Fantastic Four (Comic Book)/YMMV

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• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Sure, Reed is normally portrayed as brilliant and somewhat arrogant (more so after Civil War), but read these pages to see the Hidden Depths to the character. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Tear Jerker.
    • In brief: Reed is just a humble scientist who couldn't care less about being famous or admired. His quest to turn his best friends into revered superheroes was all just penance for robbing them of the chance to live normal lives, because he knew they would have been exploited and used as lab experiments if they didn't have the public's love on their side.
  • Alternatively, Reed is a Villain with Good Publicity and the only reason he has yet to Take Over the World it is because Doctor Doom keeps distracting him.
    • May actually be canon, following Civil War. Certainly Doom held at least once press conference pointing out the atrocities being committed by Reed Richards and Tony Stark in the name of Security.
      • Pot to kettle: "You are black."
• Complete Monster: Doctor Doom is a case of Depending on the Writer, as he's usually written as an arrogant Noble Demon who believes Utopia Justifies the Means, albeit one who holds murderous grudges over things that are entirely his fault. But then you come to stories like Unthinkable, which was written to subvert his Anti-Villain interpretation, where he is murdering his girlfriend, kidnapping children (trapping one in Hell), and after defeating the Four decides nothing would be more fun than some Cold-Blooded Torture, even toying with killing Reed's baby daughter Valeria just to hurt him. And he's still arrogant enough to think he's the good guy despite all of this.
  • Annihilus, especially in the Annihilation Crisis Crossover (not featuring the Four) where he promotes himself to Omnicidal Maniac.
• Ensemble Darkhorse/Breakout Character: Doom has arguably become just as popular, if not more so, than the FF themselves, due in no small part to his Memetic Badass status amongst fans (which is not that inaccurate, as it turns out).
  • Also, when the comic first debuted, The Thing very quickly became the most popular character due to his stubborn nobility, Woobieness and Deadpan Snarker tendencies.
• Ho Yay: There's an alternate universe where Reed married Johnny. Nuff said.
  • Johnny and Spiderman have some epic bromance moments, including (but not limited to) Peter joking that Johnny got him pregnant .
  • To say nothing of Doom's obsession with Reed (there are LOTS of disturbing fanfics about the two) and Ben's sometimes heartwarmingly (and awkwardly) close relationships with both Reed and Johnny.
• Jerkass Woobie: Thing started out as one, constantly lamenting about his appearance and picking fights with Johnny at every given opportunity, going so far as to threaten throwing a car at him. This tension reached the ultimate breaking point when, Johnny, after a massive argument with Ben, temporarily quit the FF, of which Ben couldn't have been more happy. Even when his relationship with Alica began, it was constantly riddled with Wangst over the fact that Alicia preferred The Thing over Ben.
• Memetic Mutation: "It's clobberin' time!"
• Memetic Sex Goddess: Susan Richards. One of the earliest letters page had a complaint from a fan saying, "You have some nerve making a doll like Sue invisible!"
  • "FLAME ON!"
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Mark Waid hated the Noble Demon characterization of Doom, so when he came aboard the book he did an arc where Doom flays his Unlucky Childhood Friend alive and makes her skin into a new suit of armor. Unsurprisingly, this didn't take, and Doom has since returned to his original characterization, though the general consensus is that it is a very good story and many fans give Doom props for not crossing the Moral Event Horizon so much as blasting through it with a rocket launcher. After all, thats what great villains do.
  • Many fans also believe that Reed himself crossed during Civil War, in which he constructed a Hellhole Prison in a dimension that literally sucks the life out of you, then shipped several of his friends there without trial in the name of "national security." Even post-Dark Reign, he has payed for none of this.
• Never Live It Down: Has any writer ever let Namor forget he used to have a crush on Sue?
• Tear Jerker: The Last Stand of Johnny Storm. I've just got something in my eye...
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Abraxas. This cosmic being represents the embodiment of the destruction of the multiverse, and the polar opposite of Eternity. Galactus was created specifically to act as a Barrier Maiden to keep Abraxas in some sort of prison within Eternity itself. By all rights, Abraxas should be one of the most dreaded villains in Marvel, but despite his importance to the overall history of the Marvel Universe and relation to Galactus (who has appeared hundreds of times) Abraxus has appeared in, to date, five issues.
  • Boris Karela, Doctor Doom's surrogate father, right hand man, confidant, advisor, and possibly only true friend. He's had a grand total of 20 appearances since 1964, fans often asking via the letters' page if he's still alive. This is sort of a shame, given his relation with such an important villain, and is very much wasted potential.
• Villain Sue: Mark Millar's controversial character "the Marquis of Death" may be a straight example or a subversion, depending on how you look at it. He was a Diabolus Ex Nihilo more powerful than Galactus who claimed to be the man behind Dr. Doom, at whom he got pissed for becoming a Noble Demon rather than the Card-Carrying Villain he wanted him to be. He effortlessly Mind Rapes and kills Doom, then declares himself Doom's successor. The subversion comes a few issues later when Doom comes back, reveals the Marquis didn't kill him properly, and blows him to Hell. Even with that considered, it's still generally thought of as a terrible story.
• The Woobie: Ben Grimm, mutated into the monstrous-looking Thing, but also one of the most respected and beloved superheroes in the Marvel universe.
  • Word of God has stated that The Thing is the most beloved superhero in the entire Marvel Universe. This makes him analogous to Nightwing of DC Comics.