Unstable Fashion Sense Part 3: The History of the Fantastic Four’s “Alternate” Costumes

With Fox’s Fantastic Four looming very near on the horizon, we figured this would be as good a time as any to take a look at the team’s comic-based costumes over their long and storied history.

We’ve done so already twice, looking at both the comic book source material for the FF and their previous screen iterations. Now, we wanted to take a look at some of the popular variations on the theme — from thinly-disguised versions from other media companies to alternate-universe versions and What If? stories, here’s a whole new look at Marvel’s First Family.

Without further ado, let’s jump straight into the mix with…

The Incredibles

This costume is essentially a revised version of the Fantastic Four’s costume. Rather than blue, the main color is red but the costume is still a single-colored jumpsuit with black gloves, boots, and collar. The collar is thin and lower on the neck like the FF’s revised costume first appearing in issue six. The jumpsuit is also belted, albeit not with a black belt, and their shorts, rather than being the same color as the rest of the jumpsuit identifiable only through the linework, are black. Even the logo is reminiscent of the FF’s “4,” being a single character in a stylized circular presentation. Of course, having secret identities, the Incredibles utilize the almost laughably small domino masks. While the Incredibles costume designer Edna Mode may have borrowed costume ideas from the FF, the Parrs obviously borrowed quite a bit more in terms of their powers and family dynamic from the First Family of Marvel.

The Impossibles

One of the more enjoyable cartoon shows on TV these days is Cartoon Network’s The Venture Bros. Intriguingly, in the course of spoofing Jonny Quest, comics, sci-fi, and just about anything else, they included a riff on the Fantastic Four in the form of Professor Impossible and his family. At some time in the past, Professor Richard Impossible exposed himself, his then wife (now ex) Sally Impossible, Sally’s cousin Ned (Ben Grimm analogue), and Sally’s brother Cody (Johnny Storm analogue) to cosmic radiation resulting in superpowers similar to those of the FF. Richard and Sally even have a son named Rocket who is reminiscent of Franklin Richards.

Their costumes are obvious riffs on the Fantastic Four with purple standing in for the FF’s blue and a mix of white and black highlights as though the FF’s regular and “negative” costumes were mashed together. The collar is most similar to the FF’s classic costume which debuted in issue three. It’s also worth noting that like Reed Richards prior to Marvel’s smoking ban, Impossible smokes a pipe. Also, after being left by Sally, Richard Impossible took on an evil alter ego named Professor Incorrigible with a color-reversed version of his costume. One could point to Reed Richards turning evil in the Ultimate Universe as inspiration for this heel turn.

Ultimate Universe

Taking inspiration from various FF costumes over time, the Ultimate Fantastic Four utilizes the same “4” symbol and its placement while revising much of the rest of their jumpsuits. The collar has seemingly run rampant, extending down the chest and the shoulders toward the upper arms. The rest of the suit is lighter blue down the center with darker blue on the sides. The gloves are largely unchained except for the addition of square accents and Sue’s lack of gloves with exposed fingers. Also, Jim Lee would be proud of those collar notches. Ben’s suit is pretty much the same as his teammates with the exception that his legs and arms are bare. It’s worth nothing that Sue has a more skin-exposing version that popped up a few times resembling more normal clothing, consisting of a jacket, belted pants, and a tank-top. It’s worth noting that the FF in Marvel’s broader marketing and merchandising artwork has a tendency to wear the Ultimate costumes or a variation of them.

Ultimate FF

This riff on the Future Foundation led by Sue Storm only lasted a few issues and this costume design may have had something to do with it. Not really borrowing from any established FF costume aside from in the utilization of the color blue, these outfits put me more in mind of 90s scuba suits more than anything. Though by the end of its run the series had picked up with some excellent art and intriguing story ideas, these outfits still want me to leave you with this… *makes a retching noise in the back of my throat in response to this visual diarrhea*

Ultimate Evil Reed Richards

One of the more odd choices in the Ultimate Universe was to make Reed Richards evil. When this was done, he set himself up with a group of followers to in a sense “get his Dr. Doom on” and create his idea of an advanced society. One could interpret this as a riff on the main Marvel Universe’s Future Foundation, particularly when one looks at the black and white costumes of Reed and his followers that obviously have their color scheme in common with those of the Future Foundation.

Ultimate Reed Richards Cataclysm

So, when Cataclysm happened in the Ultimate Universe, apparently Reed felt he needed another costume change. Is it just me or is Ultimate Reed a bit of a fashionista?

