Ultimate Fantastic Four
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Ultimate Fantastic Four is a comic book published by Marvel Comics, part of the Ultimate Marvel line featuring classic Marvel Universe characters re-imagined for a modern audience. It features the adventures of Reed Richards, siblings Susan and Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, who get engulfed in a malfunctioned teleporter experiment and get super powers: Reed can stretch, Susan project force fields and make herself invisible, Johnny becomes a human torch and Ben a superstrong granite giant. The series plays in contemporary New York.
The title was created by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar and Adam Kubert. The series debuted in late 2003, and has a monthly publishing schedule. It is currently written by Mike Carey with art by Pasqual Ferry. Ultimate Fantastic Four (or UFF) is the Ultimate Marvel universe's version of the classic superhero family, The Fantastic Four, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961. While the characters may bear resemblance to their normal Marvel Universe counterparts, they differ in many aspects. The origin of their powers is different and the team is much younger.
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[edit] Production history
Ultimate Fantastic Four was the fourth continuing series of the Ultimate Marvel series, after Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and the Ultimates. The first writers assigned by project leader Bill Jemas were Mark Millar (Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men) and Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men), who had both previously written comics in the Ultimate Marvel universe.
In the Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1 hardcover edition, Millar and Bendis write about the somewhat odd circumstances of their collaboration. Foremost, communication was purely virtual, as Millar lives in Glasgow, Scotland, and Bendis in Portland, USA. Secondly, they both had considerably different writing styles, as Millar's stories are typically fast-paced and widescreen, while Bendis' output is more dialogue-heavy and slow-paced, and both writers feared it could wreck the project. It was agreed that Millar would write the plot and Bendis finalized the scripts based on his plots.
Millar completely rewrote the origin for the UFF, because he was not satisfied with the original 1961 story, in which the four FF members steal a space craft to beat the Soviets to the moon. He said: "Four guys hijacking a space-rocket trying to reach the moon to beat the communists wasn't going to fly." In their version, Millar and Bendis wrote a story in which Reed Richards is a child prodigy, protected by his burly friend Ben Grimm from bullies, and a genius who had invented a method of teleportation in his youth. He is discovered by government official Willie Lumpkin, and subsequently recruited into a child prodigy think tank/school located in the upper floors of the Baxter building. There he meets Professor Storm, who leads the project, and his children, bioengineer Susan Storm and her younger brother Johnny. Reed also becomes the rival of Victor van Damme, a fellow student. When Reed becomes 21, he plans to teleport an apple into the N-zone, but Van Damme, who does not understand Reed's calculations and arrogantly thinks they are wrong, tampers with the setup. The five students get teleported through the parallell universe, and when they rematerialise, they return heavily mutated. After the fantastic four return to the Baxter building, the must soon face their first opponent, Mole Man.
The material strayed far from the original stories, almost completely bypassing the original stories by Stan Lee. Also notable was the fact that the characters were changed. The character of Reed Richards, in the mainstream Marvel Comics super-intelligent and a true leader, had his previous role split, with the character of Professor Storm taking up his leader traits, while the 21-year old idealist Reed retains his super-intelligence. Reed no longer automatically assumes leadership of the team in demanding situations, but rather Sue Storm. She was little more than a damsel in distress, indeed a dumb blonde in the early comics, but in this version, she is the most head-strong and assertive member of the team, and has a gift for biochemistry and bioengineering. Ben Grimm, no longer Reed's college friend but his grade-school friend, is not as intelligent and has to have science explained to him, providing an opportunity for plot dumps.
