

On board a commercial airline, the Fantastic Four are travelling to Gateway University in St. Louis where Reed is due to receive and honorary degree when the plane is hit by a mysterious flying object. Together, the Four save the plane and then travel to the university. Reed meets with the dean, Johnson and tells him of what happened with their plane, and that he saw the object fly back to the university. Johnson suspects what has happened and shows Reed to his old teacher, Professor Gilbert's laboratory. There Gilbert shows his former student his latest creation, a giant winged android called Dragon Man. He reveals that Dragon Man's test flight was responsible for accidentally striking the plane earlier. With the help of his assistant, George, Professor Gilbert demonstrates how Dragon Man works by using a thought helmet to control the android. Resentful of not receiving what he thinks is his due, Gilbert's assistant George takes control of the Dragon Man, and disrupts Reed's ceremony. Gilbert tells Reed that the only thing Dragon Man is vulnerable to is extreme cold, and so the Fantastic Four formulate a plan to stop the Dragon Man once and for all.
Above the Earth, a meteor shower damages an alien spacecraft, which then falls down to the planet's surface. A giant humanoid alien emerges and makes its way towards New York. In the Fantastic Four's headquarters in the Baxter Building, Ben is helping Reed to install some heavy equipment when they are alerted to the alien's presence in the city by Herbie and Sue. Reed, Sue and Ben board the Fantasticar and find the alien threatening a city bridge, at the same time as the army, air force and navy mobilise themselves for an assault on the alien. Meanwhile, the alien has badly damaged the bridge, leaving it up to Ben and Reed to fix it while Sue follows the alien. It attacks the Fantasticar and captures Sue, forcing the planned air strike against the creature to be called off. Sue turns invisible and manages to escape from the alien, and Herbie informs the rest of the team that according to his analysis of the alien's thought patterns, any harm to the alien would place the whole planet in jeopardy. Sue turns the alien invisible so that the army has nothing to fire at and the Four return it to the crashed spaceship. The Four then have to protect the alien from the army and find out its secret.

Magneto travels to New York, seeking out the Fantastic Four. He uses his magnetic powers to break into the Baxter Building and challenges Reed for leadership of the team. Magneto battles Reed, and manages to defeat him, becoming the new leader of the Fantastic Four in the process. For the new team's first mission, Magneto claims that he has learnt that the City National Bank is about to be robbed, and after Reed insists that they follow Magneto's orders, the Four go to the bank and confound the robbers' plans by removing the money themselves for safekeeping. Magneto takes the money away himself to a secret location so the robbers will not be able to find it. After the rest of the team return to their base, Reed discovers proof that Magneto intends to keep all of the money for himself. He reveals that he only pretended to be defeated by Magneto in order to discover what he was up to. Now fully aware of Magneto's treachery, Reed once again commands the team into a battle with Magneto in order to discover what he was up to. Now fully aware of Magneto's treachery, Reed once again commands the team into a battle with Magneto in order to defeat him and return the money.