Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four
Promotional art for Fantastic Four #509 (March 2004) by Mike Wieringo and Karl Kesel.
Group publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961)
Created by	Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
In-story information
Type of organization	Team
Base(s)	Baxter Building (formerly Avengers Mansion, Four Freedoms Plaza, Pier 4)
Agent(s)	Mister Fantastic Invisible Woman Human Torch The Thing
Roster
See: List of Fantastic Four members
Fantastic Four
	The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961). Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciller) and unconfirmed inker
Series publication information
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	(vol. 1) November 1961 – September 1996 (vol. 2) November 1996 — November 1997 (vol. 3) January 1998 — August 2003 (vol. 1 cont.) September 2003 — Present
Number of issues	(vol. 1) 490 (as of November 2009) (vol. 2) 13 (vol. 3) 70
Creator(s)	Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Collected editions
Essential Fantastic Four: Volume 1	ISBN 0-7851-1828-4

The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961), which helped to usher in a new level of verisimilitude in the medium. The Fantastic Four was the first superhero team created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, who developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title that they would use from then on. As the first superhero team title produced by Marvel Comics, it formed a cornerstone of the company's 1960s rise from a small division of a publishing company to a pop-culture conglomerate. The title would go on to showcase the talents of comics creators such as Roy Thomas, John Byrne, Steve Englehart, Walt Simonson, John Buscema, George Perez and Tom DeFalco, and is one of several Marvel titles still in publication since the Silver Age of Comic Books.

The four core individuals traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four, who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space, are: Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius and the leader of the group, who can stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes; the Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm), Reed's wife, who can render herself and others invisible and project powerful force fields; the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's younger brother, who can generate flames, surround himself with them and fly; and the monstrous Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy but benevolent friend, who possesses superhuman strength and endurance due to the nature of his stone-like flesh.

Since the original four's 1961 introduction, the Fantastic Four have been portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional yet loving family. Breaking convention with other comic-book archetypes of the time, they would squabble and hold grudges both deep and petty, and eschew anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. The team is also well known for its recurring struggles with characters such as the villainous monarch Doctor Doom, the planet-devouring Galactus, the sea-dwelling prince Namor, the spacefaring Silver Surfer, and the shape-changing alien Skrulls.

The Fantastic Four have been adapted into other media, including four animated television series, an aborted 1990s low-budget film, the major motion picture Fantastic Four (2005), and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).

Publication history

Origins

Apocryphal legend has it that in 1961, longtime magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman was playing golf with either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld of rival company DC Comics, then known as National Periodical Publications, and that the top executive bragged about DC's success with the new superhero team the Justice League of America.^{[note 1]} While film producer and comics historian Michael Uslan has debunked the particulars of that story,^{[note 2]} Goodman, a publishing trend-follower aware of the JLA's strong sales, did direct his comics editor, Stan Lee, to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee in 1974, "Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The [sic] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes. ... 'If the Justice League is selling', spoke he, 'why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes?'"^[1]:16

Stan Lee, who had served as editor-in-chief and art director of Marvel Comics and its predecessor companies, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, for two decades, found that the medium had become creatively restrictive. Determined "to carve a real career for myself in the nowhere world of comic books,^{[note 3]} Lee concluded that, "For just this once, I would do the type of story I myself would enjoy reading.... And the characters would be the kind of characters I could personally relate to: they'd be flesh and blood, they'd have their faults and foibles, they'd be fallible and feisty, and — most important of all — inside their colorful, costumed booties they'd still have feet of clay.^[1]:17

Lee said he created a synopsis for the first Fantastic Four story that he gave to penciller Jack Kirby, who then drew the entire story. Kirby turned in his penciled art pages to Lee, who added dialogue and captions. This approach to creating comics, which became known as the "Marvel Method", worked so well for Lee and Kirby that they used it from then on; the Marvel Method became standard for the company within a year.^[2]:87

Kirby recalled events somewhat differently. Challenged with Lee's version of events in a 1990 interview, Kirby responded: "I would say that's an outright lie",^[3]:39 although the interviewer, Gary Groth notes that this statement needs to be viewed with caution.^{[note 4]} Kirby claims he came up with the idea for the Fantastic Four in Marvel's offices, and that Lee had merely added the dialogue after the story had been pencilled.^[3]:38 Kirby has also sought to establish, more credibly and on numerous occasions, that the visual elements of the strip were his conceptions. He regularly pointed to a team he had created for rival publisher DC Comics in the 1950s, Challengers of the Unknown. "[I]f you notice the uniforms, they're the same ... I always give them a skintight uniform with a belt ... the Challengers and the FF have a minimum of decoration. And of course, the Thing's skin is a kind of decoration, breaking up the monotony of the blue uniform". ^[4]:4 The characters wear no uniforms in the first two issues.

