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    Fantastic Four

    Team » Fantastic Four appears in 5738 issues.

    An intrepid group of astronauts: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm originally received their powers after being exposed to an immense amount of cosmic radiation during a trip into space. Mutated and given strange powers by this exposure, they became the Fantastic Four and dedicated their abilities to the good of humanity.

    Short summary describing this team.

    Fantastic Four last edited by SlamAdams on 07/13/22 09:31AM View full history

    Current Roster

    • Mr. Fantastic
    • Invisible Woman
    • Human Torch
    • The Thing

    Origin

    Fantastic Four #1
    Fantastic Four #1

    Reed Richards was a scientist and inventor of the first spaceship capable of reaching planets beyond our moon. After much planning, expense, and hard work, the ship was built. However, as its launch neared, the federal government decided to cut funding for the flight. Reed determined that there was no choice but to launch the ship before the entire effort was scrapped and wasted.

    Reed invited his girlfriend Susan Storm along for the trip, and her brother Johnny Storm insisted on accompanying to keep her safe. Wanting a pilot with both the ability and the courage to make the flight, Reed turned to his former college roommate and close friend Ben Grimm, a highly accomplished former test pilot for the United States Air Force. Everyone was ready for launch when Reed received a warning from the authorities, concerning the effects of the cosmic rays on human bodies so far out in space. Reed's request for launch was denied, and the mission aborted.

    More desperate than ever to make the flight, Reed's crew waited until the guards changed that night, then snuck onto the ship and launched before any planes could be scrambled to intercept them and/or shoot them down. Successful in leaving the Earth's atmosphere, they were halfway along on their mission when they entered a sub-space storm and were bombarded by intense cosmic rays both before and stronger than they expected. This unexpectedly powerful cosmic ray storm had strange and disorienting effects on the crew, making them unable to continue the trip. They turned back, returned to Earth, and crash-landed in a small opening in a forested area.

    The Birth of the Fantastic Four
    The Birth of the Fantastic Four

    Luckily, the team survived the crash, but were radically changed. Ben felt his body become heavy and found he'd turned into a monster. Reed tried to calm him down and restrain him when he realized that he'd reflexively stretched, wrapping his body around Ben like elastic. Johnny burst into flames while Sue panicked and turned invisible. Gathering their wits, they soon managed to calm themselves and agreed to use their new-found powers for the good of humanity and stay together as a team. Johnny dubbed himself the "Human Torch," Sue took the name "Invisible Girl" (and later changed it to the "Invisible Woman"). Ben chose the name "Thing," and Reed decided to call himself "Mr. Fantastic." Thus, the Fantastic Four were born.

    Creation

    The Fantastic Four was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #1, November 1961. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four after seeing what a success DC Comics' Justice League was. While this is no doubt true, it has also been rumored for years that Stan actually patterned the FF team after DC's Sea Devils team and The Challengers of the unknown. Looking at the composition of both teams, there are a lot of similarities, so this rumor could well be correct.

    Team Evolution

    Silver Age

    The Fantastic Four v.s Mole Man
    The Fantastic Four v.s Mole Man

    The first family super team of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four opened up the genre to a whole new way of telling the old story of family binds above all else. The Fantastic Four as a team made their public debut when a villain named Mole Man (A villain that lives underground) began attacking the surface. The Fantastic Four continued their illustrious careers as superheroes and unlike Spider-Man, they were well loved by the public and the media by appearing on television and more.

    Reed Richards also created the “ unstable molecules” which are used for their costumes. This allows Reed’s costume to stretch as he does, Invisible Girl’s goes invisible when she does, and Human Torch’s doesn't burn up when he flames on. Reed would also discover The Negative Zone ( Stan Lee and Jack Kirby shared credit for the creation of the Negative Zone and unstable molecules). The Negative Zone is a parallel universe in which all matter is negatively charged. It also has a breathable atmosphere which allows Mr. Fantastic to lead his team in adventures in the Negative Zone. The Negative Zone is mostly uninhabited and Reed was eventually able to map out most of the area.

    FF 38 (1965) - Sue is bound next to the Q-bomb
    FF 38 (1965) - Sue is bound next to the Q-bomb

    One of the most important issues of the Silver Age was FF 38, "Defeated by the Frightful Four". This is the first issue where the FF are actually defeated by the end of the story. Medusa shows superb cunning by creating a trap for the Invisible Girl. She lures Sue to an East Side fashion house, on the pretext of showing her some wedding dresses. When Sue arrives, Medusa captures her easily with her deadly red hair and the Trapster makes certain the blonde girl cannot escape by shooting her with his paste gun. The Wizard flies himself, Sue and his two partners up into the air. The Frightful Four take an unconscious Invisible Girl to an isolated Pacific island and then go into an underground chamber. Wizard directs Trapster to place the girl down next to the detonation mechanism of a powerful nuclear Q-bomb! The Fantastic Four follow in an attempt to rescue Sue. However, after a brief battle, the Frightful Four escape, leaving the FF on the island. Fortunately Sue's partners find her just in time and Reed gets Sue to use her force field. The bomb explodes. While the FF survive, they have lost their powers. Daredevil then assists them in FF 39-40, as the FF try and avoid death at the hands of Doctor Doom. They do not regain their powers until late in issue 40.

    FF Annual 3 - Sue & Reed are married
    FF Annual 3 - Sue & Reed are married

    Reed and Sue eventually married in 1965 and it became a celebrity event. The couple continued their newly married life in the public eye for years to come. Later Sue would become pregnant with a baby boy whom would be named Franklin Richards. Due to Sue being pregnant, she had to take a temporary leave on the team. To take Sue's place, the Fantastic Four decided to recruit the Human Torch’s girlfriend, Crystal. However due to the pollution on Earth, Crystal was forced to leave the Fantastic Four soon after. Sue eventually gave birth to Franklin on 1968 in Fantastic Four Annual #6, and returned as an active member on the Fantastic Four. Lee and Kirby ended their run when Kirby left Marvel in 1970.

    Fantastic Four #141
    Fantastic Four #141

    Sue and Richards’ relationship eventually became dysfunctional because Sue began hating the life of a celebrity. Feeling angry she was not treated as an equal, Sue left the Fantastic Four at the end of Fantastic Four 130 and the Inhuman named Medusa would fill in for Sue while she took a break. Though still separated from her husband, the Invisible Girl did briefly return for the Annihilus storyline in issues #140 and #141 and a shocking event occurred at the end of #141 which seemed to cement Reed and Sue's separation permanently. Franklin's eyes began to glow and Mr. Fantastic was worried that they were all in grave danger. He picked up a ray gun and fired at his young son, almost hitting his wife in the process by the way. His act succeeded in stopping Franklin's eyes from glowing, but seemed to put the toddler into a coma-like state. Sue blamed Reed for harming Franklin and she walked out for a second time. The Thing declared an end to the Fantastic Four. Reed and Sue finally reconciled at the end of FF #149, but only after Namor staged a fight with Mr. Fantastic. However, Sue did not return to active FF duty for several more issues after the reconciliation. Namor really deserves praise for what he did, as he knew that Sue loved Reed and he put the welfare of the woman he loved above his own feelings for her.

    Medusa - Replacing the Invisible Girl
    Medusa - Replacing the Invisible Girl

    The separation between Sue and Reed lasted for 19 issues. This is really significant, as it means the separation lasted for one year and 7 months. This was a very harsh break-up that could easily have ended in Sue and Reed getting a divorce. The fans seemed to side with Mr. Fantastic in the break-up and against the Invisible Girl. The Fantastic Four Fan Page in issue #152 actually had a shocking letter which urged the writers to kill Sue off and the FF Bullpen implied that a few other fans had also urged them to kill Sue, though not as many as had called for Sue and Reed to divorce. The Fan Page editorial staff went on to say that the consensus was that they had to find a way to make Sue think again, implying that perhaps the gorgeous blonde had not been thinking straight when she left Reed and the team. Medusa did perform in a satisfactory manner in Sue's absence, though she did not demonstrate the awesome power that Crystal did, when Crystal replaced Sue a few years earlier, due to Sue's maternity leave with baby Franklin Richards.

    During the 1970s the Fantastic Four had many artists and writers who would continue the Fantastic Four’s public career as superheroes. A roster change would come up when the Thing temporarily lost his powers. Reed decided to hire mercenary Power Man ( Luke Cage) to fill in for Ben.

    Baxter Building layout
    Baxter Building layout

    Reed eventually finished developing an exoskeleton that mimics his strength as the Thing, and Ben returns to the Fantastic Four as an active member. John Byrne would take over the Fantastic Four in the 1980s where critics would call “the best

    run since Lee and Kirby.” Byrne was most celebrated for his modernization of Invisible Girl. He changed her name to Invisible Woman and made her a more confident woman and also gave Sue more control over her abilities, making her the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four.

    The Fantastic Four would participate in the Beyonder’s “ Secret Wars” on an alien planet. During their time in the Secret Wars, the Thing was able to change to his human form and the Thing form at will. After the heroes were victorious against the Beyonder, the Thing decided to stay on the alien planet as he was happy to be able to change his forms at will. When the Mr.Fantastic and the Human Torch returned to Earth from Battleworld, they recruited She-Hulk to fill-in for the Thing.

    She-Hulk replaces the Thing
    She-Hulk replaces the Thing

    Later, Sue would appear to have become pregnant with a second child but instead, Sue suffered a miscarriage. Eventually The Thing would decide to return to Earth, however upon his arrival he discovers that his girlfriend, Alicia Masters, was dating his teammate and friend Johnny Storm (Human Torch). The Thing, who had intended to return to the Fantastic Four, left the team to travel to world in an attempt to find his place and purpose in it. The She-Hulk did replace the Thing in the Fantastic Four and remain on the roster in his place for an extended period of time.

    During one of the Fantastic Four’s missions, they traveled to Mole Man’s realm where they discovered the Thing snooping around there. The Thing rejoined the Fantastic Four and they were able to defeat Mole Man before he destroyed California. She-Hulk left soon after for other reasons.

    As a team of superheroes, they remain a family first. Their headquarters in the Baxter Building also serves as their home. They have fought several enemies and have traveled to many different universes. They have become the foundation of the heroes in the Marvel Universe.

    Major Story Arcs

    Mole Man

    In the Fantastic Four's first battle they confronted Mole Man when he attempted to destroy the human race by unleashing his army of monsters that he created through an atomic blast. The Fantastic Four, led by Mr. Fantastic, would be able to defeat Mole Man and stop his threat on the world. The Fantastic Four would go on to be the first to meet the Inhumans, the Kree, and the Skrull races. They also discovered the hidden country of Wakanda.

