The Fantastic Four (FF) are a team of adventurers who accidentally received powers from cosmic radiation during a space trip on the Marvel-1. They are Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Reed's girlfriend Sue Storm (the Invisible Girl, later Woman), Susan's brother Johnny Storm (the Human Torch), and their good friend Ben Grimm (the Thing).[9] Throughout the years, the group evolved with Reed and Sue getting married,[10] having their kids Franklin and Valeria,[11][12] and members coming and going,[13][14] but the original four are still the face of the FF.[15]
Since gaining their powers, the group has stuck together through many adventures, exploring new frontiers of the universe,[16] and venturing into other dimensions such as the bewildering Negative Zone.[17] When needed, the FF also serves as protectors, thwarting dastardly villains like their nemesis Doctor Doom,[18] and defending Earth from otherworldly threats, most famously Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds.[19]
The FF temporarily disbanded when the Richards family set off to rebuild the Multiverse after its collapse.[20] They have since returned,[21] and although an incident with the Baxter Building caused the public to turn on the FF, they remain some of their world's greatest heroes.[22]
History
Origin[]
The brilliant aeronautical engineer Reed Richards inadvertently created the Fantastic Four after deciding to make an unauthorized test flight into space using an experimental faster-than-light rocket named the Marvel-1 of his own design. Reed's plan was to use the ship to visit an Earth-like planet in a star system 44 lightyears away.[23] When Reed's financiers began to lose interest in the project, Reed's girlfriend Susan Storm and her younger brother Johnny insisted on joining Reed on the flight. Reed's old friend Ben Grimm was convinced to pilot the rocket.
Once in space, the rocket passed through a storm of cosmic radiation. Although prepared for them, the ship was met with an unexpected intensity from the radiation and its shielding couldn't contain it. The craft crashed back down to Earth. Emerging from the ruins of the spaceship, they discovered the radiation had mutated their bodies and had given them remarkable new abilities. Reed gained the ability to stretch his body and limbs, Johnny was able to fly and become engulfed in flames he could control, and Sue was able to bend light around her body and become invisible. Ben gained incredible strength and durability, but his body was tragically transformed. He now had a muscular orange, rock-like hide.
All four decided to use their powers to better humanity and founded the Fantastic Four.[9] Individually they call themselves Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing. They are not superheroes in the traditional sense, but rather explorers, facing whatever challenges that may arise as a family. The profits from Richards' patents and royalties fund the team's activities.
The Early Years[]
Operating from Central City, California, the first menace the Fantastic Four were called upon to face was the Mole Man and his ever changing cadre of monsters and sub-human races from below the Earth.[9] They were soon thrown into conflict with the shape-shifting Skrulls,[24] the first of many alien menaces they would battle in their long careers.
The team moved to the Baxter Building, their New York headquarters, and established themselves as mainstream superheroes. Falling out with his teammates after a battle with the Miracle Man,[25] Johnny left the group and encountered the World War II hero Namor, the Sub-Mariner living as an amnesiac in a flop house. Recognizing Namor from comic books, Johnny dropped him into the sea, hoping to restore his memory. The plan worked, but after Namor found Atlantis in ruins, he declared war on humanity. Johnny rejoined the Fantastic Four and together they drove Namor back into the sea.[26] He remained their rival for awhile, vying for the affection of Sue Storm.[27]
Reed's former college rival Victor von Doom returned as Doctor Doom. Doom's attempts at world domination forced the Fantastic Four to face him again and again, making him their deadliest and most persistent adversary.[18][28][29][30][31][32]
During a trip to the Blue Area of the Moon, the Fantastic Four battled the Red Ghost and the Super-Apes and made first contact with a Watcher, called Uatu.[33] With the aid of Ant-Man, they battled Doctor Doom in Sub-Atomica.[34] During a trip to ancient Egypt's past, they encountered the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, a time-traveler who would become the man known as Kang the Conqueror.[35] When the Sub-Mariner was reunited with his people, the Atlanteans, the Fantastic Four were caught in the middle of an Atlantean attempt to invade the surface world.[36] Other threats from this period included Kurrgo,[37] the Puppet Master,[38][39] the Impossible Man,[40] the Hulk,[41] the Mad Thinker,[42] the Super-Skrull,[43] and the Molecule Man.[44] Spider-Man made a bid to join the team, but was denied.[45]
They teamed up with Nick Fury to defeat the Hate-Monger,[46] and it was during this time that the Invisible Girl discovered her force-field powers, right before another confrontation with the Mole Man.[47] The Fantastic Four also returned a lost alien child which was causing mayhem in New York to its parents,[48] and then they teamed up with the Avengers for the first time when the Hulk attacked New York in his most destructive rampage to that date.[49] They also met another active super team of the era, the X-Men, for the first time when the schemes of the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker pitted them against each other.[50]
Three of the Human Torch's enemies, the Wizard, Sandman, and the Trapster, joined forces and recruited an amnesiac Medusa to form an evil, mirror counterpart to the Fantastic Four. They called themselves Frightful Four and battled the Fantastic Four on several occasions.[51][52][53][54]
Doctor Doom used his Emotion Charger machine to mind control many villains to attack the team on Reed and Sue's wedding day, but with the aid of a device given to him by the Watcher, Reed ended the threat. Sue and Reed finally married. The wedding was attended by the Avengers and most of the world's heroes.[10]
