The Avengers have come to Four Freedoms Plaza to confront the Fantastic Four over their new "Fantasti-Tax" they are imposing on the citizens of New York City. They have brought Doctor Strange along with them as the group suspects that some sort of outside influence must be affecting the FF. Demanding an audience with the group, they are met by what are -- unknown to them -- clones of the real Fantastic Four created by Aron the Rogue Watcher. When Captain America questions the Fantastic Four's recent activities, "Reed" dismisses them as "Johnny-come-latleys" and has "Sue" eject them from the building with his invisibility powers. Having had enough insults, Hercules comes crashing back in on the phony Fantastic Four, and soon a fight breaks out. However as sudden as the fight begins, the fake Fantastic Four are suddenly teleported away by parties unknown. Confused by this sudden disappearance, the Avengers and Doctor Strange part company to pursue investigations on where the Fantastic Four might have gone.

The clones themselves have found themselves teleported to the Canadian Rockies just outside of Aron's hideout. Entering the cavern they are shocked to see that their creator is trapped within a cryogenic suspension tube while his former prisoners -- the real Fantastic Four and their foes the Frightful Four -- are battling it out with each other, with Dragon Man added to the mix. The battle takes a brief pause when the clones enter the room, and they suddenly decide to kill the real Fantastic Four. The real Human Torch listens to the way the clones are talking and tries to explain that they are just as much pawns of Aron as they are. However Johnny's explanations fall on deaf ears as the clone of Mister Fantastic proclaims himself to be the real Mr. Fantastic. Suddenly the Wizard and his Frightful Four ambush the clones. This leads to a three way battle with the clones trying to destroy the real Fantastic Four, and the Frightful Four trying to kill both parties. The brawl starts off with mismatched battles between all sides, but eventually each of the members of the Fantastic Four face off against their clones while the Frightful Four watch from the sidelines.

Eventually it begins to show that the real Fantastic Four are the superior fighters due to their years of experience and the Wizard decides to end the fight by incapacitating the clones with his anti-gravity discs. While the Fantastic Four are busy knocking out their clones, the Frightful Four try to make a break for it but are stopped by the heroes. By this point Aron's failsafe has kicked in and he has been freed from cryogenic suspension. His experiment coming to an end, Aron has come to a decision on how to resolve matters. First, he sends the Frightful Four off to the Vault to be imprisoned, he then tells the Fantastic Four that he was more interested in dreams and plans on using the clones for just that, then uses his powers to teleport the Fantastic Four back to the Four Freedoms Plaza in Manhattan. Back home, the group recall having strange dreams that they can hardly remember while they were frozen and then begin the frantic rush to try to explain to the media and the authorities what really was happening while they were kept prisoner.

They also arrange to have both branches of the Avengers travel to Oakley, California, with Alicia and Franklin to pay a visit to current Fantastic Four writer "John Harkness" to ask him to set the record straight in the Fantastic Four comics. Listening to young Franklin's appeals "John" tells the boy he will see what he can do.

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