Roaming the streets, Benjamin Grimm, the Thing, is offered a place to stay by a man who has become very interested in him.

After giving him coffee laced with a powerful sedative, Ben falls asleep on the man's sofa.

When the tether breaks, the Thing impostor, having realized how selfless Richards is, changes his opinion of him, and jumps into the Negative Zone portal to save him.

There, Reed and Sue realize that the friend they were just mourning is actually still alive and well, and that the impostor who was posing as him—whoever he was—had died a man.

[2] The graphic novel Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross reintroduces Ricardo Jones as a memory, after his corpse is transported back into the Baxter Building.