New Friends and Enemies[]
The Fantastic Four met Medusa's family, the royal family of the hidden race known as the Inhumans. Johnny instantly fell in love with Medusa's sister, Crystal. The Inhumans and their king, Black Bolt, were originally distrustful of the Fantastic Four. Tragedy struck when the Inhumans' ancestral home Attilan was separated from the outside world by a Negative Zone barrier created by Black Bolt's mad brother Maximus. The Inhumans were trapped inside, and Johnny and Crystal were separated.[55]
Despite the Watcher's efforts to hide Earth, Galactus came to Earth determined to consume the energy-rich planet. His herald, the Silver Surfer, rebelled. Reed Richards thwarted Galactus by threatening to use an alien device called the Ultimate Nullifier on him, a weapon that could lay waste to the universe and kill even Galactus. Galactus was forced to vow to spare Earth in exchange for the Nullifier's return, and he punished the Surfer for his betrayal by erecting an undetectable energy barrier that prevented the Surfer from leaving Earth.[19]
The Fantastic Four were invited to visit the African nation Wakanda by its king, the Black Panther. They were attacked by the Black Panther, who easily bested them all in individual combat, but was defeated when they teamed up as a group. With the battle over, the Black Panther revealed that it was all a test of their abilities. They helped the Black Panther drive Ulysses Klaw out of Wakanda. Thwarted, Klaw leaped into his massive sonic converter device hoping to gain superhuman powers to combat his foes.[56] His gamble was successful and Klaw was transformed into a creature whose body was composed of "living sound". In his new form, Klaw battled the Fantastic Four and was pummeled into unconsciousness by Mister Fantastic wearing Vibranium knuckle guards and taken to prison.[57]
The original Human Torch's body was discovered by the Mad Thinker. Using his knowledge of androids, the Thinker restored most of the Torch's original synthetic tissue and nervous system. The Thinker partially restored the android's memories but coerced the Torch into battling the Fantastic Four. On realizing the implications of what the Thinker wanted him to do, the Torch sacrificed his artificial life to save the Fantastic Four from a sneak attack by the Thinker's computer Quasimodo. The Thinker fled, and the Fantastic Four left the Torch's body in the Thinker's laboratory in Nevada.[58]
The Silver Surfer was befriended and betrayed by Doctor Doom, who imprisoned him and stole the Surfer's power for himself. Doom attacked and defeated the Fantastic Four and held the world in terror, but Doom lost his new might when Reed tricked him into leaving Earth's atmosphere. Doom collided with Galactus' barrier, and the Surfer's powers were restored. Meanwhile, the Inhumans escaped their prison thanks to Black Bolt's scream, however Attilan was left in shambles. The Inhuman Royal family agreed it was time to enter the world of the humans.[59]
Reed found himself trapped in the Negative Zone after an attack by the Sandman. At that moment, Crystal and Johnny were reunited, and Crystal enlisted the Inhuman Triton to rescue Reed. Blastaar, who once ruled Baluur in the Negative Zone, followed them through a portal. He teamed up with Sandman, but the Fantastic Four and Crystal managed to defeat them and sent Blastaar back to his own dimension.[60]
While trying to take a vacation on a tropical island, the Fantastic Four encountered the Kree Sentry 459, who had been reactivated by an archaeologist. During the fight, Johnny's flame struck the island's energy supply, causing it to explode. The FF and the archaeologist escaped in time, seemingly leaving the Sentry to be destroyed.[61]
A difficult pregnancy for Sue followed, during which Crystal took her place on the team. At the last moment, to save the unborn child, the Fantastic Four had to visit the Negative Zone and borrow the Cosmic Control Rod of Annihilus.[11] Sue's child, Franklin, named after her father, manifested strong and unusual powers almost immediately. When Annihilus kidnapped Franklin to tap those powers, they increased exponentially, and Reed felt he had no choice but to inhibit Franklin's mental activity. Outraged, Sue left Mr. Fantastic and took Franklin with her.[62] During Sue Storm's hiatus, the Inhuman Medusa took her place. The old bonds, though, drew Susan back to the team.[63] When Ben Grimm was transformed into his human self and lost his powers after a battle with the Hulk,[64] he was briefly replaced with Luke Cage.[65] He returned to the team using an exoskeleton constructed by Reed that emulated his old powers,[66] but was transformed into his rock form again during a battle with Galactus.[67]
Change[]
The team was transported to the distant "Battleworld" by the Beyonder for the first of the so-called "Secret Wars." On that planet Ben Grimm found himself able to change to human form and back. Concealing his discovery of Grimm's mental block for fear of hurting his feelings, Richards claimed that the nature of the planet itself was somehow responsible for Grimm's ability to transform back and forth. Once the "Secret War" was over, Grimm remained on the planet for months. The Thing asked She-Hulk to take his place in the Fantastic Four.[68]
During an extended trip to the Negative Zone, a sort of second honeymoon, Sue conceived another child. This unborn daughter began to give off radiation. Despite the efforts of Mr. Fantastic and several other experts, the girl was apparently stillborn.[69]
Psycho-Man took advantage of Sue's fragile self-control at this point and amplified her negative emotions. She became Malice, with all of the Invisible Girl's powers but none of her restraint and attacked the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic helped her throw off Psycho-Man's influence, but she lost control again when the Fantastic Four confronted Psycho-Man; she turned his own Control Box on him, which shorted out his nervous system and nearly killed him. This episode would have lasting effects: the Invisible Girl changed her name to Invisible Woman; she discovered how to use Force Objects, and in the long term, she lost a measure of self-confidence, knowing that Malice still lurked inside her.
