Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is
Marvel Comics' flagship
comic book 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:
*
Mr. 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 monstrous, craggy, orange skin that looks as if made of scales or plates (often mistakenly referred to as "rocks").
Since its introduction â€" in which the groundbreaking team did not even adhere to the convention of superhero costumes in its first two issues â€" 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. Also, unlike many other comic book superheroes, the Fantastic Four have no anonymity, maintaining somewhat of a celebrity status in the public eye.
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.
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, also known as 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. According to Lee in 1974:
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:
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. Lee wrote that:
|
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 (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 credit 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 joined 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. With issue #232 (July 1981), the aptly titled "Back to the Basics", Byrne began his celebrated run as writer, penciller, and (initially under the pseudonym Bjorn Heyn) inker. His key contribution was the modernization of the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman â€" 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 having the Thing's longtime girlfriend,
Alicia Masters, and Johnny Storm fall in love and marry. The rift brought on by the latter would linger for several years, with the Thing quitting the Fantastic Four and the
She-Hulk being recruited as his long-term replacement.
Byrne was succeeded as writer by
Steve Englehart, who had Reed and Sue retire to try and give their son a normal childhood. The returned Thing's new girlfriend, Sharon Ventura, and Johnny Storm's former lover, Crystal, joined the team. Sharon was quickly turned into a female "Thing", and the Thing himself further mutated, developing jagged spikes after being exposed to cosmic radiation during this roster's first mission. When writer
Walt Simonson next took over the series for the next year-and-a-half, Crystal left, Sue and Reed came out of retirement, and the Thing temporarily lost his powers and reverted to his human form.
Following Simonson was Marvel editor-in-chief
Tom DeFalco. DeFalco nullified the Johnny Storm-Alicia Masters relationship by
retconning that the Skrull Empire had kidnapped the real Masters shortly after the start of John Byrne's scripting run and replaced her with a Skrull spy named Lyja, with whom Storm unwittingly fell in love and married. Once discovered, Lyja, who herself had fallen for Storm, helped the Fantastic Four rescue the Masters. Ventura departed after being further mutated by Doctor Doom, with whom she'd sought alliance after the Thing and Masters reconciled.
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 an seemingly mortally wounded Doctor Doom. It would be two years before DeFalco resurrected the two characters, revealing that their seeming deaths were orchestrated by the tyrannical futuristic offspring of
Rachel Summers (daughter of the
X-Men Jean Grey and
Cyclops) and Franklin Richards.
In 1996, the ongoing Fantastic Four series was cancelled with issue #416 and relaunched as part of the
Heroes Reborn imprint which retold their first adventures in a modern setting in a parallel universe.
Following the end of that year-long experiment,
Fantastic Four was relaunched with a new #1 in late 1997. Initially penciled by
Alan Davis, it was written by
Scott Lobdell, succeeded after three issues by
Chris Claremont.
Mark Waid later became the series' writer.
The title reverted to its original numbering with issue #500, with Vol. 2 (Heroes Reborn), #1-13 and Vol. 3, #1-70 considered as #417-499 of the original run.
Following Waid,
J. Michael Straczynski became the writer.
Marvel launched the
Marvel Knights 4 spinoff Fantastic Four series in April 2004. Other spinoff titles have included the 1970s quarterly
Giant-Size Fantastic Four, and the 1990s
Fantastic Four Unlimited. As well, there have been numerous
limited series.
In February 2004, Marvel launched
Ultimate Fantastic Four, a version of the group in the "
Ultimate Marvel"
alternate universe.
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.
|
Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966): "This Man... This Monster!" â€" considered one of comics' greatest stories.[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).] Cover art by Kirby & Sinnott. |
Richards, who took the name
Mr. 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.
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 Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch is nonetheless quite sibling-like. The children of Mr. 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.
*
List of Fantastic Four membersThe 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.
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 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 #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.".
Decades later, an ongoing solo series,
Human Torch, ran 12 issues (June 2003-June 2004). This was followed by the five-issue limited series
Spider-Man/Human Torch (March-July 2005), an "untold tales" team-up arc which spanned the course of the pair's friendship.
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 (January 1974-June 1983), with seven summer annuals (1976â€"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).
