42 Years Ago Today, The Fantastic Four Broke Their Most Important Rule (& Confused Every Marvel Fan)

For many years, fans knew what to expect from the Fantastic Four, but 42 years ago today, things changed completely when the team broke its most important rule. This came out of nowhere, and fans had no idea what was going on because one month, the Fantastic Four was the same old team that had existed in Marvel Comics since they debuted in 1961. The next month, everything had changed. This was the year that Marvel debuted its first major crossover event, Secret Wars, a series that changed comic book history. However, this event also changed several Marvel characters without explanation, including the Fantastic Four. It took months for fans to understand what happened.

It was 42 years ago today that the Fantastic Four returned from the mysterious Secret Wars event with a new team member. To that point, the Fantastic Four had been a family unit, with Ben Grimm as close to a family member as the Richards-Storm family. However, when Fantastic Four #265 came out, She-Hulk was the newest member of the team.

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What made Secret Wars so special was how Marvel pulled the story off. Instead of having the crossover interrupt all the various superhero comics, it did things very differently. The characters all disappeared into a portal at the end of the previous month’s comics. The next month saw the heroes all return, but there was no explanation of what happened. Even moreso, there were changes. The two biggest involved Spider-Man having a mysterious black costume and the Fantastic Four having She-Hulk as a new member. Also, The Thing was gone. It wasn’t until Secret Wars ended months later that the full explanation was given.

The cover of the issue even said it best when Reed Richards introduced the newest member, and Susan Storm asked if the world was ready for it. Meanwhile, Johnny said he was more than ready. At the end of Secret Wars, Ben Grimm decided to stay on Battleworld, where he felt he could fit in as the monster he saw himself as being. With Ben staying behind, the FF invited She-Hulk to join the team, bringing in an outsider as an official fourth member.

The Fantastic Four have had non-family members over the years, but usually it is an associate like Wyatt Wingfoot or a loved one like Crystal. However, the Fantastic Four broke their rule of remaining a family more than a superteam when they invited an outsider into the unit with She-Hulk. In the years after this, they did it more than once, with names like Black Panther and Storm becoming team members. However, when She-Hulk joined, it was a shock because the Fantastic Four wasn’t supposed to be a team involving random heroes.

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