In The Phantom, the phantom protects four skulls that, when put together, have unopposable power. Someone is stealing the skulls from their various locations in the world, and it is up to the phantom to find out who and stop them. The phantom travels to New York, the storing place of the third skull. Here, he runs into a man with a skull belt buckle-the symbol of the phantom. Being the phantom is a family job, and the current phantom's father had been killed not too long ago. This was the man he was after, but it was too late-they had the third skull!