The Fall of Mr. Fabulous

If it had been any other villain, Mr. Fabulous might have realized that the crime didn’t fit the usual pattern. But then Phantasmo was the most erratic of all the supervillains currently operating on the West Coast. He had no “usual pattern” to compare it to. One week he was staging a heist of some cold-war-era documents on display at the history museum, and the next he was trying to blow up the I-5 overpass in an attempt to permanently clear out the homeless camps there. He had never yet succeeded in any of his criminal ventures, but he had also never been caught. The man was a nutcase, and nobody – least of all Mr. Fabulous, who wasn’t exactly known for his deductive powers – nobody could piece together what Phantasmo’s ultimate goals were. Everything he did seemed random, half of it seemed like a bunch of over-planned distractions and the other half was just plain bizarre. 

This time, Phantasmo had stolen the fishing boat “F/V Southeastern” from a promo event for the television show that had made it popular, and was holding the crew captive. He used the film crew’s equipment to film his ransom demands, which made absolutely no sense because everything he asked for was physically impossible. He didn’t want money, he wanted things that didn’t exist and he demanded certain celebrities to perform particularly heinous acts in public. Mr. Fabulous immediately recognized the location where the video was shot, because he had just been there with three other heroes two days previously, as part of a public awareness campaign for recycling and environmental conservation efforts. Whether this coincidence was by design or just dumb luck is something that superhero historians will be debating for years to come. But it allowed Mr. Fabulous to locate Phantasmo’s hideout immediately, and he was overconfident since he had never lost a fight yet. So he went in without any backup, not even his trusty sidekick (and younger brother) The Moth. 

All seemed normal when Mr. Fabulous arrived, everything was quiet and there was no evidence of the “Southeastern” anywhere. It was a former naval base, with several large hangars that once housed a number of blimps and zeppelins before being converted into maintenance and storage facilities to service fighter jets during testing for aircraft carrier operations. There were still several old runways and catapult tracks visible, their pavement now cracking and small trees poking through in places. When the base was shut down, the whole area felt the effects. The economy fell apart so quickly that nobody wanted to buy or lease the land or buildings, so the entire facility sat vacant for over a decade. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods around the base fell into disrepair and poverty. It was common knowledge that over half the local population was homeless now, and drug-related crime was at an all-time high. There were still pockets of light in the area, a handful of neighborhoods where good people lived decent lives, and even they knew there are some parts of this town that you just don’t want to drive through. 

Mr. Fabulous decided to start his search at the waterfront, since that was the obvious place to park a boat. When he got there, he didn’t see any boats. Or any supervillains. Just water and rotting wooden docks. So he systematically started working his way deeper into the base from there, one section at a time. He started with the old blimp hangars. Which, of course, were empty. Then the old barracks. Also empty. The administration buildings. Empty. 

Finally he reached the boiler plant, which had once provided heat for the barracks and administration buildings as well as steam power to run the catapult launcher systems for aircraft tests. It was also connected to the old air traffic control tower that was used during test flights and such. Inside the building he found a maze of pipes and catwalks, but the old boilers and related equipment had been removed when the military abandoned the facility. No sign of anyone having been in the building for years. Certainly no boats to be found there. But as he stepped out the back door, into a concrete gazebo-like structure that was once used to store fuel oil and related chemicals, his “danger sense” warned him that something wasn’t right. He stopped on the threshold momentarily, eyes and ears scanning the area with super-human acuity. Finding nothing, he kept going, searching for any evidence that Phantasmo might have been there. 

There was no sound when it came for him. The hit was made in pure silence. Mr. Fabulous didn’t even realize it had hit him until it was all over and he was staring up at a cloudless sky, feeling dazed and suddenly very weak. But he knew exactly what had hit him because that combination of strength, speed, and silence was the hallmark of his very own brother, The Moth. As children, his brother would tackle him while they played football with the neighborhood kids, or just because brothers fight for no reason sometimes. So he knew immediately what had happened. But he didn’t understand why. Seconds later, as he felt the last of his superhuman strength drain from his body, The Moth appeared above him, his masked face and wings silhouetted against the bright blue sky. Mr. Fabulous couldn’t see his face because it was silhouetted against the sun, but he knew his brother was smiling. 

“Eddie… why?” he wheezed as the air started returning to his lungs. 