Fantastic Five

Currently residing on Earth-982, the Fantastic Five shares a world with Spider-Girl in what is commonly referred to as the MC2 Universe. Obviously taking their costume inspiration from the FF’s Onslaught costumes but with a color reversal and the Human Torch paying tribute to Android Human Torch Jim Hammond again, these costumes are fairly straightforward in terms of FF-wear. It’s worth noting that this team appears to include 90s members Kristoff Vernard, Lyja, and a grown up Franklin Richards. Oh, and half of Ben Grimm is what appears to be metal prosthesis.

Mangaverse

Oh, Japan, never change.

What If? Newer Fantastic Four

In this What If? the main Fantastic Four members die so Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Wolverine decide to take on the team name and blue & black costumes. This is just an entertaining one-off but those costume variations are kind of fun.

Earth-12

Here we see a purple and white outfit with a revised “4” logo. Oddly enough, this costume variation bears more than a passing resemblance to the “Impossible” costumes of The Venture Bros.

Fantastic Four 2099

Pretty much the standard “Negative” costumes, these costumes are notable for Sue’s elongated gloves and thigh-high boot accents. Also, not visible here, Reed’s costume has a number of horizontal white bars below the “4” logo on his chest.

Earth-1228

This is a bit of a cheat since these costumes are exactly the same as those worn by the FF starting with issue 6. Still, how could we not mention the version of the FF comprised of the Marvel Bullpen?

Earth-1298

Armor. Yup, the Fantastic Four in the world of Mutant X wore armor with “4” logos. And apparently Ben “The Thing” Grimm was some big monster with messed up orange monster face.

The Fantastick Four of 1602

Created in the limited series 1602by writer Neil Gaiman, the Fantastick Four don’t wear costumes as much as they simply wear Elizabethan garb of the period. Still, pretty neat, right?

Earth-4162

This is actually a pretty neat variation with the FF’s “4” logo stretched along the length of the body and the crossbar of the four itself forming the jumpsuit’s belt. Not a bad little version if I do say so myself.

Earth-8212

Created by John Byrne in What If? issue 36, this version of the FF had proper shielding on their rocket and never gained powers. As you can see, that doesn’t mean that they never gained spiffy outfits and are wearing their oldest costume variation without the “4” logo but with red (blue on the cover) baseball caps with “R” symbols on them for “Reed Richards’ Rocket Group.”

Earth-9105

First appearing in New Warriors issue 11 (1991), I’m just going to pull a quote from the Marvel Database to explain the craziness of this world:

When Moses defied the Pharaoh, in this Earth the Pharaoh’s sorcerer defeated him, and Moses was killed. The Sorcerer grew in importance, and eventually received the Ka Stone from a young woman who found it in the desert. Having acquired eternal life and great power, the sorcerer became the Sphinx. He married and eternalized the young woman. Together, they advised hundreds of pharaohs, guided the discovery of new continents, watched the Declaration of Independence and the creation of the United States of Assyria, the civil war that ended the Caucasian slavery; overall, they helped guide civilization.

Yeah… That sounds pretty loopy. Anyway, neat costumes.

Earth-81551

First appearing in Fantastic Four 551, these future versions of the FF have revised their costumes a bit. This isn’t a radical reinvention but the elongation of the “4” is something that seems to be a fairly common means of reimagining the FF’s costumes.

Ultimate Federalist Freedom Fighters (Earth-717)

From What If: Fantastic Four issue 1 (2006), this comic envisioned a world where the FF were heroes of communist Russia. This is an interesting costume utilizing the red and black motif, but also constructing a passable “4” logo from a hammer and sickle. Also, the Ben Grimm analogue appears to basically be Colossus.

Challengers of the Fantastic (Amalgam Universe)

A mash-up of Marvel’s Fantastic Four and DC’s Challengers of the Unknown, these characters bear a lot in common with the aforementioned What If? by John Byrne where the Fantastic Four never gained powers. These costumes are pretty much palette-swapped FF outfits with an hourglass logo instead of the usual “4.”

Four Fantastics

Residing on Earth-187319 and first appearing in Exiles issue 95 (2007), this team is led by Victor Von Doom. This is an intriguing costume variation, owing a great deal to the “Negative” costume and adding a good amount of detail.

The Crew of the Excalibur

Over at DC Comics, writer/artist Dan Jurgens introduced the crew of the Excalibur, an experimental shuttle which, after being bombarded by cosmic rays, crashed to earth and revealed its inhabitants to have extraordinary powers…

…while they lasted. Three of the four inhabitants of the Excalibur died by the end of the issue in which they got their powers, and the fourth died shortly after, when her husband rose from the dead as a sentient computer and attempted to reunite with her.

The loss of his wife would drive Hank Henshaw over the edge — and he would blame Superman, resulting in one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the DC Universe — the destruction of Coast City by the Cyborg Superman.