    Doctor Doom

    Doom forces Reed's hand, by taking Sue hostage
    Doom forces Reed's hand, by taking Sue hostage

    During one of their adventures they would encounter their arch-nemesis Doctor Doom, also known as Victor von Doom and was a former college classmate and rival of Reed Richards. He had always blamed Reed for one of his experiments going wrong and scarring his own face. Dr. Doom recently became the new ruler of his homeland, Latveria. Dr. Doom kidnapped Invisible Girl (She would become Invisible Woman during John Byrne’s run) and forces Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, and the Thing to use his time machine to travel back to the past and retrieve a magical stone. The three of them agree to do so and uses the time machine. However, once they finished the mission and returned, they decided to fight Doom instead and were able to defeat him and free Invisible Girl.

    Galactus

    Galactus vs the Watcher
    Galactus vs the Watcher

    The Fantastic Four would eventually battle against the Galactus, the devourer of worlds. Galactus sent his herald, The Silver Surfer, to search for planets to feed the hungry Galactus and he would eventually discover the planet Earth. What looked like to be a losing battle, the Fantastic Four eventually allied themselves with the cosmic entity the Watcher. They were also able to liberate Galactus’ herald the Silver Surfer, who felt rebellious to Galactus. Reed would eventually be able to defeat Galactus by threatening to use the Ultimate Nullifier (A weapon that erases anything and everything that was stolen by the Human Torch on Galactus’ vessel) on Galactus. Galactus promises to not devour Earth again and leaves. The Galactus-Watcher-Silver Surfer Trilogy takes place in FF 48-50. Many, if not most, Fantastic Four fans have declared this to be the point where the Stan "the Man" Lee and Jack "King" Kirby hit their zenith and where the Fantastic Four comic truly did deserve the nickname of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine".

    Leave of Reed and Sue

    Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman with their son Franklin Richards
    Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman with their son Franklin Richards

    Sue and Reed would eventually decide to leave the Fantastic Four in hopes to give their son, Franklin, a normal life. Johnny would eventually marry Alicia Masters despite Ben’s feelings towards Alicia. Even with Johnny marrying Alicia, The Thing became the leader of the Fantastic Four. Crystal (Johnny’s former lover) and Sharon Ventura (who went by the alias Ms. Marvel) joined the team.

    A New Fantastic Four

    The Thing met Sharon during his time away from the Fantastic Four. During the new team’s first mission they were in another shuttle accident that was exposed to cosmic radiation. It mutated the Thing even more by giving him spikes on his body, and also transformed Sharon into a female version of the Thing. Reed and Sue would eventually return to the Fantastic Four, however soon after Ben would lose his powers temporarily again and is changed back to his human form.

    Reed, Thing, and Human Torch are thought dead, so Sue recruits a motley band of heroes that called themselves the New Fantastic Four ( Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Hulk) to avenge their deaths. Sue turns out to be a mutant Skrull named De'Lila who is a leader of a band renegades searching a technotroid egg to use as a weapon against the Skrull Empire.

    The New Fantastic Four
    The New Fantastic Four

    Later, Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco decided to retcon Johnny and Alicia’s relationship. They revealed that the real Alicia was actually kidnapped by the Skrull Empire and was replaced by a shape-shifting Skrull named Lyja. When they discovered this, Lyja had fallen in love with Johnny and decided to help the Fantastic Four rescue the real Alicia.

    After Ben and Alicia were able to reconcile, She-Thing (Sharon Ventura) had already fallen in love with Ben and decided to ally with Dr. Doom afterwards. However, Dr. Doom mutated her even more and she eventually left for good. Franklin Richards was later kidnapped by a time-traveler named Nathaniel Richards (Father of Reed Richards) and took him to the future to raise him there. He brought Franklin back as a teenager, who dubbed himself Psi-Lord.

    It was later revealed that in a future time-line, Franklin would father a child with Rachel Summers, who would become a super villain named Hyperstorm.

    For a time, it had appeared that Mr. Fantastic was killed by Dr. Doom, who also was badly wounded and dying. However, it was later revealed that Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom were not dead, but were kidnapped by Hyperstorm right before their deaths. The Fantastic Four eventually discovered this and were able to free Reed and defeat Hyperstorm with the help of Galactus. When the team returned back to Earth, Nathaniel decided to revert Franklin back to his original age as a child.

    Onslaught, Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return

    Heroes vs. Onslaught
    Heroes vs. Onslaught

    The Fantastic Four would later battle the psychic being known as Onslaught. Onslaught was too powerful for the Fantastic Four and all the heroes of Earth, it became a losing battle. However, the heroes devised a plan to defeat Onslaught but at the cost of all non-mutant hero lives. The Fantastic Four and all the heroes decided to sacrifice themselves in order to destroy Onslaught and were seemingly killed in the process.

    Since Reed had developed so many advanced technologies, the Government attempted to seize all his equipment, however Nathaniel traveled back to this reality and stored all of Reed’s equipment into the Negative Zone. However, with Franklin’s reality-altering powers he was able to store all the sacrificed heroes in a pocket universe and was able to bring them back to life on this reality’s Earth. The team would later return from the Heroes Reborn Earth, and have to cope with the fact that they had been considered dead for more than a year.

    During this time the team resided in Pier 4, since Four Freedoms Plaza now belonged to a group of super villains, masquerading as heroes known as, The Thunderbolts. It was also around this time when the team came in contact with a teenage girl calling herself Valeria von Doom, who claimed to be the daughter of Susan and Doom in the future. Sue was apprehensive at first with the girls story but eventually she and the rest of the team came to accept Valeria as both ally and friend.

    Valeria Richards

    Doom delivers Valeria
    Doom delivers Valeria

    In a struggle against Abraxas, Valeria forfeited her life in order to help bring back Galactus to life. But she would not die. She is transformed into the form of a fetus and transferred into Sue's womb, making Valeria's story true except for one notable difference. She had been Reed's daughter all along. Sue was pregnant again but all would not go well for the Invisible Woman. Due to Sue's cosmic radiation exposure it became difficult to give birth. With Reed away solving a world crisis, Johnny turns to Dr. Doom and asks him to help his sister. Doom was successful in the delivery but forced Sue to allow Doom to name the child. Doom would name her Valeria Richards after a woman that he had once loved.

    The Mark Waid era saw the Fantastic Four we see a lot of new concepts and amazing arcs come to light. His first stories on the book dealt with the Fantastic Four as Imaginauts and how they dealt with the fame that they always had their way. We also saw glimpses of Johnny as a much more responsible man, thanks to his sisters conjecture.

    We also witness Doom's ruthlessness in trying cause harm to the Fantastic Four at any costs. He sold his loves life, Valeria (his first love) in an attempt to gain more of the magics that were always in his blood and which he denounced for a life of science. Seeing now that having both would help him in his end, he betrayed her to demons and was able to get the magical knowledge he yearned for.

    To add to that, when Doom delivered baby Valeria, he cast a spell on her that would make her his magical familiar and he used the connection to carry out a devastating attack against the team. In the instant she uttered "Doom" demons kidnapped Franklin and Reed and Johnny tried desperately to save him before Johnny was burnt badly by demon fire. Sue and Ben hurry to Reed to tell him what's happened when they discovered Johnny wailing and notice his burnt flesh. They explain what happened and the team sets out to rescue Franklin and heal Valeria from this affliction Doom gave upon her.

    They travel to Latveria where the team is ambushed by Doom. He takes Valeria and uses his magic in order to have the team suffer through painful versions of each others powers. He gives Johnny, Reed's stretching abilities, stretching him to his limits. He gives Sue a painful version of her brother's flame power. He has Ben fight off dozens of monsters. And finally he sticks Reed in a room full of magical information. But with the help of Doctor Strange, (or should I say his astral projection), Reed escapes and saves his family. Together they defeat Doom, and rescue Franklin and Valeria. Doom was vanquished and left in Hell by Reed, but not before Doom instilled a parting gift on him and scarred his face. This encounter would have lasting affects on the team and Reed.

    Civil War

    During the Civil War, the super-hero community was split in two, one in favor of the Super-Human registration act and the other against it. Reed sided with the Pro-Registration side along with Iron Man as team leader against Captain America's Anti-Registration team. A group of civilians attacked Johnny and seriously injured him because they blamed the super-heroes for the Stamford Incident. Susan and Thing reluctantly joined Reed's side all the while looking over a hospitalized Johnny, who was seemingly neglected by Reed. Reed, Sue and Ben joined the first battle against Captain America's Secret Avengers where a Cyborg Thor, made by Iron Man, Hank Pym and Reed, joined the battle and killed Goliath. After witnessing this, Sue shielded Cap's team from Thor's attack, giving them the time they needed to teleport away. Although Reed tried to explain himself, Sue refused to hear any of it. She decided to turn her back on Reed, and along with Johnny, who was released from the hospital, she joined the Secret Avengers and left a note for Reed explaining her actions and begging him to spend time with the children, who were neglected by Reed since the start of this struggle. However, Ben refused to participate in this war any longer, and although he did not agree with the Registration Act, he refused to fight the Government so he left for France. Reed remained with Iron Man and even helped built a prison in the Negative Zone meant for the rogue heroes.

    Reed saves Sue in the Civil War
    Reed saves Sue in the Civil War

    In the final battle between the two sides, Taskmaster shot at Sue but Reed intervened and took the bullet instead, wounding him. This angers Sue and she smashes Taskmaster down with an invisible construct. Johnny was seen attempting to ambush Iron Man from behind but failed, During the fight, Ben returned and tried to save as many people as possible from being caught in the crossfire. When Captain America decided to surrender, the heroes had to face all the destruction their fight had caused. Sue and Johnny were granted amnesty and they try to reconstruct the streets where the battle took place. In an attempt to reconcile their relationship, Reed is able to convince Sue to come back to him and go on a second honeymoon. He takes Sue to one of the moons of Saturn to try and rekindle their love, as well as give her their first true honeymoon, since they never had one. During their absence, Storm and Black Panther filled in for them along side Ben and Johnny.

    New Fantastic Four

    The new team's first mission was to find the body of their friend Gravity which was taken by Epoch in the story in order to recover him as the Protector of the Universe. However, the Silver Surfer, who has returned to being a Herald of Galactus, was tracking down Epoch, in order to feed her to Galactus, seeing her as an energy source capable of fulfilling his master's hunger. The team traveled to space and confronted the Surfer who, after a brief battle with Black Panther, agreed to help them find their friend but Epoch will be fed to Galactus. Surfer then told Thing that he is a Herald again because he realized that Galactus' is hunger is not related in the story to good or evil.

