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Fantastic Four
File:FF509.jpg
Cover art to Fantastic Four #509
Art by Mike Wieringo.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Fantastic Four Vol. 1, #1 (Nov. 1961)
Created byStan Lee & Jack Kirby
In-story information
Base(s)Baxter Building (current)
Four Freedoms Plaza
Pier Four

The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics' flagship superhero team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuting in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961).

Although the group's membership has occasionally changed temporarily, it almost always consists of these four core friends and family-members, who gained superpowers after being exposed to cosmic rays during an outer space science mission:

  • Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the leader of the group, a genius-level scientist who can stretch his body.
  • The Invisible Woman (Susan Richards, née Storm; originally the Invisible Girl), Reed Richards' wife, and the team's second-in-command, who can become invisible at will and create invisible force fields.
  • The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's brother, who can surround himself with flames and fly.
  • The Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy friend with a heart of gold, who possesses superhuman strength and durability, but with a monstrous, craggy exterior that looks as if made of orange scales or plates (often mistakenly referred to as "rocks").

Since its introduction — in which the groundbreaking team did not even adhere to the convention of superhero costumes in its first two issues — the Fantastic Four has been portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional yet loving family. Uniquely at the time, and also breaking convention with comic-book archetypes, its members would squabble and even hold animosities both deep and petty toward one another at times, though ultimately truly caring for and supporting each other.

The team launched the revival of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, giving it a pivotal place in the history of American comic books. The Fantastic Four have remained more or less popular since, and have been adapted into other media, including three animated television series, an aborted 1990s low-budget film, and a major-studio motion picture, Fantastic Four (2005).

The comic-book series, which famously added the hyperbolic tagline "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" above the title starting with issue #4 (issue # 3 declared itself "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World!"), dropped the "The" from the cover logo with #15, becoming simply Fantastic Four.

Publication history

The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciller) and Dick Ayers (inker; unconfirmed).

Legend has it that in 1961, longtime magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman was playing golf with rival publisher Jack Liebowitz of DC Comics, a.k.a. National Periodical Publications. Liebowitz, according to the story, bragged about DC's success with the superhero team the Justice League of America, which had debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28 (Feb. 1960) before going on to its own hit title (premiere cover-date: Nov. 1960). Whether or not this mythic meeting actually occurred, Goodman, a publishing trend-follower aware of the JLA's strong sales, directed his comics editor, Stan Lee, to begin publishing a comic-book series about a team of superheroes.

"Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most", recalled Lee in 1974. "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 ', spake he, ' why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes?' "Template:Fn

Lee, who'd served as editor-in-chief and art director of Marvel and its predecessor companies, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, for two decades, had by now found the medium restrictive. "[My wife] Joan was commenting about the fact that after 20 years of producing comics I was still writing television material, advertising copy and newspaper features in my spare time. She wondered why I didn't put as much effort and creativity into the comics as I seemed to be putting into my other freelance endeavors. ...[H]er little dissertation made me suddenly realize that it was time to start concentrating on what I was doing — to carve a real career for myself in the nowhere world of comic books".Template:Fn

Lee teamed with artist Jack Kirby to produce a groundbreaking series featuring a family of superheroes who were fallible and more naturalistically human than virtually anything seen in superhero comics to that time. "For just this once", Lee wrote, "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".Template:Fn

File:FF48.jpg
Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966): The Watcher warns, in part one of the landmark "Galactus Trilogy". Cover art by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott.

To forestall possibly upsetting DC[citation needed] (which, in addition to being a competing publisher, was also the distributor of Marvel's limited line of comics), Lee and Kirby deliberately avoided making the new book look like a competing superhero comic; the new characters appeared on the cover without costumes and had no secret identities. Lee's intended swan song became unexpectedly and phenomenally successful; Lee and Kirby stayed together on the book and began launching other titles from which the vaunted "Marvel Universe" of additional interrelated titles and characters grew.