Given the conflicting statements, outside commentators have found it hard to identify with precise detail who created the Fantastic Four. Although Stan Lee's typed synopsis for the Fantastic Four exists, Earl Wells, writing in The Comics Journal, points out that its existence doesn't assert its place in the creation; "[W]e have no way of knowing of whether Lee wrote the synopsis after a discussion with Kirby in which Kirby supplied most of the ideas".^[5]:78 Comics historian R.C. Harvey believes that the Fantastic Four was a furtherance of the work Kirby had been doing previously, and so "more likely Kirby's creations than Lee's".^[6]:69 But Harvey notes that the Marvel Method of collaboration allowed each man to claim credit,^[6]:68 and that Lee's dialogue added to the direction the team took.^[6]:69 Wells argues that it was Lee's contributions which set the framework within which Kirby worked, and this made Lee "more responsible".^[5]:85 Comics historian Mark Evanier, a studio assistant to Jack Kirby in the 1970s, says that the considered opinion of Lee and Kirby's contemporaries was "that Fantastic Four was created by Stan and Jack. No further division of credit seemed appropriate".^[7]:122

Early years

The release of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961) was an unexpected success. Lee had felt ready to leave the comics field at the time, but the positive response to Fantastic Four persuaded him to stay on.^[8] The title began to receive fan mail, and Lee started printing the letters in a letter column with Issue #3. Also with the third issue, Lee created the hyperbolic slogan "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World!!" With the following issue, the slogan was changed to "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!", and became a fixture on the issue covers into the 1990s,^[2]:87 and on numerous covers in the 2000s.

Fantastic Four#48 (Sept. 1966): The Watcher warns, in part one of the landmark "Galactus Trilogy". Cover art by Kirby & Joe Sinnott.

Issue #4 (May 1962) reintroduced Namor the Sub-Mariner, an aquatic antihero who was a star character of Marvel's earliest iteration, Timely Comics, during the late 1930s and 1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comics. Issue #5 (July 1962) introduced the team's most frequent nemesis, Doctor Doom. With issue #16 (July 1963), the cover title dropped its The and became simply Fantastic Four.

While the early stories were complete narratives, the frequent appearances of these two antagonists, Doom and Namor, in subsequent issues indicated the creation of a long narrative by Lee and Kirby that extended over months. Ultimately, according to comics historian Les Daniels, "only narratives that ran to several issues would be able to contain their increasingly complex ideas".^[2]:88 During its creators' lengthy run, the series produced many acclaimed storylines and characters that have become central to Marvel, including the hidden race of alien-human genetic experiments, the Inhumans; the Black Panther, an African king who would be mainstream comics' first black superhero; the rival alien races the Kree and the Skrulls; Him, who would become Adam Warlock; the Negative Zone; and unstable molecules. The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement^[9][10] is the three-part "Galactus Trilogy" that began in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), chronicling the arrival of Galactus, a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer. Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over the saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses.^[2]:128

After Kirby's departure from Marvel in late 1969, having drawn the first 102 issues plus an unfinished issue later completed and published as Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure (April 2008), Fantastic Four continued with Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman as its consecutive regular writers, working with artists such as John Romita, Sr., John Buscema, Rich Buckler and George Pérez, with longtime inker Joe Sinnott adding some visual continuity. Jim Steranko also contributed several covers during this time.

The 1980s and early 1990s

John Byrne joined the title with issue #209 (Aug. 1979), doing pencil breakdowns for Sinnott to finish. Byrne then wrote two tales as well (#220-221, July-Aug. 1980) before writer Doug Moench and penciller Bill Sienkiewicz took over for 10 issues. With issue #232 (July 1981), the aptly titled "Back to the Basics", Byrne began his run as writer, penciller and (initially under the pseudonym Bjorn Heyn) inker.

Byrne revitalized the slumping title with his run.^[11]:265 Originally, Byrne was slated to write with Sienkiewicz providing the art. Sienkiewicz left to do Moon Knight, and Byrne ended up as writer, artist, and inker. Various editors were assigned to the comic; eventually Bob Budiansky became the regular editor. Byrne told Jim Shooter that he could not work with Budiansky, although they ultimately continued to work together. In 2006, Byrne said "that's my paranoia. I look back and I think that was Shooter trying to force me off the book". Byrne eventually in the middle of a story arc, explaining he could not recapture the fun he had previously had on the series.^[12] One of Byrne's changes was making the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman: assertive and confident. During this period, fans came to recognize that she was quite powerful, whereas previously, she had been primarily seen as a superpowered mother and wife in the tradition of television moms like those played Donna Reed and Florence Henderson.^[13]

Byrne also staked new directions in the characters' personal lives, having the married Sue Storm and Reed Richards suffer a miscarriage, and the Thing quitting the Fantastic Four, with She-Hulk being recruited as his long-term replacement.