For a list including
one-shots,
limited series,
graphic novels, and
trade paperback collections, see
Thing bibliography.
Heroes
|
Marvel Age Fantastic Four |
*
Mr. Fantastic - Reed Richards
*
The Thing - Benjamin Jacob "Ben" Grimm
*
Invisible Woman (previously
Invisible Girl) - Susan Richards (née Storm)
*
The Human Torch - Jonathan Lowell Spencer "Johnny" Storm
Temporary replacement members
*
Medusa An Inhuman who 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 who left due to pollution allergies.
*
Luke Cage (Power Man) Replacement during the Thing's brief absence.
*
Nova mutant Frankie Raye. She later became herald to Galactus.
*
She-Hulk Jennifer Walters, first cousin of Bruce Banner, the
Hulk, who joined as a replacement for the Thing.
*
Ms. Marvel Former
professional wrestler Sharon Ventura, who gained powers and an 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. He briefly joined when Reed Richards was missing and presumed dead.
* Kristoff
Doctor Doom's protege, who was mind-conditioned to behave as Doom. He was attracted to Ant Man's daughter, and joined team in last issues of the series first volume.
*
The Hulk,
Spider-Man,
Wolverine and
Ghost Rider served as a complete replacement-Fantastic Four in
Fantastic Four #347 (December 1990), 348 (January 1991), and 349 (February 1991), in a storyline written by Walter Simonson and pencilled by
Arthur Adams, in which they were called "The New Fantastic Four". In the
Ages of Apocalypse alternate reality, they remained in the roles more permanently.
Allies/Supporting characters
Franklin Richards (son)
Valeria Richards (daughter)
*
Alicia Masters* The
Inhumans**
Black Bolt**
Crystal (former FF member)
**
Medusa (former FF member)
** Gorgon
**
Karnak** Triton
**
Lockjaw*
Namor the Sub-Mariner*
Black Panther*
Silver Surfer*
The Watcher* Postal worker
Willie Lumpkin*
Wyatt Wingfoot*
New Avengers (
Spider-Man also individually)
*
DaredevilAntagonists
*
Air-Walker*
Annihilus*
Blastaar*
Crucible*
Devos the Devastator*
Diablo*
Doctor Doom*
Doctor Sun*
Dragon Man*
Fearsome Foursome*
Frightful Four*
Galactus*
Hate-Monger*
Hydro-Man*
Hyperstorm*
Impossible Man*
Kang the Conqueror/
Rama-Tut/
Immortus*
Klaw*
Mad Thinker*
Maximus the Mad*
Mephisto*
Mole Man*
Molecule Man*
Overmind*
Power Skrull*
Psycho-Man*
Puppet Master*
Ronan the Accuser*
Red Ghost*
Salem's Seven*
The Sandman*
Skrulls*
Super-Skrull*
Terrax*
Thanos*
Thundra*
Trapster*
Wizard |
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 comicsIssue #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" â€" 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 â€" 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."
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
*
Fantastic Four (1967 TV series)*
Fantastic Four (1978 TV series)*
Fantastic Four (1994 TV series)*
Fantastic Four (2006 TV series), a new series produced by
MoonScoop, who produced
Code Lyoko. It was recently announced that the show would premiere September 2nd. [
1][
2]
Video games
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 1990s
Spider-Man animated series , and inevitably, they starred in their own multi-platform games based on the 2005 movie.
The Thing and the Human Torch appeared in the 2005 game
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.
The Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing will appear in the new
2006 video game
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance with all their respective powers. Because of their appearance there is speculation that Mr. Fantastic may be in the game aswell, thus giving players the opportunity to play as any of the Fantastic Four.
Movies
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 â€" played by a human actor â€" turns into an obvious cartoon upon "flaming-on").
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 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 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/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 Dr. Doom, with Stan Lee making a cameo appearance as Willie Lumpkin, the mailman.
On
22 October 2005, Fox announced plans for a sequel,
Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer, to be directed by Story and written by
Don Payne, with production scheduled to begin August 2006.
* The cover of
The Fantastic Four #1 has been parodied, alluded to, and paid homage to many times.
* The
animated TV series The Tick featured in several episodes a Fantastic Four parody called the Civic Minded Five, which included team members Four-Legged Man, Captain Mucilage, The Carpeted Man, Jungle Janet, and Feral Boy.
