Fantastic Four (Comic Book): Difference between revisions

[[File:FantasticFour_1322150109_cvr_2434.jpg|frame]]

 

Their number one recurring enemy is Victor von Doom ('''[[Doctor Doom]]''' to you), who was [[Everyone Went to School Together|at college with Reed and Ben]] and holds an almighty grudge against Reed for "sabotaging" one of his experiments: the experiment actually failed because of Doom's own error, which Reed noticed and tried to warn him about, but Doom's pride will not permit him to accept the truth. Reed may have Doom (narrowly) beat for the title of World's Smartest Man, but Doom is well ahead for the title of World's ''Vainest'' ([[Fridge Logic|though he's not the one calling himself "Mr. Fantastic"...]]). It really didn't help that the experiment in question literally blew up in Doom's face, [[Minor Injury Overreaction|marring his previously flawless good looks]]. These days he wears an iron mask at all times, usually as part of a full suit of [[Powered Armor|battle armor]].

 

 

The series currently has spun off ''FF'', meaning ''Future Foundation''. Originally a temporary replacement for the regular ''Fantastic Four'' book, the Foundation is a scientific organization working for the betterment of mankind. The book features Reed and Sue's children, Franklin and Valeria; and notably includes [[Spider-Man]] and [[Doctor Doom]] as members.

 

 

 

 

Also see ''[[Ultimate Fantastic Four]]'', an (obviously) [[Ultimate Universe]] version where the main difference is that the Four are younger and a little less mature. The book lasted until the ''[[Ultimatum]]'' event, after which Johnny moved to ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' and then ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]''. {{spoiler|And the FF mythos went off the rails completely when a disgruntled Reed became a supervillain.}}

 

* [[Action Mom]]: Invisible Woman, mother of two and still telekinetic butt-kicker supreme.

* [[Alliterative Name]]: Reed Richards, Susan Storm.

* [[Alternate Universe]]: Many, ''many'' of them. The FF have the highest number of canon AU stories. And whenever they needed to be avoided from a crossover; their absence is usually handwaved with: "The FF are away in an alternate dimension..." At one point, it's even revealed that Reed Richards often holds trans dimensional conferences with numerous alternate versions of himself at the same time.

* [[Appropriated Appellation]]: In the first story, Sue was the first person to call Ben a "Thing".

* [[Artifact of Death]]: The Ultimate Nullifier.

* [[Artifact Title]]: Membership changes and flash-forwards often show the "Four" in the team's name ends up an artifact title, with various continuities including HERBIE, Kristoff von Doom, She-Hulk, and Franklin and Valeria Richards as official team-members. This was especially noticeable at the end of the "Fantastic Five" [[Flash Forward]] series where the team expanded at the end to include eight members.

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Reed Richards happens to be not only elastic, but the biggest nerd on Earth.

** If you [[Fridge Brilliance|think about it]], he's also something of an [[Ascended Fanboy]], in the sense that he's a fanboy of science, and he managed to [[Science Hero|make a superhero career out of it]].

* [[Barrier Warrior]]: Invisible Woman pretty much ''is'' the archetype.

* [[Beauty to Beast]]: Ben, and possibly Doom.

* [[Being Tortured Makes You Evil]]: Appears to have happened to {{spoiler|Johnny at the hands of Annihilus}}.

** The latter is a bit of a universal artifact, considering that back when Marvel held the license, it was probably made to be ''the'' [[Godzilla|Monster Island]].

* [[Berserk Button]]: They're a family, and harming any of them is a bad idea.

* [[Broke Episode]]: Issue #9.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: "IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" "FLAME ON!!"

* [[Chest Insignia]]: The "4" symbol.

* [[Deaf Composer]]: Alicia Masters is a blind sculptress. More impressive because she makes lifelike statues based purely on description.

* [[Death Is Cheap]]: Happens quite often, {{spoiler|most recently Johnny Storm}}.

* [[Detachment Combat]]: The Fantasti-car separates into four smaller vehicles for each of its passengers.

* [[Determinator]]: The Thing. [[Physical God|The Champion]] declared him Earth's greatest hero, because even if he's not the most powerful, ''he will not yield''.

* [[Didn't See That Coming]]: The Mad Thinker's main flaw. Reed and Doom are occasional sufferers as well.

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Considering that Reed had absolutely nothing to do with Doom's experiment failure or his injuries, Doom's grudge is completely unwarranted in the first place; but the sheer lengths that Doom goes to in his search for vengeance frequently go way beyond 'excessive'.