    However, the recovered Gravity and the Fantastic Four refused to allow Galactus consume Epoch. The Black Panther, using a device similar to the one used by Doctor Doom that takes away the Surfer's Cosmic Powers, fought and defeated the Surfer but they were still no match for Galactus himself. Gravity used all the powers given to him by Epoch to feed Galactus, who restored the Surfer's powers and spared Epoch.

    Second Honeymoon

    FF 548 - Sue is a hostage of the Frightful Four yet again
    FF 548 - Sue is a hostage of the Frightful Four yet again

    In the stories, Reed takes Sue to Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, as a means for them to have a honeymoon, since they never took one when they originally married. While there, Reed discovers a strange object and begins to examine it. Unfortunately he is unsure of it and he teleports back to Earth so other scientists can see and help him determine what it was. In order to do so, however, he left Sue alone on the ship in which they traveled to Titan, where she was ambushed by the Frightful Four. Sue fought them off for as long as she could, but she was defeated. The Wizard proved his superb intellect by creating a gun which was set to the frequency of Sue's force field. One shot of the gun and Sue fell to the ground, unconscious. The Wizard placed a power dampener on her, making her totally helpless. Sue was held prisoner on her own ship, all in the hopes that Sue, as well as everyone else, recognize the Wizard as Reed's superior. Sue refuses to acknowledge him as her husbands superior, and he attacks her, now that she's subdued. The slap that the Wizard gives Sue is even more brutal than the one Reed delivered to her in FF 281. So much for a second honeymoon, as Sue has become a hostage of the Frightful Four for the third time in Fantastic Four history, the other two being Silver Age FF 38 and FF: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine 9 of 12. Reed, along with Johnny, Ben, Storm, and Black Panther head for the ship to stop the Frightful Four and rescue Sue.

    Sue is subjected to attacks by the Wizard but eventually Reed and the rest of the team manage to return to the ship. Once there, Storm found Sue and released her from the special machine that neutralized Sue's powers. As a means of revenge, Sue threatened the Wizard with creating a force field around his heart. The Wizard, intimidated by the more powerful Sue, subsequently faints and the Frightful Four are then rocketed out into space on a smaller vessel.

    Brand New Day

    Before the Civil War, Spider-Man's identity was shared among many super-heroes including the Fantastic Four. On one occasion they in-listed Peter's help in journeying with them to the Macroverse where they helped save a princess from a group of barbarians. During this whole encounter, Peter never wore his mask.

    In present time, The Fantastic Four seek Peter's help again in journeying to the Macroverse, from where Reed received a distress signal. At first Spidey refuses to go but then accepts after Reed produces him a check to pay his bills. However, after One More Day, the Fantastic Four have also forget of Spidey's identity, making the Human Torch, who was once a very close friend to both Peter and Spider-Man, very skeptical. When they arrive at the Macroverse, they discover five statues of themselves, the inhabitants of the Macroverse idolize them for their previous adventure. Once the Johnny realizes that the unmasked Spider-Man's statue's face is unrecognizable, he recalls that he once knew more about Spider-Man and wants to know what he did that caused them to forget who he is. When Spidey refuses to answer and declares that he won't go down that road again and that no one will ever know his secret, an angered Human Torch burns off Spidey's mask but Susan uses her powers to protect Peter's face and lashes out at Johnny for betraying Spidey's trust. However, they are in a war-zone between two races, and the combined might of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four was able to return the Macroverse to peace. When they were heading back to Earth, Reed asks Spidey about his secret identity and how he was able to have everyone forget it. Spidey tells him that it was the result of a special spell that prevents anyone from knowing Peter's identity unless Peter himself unmasks. Johnny urges Peter to unmask since they're all friends but Peter still refuses until Reed tells him that he has a "psychic firewall" that allowing them to know his identity and keep it to themselves. Peter agrees and unmasks and they renew their friendship.

    Planet Hulk & World War Hulk

    The Hulk, who is now under the control of Banner, was sent to Las Vegas by the Fantastic Four to investigate a Hydra Gamma Bomb. However, things went horribly wrong and the bomb detonated in his face so Human Torch and the Thing are sent to bring back the Hulk before more people get hurt. But Bruce doesn't seem to be in control any more, as the Hulk now appears as a bald Grey Hulk. As Ben and Johnny fight this mindless Hulk, he seems to be recalling some of the tragic events in his life. Ben realizes that some-thing's wrong with him and that the explosion somehow messed up his mind. Ben told Johnny that he and the Hulk were both hit by something that made them monsters people need but don't want and that "monsters understand monsters". He attempts to reason with the Hulk despite Torch's protests. However, this doesn't work and Hulk recalls Betty's death and hallucinates that Thing is the Abomination (who killed Betty) and savagely attacks the Thing who doesn't fight back. Hulk hits Thing so hard, Ben is immobilized and tastes blood and before Hulk could finish Thing off, Human Torch goes nova but it didn't seem to have any effect on him until the Hulk told them not to worry about him and that he's fine.

    The fight in Las Vegas caused a lot of destruction so, the Illuminati were debating on whether or not Hulk should remain on Earth. Reed, Iron Man, Black Bolt, and Doctor Strange were all for sending Hulk into outer space, so he wouldn't harm anyone ever again. However, their plan didn't work out as they planned, as the Hulk, now stronger than ever, returned to Earth and declared war on the Illuminati, including Reed. When the Hulk came for Reed, with the help of Susan and the New Fantastic Four, he projected a hologram of the Sentry in order to calm the Hulk down, but his plan backfired and the Hulk defeated the Fantastic Four and captured him. The Hulk had built a gladiatorial arena in New York and equipped Reed and Tony with obedience disks, forcing them to fight each other to the death. Reed defeated Tony but Hulk spared because he came for justice, not murder. During the final battle between Sentry and the Hulk, Stark used a satellite cannon to finally defeat the Hulk.

    Secret Invasion

    Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four 1
    Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four 1

    The Illuminati investigated the corpse of Elektra who turned out to be a Skrull when Black Bolt revealed himself to be a Skrull himself and attacked the other members only to be killed by Namor. The Illuminati then separated since anyone of them could be a Skrull. Reed and Hank Pym were examining the body of the Skrull in order to find out why the Skrulls are undetectable. When Reed discovered why, Hank revealed himself to be a Skrull and shot Reed with a special gun, destabilizing him.

    He was taken to a Skrull armada in orbit where he was tortured by the Skrulls until being save by SWORD agent Abigail Brand. Using the information he discovered in the lab, Reed was able to develop a weapon that undoes the Skrulls shape-shifting abilities. Brand and Richards both traveled to the Savage Land where they used this weapon to identify the Skrulls during their battle with the New and Mighty Avengers.

    Susan was on a speaking tour around the world when she was attacked in her hotel room by Skrull Reed who used a forcefield to knock her out and neutralize her. That same Skrull took the form of Susan in order to infiltrate the Baxter Building while Ben, Johnny, Franklin and Valeria were there, and opened a portal to the Negative Zone causing half the building along with everyone in it, the Skrull Susan, Ben, Johnny, Franklin and Valeria, to be sucked in. While in the Negative Zone, they were attacked by Bug-like monsters. While Ben protected the kids from the "bugs", Johnny and Sue made it back to Reed's lab where they debated on who she really was. He asked her what her favorite movie was to which she answered wrong. The Skrull revealed herself to be Lyja, Johnny's ex. They fight and Lyja is captured by a Negative Zone monster but Torch saves her and they kiss for old times' sake. Franklin and Valeria make their way back to the lab to get a machine their dad built for them for defensive purposes and they help Thing fight off the rest of the bugs. Franklin suggests that they should free the Tinkerer from his N-Zone prison in order to help them fix the Baxter Building. While on their way to the prison on the Fantasticar, Valeria falls off, only to be saved by Lyja, who reveals that she was sent to kill them all but because of her feelings for Johnny she sent them to the N-Zone instead. The Thing frees the Tinkerer, and after an agreement, he manages to return the building to normal. As they make their way back to a ruined New York, Lyja decides to stay behind.

    Sue was revealed to be held captive on another Skrull ship along with other heroes and villains, who were freed and returned back to Earth when Iron Man destroyed the Skrull ship. After returning to Earth, she reunited with Reed and they both checked on their family before joining the final battle along side their fellow heroes against the Skrulls.

    Dark Reign

    When the Fantastic Four were attacked by HAMMER agents, Reed built a device called the Bridge which allowed him in the story to explore alternate dimensions. The team was sent to other continuities, leaving Franklin and Valeria under siege from Norman Osborn, HAMMER agents and Venom. Valeria was able to outsmart them and separate Osborn from his agents and led in a room where he was confronted by Franklin wearing a Spider-Man mask, calling him a villain. While Osborn is chasing the children holding a gun, the Fantastic Four make their way back to the Baxter Building where an enraged Invisible Woman scream at Osborn to stay away from her children. However, the insane Osborn challenges her to make him, which she does by knocking him down with a forcefield and preventing his remaining forces from reaching him. Reed tells Osborn to leave and never return but he replies by attempting to shoot Reed, only to be shot by Franklin. However, Franklin was holding a harmless toy gun, having Ben and Johnny thinking that Franklin's powers may have returned. Sue then told Reed to destroy the Bridge which he did but secretly he put it back together.

    Prime Elements; the end of a Family

    Fantastic Four 574 - Franklin's birthday party
    Fantastic Four 574 - Franklin's birthday party

    On Franklin's birthday, an older Franklin infiltrated the Baxter Building and used a forcefield to prevent the team from reaching him. He then confronted Franklin and seemingly knock him down, angering the team. He then entered Valeria's room and informed her about the coming conflict between four cities and that the only hope is Doom. He urged her not to tell anyone of this encounter before she recognized him as her brother. When Reed was finally able to penetrate the forcefield, Future Franklin teleported away. In his bedroom, little Franklin formed a pocket Universe, hinting that his ultimate powers may have fully resurfaced. Deep within the Antarctic underground Lake Vostok, the team made contact with the Lost Tribes of Atlantis who appointed Sue as their representative with the Outside world. Also the Universal Inhumans on the Moon, the underground city of the High Evolutionary have appeared.

    Fantastic Four 587 - the death of Johnny Storm
    Fantastic Four 587 - the death of Johnny Storm

    Johnny met a beautiful woman at a night club and she came home with him. However, she revealed herself to be composed of "bug monsters" and entered the Negative Zone, which has become a city ruled by Blastaar, and set off a bomb there. Johnny, failing to stop them, managed to escape back to the Baxter Building.