Johnny found himself drawn to Alicia Masters, longtime girlfriend of the absent Thing. Johnny and Alicia's romance helped estrange the Thing from the Fantastic Four for a lengthy period.
The Thing rejoined the Fantastic Four and She-Hulk returned to the Avengers. When Reed and Sue retired from active Fantastic Four duty to focus on raising their son, they left Ben in charge. He recruited Crystal, who was separated from Quicksilver at the time, and Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura) to replace them. Ben served capably as team leader and started a romance with Sharon that deepened after new cosmic radiation exposure further mutated them both, turning Sharon into a sort of "She-Thing" and Ben into an even stronger, more hideous spiky-hided Thing. Their romance continued through several more changes of form (with Ben eventually settling back into his classic Thing form), even after Reed and Sue rejoined the group; but they were estranged after Sharon accepted Doctor Doom's aid in regaining human form.
Johnny's old feelings for Crystal slowly returned, but his love for Alicia enabled him to resist temptation, and Crystal eventually left the team. Eventually Johnny married Alicia. Despite their long and intimate relationship, Johnny was horrified to discover that the Alicia he loved and married was not the true Alicia Masters, but a Skrull impostor named Lyja. Originally sent to infiltrate and destroy the Fantastic Four, Lyja truly fell in love with Johnny, and joined the Fantastic Four in confronting Paibok, the Skrull who had kidnapped the real Alicia. Lyja seemingly sacrificed her life to protect Johnny, but her former lover Paibok nursed her back to health.
Trying to move on from yet another failed relationship, Johnny enrolled at Empire State University; but Devos, Paibok and even Lyja attacked Johnny at ESU, forcing his powers to go nova, burning down a large section of the campus. Johnny briefly became a fugitive until Reed agreed to sell some of his patents to pay for the damages. Lyja returned to Johnny's life again, tricking him into believing she was carrying his baby. When this proved a lie as well, Johnny left her again.
Psi-Lord[]
Claiming that Franklin's presence in this timeline would lead to destruction, Reed Richards' father Nathaniel abducted the child into the future. Nathaniel raised Franklin for years in the future, training him to be a warrior and to master his superhuman powers. The adolescent Franklin journeyed back in time, arriving in the Fantastic Four's headquarters mere moments after Nathaniel had abducted him as a child. The teenage Franklin called himself Psi-Lord, and wielded vast psionic powers, although they remained far short of his full potential.
When Reed and Doom seemingly died as a result of their conflict with the alien Hunger, they were actually spirited away by the space-time-warping Hyperstorm, mad son of an alternate-future Franklin Richards. Hyperstorm kept Doom as a tortured captive and trapped Reed in the distant past for months, during which time the world believed both Reed and Doom to be dead. In Reed's absence, Sue took over leadership of the Fantastic Four and served capably in the role, recruiting Ant-Man (Scott Lang) as the team's new scientist. However, she refused to believe Reed was truly dead, and she rebuffed romantic advances from Namor.
During this period, Franklin founded the Fantastic Force, a new super-hero team to carry on his father's work of protecting humanity. Finally, after Reed was eventually rescued, Psi-Lord somehow was removed from the Fantastic Four's time and was replaced by the child Franklin, as he had been at the time that Nathaniel had abducted him. Nathaniel claimed that Hyperstorm must have arranged the substitution, and that the Psi-Lord version of Franklin no longer existed in the Fantastic Four's timeline.
Onslaught[]
When Franklin Richards was kidnapped by Onslaught, the Fantastic Four joined the Avengers and the X-Men to battle Onslaught in Central Park. An enraged Hulk was able to crack open Onslaught's shell. However, Onslaught remained as pure psionic energy, planning to spread across the planet. Thor plunged into Onslaught, trying to contain him. The Fantastic Four, the majority of Avengers, and even Doctor Doom followed. Thanks to this sacrifice, the X-Men finally managed to destroy Onslaught. The Fantastic Four, Doom, and the Avengers were believed dead, but were instead saved by Franklin, who created a pocket dimension called Counter-Earth to keep them safe. Back on Earth-616, the Thunderbolts moved into the Fantastic Four's headquarters at Four Freedoms Plaza.
Heroes Return[]
After several months away, the missing heroes returned from Counter-Earth and were reunited with Franklin. They set up their new headquarters at Pier Four.
They met Valeria von Doom, visitor from the future, who claimed to be Sue's daughter by Doctor Doom. She proved to be a key to the defeat of Abraxas, an entity related to Galactus. Reed banished Abraxas by using the Ultimate Nullifier, which had an unintended consequence: it returned Valeria to Susan's womb in the present. Everyone learned then, with some dismay, that Franklin had saved his unborn sister by sending her into the future, when technology was available to help her survive the pregnancy. With the help of Doctor Doom, the child was delivered safely. As a condition of his service, Doom named the girl after Valeria, the love of his life.[12]
Later, Doom exploited his special bond with the young Valeria to employ her as a mystical familiar, using sorcery to mount one of his most ruthless and terrifying attacks on the Fantastic Four ever. In the end, Doom was taken by his own demonic benefactors, but not before he hideously disfigured Reed's face as a petty parting gesture. Physically and emotionally scarred, Reed led the Fantastic Four into Doom's now-leaderless Latveria, where he worked obsessively to dismantle Doom's regime, neutralize his arsenal, erase Doom's legacy and create a better state, becoming increasingly tyrannical himself in the process and ignoring threats of international criminal charges from the United Nations. At the same time, unknown even to his teammates, Reed was secretly plotting to retrieve Doom from Hell and place him in a specially prepared other-dimensional prison from which he could never escape; but this transfer was unwittingly interrupted by the rest of the Fantastic Four, allowing Doom to escape long enough to kill the Thing.