Through its creators' lengthy run, the series produced many acclaimed stories and characters that have become central to Marvel, including Doctor Doom; the Silver Surfer; Galactus; the Watcher; the The Inhumans; the Black Panther; the rival alien Kree and Skrull races; and Him, who would become Adam Warlock. As well, the daring duo of Lee & Kirby, who eventually shared credited as co-plotting collaborators, introduced such concepts as the Negative Zone and unstable molecules, two core elements of the Marvel mythos. In the book's most groundbreaking yet utterly natural development, Fantastic Four presented superhero comics' first pregnancy, culminating with the birth of a superhero family's first child, Franklin Benjamin Richards, in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1968).

After Kirby's departure from Marvel in 1970, Fantastic Four continued with Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and Marv Wolfman as its consecutive regular writers, working with artists including John Romita, Sr., John Buscema, Rich Buckler, and George Perez, with longtime inker Joe Sinnott helping to provide some visual continuity. Jim Steranko contributed a handful of covers.

John Byrne gets "Back to the Basics" in Fantastic Four #232, his debut as writer-artist. Cover inks: Terry Austin.

In the 1980s, John Byrne created what many critics call the series' best run since Lee & Kirby's. He started on the title with issue #209 (Aug. 1979), doing pencil breakdowns for Sinnott to finish. Byrne then scripted two tales as well (#220-221, July-Aug. 1980) before writer Doug Moench and penciler Bill Sienkiewicz took over for 10 issues. Then, with issue #232 (July 1981), the aptly titled "Back to the Basics", Byrne began his triple-threat run as writer, penciller, and (initially under the pseudonym Bjorn Heyn) inker on the celebrated title. His key contribution was the modernization of the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman — a self-confident and dynamic character whose newfound control of her abilities made her the most powerful member of the team. Byrne also staked bold directions in the characters' personal lives, having the married Sue and Reed Richards suffer a miscarriage and for Johnny Storm to steal Thing's longtime girlfriend, Alicia Masters.

Johnny and Alicia would get married but the rift it would bring for the core of the group would linger for several years as Thing quit the Fantastic Four in protest. This led to yet another moment in the history of the Fantastic Four as the group inducted the She-Hulk as Thing's replacement.

Ultimately John Byrne would suffer from burn-out due to problems with his editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Jim Shooter controversially forced changes onto a story involving Human Torch learning that an obsessed young fan set himself on fire, forcing Byrne to use the cosmic being "The Beyonder" in the story's denouncement and ordered The Thing returned to the group. Byrne left the series and was succeeded by Avengers writer Steve Englehart. Englehart controversially removed Reed and Sue from the series (the two retired to try and give their son Franklin a normal childhood) while Thing's new girlfriend Sharon Ventura and Johnny Storm's former love Crystal joined the team.

The New Fantastic Four were controversial to say the least: Sharon was quickly turned into a female "Thing" and Thing himself further mutated form with jagged spikes poking out of his body after being exposed to cosmic radiation during the roster's first mission. The main plotline for Englehart's short run included Doctor Doom engaging in war with his heir and brainwashed usurper Kristoff which ultimately led to a run-in with the Beyonder. Englehart ultimately left (taking the Crystal character with him as he left) and Sue and Reed were brought back to the Fantastic Four. Thing lost his powers and reverted to his human form for over a year and a half as Walt Simonson took over writing the book.

Walt Simonson's run featured the team involved in time travel, wrapping up loose ends from his short run on the Avengers and saw the group team up with Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and The Hulk, who had banded together as the "New Fantastic Four" after the foursome were tricked into thinking the Fantastic Four were dead.