    The Fantastic Four where soon met with tragedy. While the group was in the Negative Zone trying to close a gate through witch an army of insectoids called the Annihilation Wave where planning to enter the Earth's atmosphere, Johny Storm, aka the Human Torch scarified himself to close the gate manually on the wrong side of the portal. It was the only way to do it, according to Valeria en Thirty-Two, member of the group formed by Reed Richards; the Future Foundation.

    The seeming demise of the Human Torch has ripped the Fantastic Four apart and the group known as the FF disbanded. It was revealed that all the other members of the old Fantastic Four team will be joining the Future Foundation team, including new member Spider-Man.

    Family Vacation

    The family hits the
    The family hits the "road"

    After Johnny is revealed to be alive and Reed notices his powers becoming terminally unstable, Reed suggests the family, including Val and Franklin, go on an extended trip through space, as a cover for a search for a cure. Reed believes that the rest of his family will become just as unstable. According to Reed’s plans, it should only take a few seconds Earth-time but a year to the F4. However, Reed wanted to take no chances with the fate of their homeworld. They recruited a replacement team to take over the Future Foundation just in case something went wrong, which, of course, it did.

    They ran into an older Johnny Storm from an alternate reality. He knew why they were becoming unstable and that they could be cured back in his home universe. On that world, his version of the Fantastic Four is being attacked by a partnership between Doom, Annihilus, and Kang. When the two Fantastic Four teams met, Reed and his counterpart determined that this alt-F4 were stripped of their powers and the 616-F4 were overloaded with their energies, causing the instability. The alt-F4 already knew what was going on because they had already been overloaded and forced to work with a de-powered version of themselves.

    The two teams re-distribute their energies so their powers are back to normal, but Doom, Kang, and Annihilus also combine into a single villain, “Doom the Annihilating Conqueror.” The two teams need to combine their powers to combat this new Doom, and the F4 finally get home to relieve their replacements.

    The Quiet Man

    Ben fights Counter-Earth monsters
    Ben fights Counter-Earth monsters

    Once back on Earth, the Fantastic Four immediately got into hot water when a portal to Counter-Earth let a bunch of monsters loose on New York City. It got them kicked out of the Baxter Building, and SHIELD took custody of their children, including the Future Foundation students. Each of them started acting erratically as well, leading to Ben ending up in jail for the murder of the Puppeteer.

    Reed believed someone was to blame for all this, targeting the team somehow. His investigation led him to someone calling themselves, The Quiet Man, who kidnapped Reed when he got too close. Johnny and Sue got their act together and rescued both Reed and Ben from their individual prisons. In retaliation, The Quiet Man opened another portal to Counter-Earth to let loose more monsters.

    With the help of Sleepwalker, Sue was able to enter the dreamworld of Franklin along with Jim Hammond and Namor. They were looking for the cause of the monsters, only to find Psycho-Man deep in Franklin’s subconscious. Meanwhile, The Quiet Man was going to deactivate the portals so that he looked like the hero, but Psycho-Man betrayed him. Unable to figure out a way around Psycho-Man’s sabotage, Reed and Valeria stepped in and solved it instead.

    Secret Wars

    The Richards look upon a reborn universe
    The Richards look upon a reborn universe

    Reed had been working with the Illuminati to stop incursions, the collision of Earths of alternate universes. They failed to find a way to do so without choosing an Earth to destroy, so when Earth-1610 (the Ultimate Universe) headed toward Earth-616, Reed created a vessel to save as many people as he could. Unfortunately, the vessel suffered a hull breach leading to the death of the Fantastic Four except Reed.

    Meanwhile, Dr. Doom, Molecule Man, and Doctor Strange confronted the Beyonders about the incursions. The trio ended up killing the Beyonders with Doom taking their power for himself and creating Battleworld, a collection of incursion points with various people reborn without any memories of their old lives, including the perished members of the Fantastic Four. It also gave Reed a location to set down his life raft.

    Reed and his fellow survivors from Earth-616 came to the Thor Corps aid in battle with The Cabal, villainous survivors of the last incursion. Upon seeing Reed among the fray, Doom teleported to the fight to put an end to it. The Earth-616 heroes scattered, with Reed working with The Maker to take down Doom. While the other heroes assembled back-up, the Reeds looked for Doom’s power source: Molecule Man imprisoned in the basement. During the liberation of Molecule Man, Maker tried to betray Reed, but Molecule Man stood with Reed over both Maker and Doom.

    Now powerless, Doom was unable to defend Battleworld. Using Molecule Man, Reed destroyed it and re-created Earth-616. He sent Johnny, Thing, and Doom back to Earth with the memory that Reed, Sue, and the kids perished. Together, the rest of the Fantastic Four and Future Foundation work with Molecule Man to continue recreating new planets.

    Torch and Thing

    The Multisect
    The Multisect

    With Johnny and Ben as the only remaining members of the Fantastic Four, they decided to officially disband the team. Instead, they had brief stints on other teams: Johnny on the Avengers Unity Squad and Ben on the Guardians of the Galaxy. They also briefly got the Fantastic Four back together when they teamed up with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to take on Super-Skrull.

    Johnny and Ben’s relationship ultimately suffered for their grieving. They kept their distance so as not to be reminded of the family members they lost. However, Ben would reach out to Johnny after Ben got his inheritance, a device called The Multisect. Ben told Johnny that their family might not be dead, and the device will locate them. This inspired Ben and Johnny to go on new adventures, but as Ben lied to Johnny about the ability of The Multisect, they never found their family.

    4 Yancy Street

    After a confrontation with an agent of entropy, The Griever at the End of All Things, Reed, Sue, and the kids make it back to Earth. Because the new team, The Fantastix, have settled into the Baxter Building, they all move in with the newly engaged, Ben and Alicia, in their Yancy Street brownstone. In order for it to fit their laboratory needs, Reed and Valeria folded in a few extra dimensions so it is a lot bigger on the inside.

    Moving to Yancy Street
    Moving to Yancy Street

    Their home was all a-buzz with plans for Ben’s wedding and bachelor party, but when the day came, they were interrupted by the inevitable return of Galactus. He made landfall in Latveria, with Doom vowing to defeat him. When the F4 tried to join him, they were confronted by Victorious, the Herald of Doom, a Latverian woman turned lead enforcer. This was Doom’s plan all along. He captured Galactus to leech his power cosmic and used that to power specific prisons for the F4. He underestimated them, though. They were able to escape thanks to Doom’s hubris, and Sue was able to turn his armor invisible, showing his disfigurements to the world.

    The Four-Told

    The angry people of Spyre
    The angry people of Spyre

    After The Marvel-1, the ship the F4 used when they got their powers, was put on display in a museum, Reed got obsessed with the idea of going on the excursion he originally meant to go on, talking the rest of the team into joining.

    They landed on Spyre, where the people have been dreading a visit from the Fantastic Four for years. Reed’s first faster-than-light scan of their planet for viability was considered a warning of invasion. A scientist, The Overseer, mirrored the scan and not only witnessed the team try and fail to make it to his planet but also receive their powers. Believing them to be a threat, he harnessed the energy of the cosmic storm to make his own superhero team, The Unparalleled. After a brief confrontation, they are able to prove to The Overseer that they are not a threat.

    Settling in was a culture shock. The Spiricans have a tradition of “soul-mates.” Similar to marriage, couples are outfitted with special arm bands that connect them. Reed and Sue got their own, having shown up to the planet as a dedicated couple, but Johnny got linked to Unparalleled member, Sky. Unfortunately, the Unparalleled also had Ben disposed of in the hidden world under the city. Every few users of the cosmic storm power would turn into a monster like The Thing and shunned by their society.

    Suspicious of The Overseer, Reed investigated his ability to harness the cosmic storm. He had proof that Overseer weaponized the cosmic storm ahead of the F4’s attempted journey. The storm of their origin wasn’t a random phenomenon but a preemptive strike. Although that was enough to convince The Unparalleled and The Monster Mob from under the city that the F4 was not a threat, it was short-lived. Their confrontation with the Overseer destroyed a city landmark, which bonded the monsters and superhumans against the F4.

    The F4 were allowed to leave peacefully with a reluctant Sky, who had faith in the soul-mate tradition and stood by Johnny.

    Empyre

    N'Kalla and Jo-Venn
    N'Kalla and Jo-Venn

    On a road trip in space, the F4 ran out of gas and needed a tow to the nearest space station. They were entertaining themselves waiting for their ship to be repaired when Ben came across a gladiator match hosted by The Profiteer between a slave Kree boy, Jo-Venn, and a slave Skrull girl, N’Kalla. Angry, Ben rallied his team to earn their freedom and then brought them home so that he and Alicia could adopt them as their own.

    On their way home, they find an armada approaching Earth of the newly created Kree-Skrull alliance. Using Sue’s invisibility, they boarded one of the ships and found Hulkling has become their leader. They were detected by Super-Skrull and apprehended just as The Avengers and The Cotati attacked. In retaliation, Hulkling, who was in fact R’Klll in disguise, activated the Pyre, a Skrull world killer weapon traditionally used by newly crowned rulers as proof of mettle.

    New Fantastic Four
    New Fantastic Four

    The F4 split up with members of the Avengers to try to stop both attacks. Sue and Ben teamed up with She-Hulk to chase Quoi. Reed returned to Avengers Mountain to make a plan with Iron Man, while Johnny stayed behind on the Alliance ship with Carol Danvers, Wiccan, and the real Hulkling. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Cotati soldiers were attacking, so Franklin and Valeria re-activated F4 subs Wolverine and Spider-Man to help them defend New York City.

    Reed, with a tailor made Iron Man suit, led re-assembled members of both teams to defeat the Cotati and install the real Hulkling to the throne of the Kree-Skrull Alliance.

    Forever Gate

    An alien enforcer working for a mysterious benefactor came calling to Baxter Building looking for something. What he found instead was The Zero Force, pre-primordial power that predates everything. It wasn’t what the alien was looking for so he abandoned it after setting it free from Reed’s special lockbox.

    The Forever Gate
    The Forever Gate

    Doom and the F4 raced to the Baxter Building to stop the alien, but they were too late. They had no answers to stop the out of control energy until Val showed up with her commandeered Fantasicar and the prototype teleporter she had been working on with Reed. When she combined the teleporter with the Zero Force, it reconfigured into The Forever Gate, a gateway to every point in space and time.

    Soon after the parents of the Future Foundation kids came calling. They wanted to know where their kids were, since the F4 left them in space to continue looking for remnants of Molecule Man. So, Reed used the gate to bring them back. Unfortunately, they were followed by refugees from planets Franklin had recently created. They were running from The Griever, who had been undoing Franklin’s work.

