Marvel Reveals Bleak Fate of Ultimate Fantastic Four

Learn how the evil Reed Richards sabotaged the Ultimate Universe's Fantastic Four.

By Timothy Adams

Marvel's First Family has a much bleaker fate in the Ultimate Universe. Marvel relaunched the Ultimate Universe with a set of four titles, with The Ultimates the final title to debut as of now. This version of the Ultimate Universe has been warped by The Maker, and evil version of Reed Richards from the original Ultimate Universe. A young Tony Stark leads the Ultimates, and has been recruiting heroes to his cause to undo the damage done by the Maker. As fans wait to learn what happened to the Ultimate Fantastic Four, the latest issue of Ultimates reveals what happened to the beloved super team.

*WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Ultimate Fantastic Four #4. Continue reading at your own risk!

Ultimate Fantastic Four #4 comes from the creative team of Deniz Camp, Phil Noto, and VC's Travis Lanham. The story is told from four different perspectives, slowly peeling back the curtain on how the Maker manipulated events to ruin the Fantastic Four before they could become the heroes they were destined to be. One of the heroes on the Ultimates is Doom, who instead of being Victor Von Doom, is Ultimate Reed Richards. After being warned by Iron Lad not to use the Immortus Engine, Doom takes possession of it to look back in time, allowing readers to see what happened to the Ultimate FF.

We see how Reed Richards' genius was on display at an early age, allowing him to start college earlier than normal, where he met his roommate, Ben Grimm. The story continues as Fantastic Four fans remember it: meeting Susan Storm and falling in love with her, meeting her younger brother Johnny Storm, beginning work on the space flight that gives them their powers, etc. However, what you may not notice is how Maker is responsible for the space flight going terribly wrong.

What happened to the Ultimate Fantastic Four?

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(Photo:

Ultimate Fantastic Four's origin is revealed in The Ultimates #4

- Marvel Comics)

Instead of the Ultimate Fantastic Four gaining superpowers from the accident aboard their space flight, we discover that the Maker fudged the numbers with Reed Richard's calculations, which caused the flight to end the way it did. To make matters worse, Susan Storm's father warned Reed that they were over-budget and the flight was off, causing Reed, Susan, and Ben Grimm to do it anyway while taking Johnny Storm with them.

Once in the sky, they missed their window for the cosmic storm. Then their cockpit is bombarded with fire, killing Johnny. The remaining three are blamed and put on trial, with Ben committing suicide in an abandoned rock quarry. It's unknown if he really killed himself, or if Maker is also responsible for his death. Meanwhile, Sue Storm is slowly dying from radiation poison. 

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With Reed Richards as the last remaining member of the Fantastic Four alive, Maker kidnaps and tortures him, brainwashing Reed to believe that his name is Doom, complete with wielding Doctor Doom's trademark mask to his head. The Ultimates' Doom is watching all this happen and begins experiments on rats to recreate the cosmic accident that should have created the Fantastic Four. For now, the mice keep dying and the experiments are a failure.

It leaves the question of whether there will be an Ultimate Fantastic Four at some point in the future? If Doom is able to get his tests to a point where he can grant the FF powers, would he go back in time and save his family and friends? And what will happen when he learns that the Maker is another Reed Richards?

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