Devastated, the remaining Fantastic Four returned to the United States of America, where their standing with the authorities and their reputation with the general public had taken a terrible beating due to the Latverian controversy. The Fantastic Four broke up, Reed and Sue split up, and Reed was even forced to sign over most of his patents to the government as part of a deal to escape prosecution. However, Reed was certain that Ben could be resurrected, and he convinced Sue and Johnny to join him in this quest, which ultimately led them to the gates of Heaven itself using a modified model of Doom's old afterlife machine. Persuaded it was not yet his time, Ben agreed to return to the land of the living with his friends-and the Creators allowed it, even healing Reed's facial scars as a parting gift. With the Fantastic Four back together, Reed led them in rebuilding their reputations and their finances.
Civil War[]
The super-human civil war split the team once again. Johnny was beat into a brief coma during a visit to a nightclub, sparked by anger over the Stamford disaster. Mr. Fantastic supported the Superhuman Registration Act, while Sue and Johnny joined the resistance. The Thing announced that while he thought the registration was wrong, he was also not going to fight the government and left the country for France.
During the final battle,[70] however, Mr. Fantastic shielded Sue from an attack by the Taskmaster and was severely wounded. In the aftermath of the war, Sue and Johnny were granted amnesty. Sue and Reed took a leave from the team to work on their marriage, while the recently married Black Panther and Storm filled in for them.
Secret Invasion[]
Reed and Sue returned to the Fantastic Four in time for the Skrull invasion. While Sue was on a talking tour in Vancouver, Canada, a Skrull attacked her in her apartment and quickly neutralized her. Meanwhile, Reed and Hank Pym were called in by Tony Stark to study the body of the Skrull Elektra to find out how they became undetectable. When Reed found out, Hank turned into a Skrull and blasted him into goo. While this was happening, the Skrull impersonating Sue walked into the Baxter Building and opened the portal into the Negative Zone, causing it to consume the Baxter Building, with Johnny, Ben, and the two Richards children inside. The Skrull revealed herself to be Johnny's ex-girlfriend, Lyja the Laserfist, who had been trying to keep them out of harm's way.
After dueling with Lyja and learning of the invasion on Earth, Ben, Johnny, Franklin and Val, with the assistance of Lyja, turned to the prison in the Negative Zone to gain the aid of someone to rebuild the portal back to Earth. They sought a man known as the Tinkerer who refused to help, stating that he was captured, despite being retired, while taking his grandchildren out for ice cream and was not given a fair trial. Franklin pleaded with the man, stating that Dr. Reid, the boy's father, would not support the Tinkerer's arrest had he been aware, begging for his aid. Tinkerer, most likely reminded of his grandchildren, agreed to assist. After hours of waiting, the Tinkerer repaired the technology. Lyja chose to stay behind while the remaining Fantastic Four, the children and the Tinkerer returned to a battle-torn New York City.[71]
Dark Reign[]
Reed created a device called The Bridge to explore alternate realities. Meanwhile, Johnny, Sue, and Ben fought off the agents of H.A.M.M.E.R. Reed's machine sent Johnny, Ben, and Sue to a different reality where a super hero Civil War was happening sometime in the Hyborian Age. Reed continued to study parallel worlds where the Civil War ended differently to find the reason his reality had become the way it was while Ben, Sue, and Johnny traveled throughout collapsed space-time. Reed determined that in all the realities that the Registration was successful, he had acted alone without any input from anyone else.
In the Baxter Building on Earth-616, Franklin and Val prepared to fend off the agents of H.A.M.M.E.R. When Red shut down the Bridge and the others returned, they went outside to find Norman Osborn chasing their children with a gun. Norman was trapped in the Baxter Building with a very upset Susan Richards. She put up a force field that locked everyone else out and him in. He pulled a gun and was about to shoot Reed when Franklin shot him first with a toy gun. They ultimately let Norman go, and Sue told Reed to destroy The Bridge. He did so, but then secretly put it back together, and met beings from another reality who told him how he could fix things. Johnny and Ben wondered how Franklin could have actually shot Norman with a toy gun and thought his powers may have returned.
Following the Siege of Asgard, Ben was asked by Luke Cage to become a member of the New Avengers. Cage assured Ben that he could maintain joint membership with both teams.
Three[]
While Reed and Sue were gone from the Baxter building of their own important missions a group known as the Cult of the Negative Zone successfully made their way into the building and breached the portal to the Negative Zone. Once inside the cult had managed to unleash what seemed to be an endless army of Annihilus Insectoid Soldiers upon Johnny, the currently powerless Ben, and the kids of the Future Foundation. Franklin revealed that he had his powers back by destroying the army; and the group pushed into the Negative zone where the only way to hold the army off from getting through the door was to lock the door from their side and randomize the code so no one could get in or out. Ben prepared to make the sacrifice, but Johnny threw him through the portal as he regained his powers. The last image of Johnny was him being covered by the Army.