After Simonson left the series, then Marvel Editor-In-Chief Tom DeFalco took over the series. DeFalco raised controversy with his shock storylines, starting with the retcon of the Johnny Storm/Alicia Masters relationship. Many longtime fans disliked Byrne's decision to end Thing and Alicia's relationship and felt that Johnny Storm's decision to steal his best friend's girlfriend was disrespectfully out of character. So DeFalco decided to nullify the entire storyline by revealing that the Skrull Empire had kidnapped the real Alicia Masters shortly after the start of the Byrne Fantastic Four run and replaced her with a Skrull imposture named Lyja. It was Lyja that Storm fell in love with and married, which led to Lyja making the decision to help the Fantastic Four find the real Alicia Masters once her cover was blown. Sharon Ventura was immediately written out of the series, having been further mutated by Doctor Doom after joining with him after watching Thing and Alicia immeadiately reconcile upon the blind sculptor's rescue.

Other controversies involved Human Torch recklessly burning down a college during a fight with Lyja, Franklin Richards being sent into the future and replaced with a surly teenage version of himself, the return of Reed's long-lost father, and the Invisible Woman morphing into a sexualized entity complete with risque new costume and renewed sexual interest from Namor the Sub-Mariner.

But the biggest controversy was Mr. Fantastic 's apparent death at the hands of a mortally wounded Doctor Doom. The story caused much outcry amongst fans who felt that DeFalco went too far. It would be two years before DeFalco resurrected the two characters, revealing that their deaths were orchestrated by a mad tyrant who was revealed to be the futuristic offspring of Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards.

In 1996, the ongoing Fantastic Four series was cancelled with issue #416 and relaunched as part of the controversial "Heroes Reborn" line. Drawn by Jim Lee, the Heroes Reborn Fantastic Four was deemed by many to be the only one of the four books to be of any real quality. The series was relaunched again with a new #1 in late 1997, as Scott Lobdell was hired to write the series. His run was cut short after three issues and was replaced with Chris Claremont.

The Claremont era was filled with disappointment due to Claremont rejecting the use of the Fantastic Four's rogue gallery in favor of using concepts and characters from his run on Excalibur instead. Multiple arcs were written involving the mutant island "Genosha" and Saturnyne targeting Franklin Richards for assassination due to his great powers. Claremont did use Doctor Doom in his final arc on the series, in a controversial storyline where Mr. Fantastic and Doctor Doom merged into a singular entity within Doom's armor.

The series would lay in a semi-lull until the arrival of Mark Waid as writer. Waid attempted to shake up the Fantastic Four and controversially revamped Doctor Doom as a sorcerer who rejects science for magic in exchange for the mystical power to destroy the Fantastic Four (in the Unthinkable story arc). At the end of this arc, the title was reverted to its original numbering at #500, counting volume 2 #1-13 and volume 3 #1-70 as '#417-499.'

After Waid left, J. Michael Straczynski became the new writer of the main series. The current arc deals with both the return of Doctor Doom and, as of now, the hammer Mjolnir.

In February 2004, Marvel launched the series Ultimate Fantastic Four, a version of the group in the "Ultimate" alternate universe. Additionally, Marvel launched Marvel Knights 4, a spinoff Fantastic Four series, in April 2004. Other ongoing-title spinoffs have included the 1970s quarterly title Giant-Size Fantastic Four and the 1990s Fantastic Four Unlimited, and there have been numerous miniseries.

Character history

The Fantastic Four acquired superhuman abilities after an experimental rocket ship designed by scientist Reed Richards passed through a storm of cosmic rays on its test flight to outer space. Upon crash landing back on Earth, the four impromptu astronauts found themselves transformed and possessed of bizarre new abilities.

File:FF51.jpg
Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966): "This Man... This Monster!" — considered one of comics' greatest stories.Template:Fn Cover art by Kirby & Sinnott.

Richards, who took the name Mister Fantastic, was now able to stretch his body to inhuman proportions (similar to Timely Comics' Thin Man and Quality Comics' celebrated Plastic Man). His fiancée, Susan Storm, gained the ability to become invisible at will and named herself the Invisible Girl (later the Invisible Woman). She later developed the ability to project force fields, create invisible objects, and turn other objects visible or invisible. Her younger brother, Johnny Storm, possessed the incendiary powers of the Human Torch, enabling him to control fire, project burning bolts of flame from his body, and fly. Finally, pilot Ben Grimm was transformed into a monstrous, craggy humanoid with orange, plate/scale-covered skin and incredible strength/durability. Filled with anger, self-loathing and self-pity over his new existence, he dubbed himself the Thing, the term Susan used in her initial, startled reaction to his transformation.