John Byrne gets "Back to the Basics" in #232 (July 1981), his debut as writer-artist. Cover art by Byrne and inker Terry Austin.

Byrne was followed by a quick succession of writers: Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, and Roy Thomas. Steve Englehart took over as writer for issues 304–332 (except #320). The title had been struggling, so Englehart decided to make radical changes. He felt the title had become stale with the normal makeup of Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny, so in issue #308 Reed and Sue retired and were replaced with the Thing's new girlfriend, Sharon Ventura, and Johnny Storm's former lover, Crystal. The changes increased readership through issue #321. At this point, Marvel made decisions about another Englehart comic, West Coast Avengers, that he disagreed with, and in protest he changed his byline to S.F.X. Englehart (S.F.X. is the abbreviation for Simple Sound Effects). In issue #326, Englehart was told to bring Reed and Sue back and undo the other changes he had made. This caused Englehart to take his name entirely off the book. He used the pseudonym John Harkness, which he had created years before for work he didn't want to be associated with. According to Englehart, the run from #326 through his last issue, #332, was "one of the most painful stretches of [his] career."^[14] Writer-artist Walt Simonson took over as writer with #334 (December 1989), and three issues later began pencilling and inking as well. With brief inking exceptions, two fill-in issues, and a three-issue stint drawn by Arthur Adams, Simonson remained in all three positions through #354 (July 1991).

Simonson, who had been writing the team comic The Avengers, had gotten approval for Reed and Sue to join that team after Engelhart had written them out of Fantastic Four. Yet by The Avengers #300, where they were scheduled join the team, Simonson was told the characters were returning to Fantastic Four. This led to Simonson quitting The Avengers after that issue. Shortly afterward, he was offered the job of writing Fantastic Four. Having already prepared a number of stories involving the Avengers with Reed and Sue in the lineup, he then rewrote these for Fantastic Four. Simonson later recalled that working on Fantastic Four allowed him the latitude to use original Avengers members Thor and Iron Man, which he had been precluded from using in The Avengers.^[15]

After another fill-in, the regular team of writer and Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, penciller Paul Ryan and inker Dan Bulanadi took over, with Ryan self-inking beginning with #360 (Jan. 1992). That team, with the very occasional different inker, continued for years through #414 (July 1996). DeFalco nullified the Storm-Masters marriage by retconning that the alien Skrull Empire had kidnapped the real Masters and replaced her with a spy named Lyja. Once discovered, Lyja, who herself had fallen for Storm, helped the Fantastic Four rescue Masters. Ventura departed after being further mutated by Doctor Doom. Ryan's lengthy run is behind only those of Jack Kirby and John Byrne in number of issues drawn. Although some fans were not pleased with DeFalco's run on Fantastic Four, calling him "The Great Satan", the title's sales increased over the period.^[16]

Other key developments included Franklin Richards being sent into the future and returning as a teenager; the return of Reed's time-traveling father, Nathaniel; and Reed's apparent death at the hands of a seemingly mortally wounded Doctor Doom. It would be two years before DeFalco resurrected the two characters, revealing that their "deaths" were orchestrated by the supervillain Hyperstorm.

"Heroes Reborn" and renumbering

The ongoing series was canceled with issue #416 (Sept. 1996) and relaunched with vol. 2, #1 (Nov. 1996) as part of the multi-series "Heroes Reborn" crossover story arc. The year-long volume retold the team's first adventures in a more contemporary style, and set in a parallel universe. Following the end of that experiment, Fantastic Four was relaunched with vol. 3, #1 (Jan. 1998). Initially by the team of writer Scott Lobdell and penciller Alan Davis, it went after three issues to writer Chris Claremont (co-writing with Lobell for #4-5) and penciller Salvador Larroca; this team enjoyed a long run through issue #32 (Aug. 2000). Carlos Pacheco then took over as penciller and co-writer, first with Rafael Marín, then with Marín and Jeph Loeb.

This series began using dual numbering, as if the original Fantastic Four series had continued unbroken, with issue #42 / #471 (June 2001). (At the time, the Marvel Comics series begun in the 1960s, such as Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man, were given such dual numbering on the front cover, with the present-day volume's numbering alongside the numbering from the original series.) After issue #70 / #499 (Aug. 2003), the title reverted to its original vol. 1 numbering with issue #500 (Sept. 2003).

