Fantastic Four #32 Shows Off the Intelligence of the Youngest Richards Child

Fantastic Four has been going like gangbusters since writer Ryan North took over the book, and One World Under Doom has seen the team become more important than ever. Doom has stolen the Thing’s powers, leading to the gradual depowering of the Fantastic Four. The only hope is a time travel mission to get his powers back, but the Thing ruins everything and accidentally makes sure the Fantastic Four never existed. Fantastic Four #32 takes place in this new universe, as Valeria Richards tries to figure out a way to save the day against the greatest odds she’s ever faced. This is yet another excellent issue of Fantastic Four, leading to the end of the the current story before the upcoming relaunch of the book.

Fantastic Four #31 ended with the destruction of the timeline and the new issue picks up afterwards, as Valeria Richards’s mind is somehow transported to a world where the Fantastic Four never existed. North sets things up rather quickly, using Valeria’s narration to continue to tell the story. Unlike Marvel’s other two major teams, the X-Men and the Avengers, the Fantastic Four usually doesn’t go in for dystopian realities, but North finds a clever way to make this new timeline a very scary place to be using two ideas, one from older Marvel comics and one from the show The Twilight Zone. Franklin’s mind didn’t travel to this world, but his powers did, creating a God from a child. Franklin eventually became Galactus on this world and uses his power to ensure the safety and happiness of everyone, whether they want it or not.

The way North threads all of this through the story is wonderful. This is definitely a Fantastic Four comic, but he finds way to work a strand of cosmic horror through the whole thing. What would happen to a baby forced to use his godlike powers to save the world in the Fantastic Four’s stead? North answers that question beautifully throughout the issue, showing just how scary Franklin Richards can be. This also may be a sly way to give Franklin back his powers in the restored timeline, but that remains to be seen.

North does a great job of setting out the stakes, all while using Valeria as his cat’s paw. Valeria’s plan — a somewhat complicated plan that is partly the X-Men’s plan to stop a terrible future from happening in “Days of Future Past” and partly something completely unexpected — shows off just how intelligent Valeria can be and what a force she is as a character. Valeria Richards is a great character, and this story so far has done a great job of showing off why the adventures of the Fantastic Four aren’t as good without her.

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Cory Smith, along with inkers Wayne Fauncher and Oren Junior, supplies the art for the book and it’s pretty great. There aren’t any big fights in the comics, but they’re able to find the creepy vibe that North’s script is putting down. The blank smiles on the faces of Reed and Sue when Valeria tells them the truth are perfect, and it all leads to a great looking reveal of Franklin as Galactus, with more “happy” people looking up at their savior. It’s all played beautifully. Faces like this can be hard to do — the artist has to capture the falseness of the smile — and the art works with North’s script perfectly to give readers an idea of what this kind of world would be like.

The change in inkers is pretty apparent later in the issue, when the linework gets a little heavier, but it doesn’t really hurt the art as much as having multiple inkers can. There are some really great panels in this issue, especially the ones showing Franklin’s actions over the years. This isn’t the flashiest art in the world, but it doesn’t need to be because it’s extremely sound. Great character acting, well-rendered figures, and expert page layouts do a great job of making reading this issue into a near-perfect reading experience.

Fantastic Four #32 is another example of pitch-perfect Fantastic Four. North is able to make a Fantastic Four story that has tastes of cosmic horror, and it works wonderfully. This is exactly the way a Fantastic Four multiverse story should go, and North and company knock it out of the park. It was hard to predict where the book would go after the last issue’s cliffhanger, and the place the creative team took the book was perfect from start to finish. Valeria still has one chance to save the universe and her family, and if it’s as good as this, it will be one for the ages.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Published by Marvel

Released on May 21, 2025

Written by Ryan North

Pencils by Cory Smith

Inks by Wayne Faucher and Oren Junior

Colors by Jesus Aburtov

Letters by Joe Caramagna

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