The four characters were modeled after the four classical Greek elements: earth (The Thing), fire (The Human Torch), wind (The Invisible Girl) and water (the pliable and ductile Mr. Fantastic). They also appear to be inspired by co-creator Kirby's similarly unmasked though non-superpowered DC Comics quartet the Challengers of the Unknown.

The team of adventurers have used their fantastic abilities to protect humanity, the Earth and the universe from a number of threats. Propelled mainly by Richards' innate scientific curiosity, the team have explored space, the Negative Zone, the Microverse, other dimensions and nearly every hidden valley, nation and lost civilization on the planet.

They have had a number of headquarters, most notably the Baxter Building in New York City. The Baxter Building was replaced by Four Freedoms Plaza, built at the same location, after the Baxter Building's destruction at the hands of Kristoff Vernard, adopted son of the Fantastic Four's seminal villain (and rumored half-brother of Mr. Fantastic) Doctor Doom. Pier 4, a warehouse on the New York waterfront, served as a temporary headquarters for the group after Four Freedoms Plaza was condemned, due to the actions of another superhero team, the Thunderbolts. In the mid-2000s, an orbiting satellite version of the Baxter Building has been used.

File:Ff247.png
Fantastic Four #247 (Oct. 1982): Doctor Doom, by penciler-inker Byrne.

The comic books have typically emphasized that the Fantastic Four, unlike most superhero teams, are truly a family. Three of the four members are directly related, with The Thing being the exception. Although not strictly related, The Thing's role is that of the beloved Dutch uncle, and his relationship with Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch is nonetheless quite sibling-like. The children of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards, are also regulars in the series.

Unlike most superheroes, the Fantastic Four's identities are not secret and they maintain a high public profile, enjoying celebrity status for their scientific and heroic contributions to society. Recent issues have controversially revealed that this is a deliberate move by Reed Richards, who works to keep the team highly visible and well-regarded out of guilt for causing their mutations.

Solo features

The Human Torch

Johnny Storm starred in an early Silver Age solo series beginning in Strange Tales #101 (Oct. 1962), in 12- to 14-page stories plotted by Lee and initially scripted by his brother, Larry Lieber, and drawn by penciler Kirby and inker Dick Ayers.

File:Marvel2-in-1n.20.jpg
Marvel Two-In-One #20 (Oct. 1976), cover art by Kirby & Frank Giacoia, with John Romita Sr. corrections. Golden Age heroes the Whizzer, Miss America, the Patriot and the Blue Diamond look on.

Here Johnny was seen living with his elder sister, Susan, in fictional Glenview, Long Island, New York, where he continued to attend high school and, with youthful naivete, attempted to maintain his "secret identity". (In Strange Tales #106 (Mar. 1963), Johnny discovered that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity all along, from Fantastic Four news reports, but had humored him.) Supporting characters included Johnny's girlfriend, Doris Evans, usually seen only 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 10 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 #123 (Aug. 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.".

A short-lived Human Torch ongoing series began monthly publication in 2003. It was cancelled after 12 issues.

The Thing

The "ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing", as Ben Grimm sometimes refers to himself, appeared in the 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 Liberty Legion in #20 and Doc Savage in #21, for example) and in alternate realities. The series ran 100 issues (Jan. 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, debuted with a premiere issue cover-dated January 2006, but was cancelled in August. For a list including one-shots, miniseries, graphic novels, and trade paperback collections, see Thing Bibliography.