Karl Kesel succeeded Loeb as co-writer with issue #51 / 480 (March 2002), and after a few issues with temporary teams, Mark Waid took over as writer with #60 / 489 (October 2002) with artist Mike Wieringo (with Marvel releasing a promotional variant edition of their otherwise $2.25 debut issue at the price of nine cents US).^[17] Pencillers Mark Buckingham, Casey Jones, and Howard Porter variously contributed through issue #524 (May 2005), with a handful of issues by other teams also during this time. Writer J. Michael Straczynski and penciller Mike McKone did issues #527-541 (July 2005 - Nov. 2006), with Dwayne McDuffie taking over as writer the following issue, and Paul Pelletier succeeding McKone beginning with #544 (May 2007).

Late 2000s

As a result of the events of the "Civil War" company-crossover storyline, Reed and Susan Richards were temporarily replaced on the team by the Black Panther and Storm. During that period, the Fantastic Four also appeared in Black Panther,^[18] written by Reginald Hudlin and pencilled primarily by Francis Portela. Beginning with issue #554 (April 2008), writer Mark Millar and penciller Bryan Hitch began what Marvel announced as a sixteen-issue run.^[19] Following the Summer 2008 crossover storyline, "Secret Invasion", and the 2009 aftermath "Dark Reign", chronicling U.S. government's assigning of the nation's security functions to the ostensibly reformed supervillain Norman Osborn, the Fantastic Four starred in a five-issue miniseries, Dark Reign: Fantastic Four (May-Sept. 2009), written by Jonathan Hickman, with art by Sean Chen.^[20][21][22] Hickman took over as the series regular writer as of issue 570 with Dale Eaglesham on the art. Their first story was a three part arc titled "Solve everything".

Spinoffs

Ancillary titles and features spun off from the flagship series include the 1970s quarterly Giant-Size Fantastic Four and the 1990s Fantastic Four Unlimited and Fantastic Four Unplugged; Fantastic Force, an 18-issue spinoff (November 1994 - April 1996) featuring an adult Franklin Richards, from a different timeline, as Psi-Lord. A spinoff title Marvel Knights 4 (April 2004 - June 2006) was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated by Steve McNiven in his first Marvel work. As well, there have been numerous limited series featuring the group.

In 2004, Marvel launched Ultimate Fantastic Four. Part of the company's Ultimate Marvel imprint, the series reimagined the team as teenagers. In 2008, Marvel launched Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four, an out-of-continuity series aimed at younger readers.

The Human Torch solo

The Human Torch was given a solo strip in Strange Tales in 1962 in order to bolster sales of the title.^[2]:98 The series began in Strange Tales #101 (October 1962), in 12- to 14-page stories plotted by Lee and initially scripted by his brother, Larry Lieber, and drawn by penciller Kirby and inker Dick Ayers.

Here, Johnny was seen living with his elder sister, Susan, in fictional Glenview, Long Island, New York, where he continued high school and, with youthful naiveté, attempted to maintain a "secret identity". (In Strange Tales #106 (March 1963), Johnny discovered that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity all along, from Fantastic Four news reports, but were humoring him.) Supporting characters included Johnny's girlfriend, Doris Evans, usually in consternation as Johnny cheerfully flew off to battle bad guys. (She was seen again in a 1970s issue of Fantastic Four, having become a heavyset but cheerful wife and mother). Ayers took over the penciling after ten issues, later followed by original Golden Age Human Torch creator Carl Burgos and others. The FF made occasional cameo appearances, and the Thing became a co-star with issue #123 (August 1964).

The Human Torch shared the "split book" Strange Tales with fellow feature "Doctor Strange" for the majority of its run, before finally flaming off with issue #134 (July 1965), replaced the following month by "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.". The Silver Age stories were republished in 1974, along with some Golden Age Human Torch stories, in a short-lived ongoing Human Torch series.

A later ongoing solo series in Marvel's manga-influenced "Tsunami" line, Human Torch, ran 12 issues (June 2003 - June 2004), followed by the five-issue limited series Spider-Man/Human Torch (March-July 2005), an "untold tales" team-up arc spanning the course of their friendship.

The Thing solo

The Thing appeared in two team-up issues of Marvel Feature (#11-12, September-November 1973). Following their success, he was given his own regular team-up title Marvel Two-in-One, co-starring with Marvel heroes not only in the present day but occasionally in other time periods (fighting alongside the World War II-era Liberty Legion in #20 and the 1930s hero Doc Savage in #21, for example) and in alternate realities. The series ran 100 issues (January 1974 - June 1983), with seven summer annuals (1976–1982), and was immediately followed by the solo title The Thing #1-36 (July 1983 - June 1986). Another ongoing solo series, also titled The Thing, ran eight issues (January-August 2006).

