Appearing in "Forward"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Rachna Koul
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Alicia Masters
- S.H.I.E.L.D. (First appearance)
- She-Hulk (Jen Walters) (First appearance)
- Wolverine (Logan) (First appearance)
- Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) (First appearance) (Main story and flashback) (Leaves the Fantastic Four in flashback)
- Beast (Hank McCoy) (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Galactus (First appearance; dies) (Only in flashback)
- Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
Other Characters:
- Disha Koul (First appearance; comatose)
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) (Mentioned)
- Invisible Woman (Sue Storm Richards) (Mentioned)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers) (Mentioned)
- Franklin Richards (Mentioned)
- Valeria Richards (Mentioned)
- Iron Man (Victor von Doom) (Mentioned)
- Numerous unnamed New Yorkers (First appearance)
- Fantastic Four (Only appearance; disbands) (Only in flashback)
- Invisible Girl (Sue Storm) (First appearance) (Only in flashback) (Leaves)
- The Thing (Ben Grimm) (First appearance; dies) (Only in flashback)
- Human Torch (Johnny Storm) (First appearance) (Main story and flashback) (Leaves the Fantastic Four in flashback)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
- Mutants
- Skrulls (Mentioned)
- Cosmic Beings (Only in flashback)
- Ovoids (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Multiverse (Main story and flashback)
- Prime Marvel Universe
- Earth
- United States of America
- Wyoming
- Rocky Mountains
- Jack Pine
- Rocky Mountains
- New York
- New York City
- Manhattan
- 1st Street (Mentioned)
- 2nd Street (Mentioned)
- Yancy Street (Mentioned)
- Manhattan
- New York City
- Wyoming
- United States of America
- Earth
- Multiplane (First appearance)
- Doom Universe (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Earth (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- United States of America (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- New York (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- New York City (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Manhattan (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Financial District (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Midtown (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- 42nd Street (First appearance)
- Chrysler Building (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Baxter Building (First appearance)
- Fifth Avenue (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Empire State Building (First appearance) (Cameo) (Only in flashback)
- 42nd Street (First appearance)
- Manhattan Bridge (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Brooklyn Bridge (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Brooklyn (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Manhattan (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- New York City (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- New York (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- United States of America (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Nega-Prison, Negative Zone (Mentioned)
- Tarnax IV (Mentioned) (Destroyed)
- Earth (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Prime Marvel Universe
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms (Main story and flashback)
- Spider-Man's Suit and Web-Shooters
- Multisect
- Cosmic Radiation (Mentioned)
- Wolverine's Suit (First appearance)
- Power Cosmic (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Doctor Doom's Armor (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
Vehicles:
- Galactus' Star Sphere (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Fantasticar (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
Events:
- Secret Invasion (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "Forward"
In an unknown location, Dr. Rachna Koul talks to a comatose young woman she calls "Dee", saying that Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm came at the perfect time out of nowhere, with "a solution". Then, she says goodbye as she gets ready to leave with the duo on their journey across the Multiverse.
In Manhattan, Ben and Johnny are getting ready themselves, with the company of Spider-Man and Alicia Masters, who seem concerned with their inability to understand such a complex device as the Multisect. Fortunately, though, the two heroes are not alone: Rachna arrives and proves to Spider-Man, a scientist himself, that she knows what she's doing. With the help of a device created by Rachna herself that will keep them together, they enter the Multiplane, the area between universes that connects them all. The trio enter one of them, crashing into an alternate Manhattan.
Rachna claims that the main source of F4 radiation comes from this world's Baxter Building, so they'll likely find Mr. and Mrs. Richards there. Meanwhile, she'll be investigating some minor radiations elsewhere. As they move towards the Baxter Building, Johnny asks why would Reed not be able to come back home if he really was in this universe, to which Ben has no convincing answers. Suddenly, they are attacked by this world's versions of She-Hulk and Wolverine, who believe them to be Skrulls in disguise. Wolverine cuts Johnny on his shoulder, realizing that he's no Skrull after all, as his blood is red and not green. Ben punches Wolverine through a building and screams he wants to see Richards immediately.
As she and Wolverine escort Ben and Johnny to Reed's study, She-Hulk explains that that universe's heroes all work for S.H.I.E.L.D. after a huge Skrull invasion that replaced millions of people after their homeworld was destroyed. The group finds Reed busy with keeping everything under control, with the help of his assistant Hank McCoy. After a brief emotional moment, as they realize they don't belong in the same reality, Reed goes back to work and Johnny storms out of the room.
Beast sees the duo out of the room, while they try to understand the differences between their realities: after a short dialogue, Beast realizes that the main divergence came with the arrival of Galactus.
On this Earth, Ben was immediately killed by the Devourer of Worlds and Reed single-handedly tried to stop him, without succeeding. Then, Doom arrived, taking over Galactus' body with the help of Ovoid technology and promising he wouldn't destroy the Earth as the monster would have. Unfortunately, though, he decided to eat everything else, effectively leaving Earth as the sole existing thing in their universe.
Solicit Synopsis
FATE OF THE FOUR Part 3
• Ben and Johnny begin the search for their lost family! But the universe they’ve landed in may not last long enough!