Return[]
Johnny was revived by Annihilus three times while he participated in the latter's "gladiator competition". When Annihilus was planning a new Annihilation Wave to enter Earth, Johnny and the Light Brigade rebelled and took Annihilus prisoner, while the Human Torch, using the Cosmic Control Rod became the new ruler of the Negative Zone. After helping the Future Foundation to save Earth from a Kree invasion and the arrival of the Mad Celestials, the Fantastic Four reformed.[72]
Voyagers[]
After finding out that during one of their explorations he developed a sickness which caused the cells of his body to start degenerating, Reed decided to disguise a travel through time and space to find a cure as a family excursion.[73]
They discovered their sickness had been caused by an overload of their powers, as the abilities of an alternate reality version of themselves had them stripped from them when trying to stop Doctor Doom, who had conquered their Earth.[74] After helping their depowered counterparts from that alternate universe defeat Doom the Annihilating Conqueror, the Fantastic Four re-stabilized their powers and returned home.[75]
The Fall of the Fantastic Four[]
After a portal to the Counter-Earth was somehow opened, an invasion of monsters in New York resulted not only in the Human Torch losing his powers,[76] but also the Fantastic Four being evicted from the Baxter Building, and the children of the Future Foundation being taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[77]
Soon after finding out years ago Johnny had ruined an opportunity for becoming normal, The Thing was arrested after being found next to the corpse of the Puppet Master.[78] Additionally, Sue started becoming more violent,[79] Johnny lost track on his life,[80] and Reed started becoming erratic.[81] After concluding that somebody was behind their misfortune, the Fantastic Four decided to go to the bottom of it, and find Reed, who had recently disappeared, actually having being kidnapped by the man pulling the strings, the villain known as the Quiet Man.[82]
The Fantastic Four were reunited when Johnny was brought to his senses,[81] he and Sue helped free The Thing from the Power House,[82] and Reed escaped from the Quiet Man.[83] While the Quiet Man unleashed an invasion of creatures from the Counter-Earth, the FF enlisted the help of the Sleepwalker in order to find the source of the monstrosities that came from it by exploring Franklin's subconsciousness, who was revealed to be the Psycho-Man.[84]
Back in his headquarters, the Quiet Man tried to activate the code that would shut off the portals from the Counter-Earth and render the invading forces inert, to make himself look like the hero, however, the Psycho-Man had betrayed him and created a defense wall so he could then control both the Counter-Earth and the Earth with his monstrous army. Mister Fantastic and Valeria came with a solution to finally shut down the creatures and save the world, meanwhile, as he was helping his allies escape from the Counter-Earth, Johnny recovered his powers due to the resulting radiation caused by the closing of one of the portals.[85]
Secret Wars[]
In light of the imminent destruction of the Multiverse due to the phenomena known as incursions, the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation began working on vessels capable of surviving the death of everything.[86] When the final incursion took place between Earth-616 and Earth-1610, Mister Fantastic gathered every person he could, put them in the life raft, and deployed its measures. When the vessel approached the central point of the incursion, it suffered a hull breach that led to the death of the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation, leaving Mister Fantastic the sole member of the Fantastic Four.[87]
When Reed acquired omnipotent power from Doctor Doom, he brought his family back to life and set out to restore the entire Multiverse.[20] Reed realized that Victor would eternally resent him and decided to alter his memories to make him believe he was dead, hoping Victor would walk a righteous path if he no longer pursued ultimate power and believed his greatest rival to be gone. Reed also altered the memories of the Human Torch and The Thing, leaving them both behind on the restored Earth-616 to keep Victor in check.[88] Since Ben and Johnny believed the rest of their family to be dead, the Fantastic Four were disbanded.[89] Ben joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and Johnny Storm acted as both ambassador to the Inhumans and a member of the Avengers Unity Squad.
A makeshift Fantastic Four was formed when The Thing and the Human Torch joined with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to stop the Super-Skrull from allowing Omnipotentis to enter the Prime Marvel Universe.[90] After the threat passed, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur left the team.[91] After discovering a device called the Multisect, The Thing convinced the Human Torch to go explore the Multiverse. Even though Ben didn't believe the rest of their family was alive, he intended to help Johnny cope with their loss, and claimed that the Multisect would take them to their family.[92] Ultimately, Ben and Johnny didn't reunite with the Future Foundation, and returned to their universe still believing they were gone.[93]
The Fate of the Four[]
Years into the Future Foundation's multiversal adventures, Franklin became depleted of his ability to create entirely new realities. At this moment the team was confronted by an abstract entity called the Griever at the End of All Things who repudiated their mission of creating new universes. She caused the collapse of the hundreds of universes charted by the Future Foundation, forcing the team to make a final stand. The Fantastic Four were reunited when Mister Fantastic tricked the Griever into giving them the chance to summon the remaining members of the Fantastic Four for backup. In addition to teleporting Ben and Johnny, Reed also brought every super hero who had been part of the team in order to defeat the new foe.[15] With his allies, Reed destroyed the Griever's teleporters, forcing her to retreat or risk being stranded in the reality where they were fighting.[94] While the Future Foundation continued to explore the Multiverse to restore the Molecule Man, who had been slain by the Griever, the core Fantastic Four returned with Valeria and Franklin to Earth, where only months had passed since the Foundation's years-long journey. Finding the Baxter Building inhabited by a new super hero team called the Fantastix, the Fantastic Four took up residence in an apartment complex on Yancy Street that Ben owned, 4 Yancy Street.[95]