In the end, both writers were satisfied with the results. Furthermore, Millar and Bendis stated that they had many more ideas, but in the end, massive scheduling problems forced them out. Instead, they persuaded Warren Ellis to continue the series. Ellis wrote the next arc, "Doom", centering on Victor Van Damme. He wrote Van Damme as a descendant of Dracula, a boy whose childhood ended when he was 10, formed by his severe, authoritarian father. Ellis also fleshed out the hard science fiction element behind the FF, namely writing that they gained their powers because the teleportation changed their phase state into something from an alternate universe, and that Reed's metabolism functioned because of a pliable bacterial stack which does not rip or tear when he extends. The next arc "N-Zone" has the four travelling on the spaceship Awesome (a name of Johnny's choice) to the exact dimension where they got their powers. They encounter an alien named Nihil whose dimension has only half a million years left before succumbing to an entropic heat death, and wishes to escape from his world to ours.
In "Think Tank" the team meet Rhona Burchill (a re-imagined Mad Thinker), who captures them and attempts to sell them to the highest bidder. In "Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual 1" they meet Crystal of the Inhumans, and as a result of tresspassing on their home destroy it, forcing the Inhumans to move to a new one. "Crossover" has them encountering zombie infected versions of themselves and every other hero of that world who with the help of that world's Magneto escape with the few survivors. "Tomb of Namor" has the Four encountering Atlantian criminal Namor who only leaves when he gets a kiss from Susan Storm. In "Super-Skrull" everyone on the planet except Ben has superpowers thanks to the Skrull pill given to them by the Skrulls and the leader Super-Skrull. In "Frightful", Johnny is infected with an illness only Doctor Doom can cure; it also features the escape of the Frighful Four. In "God War," alien terrorists attack Reed, who is looking for the seed while also facing a powerful enemy.
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[edit] The Team
[edit] Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
Reed is a child genius who displayed his curiosity from the day he was born. At the age of 11, following a demonstration of his research on the field of teleportation at a school science fair, Reed was recruited for a government program which sponsors young geniuses' research. He continued his research at the government research facility located in Manhattan's Baxter Building. At the age of 21 his research was realized as he and several others attempted to teleport organic material through an alternate plane of existence called the N-Zone. The experiment went awry giving Reed and several others super powers. His powers enable him to stretch his body parts to incredible lengths and endow him with enhanced durability. Reed's powers have been increased in comparison to that of his Earth-616 counterpart. He no longer needs to eat nor sleep, and has no internal organs or bones. He can stretch his eyes, specifically the lens so that he doesn't need his glasses or any other visual augmentation but can only sustain this for short periods. Sue's mother revealed that she knows that Reed's abilities allow him to stretch his brain in order to accommodate and solve almost any problem thus making him effectively a human computer.
[edit] Susan Storm / The Invisible Woman
Susan was another child recruited for the kid genius program. Her specialty is biotechnology. She is the daughter of Dr. Storm, who is the overseer of the program. Since their meeting, Sue has developed romantic feelings for Reed and they are now romantically involved. After the fatal accident, Susan discovered she could turn her body partially or totally invisible to the naked eye. She also found she possessed the power to release waves of a unknown force energy that she can shape into nigh-impenetrable shields, channel into kinetic force bolts or levitate targeted objects, including herself - Thus she donned the codename Invisible Woman. However, Sue's Achilles heel relates to her force powers; attacks of sufficient strength launched against her invisible force fields have a tendency to cause her to experience negative side effects such as a bloody nose or severe migraines. The Invisible Woman has discovered the nature of Reed, Johnny's and to some extent, Ben's powers, but has yet to gain any solid information on her own superhuman abilities.
[edit] Johnny Storm / The Human Torch
Susan Storm's younger brother is a short-tempered teen, who is enamored with good-looking girls and has a rock-star attitude. The obvious "cool factor" of his powers only serve to heighten these personality traits: Johnny's powers engulf him in flames that enables him to fly and shoot fiery projectiles. This power sometimes has detrimental effects on his body, as Johnny burns his own body-fat to provide his 'fuel'. Regardless, he finds the idea of being a real superhero incredibly exciting and firmly intends to sign up with The Ultimates once he's old enough, rather than continue hanging around the Baxter Building with the nerds and geeks.