Characters

The Fantastic Four is formed when during an outer space test flight in an experimental rocket ship, the four protagonists are bombarded by a storm of cosmic rays. Upon crash landing back on Earth, the four astronauts find themselves transformed with bizarre new abilities. The four then decide to use their powers for good as superheroes. In a significant departure from preceding superhero conventions, the Fantastic Four make no effort to maintain secret identities, instead maintaining a high public profile and enjoying celebrity status for scientific and heroic contributions to society. At the same time they are often prone to arguing and even fighting with one another. Despite their bickering, the Fantastic Four consistently prove themselves to be "a cohesive and formidable team in times of crisis."^[11]:204-205

While there have been a number of lineup changes to the group, the four characters who debuted in Fantastic Four #1 remain the core and most frequent lineup.

• Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius, can stretch, twist and re-shape his body to inhuman proportions. Mr. Fantastic serves as the father figure of the group, and is "appropriately pragmatic, authoritative, and dull".^[11]:19 Richards blames himself for the failed space mission, particularly because of how the event transformed pilot Ben Grimm.^[11]:205
• Invisible Girl/Invisible Woman (Susan Storm), Reed Richards' girlfriend (and eventual wife) has the ability to bend and manipulate light to render herself and others invisible. She later develops the ability to generate force fields, which she uses for a variety of defensive and offensive effects.
• The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue Storm's younger brother, possesses the ability to control fire, allowing him to project fire from his body, as well as the power to fly. This character was loosely based on a Human Torch character published by Marvel's predecessor Timely Comics in the 1940s, an android that could ignite itself. Lee said that when he conceptualized the character, "I thought it was a shame that we didn't have The Human Torch anymore, and this was a good chance to bring him back".^[2]:85 Unlike the teen sidekicks that preceded him, the Human Torch in the early stories was "a typical adolescent – brash, rebellious, and affectionately obnoxious".^[11]:204
• The Thing (Ben Grimm), Reed Richards' college roommate and best friend, has been transformed into a monstrous, craggy humanoid with orange, rock-like skin and super-strength. The Thing is often filled with anger, self-loathing and self-pity over his new existence. He serves as "an uncle figure, a long-term friend of the family with a gruff Brooklyn manner, short temper, and caustic sense of humor".^[11]:204 In the original synopsis Lee gave to Kirby, The Thing was intended as "the heavy", but over the years the character has become "the most lovable group member: honest, direct and free of pretension".^[2]:86

The Fantastic Four has had several different headquarters, most notably the Baxter Building, located at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue in New York City. The Baxter Building was replaced by Four Freedoms Plaza at the same location after the Baxter Building's destruction at the hands of Kristoff Vernard, adopted son of the team's seminal foe Doctor Doom (Prior to the completion of Four Freedoms Plaza, the team took up temporary residence at Avengers Mansion.^[23]). Pier 4, a waterfront warehouse, served as a temporary headquarters after Four Freedoms Plaza was destroyed by the ostensible superhero team the Thunderbolts^[24] shortly after the revelation that they were actually the supervillain team the Masters of Evil in disguise. Pier 4 was eventually destroyed during a battle with the longtime Fantastic Four supervillain Diablo,^[25] after which the team received a new Baxter Building, courtesy of one of team leader Reed Richards' former professors, Noah Baxter. This second Baxter Building was constructed in Earth's orbit and teleported into the vacant lot formerly occupied by the original.^[26]

Supporting characters

Allies and supporting characters

A number of characters are closely affiliated with the team, share complex personal histories with one or more of its members but have never actually held an official membership. Some of these characters include, but are not limited to: Namor the Sub-Mariner (previously an antagonist), Alicia Masters, Lyja the Lazerfist, H.E.R.B.I.E., Kristoff Vernard (Doctor Doom's former protégé), Wyatt Wingfoot, governess Agatha Harkness, and Reed and Sue's children Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards.

Several allies of the Fantastic Four have served as temporary members of the team, including Crystal, Medusa, Luke Cage, Nova (Frankie Raye) (as the Human Torch), She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel II, Ant-Man II, Namorita Prentiss, Storm, and the Black Panther; a temporary lineup from Fantastic Four #347-349 consisted of the Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch).

Other notable characters who have been involved with the Fantastic Four include Alyssa Moy, Caledonia (Alysande Stuart of Earth-9809), Fantastic Force, the Inhumans (particularly Black Bolt, Crystal, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, and Lockjaw), Nathaniel Richards, Silver Surfer (previously an antagonist), Thundra, Willie Lumpkin the postal worker, and Uatu The Watcher.