** What's amazing is Doctor Doom's quest for revenge is often as petty as it is insanely over the top. For instance, he's actually tried to break up Reed Richards' marriage as often as kill him.

* [[Doomy Dooms of Doom]]: Doctor '''DOOM!'''

* [[The Dreaded]]:

'''Richards:''' Actually, that's as far as I got. It was enough to send them running. }}

* [[Dreaming of Things to Come]]: Franklin's special dreams.

* [[Fakeout Escape]]: There's a sequence in ''Fantastic Four #2'' where Sue turns invisible when government officials come to check on her, then runs out the doorway during their confusion; this was enough of an [[Establishing Character Moment]] that it gets repeated in both the Ultimate and filmed versions.

* [[Faux Action Girl]]: The Invisible Girl, originally; though she slowly got better over time, it wasn't until the John Byrne run in the 1980s that she toughened up into a real [[Action Girl]].

** [[The Hero]]: Varies depending on the story, but usually Reed Richards

** [[The Lancer]]: Sue Storm

* [[Forgotten Fallen Friend]]: Doctor Doom's motivation is rescuing his mother's soul from hell (among others). Writers rarely remember this one.

** This is largely because he succeeded (with the reluctant help of [[Doctor Strange]]) years ago.

** To say nothing of the rivalry between The Thing and The Hulk, which is born of equal parts hatred, admiration, and respect. Whenever they meet they refer to each other almost exclusively as "Grim" and "Banner."

* [[Game of Nerds]]: Reed Richards makes the occasional baseball analogy.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]/[[Gentle Giant]]: The ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing, Ben Grimm, although his smarts are [[Cast Speciation|usually overshadowed]] by super-genius Reed. Ben lampshades this as he assembles a cosmic ray device, musing that he's watched Reed long enough to play [[Mad Scientist]] himself. There is also the fact that Grimm was a highly qualified ''test pilot'' before he became The Thing; no mean feat brain-wise.

** The idea of The Thing being simultaneously physically strong, ugly, and smart was seen as revolutionary in comics.

** Also, Infant Terrible, a Silver Age alien antagonist.

* [[Happily Married]]: Reed and Sue, most of the time.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|Johnny does this to save his niece and nephew. He succeeds, but dies in the process]]}}. (Don't worry, kids, this is a comic book).

* [[Just Ignore It]]: The first time they fought the Impossible Man.

* [[Kaiju]]: The Fantastic Four fought a lot of these within the first three issues of the series. The list so far:

** Issue #2: A giant snake, a massive, spike-covered golem made of iron, and an enormous bird, all of which were actually Skrulls in disguise.

** Issue #3: A papier-mâché statue of "Bijou, The Monster From Mars", which was brought to life by Miracle Man.

** Ben and Johnny tend to ham it up when they're bickering, particularly Johnny's fire-based pranks, Ben's threats that he hardly ever follows through with, and his endless fire-based insults (match-head, flame-brain, etc.)

** IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!

** Another time, Johnny purposely used a intentionally-crudely-drawn version of the first issue of "The Incredible Hulk" to rile Ben. Needless to say, it worked, and even before Ben could tear the issue up himself, Johnny accidentally burned it to cinders while trying to grab it.

* [[Legacy Character]]: The Human Torch is loosely based on the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Human Torch.

* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: The Thing is just as agile and well-trained in martial arts as he was before his transformation, lots of people forget that. Woe on them.

** To quote Ben himself from an issue of ''Marvel Knights 4'':

* [[Mama Bear]]: Sue to the rest of the team, especially to Franklin and Valeria.

* [[Medium Blending]]: Some of the [[Jack Kirby]]-drawn issues featured photographed models of objects in place of drawn art.

* [[Minor Injury Overreaction]]: Dr. Doom, to Reed, as explained above.

* [[Mistaken Age]]

* [[Monster Modesty]]: Even though the Thing has been horrified by his monstrous appearance, he often runs around in blue short-pants and nothing else.

** Then again, it's (maybe) possible Victor'd already had at least one doctorate under his belt and was pursuing another one at the time of the accident that scarred him.

*** Or, perhaps when he took over Latveria he had one of its universities give him an honorary degree.

* [[Most Common Superpower]]: For a time during the [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|mid-90s]], the Invisible Woman wore a skimpy costume with a cut-out "4" on her cleavage. This was before writers and editors realized that they didn't have to dress Sue up in a slinky costume to make her sexy -- she was already a MILF.

