Created in 1961 to rival the Justice League of America, the Fantastic Four focused on the adventures of genius Reed Richards, his fiancée Sue Storm, his brother Johnny, and their friend Ben Grimm’s ill-fated space mission. As a result of being affected by cosmic rays, the four began to develop new powers. Reed was able to stretch out and started calling himself Mr. Fantastic; Sue could turn invisible and consequently she called herself first the Invisible Girl and then the Invisible Woman; Johnny’s ability to turn her body on fire gave rise to the name Human Torch; Ben Grimm was turned into a mammoth from a rock creature called The Thing.
The Fantastic Four’s villains included Golden Age good guy Namor the Sub-Mariner, now reimagined as an embittered ruler of Atlantis, and Doctor Doom, his most frequent foe. Other enemies included the shape-shifting alien race, the Skrulls, and Mole Man. The Galactus trilogy also introduced the audience to the planet devouring Galactus and his then-servant, the Silver Surfer.
Their early adventures marked a new era in comics not only because their identities were public, but also because the Fantastic Four were the first group of superheroes to argue with each other. Other groups, such as the Justice League or the Justice Society, have traditionally behaved very politely towards each other at all times. The Fantastic Four comics were about family members, and like any family, they featured intense arguments between members.
Creator Stan Lee explained it like this: “And the characters would be the kind of characters that I could personally identify with: they would be flesh and blood, they would have their flaws and weaknesses, they would be fallible and feisty, and… most important of all : inside their colorful disguised booties they would still have feet of clay.”
This animosity between members has occasionally led to teammates quitting and being replaced, most notably when She-Hulk long-term replaced The Thing. Tensions were particularly fraught during the time period when Sue Storm fell in love with former enemy Sub-Mariner, making Reed Richards jealous.
Despite their tensions, the Fantastic Four have always managed to mend themselves. Reed and Sue married and had two children together. Still, the Marvel Civil War super-crossover event threatened to fracture the Fantastic Four permanently. After her husband’s involvement in cloning Thor, Sue Storm left the group and her brother followed her to join the superhero anti-registration movement that Reed was against. Ben Grimm refused to take sides in the war that had divided his family. Tellingly, Sue’s parting note to Reed let him know how mad she was at him, but she also ended it with a reminder that she loved him and a plea to “fix this please.”
However, after the Civil War, Reed and Sue were reunited and their family began the healing process. While history says that there are likely to be feuds in the future, it’s also a good bet that the Fantastic Four will outgrow them and remain whole.
Essential arguments:
~ John Byrne’s career
~ the Galactic Trilogy
~ Fantastic Four #1
~ Fantastic Four #4.
~ Fantastic Four #5
~ Civil War
~ Onslaught and Heroes Reborn