Author Christopher Knowles states that Kirby's work on creations such as the Inhumans and the Black Panther served as "a showcase of some of the most radical concepts in the history of the medium".^[27]

Antagonists

Writers and artists over many years have created a variety of characters to challenge the Fantastic Four. Knowles states that Kirby helped to create "an army of villains whose rage and destructive power had never been seen before," and "whose primary impulse is to smash the world."^[27] Some of the team's oldest and most frequent emnities have involved such foes as the Mole Man, the Skrulls, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Doom, Puppet Master, Kang the Conqueror/Rama-Tut/Immortus, Blastaar, the Frightful Four, Annihilus, Galactus, and Klaw. Other prominent antagonists of the Fantastic Four have included the Wizard, Impossible Man, Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Super-Skrull, Molecule Man, Diablo, Dragon Man, Psycho-Man, Ronan the Accuser, Salem's Seven, Terrax, Terminus, Hyperstorm, and Lucia von Bardas.

Cultural impact

The Fantastic Four's characterization was initially different from all other superheroes at the time. One major difference is that they do not conceal their identities, leading the public to be both suspicious and in awe of them. Also, they frequently argued and disagreed with each other, hindering their work as a team.^[11] Described as "heroes with hangups" by Stan Lee,^[28] the Thing has a temper, and the Human Torch resents being a child among adults. Mr. Fantastic blames himself for the Thing's transformation. Social scientist Bradford W. Wright describes the team as a "volatile mix of human emotions and personalities". In spite of their disagreements, they ultimately function well as a team.^[29]

The first issue of The Fantastic Four proved a success, igniting a new direction for superhero comics and soon influencing many other superhero comics.^[30] Stan Lee was surprised at the reaction to the first issue, leading him to stay in the comics field despite previous plans to leave. Readers liked Ben's grumpiness, how Johnny annoyed everyone, and Reed and Sue's spats. Comics historian Stephen Krensky said that "Lee's natural dialogue and flawed characters appealed to 1960s kids looking to 'get real'".^[8]

As of 2005, 150 million comics featuring the Fantastic Four have been sold.^[28] A Fantastic Four film was released in 2005, and a sequel in 2007.

In other media

There have been four The Fantastic Four animated TV series and three feature films (though one of the movies went unreleased, and is only available in a widely circulated bootleg). The Fantastic Four also guest-starred in the "Secret Wars" story arc of the 1990s Spider-Man animated series and the Thing guest-starred (with a small cameo from the other Fantastic Four members) in the "Fantastic Fortitude" episode of the 1996 Hulk series. There was also a very short-lived radio show in 1975 that adapted early Kirby/Lee stories, and is notable for casting a pre-Saturday Night Live Bill Murray as the Human Torch. Also in the cast were Bob Maxwell as Reed Richards, Cynthia Adler as Sue Storm, Jim Pappas as Ben Grimm and Jerry Terheyden as Doctor Doom. Other Marvel characters featured in the series included Ant-Man, Prince Namor, Nick Fury and the Hulk. Stan Lee narrated the series, and the scripts were taken almost verbatim from the comic books. The team made only one other audio appearance, on the Power Records album The Amazing Spider-Man and Friends. The Way It Began featured Stan Lee himself in the role of Johnny Storm and saw Ben Grimm reliving the origin of the FF, before leaving the Baxter Building to find their original nemesis the Mole Man, and a possible cure for Alicia's blindness. The story was never followed up on any further Power Records albums. In 1979, the Thing was featured as half of the Saturday morning cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. The character of the Thing was given a radical make-over for the series. The title character for this program was Benji Grimm, a teenage boy who possessed a pair of magic rings which could transform him into the Thing. The other members of the Fantastic Four do not appear in the series, nor do the animated The Flintstones stars Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, despite the title of the program.

Animated series

The Fantastic Four have been the subject of four different cartoon television series. The first Fantastic Four series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, ran for 20 episodes from September 9, 1967–March 15, 1970. The second Fantastic Four series, produced by DePatie-Freleng, lasted only 13 episodes and ran from September 9, 1978–December 16, 1978; this series features a H.E.R.B.I.E. Unit in place of the Human Torch. The third Fantastic Four was broadcast under the Marvel Action Hour umbrella, with introductions by Stan Lee; this series ran for 26 episodes from September 24, 1994–February 24, 1996. The fourth series, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, debuted on September 2, 2006 on Cartoon Network and has thus far run for 26 episodes.

The Fantastic Four make a few major roles and cameos in The Super Hero Squad Show.

Video games

In 1997, a side-scrolling Fantastic Four video game was released for the Sony PlayStation home video game system / platform, based on the Fantastic Four characters. In the game you and a friend could pick among the Fantastic Four characters (along with the She-Hulk), and battle your way through various levels until you faced Doctor Doom. The game was widely panned by critics for having weak storyline and handling of the characters' powers.

The Fantastic Four appeared in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series video game, based on the 1990s Spider-Man animated series, for the Super NES and Sega Genesis.

The Thing and the Human Torch appeared in the 2005 game Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

All of the Fantastic Four appear as playable characters in the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance with Doctor Doom being the main enemy. The team is also featured in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.

