The Fantastic Four was the first comic book that Marvel Comics produced, and they were always more than just superheroes. They were, from the very start, explorers who set out to do the impossible and explore the far reaches of space. It all started in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #1, when Reed Richards took three people into space with him, ignoring warnings about the dangers of the trip. They ran into a cosmic storm, which bestowed superpowers on all four of them. Since that time, Reed has never slowed down or proceeded with caution, instead heading into the treacherous Negative Zone and utilizing the Forever Gate to travel to multiple dimensions.
Videos by ComicBook.com
From their trips through the cosmos on exploratory missions to even one moment where they went to Heaven to bring back a dead spirit, here is a look at the Fantastic Four’s greatest trips through the multiverse.
7) First Negative Zone trip (FF #51)
The go-to dimensional travel portal for the Fantastic Four is the Negative Zone portal. The Negative Zone is a parallel dimension to Earth. Unlike this planet, where matter is positively charged, the Negative Zone has a negative charge, which creates countless fantastical mutations and races. The first appearance of the Negative Zone in Marvel Comics was in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #51. This was a small moment in the otherwise critically acclaimed “This Man… This Monster!” storyline. While the main story of a man posing as The Thing was the notable reason this issue was memorable, it also highlighted the danger of the Negative Zone.
6) Planet Kral IV (FF #90-94)
The planet Kral IV storyline was a three-issue series that presented an alternate Earth, seemingly stuck in a 1920s gangster version of America. The only member of the team present is The Thing, who is captured and enslaved by the ruling class. In reality, this was an alternate Earth created by the Skrulls, who had kidnapped and captured Ben Grimm. It was Reed Richards who figured out his location in space, allowing the team to head out and infiltrate this specific alternate Earth to rescue him. Kral IV didn’t stop there, though, as it reappeared later in the Empyre storyline when it was one of the planets destroyed by the Cotati.
5) Interdimensional Council of Reeds (FF #570)
Reed Richards created a portal that allowed him to travel between different multiverses, and that is when he realized that he wasn’t the only one. It was during one of his trips that he discovered the Interdimensional Council of Reeds. They made their first appearance in Fantastic Four #570 in 2009, and Reed learned that they were keeping watch over the multiverse and would do anything to protect it at all costs. He also realized it cost all the other Reeds their families, and he wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice, so he returned home and blocked the portal. It didn’t matter, since other Reeds made their way through and caused all sorts of problems for Earth-616.
4) Solving Invisible Woman’s Death (FF #17)
One of the Fantastic Four’s earliest trips into the past, creating a new path in the multiverse, happened in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #19 when they met Rama-Tut, an early version of Kang. This influenced the Ryan North storyline in Fantastic Four Vol. 7 #17, where the team discovered the bones of the Invisible Woman during an evacuation and traveled tens of thousands of years into the past to find out what had happened. When Reed and Sue went back in time to investigate, they found Rama-Tut arriving on Earth and even referencing that classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirby story from decades prior. This is a single-issue mystery with a clever twist ending that proves North’s talent as a storyteller.
3) Hereafter
The Fantastic Four traveled to different dimensions and locations in the multiverse, but the one place no one expected them to find a way to travel to was Heaven. This occurred in Fantastic Four vol. 1, issues #509-511. In the previous storyline, the FF had to fight Doctor Doom, who had possessed The Thing’s body. Reed had to kill Ben Grimm to stop Doom, and after this, he became obsessed with bringing his friend back. He figured it out when he created a portal that took him and the rest of the team to Heaven to try to resurrect Ben. First, they had to get Ben to stop blaming himself, and then they had to speak to God himself (in the form of FF co-creator and artist Jack Kirby). It was a bit over-the-top, but it was a sweet story with a touching ending.
2) Marvel Two-In-One
For several years, Marvel Comics had eliminated the Fantastic Four and most of the X-Men after Secret Wars, a move aimed at devaluing the properties during its battle with Fox to regain their rights. When the company decided to bring back the FF, they started with Thing and Johnny Storm in the revived Marvel 2-In-One title. Taking the two least scientifically knowledgeable members and throwing them into the multiverse to find their way back home was brilliant. It produced a thrilling 10 issues before they finally found Reed and Sue (who were knocked out of the dimension completely after Secret Wars), allowing them to reunite their family on Earth-616.
1) Traveling Through Franklin’s Pocket Universes
Franklin Richards is one of Marvel Comics’ most powerful characters, and almost no one else comes close. As a young child, he began creating pocket universes and inhabiting them with new races of beings that never existed before he conceived them in his mind. When Dan Slott began writing Fantastic Four, he sent the team into the cosmos to explore the worlds Franklin had created, and they found consistently creative and innovative societies that Franklin had made. However, they also encountered the Griever at the End of All Things, who sought to destroy all of Franklin’s worlds and the young man himself for daring to create worlds and societies in the first place.
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Focus Features.