“The fact that you don’t know why IS why.” The Moth put a knee onto Mr. Fabulous’s chest, pinning him in place. “All these years, I was in your shadow. Your sidekick. And that’s all I ever was to anyone – Mr. Fabulous’s quirky sidekick. I was never given a chance to spread my wings – no pun intended – and show the world that I am a REAL hero just as good as… no, even better than, you. And for a long time, I was okay with that. I was happy to have a chance to help people and it made me happy to be fighting together as brothers. But in all these years, you have NEVER once acknowledged that I’m capable of holding my own. You’ve never recognized that I don’t NEED your help for every little thing. I wanted to buy a house, and you swooped in and took over the entire process, even ended up picking the property and never let me have any say in the decision. I wanted to buy a car, I know I can fly but I just wanted one so I can fit in with normal people better, and you had to tell me which car to buy, too. I tried to meet a nice girl and take her on a date, and you insisted on coming with me because you thought I would mess that up on my own, too. You never had any real faith in me, you never even realized that I grew up. You still see me as your baby brother. But I’m NOT A BABY anymore. And I’m sick and tired of you treating me like I am.” 

“I’m sorry, Eddie. You should have just talked to me about how you’re feeling, we could have worked it out.” Mr. Fabulous felt true regret in that moment, perhaps for the first time in his life.

“No, George. I tried. But you NEVER LISTEN. You just brush me off with a knuckle noogie like we’re still kids. So I know that I’ll never have a chance to be my own man as long as I’m stuck as your sidekick. And after today, you won’t be in the picture anymore. It’s MY TURN now, George.”

“What does that even mean? What have you done, Eddie?”

“I won, George. I tricked you into coming here. There never was any boat theft or kidnapping. For that matter, there never even was a Phantasmo. I’m surprised you still haven’t worked it out. Phantasmo… was ME this whole time. Two years of planning went into this. And you could have avoided it at any time just by acknowledging that I’m a grown man now. By treating me like an adult, an equal. If you had just done that, I would have called off the whole thing. But you know what? You never did. And so now I have my vengeance. Tomorrow it’s MY TURN in the spotlight, and you’ll just be… plain old George. No more Mr. Fabulous.”

“What?” Mr. Fabulous struggled to push his brother off of him, but his strength failed him. “How are you doing this?”

“As your brother, I know everything about you. So it was so easy for me to take you down. As soon as you entered the boiler room, which I knew you eventually would, I opened a valve and filled the building with krypton gas. Your only weakness. Colorless, odorless, virtually undetectable… but if our bodies absorb it then it blocks the radiation that gives us super powers. Which means your strength is gone, your power to fly is gone, your laser vision – gone. For all intents and purposes, you’re just a normal human being now.” 

As Eddie removed his knee from George’s chest, he proffered a hand to help him to his feet. “Well then,” George said as he knocked his brother’s hand aside and got up on his own, “I hope you really are ready to be your own man. Because this city needs a real hero, not just a sidekick with delusions of grandeur." And as he rose, George noticed that the smile on his brother’s face wasn’t victorious, it just seemed sad. "You want a shot? You beat me so I guess you’ve earned it. I wanted to retire anyway, I’m tired of keeping secrets from everyone and I’m tired of bad guys trying to kill me every couple of days. So it’s on you now, little brother. The whole city is in your hands. Don’t go disappointing me now.” 

With that, Mr. Fabulous turned on his heels and walked away, leaving The Moth (a.k.a. Phantasmo) to celebrate his triumph alone with his thoughts. The next day, Mr. Fabulous called a press conference to announce his retirement from superheroing. His uniform was then donated to the Smithsonian, where it was displayed in an exhibition of superheroes and the villains they battled throughout history. 

In his absence, many villains who were in hiding, too scared to commit super-crimes in public for fear of Mr. Fabulous’s swift justice, became active in the next few months. The Moth had a hard time keeping up with them at first, since he wasn’t as strong, as fast, or as smart as his brother. But he never asked George for advice, and George never gave him any. But George and Eddie, after clearing the air that day on the old navy base, had a much healthier relationship as brothers after that. They never quite forgave each other, but they did quietly decide to just let the past stay in the past and started treating each other with more respect. Imagine what the world would be like if we all did that a little more often.