Promotional poster for Fantastic Four (2005), featuring Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, and Ioan Gruffudd

The Human Torch has an appearance in a mini-game where the player races against him in all versions of Ultimate Spider-Man, except on the Game Boy Advance platform.

The Fantastic Four star in games based on the 2005 movie Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel.

The Fantastic Four will have a cameo appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. However they will not be playable characters due to their exclusion of being in the game and because of Super-Skrull being in the game, who has all of the powers of the Fantastic Four. Doctor Doom also appears in the game as a playable character.

Film

A movie adaptation of The Fantastic Four was completed in 1994 by B movie producer Roger Corman. While this movie was never released to theaters or video, it has been made available from various bootleg video distributors.

Another feature film adaptation of Fantastic Four was released July 8, 2005 by Fox, and directed by Tim Story. Fantastic Four opened in approximately 3,600 theaters and despite predominantly poor reviews^[31] grossed US$156 million in North America and US$329 million worldwide, weighed against a production budget of $100 million^[32] and an undisclosed marketing budget. It stars Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom/Dr. Doom, with Stan Lee making a cameo appearance as Willie Lumpkin, the mailman.

A sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, directed by Story and written by Don Payne, was released June 15, 2007. Despite another round of mostly poor reviews, the sequel brought in US$132 million in North America a total of US$288 million worldwide.^[33]

On 31 August 2009 Fox announced a reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise.^[34]

Collected editions

The stories have been collected into separate volumes a number of times:

As part of the Essential Marvel range:

In the Marvel Masterworks series:

Paperbacks

Hardcovers:

• Best of the Fantastic Four (collects Fantastic Four #1, #39-40, #51, #100, #116, #176, #236, #267; Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #56 and #60; Marvel Fanfare #15; Marvel Two-In-One #50; and Marvel Knights 4 #4)
• Fantastic Four HC Volume 1 (collects #489-502)
• Fantastic Four HC Volume 2 (collects #503-513)
• Fantastic Four HC Volume 3 (collects #514-524)
• Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Vol. 1 (collects #554-561)
• Fantastic Four: The Masters of Doom (collects #562-569)
• Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1-3 (collects #570-582)

Around the world

North America

The Fantastic Four have been published in translation around the world, beginning in the late 1960s in Mexico (Los Cuatro Fantasticos, published by La Prensa until the mid-1970s, then by Macc Division until 1980, and finally by Editorial Novarro until the mid-1980s.) and French-speaking Canada (Les Fantastic-Four, from 1969-1986 when the title was merged with the Spider-Man title for 3 more years). Mexican translators were not consistent in their translations of the characters' code names; The Thing was called Colosso (Colossus) in the first series, La Mole in the second, (which was the name used for The Hulk in the first series!) and La Cosa (The Thing) in the thrid. The other three main characters had more stable translated names: Mister Fantastico (sometimes translated as Senor Fantastico), La Chica (or La Mujer) Invisible, La Antorcha Humana. Dr. Doom was Doctor Destino and She-Hulk was La Mujer Hulk in her run in the Fantastic Four. In the movie, and in current appearances in Mexico, Mister Fantastic is referred to as "El Hombre Elastico" (Elastic Man). Canada rarely translated characters names from their English version, although sometimes switching back and forth between English and French names sometimes in the same issue. (Thing /La Chose, Mister Fantastic/ Monsieur Fantastic, Invisible Girl / Fille (or Femme) Invisible, Human Torch / La Torche Humaine) The names of Dr. Doom nor She-Hulk were translated into French for the Canadian reprints.

United Kingdom

British publication began in an antholgy title called "Mystic", which also featured reprints from Marvel's "Strange Tales" and similar series, but was the co-headliner of "Mighty World Of Marvel" with Spider-Man and The Hulk when Marvel Comics opened its own British publication house in the early '70s. Currently, a collector's edition magazine called "Fantastic Four Adventures" feature current and classic Fantastic Four stories and is distributed by Panini comics. That title recently re-launched with a new #1.