    The Griever had a mole in the refugees. They communicated back to her that Franklin had used up all his cosmic energy creating planets and fighting the alien enforcer. Learning this, she made her presence known. Griever trapped Reed, Ben, Sue, and Dragon Man in worlds based on their nightmare, waiting for Silver Surfer to show up with the Ultimate Nullifier. However, they don’t end up needing it. Instead, they offer Griever the chance to use the Forever Gate to skip to the last moments of the universe, which she gladly accepted.

    With the Griever gone, Surfer promises the F4 to find a suitable new world for all the refugees.

    Reckoning War

    FF and allies take on Wrath
    FF and allies take on Wrath

    The Fantastic Four jump into action when the Badoon destroy The Moon and invade Earth with brand new weaponry. The weaponry reminds Reed of Watcher tech, so he leads his team to find Uatu for answers. They find Nick Fury instead, who had been investigating for the Watcher a group calling themselves The Reckoning. They were supplying upgraded tech to war-like alien races. Uatu knew about them and downloaded his knowledge to a data sphere before the Moon was destroyed. Reed helped himself to the sphere, downloading all The Watcher knowledge to his vulnerable human mind. He saw that The Reckoning was the first race The Watcher’s tried to help, which went so bad they took a vow only to watch from then on. Now, The Reckoning is back.

    Reed used his new hyper intelligence to collaborate with the heroes in the field, inviting She-Hulk and Jack of Hearts to join them at his side. He determined that aiding the Shi’ar in defending the M’kraan crystals was their top priority, so, without Johnny, who believed he was needed elsewhere, or Sue, who was sent to keep an eye on the Watchers, they used the Forever Gate to get to Shi’ar space. Unfortunately, Ben is hurt badly enough in a fight with The Reckoning to distract the whole team away from the M’kraan, which is taken. Jen believed they went to the one planet the Watchers’ can’t see: Obscura Minor, which can’t be seen due to Jen’s cosmic judicial ruling. Reed tapped into the Watcher’s knowledge of “traveling at night” to move them there.

    Once there, they fell into traps set up by The Reckoning, so The Reckoning could steal the Forever Gate. Reed was able to reconstruct one using his Watcher intelligence and powering it with Jack of Hearts, who was abandoned in their prison. They used the gate to reach the Watcher’s planet to stop The Reckoning from getting to The Apex of the Watchers’ powers. They are reunited with their other family members where they debate a fatal solution: Reed using the Ultimate Nullifier on Wrath, leader of The Reckoning.

    Thankfully, Reed was not killed by the Ultimate Nullifier, as it was designed to be used by a Watcher, which he had been turning into. Instead, it burned out the Watcher transformation. Uatu, who had absorbed all of the Watcher knowledge and power for himself, used the power to set everything right. He returned the heroes to their homes, including Jack of Heart, restored Galactus but with a hunger for knowledge, reassembled Earth’s Moon, and pulled the barrier down on the edge of space, increasing the universe by 90%.

    Fantastic Four Suits

    Reed had invented specialized suits made of unstable molecules which could adapt to him and his teammates' powers. For him, his suit allows him to stretch to great lengths without tearing it. The costume also makes them harmless against electrical attacks. They are also computers. In them, they have something equivalent to a computer. It forms a network, keeping the team up to date. It also displays data for them and touchpad controls are available on their gauntlets. The costume is like a GPS, providing their location. It has a scanner which can scan things in their environment, being able to scan things like how many people are in the room next to them.

    Members

    • Spider-Man- once tried to "apply" to the team but reconsidered when he wasn't gonna get paid.
    • Hulk -in the Grey Hulk and the Professor personality in different occasions.
    • Wolverine
    • Ghost Rider -Danny Ketch version.

    When a female Skrull captured the original team, she impersonated the Invisible Woman to recruit a new team to avenge the "death" of the original and to steal a weapon from the Mole Man.

    The team reassembled again by Doctor Strange to arrest the Human Torch for his actions that destroyed a quarter of a city.

    Ultimate Universe

    The Fantastic Four of Earth-1610
    The Fantastic Four of Earth-1610

    Earth-1610

    The Fantastic Four of the Ultimate universe is composed younger versions of the original four, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and Thing. The origin of these four is different than the original. Reed Richards enters a Think Tank in the Baxter Building along with Sue Storm her father Richard Storm, one of the caretakers, Johnny Storm her brother and Victor Van Dame. He started in the think tank trying to create a teleportation device and joined work with Victor to get better results. When they had finally acquired results that seemed promising they tried it out.

    In this reality Ben Grimm a childhood friend of Reed went to see the launch. The five of them were side by side trying to teleport an apple but got teleported instead. The teleportation consisted of going through something called the Negative Zone and the moment the five entered the N-Zone (a reality where the teleportation takes place as a mediator) affecting their DNA giving them superpowers.

    The Ultimate Fantastic Four
    The Ultimate Fantastic Four

    Reed could stretch to different lengths and didn't need to eat,drink or breathe. Sue could generate invisible force fields and arrange light making her invisible. Johnny could generate fire and fly. Ben turned into a rock brute with super strength. When Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny came together once again faced an old Baxter teacher now going as the Mole Man. The four face his mole men and won.

    Later they decided to find Victor. They found him in Latveria where he was manipulating the locals with dragon tattoos. He now had metal instead of skin. He went against the four but he could not be arrested in Latveria. When going back Reed decided to go to the N-Zone to revert the process on himself and Ben.

    The four went up in space and teleported into the N-Zone where they made first contact with Ultimate Annihilus. While on the N-Zone, N-ihil pretended to be the Four's friend and explained how realities are stacked on the universe. That's when they became enemies. They returned home along with some sort of dinosaur leaving Annihilus in the N-Zone. Then they faced an old think tank jealous Brainiac going by the name The Thinker. She took over the Baxter Building and started going up against Reed. Brain against brain. The better genius won and the Thinker, Rhona Burchill, escaped. Johnny went to school with Peter Parker (AKA Spider-man). Johnny fell for a girl named Liz Allen. MJ, Peter, Kong, Liz and Johnny went to the beach together. There he was seen using his powers. Liz being mutant-phobic stopped talking to him so Peter as Spidey went and cheered him up. Reed made contact with himself and the rest of the FF from another universe making them become the Ultimate Frightful Four.

    Ultimate Fantastic Four-Reed Richards of Earth 1610 Meets The Reed Richards of Earth 616
    Ultimate Fantastic Four-Reed Richards of Earth 1610 Meets The Reed Richards of Earth 616

    Reed trying to cure Ben decided to change time. As a result Skrulls went to earth and gave them pills to give them superpowers. In the end they were betrayed by them all and they all died for the exception for Ben Grimm who didn't take the pill. He fought the Super-Skrull that used a suit to copy their powers. With no powers to be able to copy Ben took over and went back in time to stop the stopping of the accident. Again they faced the Frightful Four zombies and Doom went down along with them trying to be a hero. Spider-Man had a clone crisis and went to the FF for help. One of the clones who thought was Peter's father asked Sue to be his friend before dying. Reed cured MJ from a monster transformation she was having because of the clones. Then they gave the Scorpion clone to SHIELD. Ga Lak Tus was going to destroy the world and the FF did their part in stopping him. Teaming up with Ultimate Captain Marvel and the Ultimates they got information from the Kree.

    Reed created a machine that would damage Ga Lak Tus with the help of the Ultimate Vision. The Fantastic Four then went up against Gallowglass and Ronan. They also faced their father Thanos and got out of the problem with the help of Seed. The Thinker came back stealing Cerebro's hard drive and making the X-Men believe that it was the FF's fault. In the end they teamed up to defeat her. Then they faced Diablo a guy who created a teleportation from past to present and relied on magic.

    After the Fantastic Four first encountered Thanos in his home dimension, Thanos implanted the idea for the Cosmic Cube in Reed Richard's mind. Legend told that Thanos had discovered the original Cosmic Cube after it feel from the sky above his planet. With it he would attempt to control all existence. Thanos' defeat was narrow, and the costs were great. While Reed believed that he was creating the cosmic cube out of his own accord, Thanos was controlling Reed in order to re-create the powerful weapon that he once lost. As Reed continued to analyze the possibilities contained within the energy lattice, he found the draw of creating a cube irresistible. Reed's first attempt to harness the energy required for fueling the cube would result in the Fantastic Four's first encounter with the real Silver Surfer as well as the inter-dimensional being that they would com to know as the Psycho-Man.

    Sue then had to face Red Ghost. After the Red Ghost's defeat Reed would continue to work on developing the Cube. She went by herself to what she thought was a conference but was caught with the woman who became the Ultimate Red Ghost. With the help of the Ultimate Crimson Dynamo the rest of the FF saved Sue. Because of the actions of Reed while building the cube their relationship was broken off. When he finished the cube it automatically protected New York from an attack from Seed. Thanos' forces would spring foreword, removing a block of New York City containing the Four to take back to his home dimension. Thanos battled Reed in order to take the cube by force. While the Cube was a powerful weapon, Reed's inexperience wielding it made him susceptible to Thanos' power, and Reed was seemingly destroyed before Thanos acquired the cube. Using the power of the cube, Thanos came into our reality and took over the minds and wills of Earth's superheroes including the Ultimates, the X-Men, the remaining members of the Fantastic Four, and all solo heroes. These heroes in turn helped Thanos capture any remaining rebels. Thanos was disturbed because he could tell that he somehow didn't have full access to the Cube's vast powers as he once did.

    War over the Cosmic Cube
    War over the Cosmic Cube

    Meanwhile, Ben Grimm had located Thanos' estranged daughter Atrea who helped him realize that Reed was not actually dead. During his battle with Thanos Reed used the power of the Cosmic Cube to create a charred likeness of himself, while turning his actual form into an energy being. This move allowed him to escape Thanos' full power by being perceived as dead. Atrea felt Reed was still alive but trapped, and freed his essence.

    Convincing Atrea to rebel against her father, the three traveled back to their home dimension to battle Thanos. In the middle of the warped landscape of New York they found his citadel. With Atrea and Ben acting as a diversion Reed was able to get to Thanos to battle for control of the Cosmic Cube. While in partial control of the Cosmic Cube, Reed knew he was no match for Thanos' power.

    The small portion of the Cube's power which Thanos previously was denied access to was Reed's work. Reed unlocked this sequestered power within the Cube, giving Thanos full access to the Cube's infinite resources. With full access to the Cosmic Cube restored, Thanos' physical form quickly deteriorated as he died. Thanos' infatuation with death had created a subconscious drive within himself, and it was that desire for the fullness of death that destroyed Thanos.