Characters

Heroes

File:Fantastic four2.jpg
Marvel Age Fantastic Four

Temporary Replacement Members

  • H.E.R.B.I.E. - Humanoid Experimental Robot; replaced Human Torch in 1978 TV series
  • Medusa - An Inhuman; filled-in when the Invisible Girl separated from Mr. Fantastic due to marital problems
  • Crystal - An Inhuman and Johnny Storm's girlfriend at the time; left due to pollution allergies
  • Luke Cage - Power Man - Replacement during the Thing's brief absence
  • Nova - Mutant Frankie Raye; later became herald to Galactus
  • She-Hulk - Jennifer Walters, first cousin of Bruce Banner, the Hulk; replacement for the Thing
  • Ms. Marvel - Former pro. wrestler Sharon Ventura; gained powers and appearance similar to the Thing's
  • Lyja - An undercover Skrull whom Johnny Storm married, believing her to be Alicia Masters
  • Ant Man II - Scott Lang, reformed thief utilizing Henry Pym's shrinking particles; briefly hired when Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic was missing and presumed dead
  • Kristoff - Doctor Doom's protege, mind-conditioned to behave as Doom. Attracted to Ant Man's daughter, joined team in last issues of series I
  • The Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider have together served as a complete replacement-Fantastic Four on occasion. In the main Marvel Universe, they stepped in to temporarily replace the team when the Four had been kidnapped by an enemy, while in the Ages of Apocalypse timeline, they remained in the roles more permanently. This story was told in Fantastic Four issues 347, 348 and 349. Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk and Ghost Rider were called "The New Fantastic Four".

Allies/Supporting Characters

Franklin Richards (son) Valeria Richards (daughter)

Antagonists

Comic book within a comic book

Cover of Fantastic Four #10 (January 1963), feturing Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Cover art by Kirby & Ayers.

See also: List of comics creators appearing in comics

Issue #10 (Jan. 1963) established the concept that the Fantastic Four (and by extension the rest of the Marvel universe) existed in the same world as Marvel Comics; the team-members, it was explained, had licensed their names and likenesses to the company, and the rights to adapt their "real-life" adventures. In this issue, Doctor Doom himself came to Marvel's Madison Avenue offices. Sharp-eyed fans would later note that this "real-world" Marvel was even more fictional than it seemed: Not only was penciler Jack Kirby working at a drawing table there, rather than at home per his wont, but the office door was labeled "Lee and Kirby" — suggesting the kind of comradely partnership fans wanted and expected.

The following issue reinforced this notion of "real-world superheroes" by having the Fantastic Four, in civilian clothes, stroll to a newstand hoping to pick up their latest comic book. This was in "A Visit with the Fantastic Four", the first of two stories in issue #11 (Feb. 1963).

The second story introduced the impish Impossible Man, who starred in writer Roy Thomas' self-referential update in Fantastic Four #176 (Nov. 1976), "Improbable As It May Seem — The Impossible Man Is Back In Town!" Here he invaded the Marvel offices demanding to have his own comic. Lee, Kirby, writer Thomas, issue artists George Perez and Joe Sinnott, and Marvel staffers Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Marie Severin, Marv Wolfman, and John Verpoorten all made cameo appearances.

This conceit was again used in #262 (Jan. 1984), which depicted writer-artist John Byrne being asked by editor Michael Higgins for the latest issue, since it was almost late. Byrne explained he had been unable to contact the Fantastic Four for the latest story, since they were away. He was about to make up a story when the Watcher whisked him away to take part in the FF's latest adventure. At the end of the issue, Byrne submitted his story. Byrne made use of this comic-within-the-comic notion in his 1990s Sensational She-Hulk run.

Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four (2000) was a mock-up of what the comic book published in the Marvel Universe might have looked like, and was (within the fictional context of the story) produced with the official approval of "Fantastic Four, Inc."

Other media

There have been three The Fantastic Four animated TV series and two 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. 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.

Animated Series

Video games

Main article: Fantastic Four (video game)

In 1998 a side-scrolling 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 also appeared in the Super NES and Sega Genesis video games based on the 1990's Spider-Man animated series , and inevitably, they starred in their own multi-platform games based on the 2005 movie.

Movies

File:Fantastic four poster.jpg
Promotional poster for Fantastic Four (2005), featuring Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, and Ioan Gruffudd.