*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 a parody of the Fantastic Four (especially their costumes) but with significantly less useful versions of their powers.
*An early episode of
Batman Beyond, called "Heroes," features a trio of superheroes who closely resemble The Fantastic Four.
*In
Blade: Trinity, the character Hedge (
Patton Oswalt) wears a Fantastic Four t-shirt displaying the "4" logo.
*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 Fantastic Four member.
*The animated series
The Simpsons has also poked fun at the Fantastic Four.
**In the episode "
Treehouse of Horror X",
Bart and
Lisa are exposed to radiation and transformed into Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl
**In "
Treehouse of Horror XIV" , Bart discovers a magic stopwatch; near the end of the episode he gives it to Lisa Simpson, who presses the button repeatedly â€" at one point briefly turning the family into the Fantastic Four.
**In "
I Am Furious Yellow", guest-starring Stan Lee, a boy (Data) 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, Jack-Jack bursts into flame. Dash 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.'"
[Entertainment Weekly July 1, 2005: "'Fantastic' Voyage?: Fantastic Four has incredible trouble â€" The would-be blockbuster had a tough time getting released", by Scott Brown]*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 Mr. Fantastic's stretching power and Ghostmare's abilities was more similiar to
Kitty Pryde's phasing powers) and in name (the real names of these heroes was a Pig Latin version of their Fantastic Four counterparts'. In other words; Teamleader was 'Ydrai', Firemane was 'Onijay', Thunderhoof's 'Enbé', and Ghostmane[revealed within the OHOTMU A-Z #6 Issue] was 'Oosay') 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
Family Guy episode "
Petarded", Peter Griffin refers to Fantastic Four while playing the board game
Trivial Pursuit.
*In the
MC2 imprint, a team called the
Fantastic Five exists. Its 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 Vol. 2, #1, a time-traveller refers to a future team called the Fantastic Fourteen.
*In the
PBS animated series
Arthur, a daydream sequence features Buster Baxter, Arthur's best friend, emerging from a space shuttle and exhibiting the powers of the Fantastic Four (one limb streches, one bursts into flame, one turns invisible, and one turns into orange rock)
*In the
Mutants and Masterminds role-playing game's
Freedom City campaign setting, both the Atom Family and the Factor Four can be considered varying interpretations of the Fantastic Four.
* In the movie
The Ice Storm, the
Tobey Maguire character refers to the Fantastic Four in his narrative.
* In an 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".
* The "
TV Funhouse" segment of
Saturday Night Live has occasionally featured a cartoon sketch, "
The X Presidents", wherein four former
Presidents of the United States were given special powers from cosmic radiation while appearing at a celebrity golf tournament.
* In May 2006, the shoe company
Nike released a Fantastic Four line of styles, each based upon one of the four characters..
* In
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode "The N-Men", Jimmy and his friends are on a space shuttle, inadvertently go through a gas belt, and crash land on Earth with powers partially similar that of the Fantastic Four. Jimmy is similar to the Thing, Libby to the Invisible Woman, and Sheen and Cindy to the DC Comics characters the
Flash and
Wonder Woman, respectively.
*
Bibliography of Fantastic Four titles*
Ultimate Fantastic Four*
Ultimate Marvel*
The Four*
Maximum Fantastic Four*
The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time, a list voted on by the fans in
2001, lists the first FF issue as the 2nd greatest Marvel Comic of all time.
*
Official Marvel Picture site*
Official Fantastic Four movie webpage*
The Fantastic Four @ FFPlaza.com*
A site looking at the critical history and media of the Fantastic Four*
Knightmare6.com, Fantastic Four*
DRG4's Fantastic Four the Animated Series Page*
Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1994-5) @ Marvel Animation Age*
A review of the 1994 FF Film*
Fantastic Four at the
Internet Movie Database*
Dial B for Blog: Secret Origins of the Fantastic Four*
The Fantastic Four-Gotten: In-depth article of the 1994 film - includes cast/crew comments, interviews, photos*
MDP: Fantastic Four - Marvel Database Project
*
Factors of Fantastic Four Captivation*
DMOZ - Open source directory listing for The Fantastic Four*
F4Movies.com
