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[FF] The Heroes formerly known as the Fantastic Four
Lucascraft
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
There hasn't really been a Fantastic Four thread around here for quite some time. Today brings us a fairly momentous occasion in one of Marvel's premiere books so I figured I'd make one to discuss both the big events of today's issue as well as just all things Fantastic Four related in general.
I haven't been following FF for very long. In fact, I only jumped on board with collecting it when I saw that they were going to be killing a member of the team.
That isn't to say I'm not a fan of the series, its just one that I've never bothered to collect until very recently.
So lets talk about this...
"THREE" as it has been called, is a story arc which is 5 issues in length, issue five having just released today. All along, it has been advertised since the start of this arc that one of the FF is gonna die. Being curious, I've been following the arc since the first issue.
Here is a brief synopsis of issues 1-4 (out of 5) of THREE. COLOR="Orange"]NOTE: SPOILERS[/COLOR
So that's the lead-up to the final issue.
Now. Before I get into who actually dies, let me say who I wanted to die. I wanted Reed to die. Why? Because his death would have the biggest impact on the rest of the Marvel Universe. Reed is a very important person with his brilliant scientific mind and the relationship he has with all sorts of people (i.e. other heroes and many super powerful galactic beings.) To me, if you're gonna hype up a death in a big team book, I would want the death to have meaning and have an impact. To me, the best choice was Reed Richards.
Who actually died?
SPOILERS
Lets talk about this. What do you guys think. Do you agree with my opinion (in the spoiler tag)?
Are we taking bets on how long this death sticks?
I haven't been following FF for very long. In fact, I only jumped on board with collecting it when I saw that they were going to be killing a member of the team.
That isn't to say I'm not a fan of the series, its just one that I've never bothered to collect until very recently.
So lets talk about this...
"THREE" as it has been called, is a story arc which is 5 issues in length, issue five having just released today. All along, it has been advertised since the start of this arc that one of the FF is gonna die. Being curious, I've been following the arc since the first issue.
Here is a brief synopsis of issues 1-4 (out of 5) of THREE. COLOR="Orange"]NOTE: SPOILERS[/COLOR
Each of the members of the Fantastic Four have been put in impossible situations. Situations in which any one of them could be the one who dies. Here's a rundown on what's going on:
SUE STORM: She was invited by Namor to attend an undersea summit between Namor and an aquatic species of Old Atlanteans. While at this summit, Namor assassinates the King of the other tribe in an effort to start a war. There is a long history of bad blood here, and Namor wants to wipe them out once and for all. Sue Storm is caught in the middle of this war, trying to act as a mediator and ambassador.
REED RICHARDS: Reed has an encounter with Galactus on Earth. Galactus shows up, upset because he found his own corpse out in space and he wanted to know what was up with that. Apparently, Reed found Galactus's body in the future and brought it to the past and hid it from him in an effort to conceal how he died. Galactus gets angry and decides he's gonna eat a planet. Reed and some other dudes go to try to evacuate the planet while it is being consumed by Galactus.
JOHNNY STORM & BEN GRIMM: Ben (Thing) drinks a potion which restores him to his normal human form for a week. He and Johnny are tasked with taking care of the Baxster Building, the Richards children and the Children of the Future Foundation while Reed and Sue are away. While they are babysitting, an evil insect swarm of bugs called the Annihilus Swarm shows up to devour the earth. Their point of entry is the portal to the negative zone inside the Baxster building. Ben and Johnny have to protect the kids and the whole earth pretty much from an alien invasion and Ben has no super powers.
SUE STORM: She was invited by Namor to attend an undersea summit between Namor and an aquatic species of Old Atlanteans. While at this summit, Namor assassinates the King of the other tribe in an effort to start a war. There is a long history of bad blood here, and Namor wants to wipe them out once and for all. Sue Storm is caught in the middle of this war, trying to act as a mediator and ambassador.
REED RICHARDS: Reed has an encounter with Galactus on Earth. Galactus shows up, upset because he found his own corpse out in space and he wanted to know what was up with that. Apparently, Reed found Galactus's body in the future and brought it to the past and hid it from him in an effort to conceal how he died. Galactus gets angry and decides he's gonna eat a planet. Reed and some other dudes go to try to evacuate the planet while it is being consumed by Galactus.
JOHNNY STORM & BEN GRIMM: Ben (Thing) drinks a potion which restores him to his normal human form for a week. He and Johnny are tasked with taking care of the Baxster Building, the Richards children and the Children of the Future Foundation while Reed and Sue are away. While they are babysitting, an evil insect swarm of bugs called the Annihilus Swarm shows up to devour the earth. Their point of entry is the portal to the negative zone inside the Baxster building. Ben and Johnny have to protect the kids and the whole earth pretty much from an alien invasion and Ben has no super powers.
So that's the lead-up to the final issue.
Now. Before I get into who actually dies, let me say who I wanted to die. I wanted Reed to die. Why? Because his death would have the biggest impact on the rest of the Marvel Universe. Reed is a very important person with his brilliant scientific mind and the relationship he has with all sorts of people (i.e. other heroes and many super powerful galactic beings.) To me, if you're gonna hype up a death in a big team book, I would want the death to have meaning and have an impact. To me, the best choice was Reed Richards.
