We're going to time jump a little for a brief Kree encounter which the Fantastic Four had which (for the most part) had little to do with any other Kree situation which might've been brewing. In 1969 the United States and mankind in general experience a unique experience, witnessing the first landing of a human being on another planet, specifically Neil Armstrong's first tentative steps onto the lunar surface. But as a long-ago sage of AM radio once intoned..."There's more to the story."
While the Eagle is attempting to land on the stark moonscape, on Earth in the pages of Fantastic Four #98 the Fab 4 are battling yet another Kree Sentry (this one numbered 9168). His specific mission was to wait until humans began to spread to other planets and take steps to stop even the most meager of such migrations.
To that end he activated and raised a small island filed with equipment designed to stop the Apollo mission. Mister Fantastic though intercepted a message fromt he Kree homeworld and is alert to such activity and he and the Thing and the Torch fly by Pogo Plane to intercept the alien hostile. While the world watches with baited breath as the Apollo mission completes its goal the FF are fighting for their very lives against the Sentry. They defeat him but then must stop the activation of a deadly energy which threatens to consume the astronauts landing on the Moon. They succeed and escape as the tiny island destroys itself.
The world watches as Armstrong sets down and changes the nature of humanity for all time.
Loved this comic when it first came out. The complex nature of the Kree backstory was little interest. It was a great way for Marvel to celebrate one of the greatest accomplishments in human history, and more's the pity that since that day we seem to have increasingly withdrawn from the larger universe of which we are a part. Very few men (and no women) went to the Moon and now almost no one talks about it. Mars is a distant target, but by now we should've been looking to firm a base there and should be looking beyond. The space race was great for the spirit of the United States and for the world, but it has been largely squandered as we have quit looking at the stars and spend our time staring at the withering ground beneath our feet.
Little did Neil and Buzz realize how close to real danger they were from those dastardly Kree.
More Kree next week as we return to 1968 and a certain Captain Mar-Vell makes his debut.
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