dr. Doom falls off dissolving floor and into space; Thing (background))


Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#23 (February, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), George Roussos (inker), Sam Rosen (letters)


Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

First Posted: 09/01/2020
Last Updated: 09/01/2020

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