    This left Reed the question of what to do with the Cube. It's vast powers had proven to dangerous for anyone, even himself, to wield. In order to deal with the Cube Reed opened up a very small rift in space and time and dropped the cube through. The cube plummeted through the rift and landed on Thanos' home planet many years earlier. The cube found its way to the sand in front of Thanos' very feet. The resulting paradox was that the original Cosmic Cube, the cube that Thanos had tricked Reed into building for him, was actually the Cosmic Cube that Reed had designed and built.

    After the Cosmic Cube event Sue went up with a new mystery. An giant egg was found along with the ex-Think Tank people now living underground. The the Ultimate Salem's Seven appeared into the picture trying to stop a flaming building and getting all the glory.

    March on Ultimatum

    20 Years into the future a new X-Men team that consisted of Captain America, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Rogue and a male Phoenix wanted to prevent the events of Ultimatum so they traveled back in time to stop it.

    Reed and Sue were going to go on a date when the future X-Men arrived trying to kill Reed. Reed not having any internal organs couldn't be killed so they kidnapped him. The rest of the Fantastic Four went to the present X-Men for help. Reed discovered that the future male Phoenix was actually his son Franklin Richards.

    The then future Wolverine attempted to kill Phoenix. Then the rest of the future X-Men discovered that future Wolverine was actually a Sentinel from the future. By the time the FF and present X-Men got there many Wolverines and Sentinels had been destroyed had killed Rouge and had taken Reed into the future. Captain America was dying and Jean unmasked him revealing he was actually Scott. He told the group that himself, Jean and the original Cap had been stripped away of their powers so he took over a s Captain America after Steve Rogers aged 100 years, then he died. In the future Iceman was captured by the Sentinels and Reed escaped his cell when he followed a trail of fire. Thinking it to be Johnny he then saw the future Fantastic Four: Invisible Woman, Iron Thing, Namor and Firestar.

    The future X-Men, or what was left of them told the present X-Men and FF that the reason that they needed to stop it all was because the new ruler was getting rid of mutants. That new ruler was Sue. Future Sue convinced present Reed to fix a machine that would strip away people of their powers just like Cyclops´s Reed gave to her request while the present X-Men, present FF, and future X-men went into the future to find out what was going on. Ben and Firestar found out that both of them in the future were in love and Iceman found himself being killed by Namor. Sue met Nihil again then just to find out that he was actually future Reed. Future Phoenix turned everyone in to his mother. Reed then took away future Sue´s powers since clearly she had gone crazy because of her brother´s death. Everyone let the future hero´s free from a prison in the N-Zone Sue had made to maintain the super powered heroes. The present FF and X-men went back to their own time and Sue and Reed left to be alone. Sue told Reed she was worried that would eventually happen to them, but Reed assured that it would not. Sue left and then from a drawer Reed took out a ring, sure that future would not happen.

    Ultimatum

    It's Tuesday 4:12 PM. Reed Richards is about to propose to Sue. Ben Grim is working out with H.E.R.B.I.E watching over. Johnny Storm and his father are having a heated argument on Johnny's intelligence.

    It's Tuesday 4:13 PM. New York is underwater.

    At the Baxter Building, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl reach the roof top. A whale enters the room with the Thing, Johnny and Franklin Storm are underwater. At their rooftop of the Baxter, Sue uses all her power to keep the water away from New York and then she collapses. The Thing arrives and Reed leaves Sue with him.

    At 4:21 PM, Reed is already on an FF submarine and meets with Namor. Reed accuses him of the event while Namor excuses himself saying it was not him.

    It's 12:31 AM in Latveria and all except Dr. Doom are frozen solid.

    Then, telepathically Xavier tells all superheroes, that he knows who is responsible for this events, and that all of them have to unite against this threat, to stop Magneto.

    Back in the Baxter, Ben takes over and is now alone. The Baxter Building is turning invisible and Sue isn't stable. No scientist knows how to help her, and the one scientist who might have a chance of saving her is dead, Franklin Storm is dead.

    The Thing has gone out of resources and Sue´s mother then arrives. She suggest that the person who could help would be Dr. Molveick a.k.a. The Mole Man. With the help of the students from Baxter B help Ben find Mole Man and save him from fire mole men. As a result he helps the Thing figures out that the way to help Sue is to internally help her. Using Pym particles the Thing and the Mole man are going to go inside the Invisible Girl.

    The Thing and the Mole Man Successfully rescue Sue from herself by going inside. Inside they fix the problem and then after that Sue recovers completely. During the journey inside Sue Ben and Dr. Molevick found some strange antibodies that attacked them. Sue explained that these weren't antibodies, they were actually some form of robotic organisms implanted inside her by Reed without any of the Fantastic Four's knowledge. Because of this Sue realized that with he GPS system imbedded in them she could locate Johnny. So she gets to work. This storyline is most reminiscent of the 1966 Sci-Fi classic entitled Fantastic Voyage. That film shrunk a submarine and sent of team inside of an important diplomat to save his life.

    Sue realizes that they need a huge antenna to locate Reed and Johnny around the world, so Sue's mother explains how advanced Atlantean technology could become useful here. Sue, Dr. Molevick, Mrs. Richards and Ben head into deep waters to get this technology. On their dive they discover some other Atlantean fugitives that were locked up. After being captured, since they couldn't surpass the power of these people, Sue's mother makes a deal that gets them out of the mess. They leave from Atlantis and create the necessary equipment to locate the nanobots implanted in Johnny and Reed. A mapping system appears showing the location of the rest of the team but it shows they aren't necessarily on earth. On a different earth Reed is with Dr. Doom and Princess Zarda while Johnny is in a dimension where Dormammu, a demon lord, rules.

    Hulk and Spider-Man see Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum blowing up. Magical beings start bursting out of control and Hulk and Spidey try and stop it. Dormammu, powered by the Human Torch, appears and kills everything in his path, apparently including Spider-Man.

    Doctor Strange tries fighting off this monster but fails and get's killed in the process.

    Now that Sue and Ben have located Johnny they go in to get him back. The Invisible Woman uses a forcefield over Dormammu's head cutting the oxygen from the monster and Johnny gives it all it's got to cut his breathing off. The effect brings him to turn back into a little man re-unites the Storms and 3/4 of the FF.

    Reed finally comes back with Nick Fury and he along Doctor Doom and Princess Zardra take the fight to Magneto. The X-Men take the battle to Magneto and what's left of his brotherhood. Nick Fury, with the help of Jean, shows Magneto how mutants are just a man-made accident. After this Cyclops kills Magneto.

    Post-Ultimatum

    After the events of Ultimatum, Sue and Reed break up and the Fantastic Four are officially disbanded. Reed goes back to his parent's house, Sue takes over the Baxter Building for herself, burying herself in work, Ben joins the military and Johnny starts to travel.

    After some time Johnny got tired of traveling around so instead of going to the Baxter he arrived on Peter Parker's doorstep. After talking to his sister he decides to live with the Parkers, Iceman and Gwen Stacy all while going to high school.

    Ultimate Enemy

    Reed Richards, now ex-leader of the world famous Fantastic Four, now lives with his parents and his father is not happy about that especially since he has no job to contribute to the family. After being brutally woken up by his father, Reed's computer detects an energy flux, and then somebody knocks at the door, even though Reed warns his father not to open the door, he opens it, and a purple, cloud-like explosion happens inside the Richard's home.

    Sue uses her invisible powers to hide herself from the rest of the world while taking a walk in the city. She feels better when not having to be a world spectacle to the rest of the world. Once back in the Baxter she wonders all alone the place only to find Ben Grim interrupts her loneliness. After a brief catching up between the two, Sue examines Ben's recent shedding of rocks and Ben drops a bomb on her by telling her that he loves her. Now that her relationship with Reed is over he took the opportunity to tell her that. One of the Thing's rocks falls and leaves Sue by saying: "something to remember me by". Then a huge, purple, cloud/octopus-like creatures overtakes the Baxter building and Ben even when trying to stop it he is thrown to a street.

    Other Variants

    Earth-2149

    The Zombie Four of Earth-2149
    The Zombie Four of Earth-2149

    *In the Zombie Universe the Fantastic Four as most other heroes are transformed into zombies. They also crosses over to Earth-1610*

    In an alternate universe Reed found himself but when he teleported there he found the Marvel Zombies. With the help of Magneto the Four escaped that reality and captured the Frightful Four. Sue's mother came into the picture asking for help locating Atlantis having the Fantastic Four face Namor. Namor fell for Sue, but she fought him off. Reed using a new machine recreated superheroes to fight him but that didn't work either. In the end Namor only asked for a kiss from Susan as victorious and headed back to Atlantis. Reed went back in time to stop the N-Zone accident creating an alternate universe where Thor is president and Skrulls help humanity.

    Earth-33

    Here the Fantastic Four never got their powers.

    Earth-717

    In this reality the Fantastic Four were the Russian superhuman fighting group known as the Ultimate Federalist Freedom Fighters. The team consisted of Rudion Richards (Mr. Fantastic) who was able to create discontinuities in his body and project limbs or parts of his body in great distances, Piotr Rasputin (Ben Grimms' replacement ) has taken on the organic steel of his Earth-616 counterpart but as a hindrance his mind slowly withers away as time goes on. Illyana, Colossus' sister has taken Sue Storms place as the Invisible Woman with her powers of camouflage. Natasha Romanov's electro-magnetic field has increased a thousand-fold who can fly by reversing the polarity of her body and fire lethal doses of her own energy her codename is the Widow Maker who is the Human Torch's replacement. The team is put to an end as Illyana dies of bullet wounds in a fight with the Avengers afterwards Rudion vows to cure themselves before they take over Russia after killing their Premier.

    Earth-721

    Reed Richards of Earth-721
    Reed Richards of Earth-721

    In this reality only Reed Richards and Ben Grimm were aboard the spaceship where the original four was exposed to cosmic rays, which resulted in Reed Richards becoming Thing and Ben Grimm became Mr. Fantastic. Furthermore Johnny Storm was believed to have died in Vietnam, but he became Gaard and later Vangaard. Sue Storm married Ben Grimm.

    Earth-952

    The Fantastic Four of Earth-952 were Heralds of Galactus.

    Earth-982

    In the MC2 reality the Fantastic Four is replaced by the Fantastic Five. The team is lead by the Human Torch, and its members are Lyja, (Ms. Fantastic), the Thing, with parts of his body replaced with cybernetic prosthetic, Franklin Richards, taking the name Psi-Lord, and Reed's robot named Big Brain, which he control in The Negative Zone.

    Earth-1987

    The Fantastic Four of Earth-1987 consisted of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch and She-Hulk.