After becoming filled with the desire to resume the team's original failed flight that had given them powers, Reed built a Marvel-2,[23] which he used to take the rest of the Fantastic Four to their original destination, the planet Spyre. They faced a group of superpowered protectors named the Unparalleled, who had been imbued with cosmic radiation to face the Fantastic Four. Spyricans had been aware of the team's initial failed attempt to reach their planet and had prepared for a second try.[7] The Fantastic Four initially became at odds with the patriarch of Spyre, the Overseer, after discovering that he had been responsible for the intensity of the cosmic ray storm that gave them powers during their first flight due to an attempt to scuttle their mission.[96] After making peace with the Spyricans, the Fantastic Four returned to Earth accompanied by Unparalleled member Sky.[97]
Empyre[]
After running out of fuel while travelling through space, the Fantastic Four went to the Casino Cosmico dimension to get enough money for gas. However, after Ben and Johnny saw that the casino was forcing a Kree boy, Jo-Venn, and a Skrull girl, N'Kalla, to fight to the death for the spectators' amusement, they tried to rescue the two children by entering the arena. Meanwhile, Reed faced the Profiteer to stop this carnage and also send his wife, Sue, to help their kids, Valeria and Franklin, at the casino games. After Reed destroyed the Profiteer's panel control, which allowed Ben and Johnny to save the alien kids, Valeria and Franklin, having won the entire casino, made a deal with the Profiteer to let them go with the necessary things to go back home in exchange for the casino. However, after arriving to their solar system,[98] came across the armadas of the Alliance approaching Earth.[99]
After sending the children to Earth Sue turned their ship invisible and sneaked inside the throneship. Upon entering however, Super-Skrull was able to detect them blowing their cover. The Fantastic Four were shocked to find Earth hero Hulkling as the leader of united Kree/Skrull empire. They tried to solve the issue by diplomacy, but the Avengers soon attacked the Alliance's armada and overloaded their computer system allowing the Cotati to attack the aliens and the Fantastic Four, much to the dismay of the Avengers.[100] After Captain Marvel combined her powers with Hulkling's Excelsior to remove the Cotati infection, the Fantastic Four split up in order to cover more ground as the Cotati's Empyre began invading Earth.[101]
Reed Richards assisted Tony Stark in planning their next move in Avengers Mountain, Invisible Woman and Thing joined "She-Hulk" and Mantis in pursuing Quoi, while Human Torch remained behind at the Alliance's mothership.[102] The situation then began escalating, R'Klll, posing as her grandson Hulkling, ordered the launching of the Pyre, and Sequoia finally arrived at the Vibranium Mound where he would become a god.[103] Human Torch, Captain Marvel, Wiccan and Hulkling tried to stop R'Klll, while Invisible Woman and Mantis tried to fight off the Cotati who had been possessing She-Hulk's corpse and was beating the Thing to death.[104] After R'Klll was defeated, Human Torch helped in deactivating the Pyre, and meanwhile Invisible Woman and Thing defeated the Cotati Hulk. Then Mister Fantastic in his new Iron Man Armor battled Quoi and his father, Swordsman, while also being joined by the rest of the heroes.[105]
Following the defeat of the Cotati before sending them to a new planet, Mister Fantastic tried to interrogate Quoi about the origin of their weaponry, but it was all in vain. They then enlisted the help of the Profiteer about the Cotati's weapons, but still found no information. After Hulkling staved the Profiteer out when she tried to reclaim Jo-Venn and N'Kalla, he gave the custody of the alien children to the Thing and his wife Alicia.[106]
Reckoning War[]
As the Reckoning began instigating numerous alien wars across the universe, they destroyed the entirety of the Moon in order to prevent the resurrected Uatu from alarming his fellow Watchers of the threat. The Fantastic Four were among the numerous heroes saving civilians from the moon debris falling through the atmosphere while fighting the Badoon invasion of Earth. The Fantastic Four then met Nick Fury and wanting to know what was going on Richards accessed Uatu's Cyclopedia Universum, but this caused his emotions and personality to deteriorate into a cold and calculating individual.[107] Reed proceeded to broadcast a message to all of Earth's heroes to help in fighting the invasion before contacting the Silver Surfer who informed Richards that the Reckoning just like they did with Cotati gave the Watchers' technology to small alien groups which allowed them to conquer other alien worlds. The Four was split as the Human Torch went to help the Spyricans in fighting against the Annihilation Wave and the Invisible Woman disappeared, leaving Richards to tell everyone that they needed to assist the Watchers in this cosmic-scale war.[108]
Reed, alongside the Thing, She-Hulk and Jack of Hearts went to the Shi'ar Empire to protect the M'kraan Crystal from the Morani, but they were too late as the Reckoning's leaders Rapture and Reject were successful in taking down the Imperial Guard. Having accessed the Cyclopedia Universum Reed found out that the Thing might die at the hands of Rapture. The Reckoning duo were able to mortally injure Thing and steal the Crystal for their plan.[109] As the Badoon attacked the Baxter Building, Richards informed Valeria to execute Protocol: Zero and after healing the Thing with the help of Jack he informed Ben that the kids had self-destructed the Building to stall the Reckoning. This enraged the Thing who beat Richards nearly to death before the latter revealed that it was a lie as their families were still alive due to the self-destruct being a decoy. He explained to the Thing that he had lied because Ben was unfocused during the fight. However, they then fell into Wrath's trap, causing Reed, Ben, She-Hulk and Jack to be left stranded in the Barrens. Meanwhile, the Human Torch and Unparalleled after defeating the Annihilation Wave went to assist the Kree-Skrull Alliance in their fight against the Mekkans.[110]
Valeria and Franklin as part of the Protocol sabotaged the Forever Gate to deny the Reckoning access to it. Ruin of the Reckoning revealed to them that their plan wasn't to destroy the cosmos but to take over the three Nexuses of Reality and he alongside the Badoon departed Earth, prompting the kids to follow them. The Human Torch, meanwhile, gathered all of the heroes across the cosmos to help in fighting the Reckoning. As Richards and the Thing were trapped in the Barrens, the Invisible Woman, having secretly followed Fury to the Watchers' base planet, helped him and Uatu by stunning Emnu. Having spied on Ikor she learned about the Apex of All Reality which was, as Uatu explained, a gateway that the Watchers used to look to different alternate realities, and realized that the Reckoning's objective was to claim the Apex.[111]