Who actually died?
SPOILERS
For Real. Spoilers.
JOHNNY STORM
Gotta say. I'm pretty disappointed by this. Out of all 4 that they could have killed, Johnny dying is probably the weakest option in my mind. Johnny isn't nearly as important to the rest of the Marvel Universe. There aren't a lot of important relationships there that make his death very impactful outside of the Fantastic Four book.
Was his death cool? Hell yeah. He went out like a champ. They had to seal the portal to the Negative zone and someone had to stay. He stays behind to insure that the Annihilus swarm doesn't break through to earth, thus saving the life of Ben, the kids, and pretty much the whole world.
But even with as cool as it was, I don't think its gonna be nearly as big of a deal as if one of the other three had died.
Gotta say. I'm pretty disappointed by this. Out of all 4 that they could have killed, Johnny dying is probably the weakest option in my mind. Johnny isn't nearly as important to the rest of the Marvel Universe. There aren't a lot of important relationships there that make his death very impactful outside of the Fantastic Four book.
Was his death cool? Hell yeah. He went out like a champ. They had to seal the portal to the Negative zone and someone had to stay. He stays behind to insure that the Annihilus swarm doesn't break through to earth, thus saving the life of Ben, the kids, and pretty much the whole world.
But even with as cool as it was, I don't think its gonna be nearly as big of a deal as if one of the other three had died.
Lets talk about this. What do you guys think. Do you agree with my opinion (in the spoiler tag)?
Are we taking bets on how long this death sticks?
Lucascraft on
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Also, I am mostly glad it wasn't Sue, violence against women is something too many comic writers seem to jump to.
(is this going to be the FF thread?)
I guess technically he could be alive because they didn't show the aliens ripping him to shreds. But it was implied that it was gonna happen. These weren't very friendly bugs. Basically, they were the zerg.
And I would be surprised if the death lasts beyond FF #600, and would be even more surprised if they don't revert FF to #600 in a year.
edit: Dark Reign: FF is actually Hickman's first FF stuff, and it was really good. Franklin is the bestest.
The "death" is really... eh. At least it was a super cool way to go out, but I mean I've read the entire run of this thing. The number of "Deaths" and "gone forevers" and "3s" that I've seen make me not quite care. I'm looking forward to what he does with the aftermath/resurrection.
And for real, the sooner Nu-Earth is killed/forgotten about the better. Ugh. I was so annoyed he maintained that horrible thing.
And as we all know...
It's not impossible we'll see him in under a year, but considering how Marvel hyped this up AND considering how he's not an extremely popular character or one that has a huge impact on the world, I think they're in it for a while.
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com
PARKER, YOU'RE FIRED! <-- My comic book podcast! Satan look here!
I'm praying that they all somehow "come back to life" together.
Also Thing crying nearly made me cry.
So now what? Fantastic Three relaunch?
#588 and then whatever the hell "FF" is going to be.
Spider-Man looks like he's going to kidnap Franklin there.
edit:
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Have you not seen the solicit for FF #1?
However, I am going to guess that FF now stands for Fantastic Five, and that Franklin and Val will be joining.
Also, I did spoil myself on who died, but I don't know how yet.
I was hoping
But FF could stand for Future Foundation or Fantastic Five or Fantastic Family or whatever. It doesn't mean that you need four members.
There was already a story arc about that, though, so I can see why Hickman wouldn't want to go there again.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Partially because it was done twice.
Mostly because it sucked.
Interesting to see Alex Power on the potential replacement list. The Power kids always did seem the most likely to do the space explorer universal hero bit for whenever the FF would go into semi-retirement (IE, alternate futures, ect.)
Why I fear the ocean.
I'm hoping this is used somewhere, I feel like it could have proved to be of better use. Hopefully in 588 we'll see something.
"Now DOOM has Cosmic Awareness! Now Richards, you will pay!"
That's just how he rolls
(this reminds me of when Sue was jealous of Reed's former girlfriend in a backup during Waid's FF run, catfight)
I thought #587 was really well done, and its ambiguous enough that it can be reversed if necessary. The Wrath of Khan moment was a nice touch.
Like Gank, I also expect this to culminate in a Doom event of some kind.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
And the prayer scene felt a little too smug, it kind of read like Alex was making fun of all those different religions with a "we're so smart I can't believe these people still believe this stuff" kind of thing. I mean, God exists in the Marvel Universe, and so do other gods, somehow religion is a bit more silly? Not really buying that.
There was also a two page silhouette spread of the characters on the family/foundation that would have worked better with the full character reveal in distinguishing Mik and Turg and Wu and Vii from one another, if only by the color of their clothes.
I'm glad the first arc
And, by proxy, the next issue of Hickmans S.H.I.E.L.D. cos I can't get enough Nathaniel.
Also I should probably not care about that so much, seeing as I still enjoyed the issue as a whole.