    Earth-7712

    In this reality the Fantastic Four were the original four, but with different powers and codenames: Big Brain (Reed Richards) exists as a disembodied brain with vast mental powers, Dragonfly (Ben Grimm) has wings on his back that allow him to fly, Mandroid (Johnny Storm) has organic metal flesh that grants him great strength, and Ultra-Woman (Sue Storm) has super elasticity.

    House of M's F4 Earth-58163

    No Caption Provided

    In the House of M reality, Reed Richards, Susan Storm, and John Jameson died on the experimental space ship crashed back on Earth. Only Ben Grimm survived and mutated into "the It", but his intelligence was greatly reduced.

    Doctor Doom took him and formed the Fanatic Four with him as team leader, with powers similar to Mercury, Kristoff Vernard as the Inhuman Torch, and Valeria Von Doom as the Invincible Woman.

    Earth-311

    In the year 1602, The team is called the Four of the Fantastic. They are composed of Sir Richard Reed, Susan Storm, John Storm and Captain Benjamin Grimm. The galleon ship encountered a magical rift similar to that of the Bermuda Triangle, which gave them their individual powers.

    Earth-187319

    In this reality, the team is called the Four Fantastic, that is lead by Victor Von Doom, with members Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Bruce Banner. Their enemy is Reed Richards.

    Earth-9031

    All four of the Fantastic Four gains Human Torch's powers.

    Earth-9032

    All four of the Fantastic Four gains Mr. Fantastic's powers.

    Earth-9033

    All four of the Fantastic Four gains The Thing's powers.

    Earth-9034

    All four of the Fantastic Four gains Invisible Woman's powers.

    Other Media

    Animation

    The 1967 series
    The 1967 series
    • 1967: Produced by Hanna-Barbara Productions, this is the first Fantastic Four animated series and portrayed characters that were designed by Alex Toth. The series was twenty episodes long and ran on ABC from 1967 to 1970 until it was canceled.
    • 1978: Produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Comics Animation, this is the second Fantastic Four animated series. In this show, the Human Torch was replaced with the robot H.E.R.B.I.E. because Torch was tied up with movie rights for a film that was never made. This series will be released on Region 2 DVD in 2008 in the UK.
    The 90s series
    The 90s series
    Avengers: EMH
    Avengers: EMH
    • 1994: The third Fantastic Four animated series, it began its run on September 4, 1994 and ended February 24, 1996. The series consisted of two seasons with thirteen episodes each.
    • 2006: Titled, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, this series was based not only on the comic but the film as well, was produced by Moonscoop and aired on Cartoon Network. The DVD's were released in volumes with four episodes each and are distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution (outside USA) and 20th Century Fox (USA).
    • 2009: The Fantastic Four guest-starred in The Super Hero Squad Show.
    • 2011: The Fantastic Four appeared as recurring guest stars in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. They were featured more prominently in the second season, where it was revealed that Sue had been replaced by a Skrull impostor as part of the Secret Invasion adaptation.
    • 2013: The FF guest-starred in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. cartoon.

    Satire

    In the animated show "The Venture Brothers", there is super powered family know as the "The Impossibles". They are direct parody of the Fantastic Four.

    • Richard "Mr. Impossible" Impossible- can stretch and is negligent and abusive to his family.
    • Sally "The Visible Woman" Impossible- has to concentrate to not turn her skin invisible (but her muscle tissue is still visible).
    • Rocket Impossible- Their son. He does not seem to have manifested powers. May not be Mr. Impossible's son.
    • Ned- Sally's mentally challenged cousin. He has a very thick callus all over his skin, Making him a little tougher and harder to hurt. He also is stronger than an average person. But he is not a powerful or tough as The Thing.
    • Cody- Sally's brother. Has the ability to burst into flames however he can't control it and it is VERY painful.

    Films

    The Fantastic Four (1994)

    Unreleased, this was a low-budget film finished in 1994. It was simply made so that the property could be copyrighted, though the directors (Roger Corman/Bernd Eichinger) and creators were left unaware of this fact, and so it was not intended to be released. The film depicted the origin of the Fantastic Four and their first battles with Dr. Doom and Mole Man.

    The Fantastic Four (1994)
    The Fantastic Four (1994)

    In 1994, a film about the Fantastic Four was produced in order that the studio, Constantin Film, could secure the rights to the group. Unknown to the director, crew and actors of the film, this movie was never intended to be released. The film starts with Reed and Victor Von Doom in college. An experiment goes goes wrong and Victor is allegedly killed. Reed's friend introduces him to her children Sue (a teenager) and Johnny (a preteen). Reed grieves for his friend but finishes school and years starts a space expedition (one that is to be piloted by his roommate Ben Grim) and they decide to bring, a now older, Sue and Johnny along (for shits and giggles).

    Little do they know that Victor Von Doom did not die the day of that horrible experiment, and to that day had been planning his revenge on the man he assumes is responsible for his experiment not working (none other than Reed Richards of course). He sabotages their ship so it flies right on course with some cosmic rays (an energy source that has unknown strength) the ship seems to be destroyed in space. Doom laughs a terrible laugh and marvels in his years of planning coming to fruition.

    The group survives the cosmic ray exposure and they crash land back on earth even though their ship blew up and it shouldn't be possible. Once they find they are all alive, they also discover they all have amazing powers. Reed Richards is elastic, Sue can hide from sight, Johnny is the Human Torch, and Ben has become the Thing, with a large gravel-like exoskeleton and super strength.

    All you need to know is that Doom finds out the Fantastic Four are still alive and lures them to his lair. They fight. Doom's device almost goes off. They stop it and save the day. The End.

    Fantastic Four (2005)

    The team in the Tim Story films
    The team in the Tim Story films

    Released in the US on July 8, 2005 it was the third superhero film of the year ( Elektra and Batman Begins being the first and second respectively). The film was directed by Tim Story and released by 20th Century Fox, and though it was the first Fantastic Four film to be released it was the second to be filmed. This film told of the forming of the Fantastic Four and how they got their abilities. It was also a tale of their change in mindset when they slowly began to accept that it was their duty to be heroes, they were not destined to be normal, even Ben came to terms with this. The film also depicted the origins of the team's nemesis Dr. Doom and showed the characters developing their powers, pushing them to their limits and learning how they work. In the end, when working as a team they find themselves able to defeat Dr. Doom, his "dead" body is then shipped off to Latveria.

    Among the deleted scenes included on the December 2005 DVD release:

    • Three slightly modified scenes concerning the attack on Doctor Doom - one in which Reed uses his body as a funnel to direct a stream of water at Doom, one in which he doesn't, and one in which Doctor Doom's line "Is that the best you can do, a little heat?" is cut short, having the "..a little heat?" portion removed.
    • Two versions of a scene with Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd. The original features the pair in the planetarium, where they communicate their feelings for each other without an argumentative tone. This ends in a kiss. The second version, included in the DVD release as a bonus feature, features the two outside, looking toward the Statue Of Liberty. Similar lines are used, but it ends with Alba's Susan turning invisible before Gruffudd's Reed can kiss her. A joke was used during the line "a stronger man": Instead of Reed giving himself a square jaw (as he does in the theatrical release), he makes his skin look like the X-Men's Wolverine. Actor Gruffudd breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera as he does this.
    • There is also a scene where Reed and Sue are in a storage room of the Baxter Building where we see on one of the shelves is a robot that is supposed to be H.E.R.B.I.E. from the 1970s Fantastic Four cartoon.

    The novelization of the film contained a number of scenes not in the final cut, including a small number of scenes that developed the character of Alicia Masters.

    Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

    Rise of the Silver Surfer
    Rise of the Silver Surfer

    A sequel to the Fantastic Four film of 2005, this film was also directed by Tim Story. Rated PG-13, this film was released in North America on June 15, 2007 and some of its stars include:

    • Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic)
    • Jessica Alba (Invisible Woman)
    • Chris Evans (Human Torch)
    • Michael Chiklis (Thing)
    • Julian McMahon (Doctor Doom)
    • Kerry Washington (Alicia Masters)
    • Beau Garrett ( Frankie Raye)
    • Doug Jones (Silver Surfer)
    • Laurence Fishburne (Surfer's Voice)
    • Stan Lee (Stan Lee)

    This film starts off quite some time after the last movie ended and focuses on the upcoming marriage between Sue and Reed and their relationship/future as well as the threat the Silver Surfer poses to the world. Once again the team finds themselves needing to work together as the Earth will be devoured if they do not, forcing them to do things like working with the resurrected Doom. Eventually they try and capture the Surfer but when they succeed they realize it was the wrong thing to do and Sue frees the alien, after creating a bond with him. She learns a lot about him and eventually it is this relationship that causes him to help the Fantastic Four by driving away Galactus, turning against his master.

    The Fantastic Four (2015)

    The new FF
    The new FF

    After the disappointing reviews and box office returns for Rise of the Silver Surfer, the franchise was put on hiatus for a number years until a new film was greenlit for a 2015 release. The new movie was a complete reboot set in a new continuity with an entirely new cast, and presented a more serious take on the team. The film was directed by Josh Trank.

    The cast included:

    • Miles Teller (Mr. Fantastic)
    • Kate Mara (Invisible Woman)
    • Michael B. Jordan (Human Torch)
    • Jamie Bell (Thing)
    • Toby Kebell (Doctor Doom)
    • Reg E. Cathey (Franklin Storm)
    • Tim Blake Nelson (Harvey Elder)

    The film features younger versions of the heroes, primarily inspired by the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics.

    The movie received highly negative reviews from critics and flopped at the box office, killing the franchise once again.

    Marvel's Fantastic Four (TBA)

    Marvel's Fantastic Four
    Marvel's Fantastic Four

    Following Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019, the Fantastic Four's film rights returned to Marvel Studios. In December 2020, it was announced that a new Fantastic Four movie was in the works as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film will be directed by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home).

    Video Games

    The FF video game
    The FF video game
    The FF in Ultimate Alliance 3
    The FF in Ultimate Alliance 3
    • The FF made their video game debut with Questprobe #3: The Fantastic Four.
    • In 1997, the Fantastic Four received their own game for the Sony PlayStation.
    • The Thing and the Human Torch were featured as playable characters in the fighting game Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.
    • All four members of the team were featured in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, as well as its sequel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
    • A video game based on the 2005 live-action movie was made. A sequel based on Rise of the Silver Surfer was released two years later.
    • The Fantastic Four appeared in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
    • All four members of the team appeared in Marvel Heroes. However, in 2018, they were removed from the game due to Marvel's embargo on all Fantastic Four media appearances.
    • The members of the Fantastic Four appear in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order as the subject of the Fantastic Four: Shadow of Doom DLC pack.

