Doc Ock is a Marvel Comics villain who usually flies under the radar, as he’s not as smart as someone like Reed Richards, and he’s not as dangerous as someone like Doctor Doom. However, in a more recent storyline, Doctor Octopus sought to change that by taking to the multiverse and seeking out his most powerful variants in order to use them for his own sinister purposes. But during that time, Doc Ock never came across the smartest one of them all: Reed Richards himself.

In the Amalgam Universe comic Challengers of the Fantastic #1 by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett, fans meet the Fantastic Four of Earth-9602, otherwise known as the Challengers of the Fantastic. In this universe, not one member of Marvel’s First Family got superpowers, as the ray shields they used in space actually held, protecting them from the cosmic radiation. Unfortunately, not having powers...