A movie adaptation of The Fantastic Four was completed in 1994 by famed b-movie director/producer Roger Corman. While this movie was never released to theaters or video, it has been made available from various bootleg video distributors. The film was made on a shoestring budget and is largely mocked by fans of the comic book foursome for what they see as poor acting and disappointing special effects (at one point, The Human Torch — played by a human actor — turns into an obvious cartoon upon "flaming-on").

File:Ffmovie1994.jpg
The "original" cast

It was ultimately revealed by Stan Lee that unbeknownst to the cast and crew, this movie was never intended to be released in the first place. It was only made because the studio who owned the movie rights to the Fantastic Four would have lost them if it had not begun production by a certain deadline date (a tactic known as creating an ashcan copy).

Another feature film adaptation of Fantastic 4 was released July 8, 2005 by Fox, and directed by Tim Story. Fantastic Four opened in approximately 3600 Theaters and despite predominantly poor reviews grossed US$156M in North America and a total of $329M worldwide, weighed against a production budget of $100M and an officially undisclosed marketing budget. It stars Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mister 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 Dr. Doom, with Stan Lee making a cameo appearance as Willie Lumpkin, the mailman. Many fans of the comic book heavily criticized the film for the liberties it took with the character's personalities, relationships and histories (Doctor Doom, in particular).

On October 22, 2005, a sequel was announced, tentatively directed by Tim Story and written by Mark Frost.