* [[Mr. Exposition]]: In their early appearances the Inhumans come across as an entire race of these. This is partly because they have to speak for their mute leader Black Bolt, and partly because they would appear [[Once an Episode]] as part of a story arc and have to recap everything for casual readers.

* [[The One Who Made It Out]]: Ben Grimm is a former member of the Yancy Street Gang, and they resent him for forgetting his roots.

* [[Orphean Rescue]]: To save Ben.

** Even better: [[Galactus]], a freakin' embodiment of a cosmic force, has said that the Fantastic Four are the only beings in the Universe that he can call his friends. In fact, in a recent issue we see an older version of Franklin promise Galactus that he'd be with him at the end of the universe. They share a moment floating above the Earth.

* [[Personality Powers]]: Especially noticeable with the hot-headed Human Torch and the solid and stubborn Thing.

** Also originally Sue was a shy,almost invisible to people woman and Reed had an elastic mind.

** In a "What if?" comic, Johnny became a robot due to his being a skilled mechanic, Ben became a [[Winged Humanoid]] with dragon-like wings for his passion about flying (on jets), Sue had elastic powers being a very conciliatory woman and Reed became a bodiless brain because of his peerless intelligence.

* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: Ben and Sue.

** Not completely, however. If it weren't for [[Magic Pants|unstable molecules]], 3/4 of the Fantastic Four would be running around like [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/earthnounstable1.jpg this].

** Similarly, [[Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome]].

* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: Reed might likely be the [[Trope Codifier]].

* [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]]: Sue Storm's relationship with Reed Richards.

*** In a somewhat recent story arc, Reed tried to remove Ben's mutation and add it to his own elasticity, but Ben refused to let him. "You're you an' I'm me, an' that's the cosmic plan."

** {{spoiler|Johnny dying a year before the FF's 50th anniversary.}} Yeaaaah, ''that'll'' stick.

* [[Super Family Team]]: One of the first and longest lasting in comics.

* [[Superhero]]: The earliest Marvel ones.

* [[Superpower Lottery]]: Franklin Richards, the omnipotent toddler.

* [[Team Mom]]: Sue.

** What do you expect from the daughter of Doom ''and'' Reed (long story).

* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: [[She Hulk]] was a member of the team for a while when the Thing went solo. Having the same powers let her fill the role effectively.

* [[They Do]]: Reed and Sue.

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Johnny and Ben, and Johnny and Spidey whenever they team up.

* [[The Von Trope Family]]: Doctor Doom's real name is Victor Von Doom. Reed and Sue's daughter Valeria could also fit here, since in one alternate future she was Doctor Doom's daughter, but Sue was still her mom.

** By this point now he's pretty much over it, although he has his good days and his bad days.

*** The "bad days" that happen to him are usually caused by someone (most of the time a kid or kids) who're not used to seeing him up close get freaked out. Sometimes accompanied with a scream like "Mommy! It's a monster!" or some variation thereof, and he gets reminded of his hideous appearance. The ''real'' reason for this, however, is because [[True Art Is Angsty]] and writers sometimes want to do wangsty stories centered around him. For long-term fans who've followed FF stories through the years, it's getting a bit old.

* [[What If]]: Marvel's ''What If?'' comic line does have stories of these kinds about the Fantastic Four, but most interesting is ''What If?'' Vol. 2 #11, which told four stories about the team all having the ''same'' power. These stories are designated in the Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 6 as [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/earthffgotflamepowers.htm Earth-9031] (all flaming), [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/earthffhadstretchingpowers.htm Earth-9032] (all stretchy), [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/earthffweremonsters.htm Earth-9033] (all monsters), and [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/earthffwereinvisible.htm Earth-9034] (all with invisibility powers).

** It's further implied that if Sue didn't adhere to the rule of [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|heroes not killing their enemies]] she could easily defeat most of her opponents by simply generating force field bubbles in their bodies and/or vital organs and [[Nightmare Fuel|making said force fields expand]].

* [[When I Was Your Age]]: Regularly muttered by The Thing.

* [[Worthy Opponent|Worthy Opponents]]: Ben Grimm and [[The Hulk]] to each other. Banner himself has said that if ever Hulk really cut loose, Ben would probably be the only hero on Earth with even a chance of slowing "ol' Jade-Jaws" down.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Marvel Comics Series]]

[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]

[[Category:The Sixties]]

[[Category:Print Long Runners]]

[[Category:Marvel Comics Characters]]

[[Category:Marvel Universe]]