    Merchandise

    Marvel Legends
    Marvel Legends
    • All four members of the team were featured in Mego's Worlds Greatest Super Heroes figure line in the 1970s.
    • All four members of the team were featured in ToyBiz's line for the 1994 animated series.
    • ToyBiz produced a number of Fantastic Four figures throughout the years.
    • All four members of the team (as well as other characters like Doctor Doom and the Silver Surfer) were featured in ToyBiz's Marvel Legends line.
    • ToyBiz produced a line of 6-inch figures for the 2005 movie. Figures in other scales were also released.
    • ToyBiz released a line of 6-inch figures dubbed Fantastic Four Classics, which was conceived as a sister line of sorts to Marvel Legends.
    • The Fantastic Four were featured in Diamond Select's Minimates line.
    • After gaining the Marvel license from ToyBiz, Hasbro did a Fantastic Four-themed Marvel Legends wave, which featured Ronan the Accuser as the Build-a-Figure.
    • Hasbro released a line of figures based on Rise of the Silver Surfer.
    • The Human Torch and the Silver Surfer were featured in Hasbro's Marvel Legends Icons spin-off line.
    • Companies like Bowen Designs, Sideshow Collectibles, Eaglemoss Publications, Dark Horse Collectibles and Diamond Select released statues, figurines and busts depicting the Fantastic Four characters.
    • Hasbro released a special line of Fantastic Four Marvel Legends figures exclusively at Walgreens.

    Novels

    Fantastic Four

    No Caption Provided

    Scientific genius Dr. Reed Richards's lifelong dream is close to being realized--a trip to space and to the center of a cosmic storm to unlock the secrets of the human genetic code. Financed by rival-turned-billionaire-industrialist Victor Von Doom, Reed's crew for the mission includes his best friend, astronaut Ben Grimm; Susan Storm, Von Doom's director of genetic research and Reed's ex-girlfriend; and Sue's hot-headed younger brother, pilot Johnny Storm. With benefactor Von Doom in tow, the four set off for the exploration of a lifetime. But something goes terribly wrong, as cosmic radiation irrevocably alters their DNA...and their future.

    Back on Earth, the effects of the exposure are quickly revealed: Reed gains the ability to stretch and contort his body into any shape he can imagine...Sue is able to render herself invisible and to create and project powerful force fields...Johnny can now engulf his body in flames and take flight at will... and Ben, whose freakish transmutation is the most shocking, becomes an orange-colored, rock-like, superhumanly strong creature. Together, they turn tragedy into triumph and catastrophe into coalition, and must use their unique and formidable powers against Victor Von Doom--who has also not escaped the effects of the cosmic storm unscathed....

    Adventurers. Super Heroes. Celebrities. To the world, they are the Fantastic Four. To each other, they are a family.

    • Written By: Peter David
    • Publisher: Pocket Star (May, 2005)
    • ISBN-10: 1416509801
    • ISBN-13: 978-1416509806

    Fantastic Four: Countdown to Chaos

    No Caption Provided

    World chaos--courtesy of the Mad Thinker! The Mad Thinker, with the aid of the Red Ghost and his Super Apes, has hatched a worldwide conspiracy. He has placed lifelike duplicates of hundreds of key people throughout the world--including Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four! The remaining members of the FF must work frantically to uncover the Thinker's plan before his duplicates are able to wreak havoc across the globe...

    • Written By: Pierce Askegren
    • Publisher: Berkley (June, 1998)
    • ISBN-10: 0425163733
    • ISBN-13: 978-0425163733

    Fantastic Four: Doomgate

    No Caption Provided

    Deep beneath the Empire State University library, a frustrated student finds the lost legacy of ESU's most infamous alumnus. Victor Von Doom's lab notebooks -- instructions for how to build a machine that can pierce the veil between Earth and the netherworld -- have fallen into the wrong hands. A gate is opened where none should exist, and someone -- or something -- has invaded our world.

    The Fantastic Four would be the team to face such a threat...if they could reach one another. Force shields erected around Manhattan by the over-anxious agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have trapped Reed Richards, Sue Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm. All are in danger of succumbing to the pernicious effects of the energies emanating from the dark dimension, forcing the F.F. to seek aid from their greatest enemy, whose nefariously brilliant mind first conceived the Doomgate.

    • Written By: Jeffrey Lang
    • Publisher: Pocket Star (November, 2008)
    • ISBN-10: 1416540253
    • ISBN-13: 978-1416540250

    Fantastic Four: Redemption of the Silver Surfer

    No Caption Provided

    In an exciting Marvel adventure, the Fantastic Four join forces with the Silver Surfer in order to help Blastaar fight the evil Prodigion, the destroyer of worlds, who is threatening the existence of the Negative Zone.

    • Written By: Michael Jan Friedman
    • Publisher: Berkley (April, 1998)
    • ISBN-10: 0425164896
    • ISBN-13: 978-0425164891

    Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

    No Caption Provided

    Adventurers. Celebrities. Family. They are the Fantastic Four, the world's greatest Super Hero team: scientific genius Reed Richards, with the ability to stretch and contort his body into any shape imaginable; the beautiful Susan Storm, who can render herself invisible and create and project powerful force fields; Sue's brother, Johnny Storm, who can engulf his body in flames and take flight at will; and Ben Grimm, whose freakish transmutation turns him into an orange-colored, rock-like, superhumanly strong creature.

    Now the Fantastic Four meet their greatest challenge yet, as an enigmatic, intergalactic herald comes to Earth -- to prepare it for destruction. As the mysterious alien being races around the globe, wreaking havoc and leaving utter chaos in its wake, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben must find a way to confront this devastating force...even as a new threat looms in the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Victor Von Doom, who harbors his own deadly machinations for them all....

    • Written By: Daniel Joseph
    • Publisher: Pocket Star (April, 2007)
    • ISBN-10: 1416548092
    • ISBN-13: 978-1416548096

    Fantastic Four: The Baxter Effect

    No Caption Provided

    They rocketed into space as four ordinary human beings.

    They came back as heroes. The Fantastic Four -- the Thing, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and Mr. Fantastic. Together they have used their powers for the betterment of mankind.

    For years, the world's top scientists have dreamed of creating a quantum computer, a machine that would be infinitely more powerful than any based on the transistor. Now Reed Richards -- Mr. Fantastic -- has achieved that dream. He has birthed a device capable of creating the unbreakable cipher, predicting the weather, performing calculations, and retrieving knowledge at heretofore unimagined speeds.

    He has also, unwittingly, created something else.

    A machine that one of the Fantastic Four's oldest and most powerful adversaries will use against them, will twist to his own destructive, murderous purposes, one that will turn friend against friend, husband against wife, and force Ben Grimm -- the Thing -- to confront a nightmarish dilemma.

    A choice between humanity's salvation -- and the death of the three people he loves most in all the world....

    • Written By: Dave Stern
    • Publisher: Pocket Star (December, 2006)
    • ISBN-10: 1416510664
    • ISBN-13: 978-1416510666

    Fantastic Four: To Free Atlantis

    No Caption Provided

    Chaos in Atlantis and Dr. Doom's behind it!

    Dr. Doom is back, and he's targeting Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, ruler of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis, for death. In a conspiracy with Namor's scheming cousin Prince Byrrah. Doom has orchestrated a palace coup... but only Doom knows that his deadly plan will lead to Atlantis' destruction.

    Poisoned and near death, the Sub-Mariner escapes to the surface and is rescued by the Fantastic Four, setting off a titanic struggle at the ocean's depths. As Namor fights to regain his throne and the FF come face-to-face with their deadliest enemy, the terrible forces that Doom has unleashed threaten them all.

    It will take the combined efforts of Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing to overcome Dr. Doom's monstrous plans and save Atlantis from certain destruction.

    An entirely new epic in the tradition of th FF's greatest adventures!

    • Written By: Nancy A. Collins
    • Publisher: Berkley (December, 1995)
    • ISBN-10: 1572970545
    • ISBN-13: 978-1572970540

    Fantastic Four: War Zone

    No Caption Provided

    They are the Earth's most revered protectors: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm-- the Fantastic Four. Celebrities around the globe and defenders of mankind, these extraordinary individuals have sworn to confront the perils and challenges facing the modern world and each other, always with unyielding courage, unerring wisdom, and an unshakable familial bond.

    But their darkest hour may yet be at hand, as humanity's most frightening threat comes violently from beyond the stars... from the depths of the Negative Zone, a universe in a dimension parallel to out own-- one first discovered years ago by Reed Richards himself. And it is this terrifying and deadly menace that will ultimately test the measure and mettle of four heroes sworn to protect the human race at any cost-- even their own lives...

    • Written By: Greg Cox
    • Publisher: Pocket Star (July, 2005)
    • ISBN-10: 1416509658
    • ISBN-13: 978-1416509653

    Fantastic Four: What Lies Beneath

    No Caption Provided

    Meet the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards ('Mr. Fantastic') - leader of the group. A gifted idealist, he can stretch, expand, or compress into any contiguous shape - amazing elasticity matched only by his genius. Sue Storm ('The Invisible Woman') - Wife of Reed Richards and older sister of Johnny Storm. She can render herself and other objects invisible, and is able to project powerful invisible force fields. Johnny Storm ('The Human Torch') - Brother of Sue Storm. The Human Torch can create and engulf himself in varying degrees of plasma fire, can also emit fiery bolts, and has the power of flight. Ben Grimm ('The Thing') - best friend of Reed Richards. A wise-cracking NASA pilot, The Thing is a creature of superhuman strength, endurance, and durability. After a freak accident aboard a test flight blasted them with radiation, permanently altering their genetic structures, four adventurers use their incredible powers for the good of mankind and to protect the world from the forces of evil...despite their real problems, worries, and arguments - just like any other family.

    • Written By: Peter David
    • Publisher: Pocket Star (June, 2007)
    • ISBN-10: 1416510702
    • ISBN-13: 978-1416510703

    Spider-Man: Doom's Way Book Three - Wreckage

    No Caption Provided

    Dr. Doom has broken Dr. Octopus out of prison as the final mover in the latest plan for world conquest. Using Ock's expertise to help him draw on the arcane energies of the Negative Zone, Doom has found a way to wield absolute power. Now the only thing standing between Doom and his goals are Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four--and one of the F.F. is already Doom's prisoner!

    • Written By: Eric Fein & Pierce Askegren
    • Publisher: Boulevard Books (November, 1997)
    • ISBN-10: 1572973110
    • ISBN-13: 978-1572973114
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