Marvel Reunites Every Fantastic Four Member Ever

The Fantastic Four have been absent from Marvel Comics for years. Now Marvel is bringing the team back, and it’s bringing them back in full force.

SPOILERS for Fantastic Four #2 by Dan Slot, Sara Pichelli, and Marte Gracia follow.

The Fantastic Four will always be thought of as four explorers who ventured out into space and were bombarded by cosmic rays. Those iconic heroes are Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. But over the course of the team’s long superhero career, others have joined the group. Sometimes they’ve been replacements for one of the Fantastic Four’s members or for the entire team. These characters are close allies of the original Four. That extended family is about to come in handy.

Fantastic Four #2 reveals Marvel’s first family has been up to in all that it has been missing from the Marvel Universe. As implied by the ending of Secret Wars, the Richards family and the Future Foundation have been repopulating the multiverse.

Franklin Richards constructs a new universe, and Molecule Man’s powers turn it into a reality. They continued this way for some time, but in Fantastic Four #2 Powerhouse runs out of juice. That leaves an opening for a being called the Griever at the End of all Things, a cosmic manifestation of entropy.

The Griever does not appreciate all these new universes popping up. She breaks through the wall of one of these new realities and kills Molecule Man, guaranteeing the multiverse expansion is at an end.

The Richards and the Future Foundation retreat as the Griever destroy several universes. Eventually, Valeria forces her family to make a stand. Though they are many, the Future Foundation are still just children. They pose little threat to the cosmic might of the Griever. But Reed Richards is one of the smartest people alive. He goads the Griever into allowing him to invite the other members of his family into the battle.

Sue doesn’t see how even the Human Torch and the Thing can hope to swing the tide of this battle. Then Reed reminds her that the Fantastic Four is more than just the four of them:

Reed summons every hero who once served as a member of the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman are joined by fellow founders the Human Torch and the Thing. There’s also Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider, members of the short-lived “New Fantastic Four.” The others are Medusa, Crystal, She-Hulk, She-Thing, Ms. Thing, Storm, Ant-Man, HERBIE, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Nova, and Namorita.

Seeing the Fantastic Four in force will likely be an exciting moment for fans who have been begging for the team’s return.

What do you think of the Fantastic Four extended family team-up? Let us know in the comments!

Fantastic Four #2 is on sale now.