Parodies and references

  • The cartoon series The Tick featured in several episodes an obvious Fantastic Four parody known as The Civic Minded Five, which included team members Four-Legged Man, Captain Mucilage, The Carpeted Man, Jungle Janet, and Feral Boy.
  • On an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Jimmy and his friends pass through a radiation belt that gives them super powers. Only 2 people get a Fantastic Four power. Libby gets all the powers of Invisible Woman and calls herself "Invisible Sister", and Jimmy gets the power of the Thing.
  • In DC Comics' Adventures of Superman #466, a space shuttle crew gained the powers of the Fantastic Four, but were unable to control them. The Thing and Human Torch analogues died as a result. The Mr Fantastic analogue managed to prevent his wife from fading from existence before seeming to die himself. He would later appear as the Cyborg Superman.
  • An episode of the animated series The Venture Bros., titled Ice Station Impossible, involved an obvious parody of the Fantastic Four (especially their costumes) with powers more horrific than beneficial.
  • An early episode of Batman Beyond, called "Heroes," features a trio of superheroes who closely resemble The Fantastic Four.
  • The SpongeBob SquarePants episode Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V had a parody of the Fantastic Four, although SpongeBob's powers were a parody of The Flash and not of a particular Fantastic Four member.
  • The hit cartoon show The Simpsons has also poked fun at the Fantastic Four.
    • In The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror X episode, Bart and Lisa are exposed to radiation and transformed into 'Stretch Dude' and 'Clobber Girl'
    • In The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XIV episode, Bart discovers a magic stopwatch; near the end of the episode he gives it to Lisa Simpson, who presses the button repeatedly — at one point briefly turning the family into the Fantastic Four.
    • In another episode of The Simpsons entitled "I Am Furious Yellow" guest-starring Stan Lee, a boy in the comic book shop wants to buy a Batman action figure, but Stan tries to sell the boy an action figure of The Thing instead.
  • The universe of writer Kurt Busiek's various Astro City comics includes a Fantastic Four-like group called The First Family.
  • The 2004 Disney/Pixar animated feature The Incredibles is built around a family of superheroes whose powers include stretching, super strength, invisibility/force field, and, to a more briefly seen extent, flame. (Another family-member has superspeed.) Marvel Studios chairperson Avi Arad told Entertainment Weekly that, "In the words of Stan Lee, when someone asked him about The Incredibles, he said, ' You know, it feels like I wrote it.'"Template:Fn
  • An episode of "The Mask" animated series featured four stones that granted the exact same powers as those of the Fantastic Four. Only the invisibility stone was used, however.
  • An episode of "Atomic Betty", featured three Betty clones possessing the powers of the Torch, Mr. Fantastic, and the Thing, including their traditional colors.
  • The Wildstorm comic series Planetary has as its main villains a group called simply The Four. They are counterparts to the Fantastic Four in many ways, mostly in their powers and in the relationships between the analogs to Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
  • In issues 29-30 of the 1989 Legion of Super-Heroes series, a team of four villains (Elasti-Kid 5, Ghost 6, Flare and Alloy 12) had powers based on those of the Fantastic Four.
  • In issues 50-52 of Power Pack, a quartet of Kymellian heroes called Force 4 (Teamleader, Ghostmare, Firemane and Thunderhoof) was based in powers (though Teamleader's power was only his superior intelligence, and not any variation of Mister Fantastic's stretching power) and in name (with the exception of Ghostmare, the real names of these heroes was a Pig Latin version of their Fantastic Four counterparts') on the Fantastic Four. Ghostmare was later renamed Matriarch, paralleling the Invisible Woman's role in the Fantastic Four family as well.
  • The opening of a Garfield Sunday strip parodied the opening of a FF comic book. Garfield was the Thing, Odie was Mr. Fantastic, Nermal was the Human Torch (who was trying to blow out his flaming tail), and Arlene was the Invisible Woman. The name of the comics company that turns out Garfield was placed instead of Marvel Comics, as Paws Comics Group.
  • In the MC2 imprint, a team called the Fantastic Five exists. It's membership consists of the Human Torch, Ms. Fantastic (Lyja), Psi-Lord (Franklin Richards), Big Brain (a robot with the mind of Reed Richards), and the Thing (though he may be dead). Had the Fantastic Five book lasted longer, the team would have been succeeded by their superpowered offspring.
  • In Runaways volume 2 #1, a time-traveller made reference to a future team called the Fantastic Fourteen. Since various parts of that future have been referenced since (Gert becoming an Avenger, Victor as the son of Ultron) it may be that the Richards family will continue to grow...
  • In the PBS cartoon Arthur, a 'daydream' sequence features Buster Baxter, Arthur's best friend, emerging from a space shuttle and exhibiting the powers of the FF (one limb streches, one bursts into flame, one turns invisible, and one turns into orange rock)
  • In a recent episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, it was suggested that after generations of racial mixing, the people of the United States would be orange. The American of tomorrow was then portrayed as looking almost exactly like The Thing. The man (occasional cast member John Hodgman) giving the presentation shot down this idea, saying that the thing had blue eyes, while the American of the Future would have brown eyes. It would be irrelevant anyway, because they would all be enslaved by a race of cyborgs, known as "the Whites."
  • In May 2006, Nike released a Fantastic Four line of four shoes styles, each based upon one of the four characters.

See also

Footnotes

  • Template:Fnb Lee, Stan, Origins of Marvel Comics (Simon and Schuster/Fireside Books, 1974) p. 16. Note: Predates publisher's change to ampersand in corporate name.
  • Template:Fnb Ibid.
  • Template:Fnb Ibid., p. 17
  • Template:Fnb For example, at The Comics Reporter ("Everybody picks this one, and with good reason. Possibly Stan Lee's best script, combined with Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott at the height of their prowess. Photo-collages, giant Kirby machines, human drama...."), Comic Book Galaxy ("The greatest Ben Grimm story will always be "This Man, This Monster" from Fantastic Four #51"), Cinescape ("'This Man, This Monster' is still probably one of the best single issues of comics ever"), and Buzzscope ("[O]ne of the greatest FF, and therefore superhero comic stories, ever"). The story was presented in its 20-page entirety in the book Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics by Les Daniels (ISBN 0810938219).

Template:Fnb Entertainment Weekly July 1, 2005: "'Fantastic' Voyage?: Fantastic Four has incredible trouble — The would-be blockbuster had a tough time getting released", by Scott Brown

References

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