[edit] Benjamin Grimm / The Thing
Ben is Reed's childhood friend. When they were in school together, Ben would protect Reed from bullies and Reed would help Ben with his homework. Ben moved on to college and was invited to watch Reed's teleportation experiment. The experiment gave Ben a rocky hide which boosts his strength and makes him nigh-invulnerable to physical damage, physiologically stressful conditions (such as a toxic breathing environment), and he no longer feels differences in temperature. However, despite Ben's seeming happy-go-lucky disposition, the transformation has caused deep psychological trauma, causing him to become suicidal.
[edit] Team History
Up until the middle of the series' second year, the team did not use the above code names, nor were they referred to as The Fantastic Four. The lack of code names was a frequent source of humor for then writer Warren Ellis, who frequently had Sue, Ben and especially Johnny give themselves outlandish names like Invisible Ninja-Girl, Asbestos Thing, and Human Dashboard Lighter.
However, the events of the N-Zone arc required that the military fashion a public image for the four. The Crossover story arc began in medias res, with the four already a public team known as The Fantastic Four, each of them possessing codenames identical to their 616 counterparts. Their jumpsuits remain largely unchanged, save for the added '4' insignia.
[edit] The Villains
- Victor Von Doom/ Doom, Victor van Damme was also a member of the youth research project that recruited Reed and Susan. Van Damme is a descendant of Vlad Tepes, better known as Dracula, ruler of Wallachia during the fifteenth century. As such, van Damme is a member of European aristocracy and since his youth has also been a member of a secret society bent on achieving covert world domination. Van Damme saw the project as a means of achieving personal power.
Van Damme worked with Richards on his device to teleport organic matter to the N-Zone. But on the day of the teleporter's full-scale test, Van Damme reprogrammed the coordinates of the device resulting in the accident that created the Fantastic Four. Van Damme was also affected by the experiment: Most of his body was transformed into metal, and his legs are in the shape of cloven hooves and his internal organs were converted into a toxic substance. Soon afterwards he fled to Latveria and led it from poverty to prosperity, changing his name to Doctor Doom. He proceeded to invest in the exploration of Atlantis, gleaming many spells and superior technology from it. He used one such spell to plant a world-threatening parasite in Johnny Storm, in order to force Reed Richards to ask Doom for help, at which point he used another spell to swap minds with Reed. His body was eventually possessed by the parasite, Doom reversed the mind-swap, and went through a portal to the Zombie universe, instead of allowing Reed to sacrifice himself to save the world. He is last seen facing off against an army of zombie superheros.
If the parasite truly seeks out the most powerful being nearby, Doom is then in fact more powerful than Thor, although it was Reed Richards' mind in Doom's body at the time, which could have had an effect on the parasite's choice.
- Dr. Arthur Molekevic / Mole Man, Dr. Molekevic was performing forbidden experiments when he was expelled from the Baxter Building. It is suggested those experiments involve the creation of artificial sentient life forms from plant tissue. Molekevic was revealed to be schizophrenic, hearing voices in his head that he refers to as "they". After he was expelled, Molekevic disappeared into an underground realm where he established himself as the ruler. The name "Mole Man" is a name the students at the think tank would tease him with, due to his skin problems. He later fell into a deep pit during a battle with the Fantastic Four and has not been seen again.
- Nihil, Nihil is the transliterated name of the magistrate of a small alien community from within the N-Zone. The N-Zone is a universe in a state of slow entropic heat death, and Nihil's community consists of aliens who have gathered their spacecraft close to a dying sun for warmth. Nihil's unidentified species is apparently long-lived and he is, as such, frustrated that his universe will die long before he will reach the limits of his life expectancy. He wants to flee the dying N-Zone and claim the young new universe that Reed and his friends hail from. He follows the Fantastic Four to Earth, but is killed while attempting to dislodge a plasma gun from his mouth. He is the Ultimate Universe's Annihilus.