Uatu learned from Emnu that the Watcher had created the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy the Prosilicans to end the first war, leading to the Watchers' rule of noninterference. Valeria used the Forever Gate to trap Ruin and his forces within the Thought Space where Franklin was able to regain his lost powers and managed to defeat the aliens. However, in the Barrens Reed was slowly dying due to containing the Watcher's knowledge in his brain, deducing that he had no more than ten hours to live. Despite this, he became even more intelligent and with the help of Jack rebuild the Forever Gate in order to leave the place. Ben, Reed and She-Hulk proceeded to go through the portal, while Jack remained behind. The three were reunited with Sue, Fury, Uatu and the Silver Surfer just as the Reckoning began poisoning the Watchers' planet. Reed confessed to everyone present that he was dying. Uatu attempted to reveal his fellow Watchers Emnu's involvement with the Prosilicans' demise, while Fury protected him. Doom and the Cormorant also arrived to fight the Reckoning. Although the Cormorant killed Reject, Rapture disarmed Doom and Wrath reprogrammed Cormorant's armor to serve them instead. Rapture was about to kill Doom, but was interrupted by the Fantastic Four. Wrath attempted to send Rapture to retrieve the Nullifier as he went to the Apex, but she was confronted by the Thing again, this time her weapons taken away by Sue. As they went after Wrath, the resurrected Galactus began making his way to the planet to destroy it, but was being stalled by Johnny and his cosmic allies. Wrath managed to temporarily defeat the heroes and quickly dashed to the Apex. Fortunately, as Reed was about to succumb the Thing defeated Rapture and gave him the Nullifier. Reed proceeded to use the Ultimate Nullifier to erase Wrath from reality moments from reaching the Apex, sacrificing himself in the process.[112]
While the Watchers were evacuated from their planet to Ego, Uatu and Fury fell into the Apex, and Reed was cured of his affliction thanks to the Nullifier. Although Wrath was gone, the M'kraan Crystal was destabilized and began self-destruction, forcing Johnny and the Surfer to carry it to Galactus, earning applause them from some of the Cosmic Entities. Sue used her powers to get everyone else off the planet, while Uatu emerged from the destruction as the One and Only Watcher, having been imbued with the Apex's powers. In order to rectify the damage done by the Watchers he restored the Prosilicans' world and the moon before sending everyone home. Johnny decided to remain with the Unparalleled to find a cure to his ailment caused by Doom, Ben went to see his family, and Reed and Sue went through the Forever Gate to check on their children. After getting Valeria and Franklin from the Thought Space and reuniting with Ben and his family, Reed and his own family deactivated the Forever Gate as it was too dangerous to be left open.[113]
Fantastic Four No More[]
One day, aliens from the Negative Zone emerged into Earth and fought the Fantastic Four. As the enemies were gaining ground, Reed decided to teleport all of the Baxter Building one year into the future, causing the aliens to be stranded in space due to Earth's orbit with the solar system moving through space while the building would remain on Earth. However, this left a massive smoldering crater that had also made contact with nearby buildings, and everyone who had been inside the buildings, which included Franklin, Valeria, Jo-Venn, N'Kalla and other loved ones of numerous people along with the employees of small businesses, would be gone for one year. Following this, the Fantastic Four became hated and was disbanded due to Ben and Alicia becoming angry at Reed's calmness over the incident,[114] with each of the members going to live their separate lives.[115]
The team's members eventually reunited when fighting a parasitic alien which forced them to relive the memories of the experience. As they fought its influence, the team was able to see that Reed, just like them, was also emotionally destroyed over his decision and in truth he deeply regretted it, but maintained his calmness as that's what was expected of him. Once the alien was defeated, the team reconciled with each other and the Fantastic Four was reformed.[114] With the Four reformed, they moved to the old farmhouse of the Thing's aunt Petunia in Benson, Arizona, renaming it the Fantastic Farmhouse.[116]
Following a year of adventures together, the Fantastic Four prepared for the return of the Baxter Building and their kids, only to be met with a construction site at its place. They discovered that it had been the plan of an intelligent predictive app known as Metamind which was preventing its return and so the Four attempted to have it shut down before destroying its servers to prevent it from interfering with the building's return.[117] To their horror, they saw that Metamind was still alive and had taken control of people that had installed it on their phones. It held them all as hostages and forced the Fantastic Four to leave the building's area else there would be consequences. Left with no other choice, Mr. Fantastic in the ensuing days created an app similar to Metamind, but not sapient, in order for people to move on from Metamind. Richards knew that Metamind wasn't evil and offered to delete his app to let it live and give back the area. However, as Metamind was about to accept, it was completely blocked by its creator, causing it to diminish. Richards attempted to save it, but Metamind assured him that it was ok, and as it perished it released the Baxter Building and the surrounding area from the pocket dimension it had trapped in, allowing the Fantastic Four's children and all the other people to finally be reunited with their families.[118]Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Fantastic Four Uniforms
- Gadgets and gear created by Mr. Fantastic
- Universal Translator can decipher and interpret languages, both alien and terrestrial, into the native language of the user.[119]
Transportation
- Fantasti-Car MK I (Flying Bathtub) - Obsolete
- Fantasti-Car MK II - Obsolete
- Fantasti-Car MK III
- Airjet-Cycle
- Pogo Plane MK I - Obsolete
- Forever Gate
Trivia
- Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four as Marvel Comics' answer to the Justice League of America of DC Comics. Some comic fans claim that Stan's inspiration for starting the Fantastic Four came from DC's Challengers of the Unknown team, also co-created by Jack Kirby years earlier in 1957, while still others maintain that the Fantastic Four were created to closely resemble DC's Sea Devils team.