France

Publication history in France started with the reprinting of the first 10 pages of "Fantastic Four" #50 in 1967 in an anthology title called "Les Chefs-d'Oeuvres de la Bande Dessinée" [Comic Book Masterpieces]. In 1974, the first 4 issues of the title were published, one page at a time, in the daily newspaper "France Soir". But primarily, rights to the Fantastic Four in France were held by a company called Editions Lug, which began publishing Fantastic Four first in an 1969 anthology title called "Fantask", along with Spider-Man and Silver Surfer, then in another anthology called "Marvel". The censors objected to the content of the book, and citing "nightmarish visions" and "terrifying science fiction" as the reasons, forced their cancellations after respectively 7 and 13 issues. Although other anthologies featuring Marvel strips continued, notably "Strange" (featuring X-Men, Iron Man & Silver Surfer), the Fantastic Four remained unpublished in France until 1973. Editions Lug created a format aimed more for adults; an over-size, 80-page, expensive book called "Les Fantastiques" debuted exactly where the old series left off, with the stories that introduced the Inhumans and Galactus. That series lasted over 15 years, coming out 4 times a year. In the mid-1970s, a title called "Spidey" was released by Editions Lug. Primarily featuring reprints from the juvenile "Spider Super Stories", it also featured a similarly themed FF series produced in France. These original stories had art that closely resembled the work of Jack Kirby or John Buscema, but the storylines themselves included watered-down super-villains, the FF on vacation, and even Santa Claus. This series was replaced by 1960's era X-Men reprints when Marvel demanded the same royalties for Editions Lug's original stories that they did for the US reprints. Eventually, a regular monthy series began publication in France, and the Fantastic Four took over the headlining position in the pocket format anthology "Nova" (sharing the title with Spider-Woman, Peter Parker, She-Hulk, and Silver Surfer)and lasted until Marvel began publishing its own titles under the newly-formed "Marvel France" line in the late 1990s. Fantastic Four shared space in the Silver Surfer's own book until the Heroes Reborn storyline created their own title, supported by Captain America. "Fantastic Four" then appeared in the anthology "Marvel Legends" and currently appears in "Marvel Icons", sharing that title with The Avengers.

Two different French companies held rights to Marvel Comics at the same time in the late 70's & early 80's. Lug (which eventually changed its name to Semic) published Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, & Iron Man, and most related series, while Aredit held the rights to Avengers, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Sub-Mariner and many of the 1970s-era modern series like Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Power Man, and the first She-Hulk series. Often, crossovers would force one company to publish another's title, i.e. the Marvel Two-In-One and Fantastic Four annuals that crossed over into the Invaders story would have to be published by the "other" company, and in fact that particular cross-over was published twice, once by each company. This resulted in different translations of the characters names- Susan Storm Richards was called Jane in her own title by Editions Lug (presumably because the name "Sue" is a form of the verb "to sweat" in French), and Reed was called Red, a combination of letters easier to pronounce than the double E sound. When Aredit published a Fantastic Four appearance they kept the traditional US names. Generally speaking, their names in France were: Monsieur Fantastic (although Mister was often used as well), L'Invisible, La Chose, and La Torche. (Rarely was "Humaine" used in the French editions.) Dr. Doom was called Docteur Fatalis, and She-Hulk was called Miss Hulk.

Germany

"Die Fantastischen Vier" First appeared in Hit Comics, a weekly title that rotated the main feature with other Marvel titles. Williams Comics eventually obtained the rights to Marvel's line and began publishing (for the first time in color) in the mid-1970s. Fantastic Four was backed up with Daredevil, and began with iussue #1. Condor Comic carried the title in the 1980s & 1990s, and published a series of pocket format books at about 300 pages each. They also published a paperback series in a similar format to the Marvel Graphic Novels. Marvel Deutschland currently publishes "Die Fantastischen Vier". The German names of the characters are Das Ding (The Thing), Die Fackel or Die menschliche Fackel (The Human Torch), Die Unsichtbare (The Unseen One), and Mr. Fantastisch (Mr. Fantastic). Silver Surfer and She Hulk retained their english names. Some editions refer to Dr. Doom as Doktor Unheil, but he currently is referred to by his english name Dr. Doom.

Italy

I Fantastici Quattro was published in Italy in their own title (shared first with Captain Marvel, then rotating with other back up features) by Corno, then Star Comics in the 1990s, and are currently published by Marvel Italia. Character's names are typically translated as la Cosa (The Thing), la Torcia Umana (Human Torch), la Donna Invisibile (Invisible Woman) and Mister Fantastic. Dr. Doom is Dottor Destino; She-Hulk kept her English name. Also released in Italy was the series I Fantastici Quattro Gigante, an oversized magazine reprinting in chronological order all the FF's appearances including the Human Torch solo series from Strange Tales.

See also

• Maximum Fantastic Four

Notes

References

Further reading

• Gresh, Lois H.; Robert Weinberg (2002). The Science of Superheroes. John Wiley & Sons. p. 21-29. ISBN 0471024600. http://books.google.com/?id=TCv0LyEnzsUC. 

External links

• Fantastic Four at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Fantastic Four at the Grand Comics Database
• Fantastic Four at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Fantastic Four at the Comic Book DB
• Fantastic Four at the Open Directory Project
• FFPlaza.com at the Internet Archive (history of discontinued site)
• fantasticfourheadquarters.com (includes creator interviews)
• Fantastic Four featured on Mugen