- Rhona Burchill, Rhona was a genius from birth, displaying an incredible intellect but severe mental problems. While being extremely bright, she would always cause trouble at any school she went to. Rhona was tested as an applicant for the Baxter Building's young think-tank, but did not pass the test primarily due to her troubled psych profile. Reed Richards was welcomed in her place. Desiring to prove her worth, Rhona surgically attached her brother's brain matter to her own to accelerate her own brain's processing speed. However, the experiment horribly deformed Rhona's appearance. She is the Ultimate Universe's Mad Thinker as evidenced by her declaration that, "If it is mad to think the unthinkable, then I'm the maddest thinker there ever was." She later stole Cerebro in order to improve her own intellect, but was defeated by a coalition of X-men and Fantastic Four members. She is presumed dead after her vehicle exploded while trying to flee the scene.
- Frightful Four, Hailing from the Marvel Zombies universe, the undead version of the Fantastic Four transported themselves into the Ultimate universe by tricking Ultimate Reed Richards into opening a dimensional portal. The Zombie Earth had run out of people to eat, and the zombified Fantastic Four were desperate for more. However, they were captured upon their arrival by their Ultimate counterparts The Thing, Human Torch, and Invisible Woman. The zombies' only goal is to spread the infection of the "super-virus" they carry onto the heroes of the Ultimate universe, the only obstacle being their confinement within a reinforced holding cell in the Baxter Building. They eventually escaped, but were swiftly quarantined within the top forty levels of the building. They used a lab to reconfiguire a portal to the Zombie universe in order to receive the assistance they needed to break through the shields around the Baxter Building. However, Ultimate Reed, in Doctor Doom's body, attacked them all. The zombie Human Torch was covered in Doom's concrete-like vomit, the Thing's arms were ripped off, the Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic were both defeated with one spell apiece. The Four were thrown through the portal back into the Zombie Universe, and will presumably never be seen again.
- Namor, Namor was a mutant member of the Atlantean empire, but was imprisoned for unknown reasons. Unlike his 616 counterpart, he is an outright villain rather than an anti-hero. In their first encounter, the Fantastic Four misinterpret the writing on his prison, mistaking it for a tomb, and that he is a prince, and not a criminal. They release him, and after a short battle in which he defeats Johnny, and Ben knocks him out, the Fantastic Four take him back to the Baxter Building. He has romantic designs for Sue like his 616 counterpart, but becomes violent when she rejects his advances. His powers include superstrength, flight, mystically summoning water elementals and the ability to survive underwater. He is extremely arrogant, and is referred to by Reed Richards as "possibly the most powerful metahuman on Earth."
- Super-Skrull, The Skrull leader whose "anti-asassination suit" gives him the ability to mimic powers of anyone within a 1000 mile radius. His Skrull pills can give anyone superpowers, but they have a lethal side effect when activated. It is implied the Skrulls have conquered many worlds using the same Skrull pill.
- Thanos, The ruler of Archeon, little is known of this warrior but he could be a dangerous threat.
- Gallowglass, A powerful warrior made of a type of material found in the hearts of suns; when released packs quite an explosion.
[edit] Continuity problems
Ultimate Fantastic Four is considered the source of many continuity problems within the Ultimate Marvel Universe. The team has been referenced in other titles, suggesting that the team's existence predates the Ultimates, the X-Men and Spider-Man.
[edit] Appearances of the "old" Fantastic Four
Brian Michael Bendis has stated that Ultimate Marvel Team-Up issue #9 was intentionally written to be non-canonical - after all, it features Spider-Man and some Skrulls going on a rampage through the Marvel offices.
In The Ultimates it is made clear that the Fantastic Four were already in existence before the Ultimates roster was completed when Nick Fury says that "the Fantastic Four already have that light-sensitive girl."
There are inconsistencies with the appearances of Doctor Doom and Latveria in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. The current position by Marvel is that Latveria (which is mentioned a lot through the series) does exist, is a dictatorship, but has nothing to do with Doctor Doom. In fact Latveria has been mentioned since, in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, where the Beetle comes from Latveria. Latveria also places the highest bid on the Fantastic Four when they are captured by the Ultimate Mad Thinker.