- In an interview with Jack Kirby in the The Comics Journal Kirby stated that he came up with the idea for the team, and not Stan. However, given that Kirby wasn't really in his right state of mind his words shouldn't be trusted completely, according to the interviewer Gary Groth.
- Originally the whole team would have had flaws with their powers. Mister Fantastic would feel pain from using his powers, Invisible Girl would remain invisible and forced to wear a mask of her own face, Human Torch could use his powers only when he was excited. The Thing was the only member who wasn't changed.[120]
- Each of the powers (as well as their personalities) of the Fantastic Four correspond to the four basic elements according to Greek philosophy: earth (Thing), wind (Invisible Woman), fire (Human Torch), and water (Mister Fantastic).[121]
- Every member of the Fantastic Four (including all of the former members) has been on an Avengers team at some point in their career. Amongst the central FF, Reed and Sue Richards have been on the main Avengers team, the Thing was once a New Avenger, and Human Torch joined the Avengers Unity Division after the Fantastic Four disbanded as a result of the events of 2015's Secret Wars.
See Also
- 1799 appearance(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 42 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 291 minor appearance(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 914 mention(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 31 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 1991 image(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 20 member(s) of Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
- 42 item(s) used/owned by Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Fantastic Four 2005 #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four #607
- ↑ FF #21
- ↑ 4 #28
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #61
- ↑ Immortal Hulk: Great Power #1
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #15
- ↑ North, Ryan (4 March 2023) Ryan North on Twitter: "CBR has a five page preview of FANTASTIC FOUR #5, coming out this Wednesday March 8! It features a super cool car AND Ben calling Sue 'Boss' because she's the leader of the FF. Please enjoy!!" Twitter. Retrieved on 27 May 2023.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Fantastic Four Annual #3
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Fantastic Four Annual #6
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #54
- ↑ Fantastic Four #265
- ↑ FF (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four #37
- ↑ Fantastic Four #51
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Fantastic Four #5
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Fantastic Four #48–50
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Secret Wars #9
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #2–4
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #1–4
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #14
- ↑ Fantastic Four #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #4
- ↑ Fantastic Four #9
- ↑ Fantastic Four #10
- ↑ Fantastic Four #16–17
- ↑ Fantastic Four #23
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four #39–40
- ↑ Fantastic Four #13
- ↑ Fantastic Four #16
- ↑ Fantastic Four #19
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four #7
- ↑ Fantastic Four #8
- ↑ Fantastic Four #14
- ↑ Fantastic Four #11
- ↑ Fantastic Four #12
- ↑ Fantastic Four #15
- ↑ Fantastic Four #18
- ↑ Fantastic Four #20
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four #21
- ↑ Fantastic Four #22
- ↑ Fantastic Four #24
- ↑ Fantastic Four #25–26
- ↑ Fantastic Four #28
- ↑ Fantastic Four #36
- ↑ Fantastic Four #38
- ↑ Fantastic Four #41–43
- ↑ Fantastic Four #177
- ↑ Fantastic Four #44–49
- ↑ Fantastic Four #52–53
- ↑ Fantastic Four #56
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #4
- ↑ Fantastic Four #57–60
- ↑ Fantastic Four #61–63
- ↑ Fantastic Four #64
- ↑ Fantastic Four #130
- ↑ Fantastic Four #149
- ↑ Fantastic Four #167
- ↑ Fantastic Four #168–169
- ↑ Fantastic Four #170
- ↑ Fantastic Four #175
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1–12
- ↑ Fantastic Four #268
- ↑ Civil War #7
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ In Amazing Spider-Man #680, Spider-Man mentions the Baxter Building as the home of the Future Foundation and the Fantastic Four, implying they are reformed, also in FF #16 the four main members have a "4" in their Future Foundation suits, and in Invincible Iron Man #517, Tony stark mentions Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation.
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #13
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #14–16
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #5
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #7
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #9
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #10
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #12
- ↑ 82.0 82.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #13
- ↑ Fantastic Four #643
- ↑ Fantastic Four #644
- ↑ Fantastic Four #645
- ↑ Free Comic Book Day 2015 (Secret Wars) #1
- ↑ Secret Wars #1
- ↑ Marvel 2-In-One Annual #1
- ↑ Marvel 2-In-One #1
- ↑ Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #29
- ↑ Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #30
- ↑ Marvel 2-In-One #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #4
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #17
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #19
- ↑ Empyre: Fantastic Four #0
- ↑ Empyre: Avengers #0
- ↑ Empyre #1
- ↑ Empyre #2
- ↑ Empyre #3
- ↑ Empyre #4
- ↑ Empyre #5
- ↑ Empyre #6
- ↑ Empyre: Fallout Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #40
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #41
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #42
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #43
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #44
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #45
- ↑ 114.0 114.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #4
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #1–3
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #7
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #14
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #15
- ↑ Fantastic Four #237
- ↑ The Original Script for the Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ see: The Fantastic Four and the Four Elements or an Interview with Rich Buckler