6 Things You Didn’t Know About The Fantastic Four

by mirza nehal baig 20:17 0 comments

The Fantastic Four are a superhero team known as Marvel’s first family, having first appeared way back in 1961 in The Fantastic Four #1.

6. The Line-Up Hasn’t Always Been The Same

Marvel Comics

Everyone immediately thinks of four characters when they think of the Fantastic Four – Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), Invisible Woman (Sue Storm), Human Torch (Johnny Storm) and the Thing (Ben Grimm) – but the team has actually had a huge number of additional members in the event that those characters haven’t been around for various reasons.

The Inhumans Crystal and Medusa, Luke Cage, Frankie Raye (also known as the Human Torch and Nova), She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel (or She-Thing in her time with the team), Ant-Man, Namorita, Storm, Black Panther, Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Flux, Spider-Man and Ms. Thing have all been a part of the iconic team.

In fact, there have even been teams known as “The New Fantastic Four” that have contained none of the original team’s members. One of those teams was Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider, while another consisted of Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and a different version of Ghost Rider.

5. All Four Core Members Have Joined Other Teams

Marvel Comics

Not only has the Fantastic Four contained a number of members you wouldn’t particularly associated group but, on the flip-side, the core members of the team have actually all been members of other superhero teams, groups and organisations.

Mister Fantastic has been a member of the Future Foundation, the Avengers, the Defenders and the Illuminati, Invisible Woman has been a member of the Lady Liberators, the Avengers, Fantastic Four Incorporated and the Future Foundation, Human Torch has been a member of the Future Foundation, the Fantastic Force, the Heralds of Galactus and Fantastic Four Incorporated, and Thing has been a member of the Future Foundation, the UCWF, the West Coast Avengers, the Thunderiders, the Yancy Street Gang, the Avengers West Coast, the New Avengers and the Worthy.

4. They Had A Film In 1994

Constantin FIlm

When most people think of Fantastic Four films, they either think of the recent franchise that spawned two films (Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) in 2005 and 2007, or they think of the reboot version – Fant4stic – which will hit cinemas this summer.

However, there was actually a decidedly lower budget Fantastic Four movie back in 1994. Starring Alex Hyde-White as Reed Richards, Rebecca Staab as Sue Storm, Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm and Michael Bailey Smith as Ben Grimm, the movie cost just $1 million to make and was never officially released.

It has, however, been subject to bootleg recordings and can be readily found online if you so wish to see it (don’t bother, it’s rubbish).

The Fantastic Four

3. Additional Powers

Marvel Comics

As a general rule, Mister Fantastic can stretch his body and shrug off physical beatings with his power, Invisible Woman can turn invisible and create forcefields with her power, Human Torch assumes a fiery form, can fly and project fiery blasts with his power, and Thing’s rocky hide grants him superhuman strength and durability – but did you know that some of those power sets come with additional abilities?

Reed Richards is able to shapeshift so that, for example, his body parts are able to resemble tools. He can also change the density of body so that, in such circumstances, he could make the tool usable (e.g. if he changed his hand into a hammer, it would be hard enough to work as a hammer). He is also practically immune to certain non-brute force attacks, such as electrical blasts and telepathic assaults.

Sue Storm can extend her power to create forcefields to essentially simulate telekinesis. Given that she can control the shields she generates, she can use them to grab objects and move them around with her mind.

Johnny Storm can control any fire within his vicinity and manipulate it to his will and he can also absorb any heat energy or blasts in order to increase his own power levels and use said energy/blasts for his own purposes.

Ben Grimm not only gained increased physical durability, but he also gained increased capacity in other areas. For example, his lung capacity is now so huge that he can go for hours without breathing and his senses can withstand more punishment than they could when he was flesh and bone.

2. Their First Comic Is Worth Up To $800,000

Marvel Comics

Classic comics can fetch unbelievable amounts of money these days, especially if they are landmarks, first issues of a series and in good condition.

The Fantastic Four’s first appearance – Fantastic Four #1 from 1961 – is no different and, depending on the condition, can be valued at anything up to $800,000.

That would be if the comic was in top condition and had been graded – ungraded would fetch around half that amount – but such is the importance of this comic that even a bottom-end example is worth a decent amount. An ungraded poor condition version of this comic can be worth $800, while the varying conditions between the two extremes can bring in anything from $5,600 (good condition, ungraded) to $49,920 (very fine condition, graded).

If you own this comic, get it sold!

1. They (Literally) Merged With The Challengers Of The Unknown

Amalgam Comics

Amalgam Comics was a publishing imprint launched in 1996 that was shared by DC Comics and Marvel Comics. The comics published introduced a universe in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones (Spider-Man and Superboy merged to form Spider-Boy, Batman and Wolverine merged to form Dark Claw and Captain America and Superman merged to form Super Soldier, for example).

In these comics, the Fantastic Four merged with DC’s Challengers of the Unknown to become the Challengers of the Fantastic. The four members were Prof (an amalgamation of Prof Haley and Reed Richards), Ace (an amalgamation of Ace Morgan and Invisible Woman), Red (an amalgamation of Red Ryan and Human Torch) and Rocky (an amalgamation of Rocky Davis and Thing).

The amalgamated characters took on the properties of both of the characters who formed them and faced the likes of Doctor Doomsday (an amalgamation of Doctor Doom and Doomsday) and Galactiac (an amalgamation of Galactus and Brainiac).
                                                                                                                                                             

   Back To Home