The continuity issues in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up are due to the pictures of Doctor Doom on the walls of the Latverian Embassy in issue #14 and the appearance of a much older Fantastic Four in the Super Special. It has been theorized that the man is not Doctor Doom but someone in Wallachian armor as stated by Doom in issue #7. This older Fantastic Four is mentioned in Ultimate Spider-Man #33 along with the "Reed Richards Science Center," which is mentioned both later in that arc and in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game. It is unlikely that the Science Center would be named after Reed Richards as he is only a teenager and most, if not all, of his discoveries are being kept secret by the military. In Ultimate Spider-Man #58, Spider-Man mentions the Fantastic Four as if they had already been long established (supposedly taking place before the Ultimate Fantastic Four went public after Ultimate Spider-Man #69).
[edit] Launch of the new Fantastic Four
Due to the appearances of an older Fantastic Four, many believed that the team's origin in The Fantastic was intended to take place long before the existence of The Ultimates and Ultimate Spider-Man. It was also speculated that the book itself would chronicle events leading up to present Ultimate continuity, especially since previous appearances of the team feature them as full-grown adults rather than in their late teens. This idea must be fully dropped now, though, because Peter Parker and Johnny Storm appeared in their teens in the Ultimate Spider-Man arc Superstars.
Unfortunately, a few lines from UFF #5 suggested that The Ultimates were already in existence before the team officially went public as "The Fantastic Four". Writer Mark Millar, who wrote the plot, claims that he did not intend this to happen and gently laid the blame on Brian Michael Bendis, who handled the dialogue chores. Since then, writers have been more or less free to use contemporary pop culture references in the book, and it has become firmly established that the events in Ultimate Fantastic Four are not set in the past but in the present.
[edit] Solution?
The canonical status of all events regarding the Ultimate Fantastic Four is now pending clarification, but many writers and editors working in the Ultimate imprint have declared that these continuity problems will be resolved soon. For now, it is still established and insisted by the writers in Marvel that all appearances of the Ultimate Fantastic Four before their regular series, with the exception of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9 will still be within continuity.
[edit] Themes
Ultimate Fantastic Four has set up several dichotomies and contrasts, some of which haven't played themselves out yet.
Richards and Van Damme are both brilliant and determined scientists who grew up with harsh fathers, but Van Damme has grown to see the art and instinct behind science, whereas Reed considers science to be a purely rational affair. Regardless, Richards and Van Damme are both extremely similar young men.
Reed Richards also has, in essence, two fathers: his biological father, who is never shown to actually care for or appreciate him, and his mentor Dr. Storm, who has pushed Reed forward while trying to protect him from dangerous situations. Richards is ambivalent about being forcibly separated from his parents after the accident, and assumes his parents feel the same. By comparison, Grimm is worried about how his mother is reacting to his extended absence. With the recent addition of Mary Storm, who abandoned her family to search for Atlantis, the theme of absent parents is being brought forward again.
A major point of separation between the Ultimate Fantastic Four and the original Fantastic Four is the background existence of other mutants. The original Fantastic Four were among the first major post-humans in the Marvel Universe, wherein groups such as the Avengers and the X-Men didn't appear until later. The world of the Ultimate Fantastic Four already contains these groups; Johnny Storm aspires to be an Ultimate and he admires Spider-Man, who is already his good friend.
The Fantastic Four consider themselves super-heroes due to their powers. Dr. Storm believes they are not, that they should leave that to the "professionals" (The Ultimates) and focus on pleasing the Baxter Building's sponsors. Ironically, the first person to dub them super-heroes is Magneto of Earth 2149, when the group saved the few survivors of that world at the end of the Crossover story arc.
[edit] Ultimate Fantastic Four (story arcs)
Main article: Ultimate Fantastic Four (story arcs)
- Arc 1: The Fantastic (#1-6) by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar and Adam Kubert
Covers the origin of the Ultimate Fantastic Four, including how they gained their powers, and their first battle with the psychotic Mole Man.
- Arc 2: Doom (#7-12) by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
Introduces Ultimate Dr. Doom, who attempts to kill Reed along with the rest of the four using tiny insectoid robots manufactured from cell phone parts.
- Arc 3: N-Zone (#13-18) by Warren Ellis and Adam Kubert
While exploring the N-Zone via their spaceship Awesome, the Ultimate Fantastic Four encounter the bizarre and sadistic alien Nihil.
- Arc 4: Think Tank (#19-20) by Mike Carey and Jae Lee
Returning to the Baxter Building after their adventure in the N-Zone, the Fantastic Four are attacked and kidnapped by Rhona Burchill, also known as the Mad Thinker.
- Annual #1: Inhuman (Annual # 1) by Mark Millar and Jae Lee
The Four run into the rogue Inhuman Crystal, whom Johnny instantly claims he loves. They then attempt to break up Crystal's arranged marriage to Black Bolt's brother. This was the first Ultimate appearance of the Inhumans.
- Arc 5: Crossover (#21-23) by Mark Millar and Greg Land
Reed receives contact from an older version of himself from an alternate dimension. After crossing over, Reed discovers he's been duped and that the entire world is infested with blood-thirsty zombies, looking for their next meal on another world.
- Arc 6: Tomb of Prince Namor (#24-26) by Mark Millar and Greg Land
While joining an excavation of Atlantis with Mary Storm (the previously thought dead mother of Sue and Johnny,) the four unearth the tomb of an ancient Atlantean named Namor, who may not be exactly who he seems.
- Arc 7: President Thor (#27-29) by Mark Millar and Greg Land
Using time-travel, the Fantastic Four attempt to erase the accident which gave them their powers, but with unintended consequences.
- Arc 8: Frightful (#30-32) by Mark Millar and Greg Land
The escape of the Frightful Four, Johhny has one week to live, and only Doctor Doom can help him.
- Annual #2: (Annual # 2) by Mike Carey and Stuart Immonen
The four once again face Mole Man.
- Arc 9: God War (#33-38) by Mike Carey and Pasqual Ferry
The team faces powerful alien foes while trying to find a dangerous weapon
[edit] Trivia
- Grant Morrison was involved in conceptualizing Ultimate Fantastic Four and was at one point set to write the series. However, he departed from Marvel for an exclusivity contract with DC Comics before this could be finalized.
- Bryan Hitch designed the costumes for the characters, thus explaining their aesthetic resemblance to the costumes worn by The Ultimates. Contrary to popular belief, Hitch was only tasked as concept artist and was never slated to draw the book when it debuted.
- Willie Lumpkin, the Richards' mailman in the 616 Universe, is portrayed in the Ultimate Universe as Lieutenant Lumpkin, head of security for the Baxter Building.
- Marvel Zombies (which is a spin-off series from Crossover) tied-in to Millar's final story arc Frightful, featuring the return of Ultimate Doctor Doom.
- The X-Men's Kitty Pryde and Jean Grey served as interns under Sue Storm during an archaeological dig in Chile.
- Issue #1 was an unlockable readable extra in the Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects videogame.
- There are two references to past issues of both Ultimate Fantastic Four and the original The Fantastic Four comic book series on the cover art for issue number five. It shows Sue Storm becoming invisible in order to avoid the paparazzi, with a wide smile and a shrug. In front of the guard rail, six tabloid newspapers flutter to the street. One of those tabloids is The Daily Bugle, which is commonly associated with the Spider-Man universe. The headline reads, "FANTASTIC FOUR FRENZY", and its supposed "photograph" is a quick sketch version of Ultimate Fantastic Four #1's cover art. Also, the newspaper fluttering by Sue's right shoulder is called the Tatteler, and its headline, which is partially obscured by the semi-solid shoulder, reads "IS SUE EXPECTING?". This is an obvious reference to Reed's and Sue's first child in the original Fantastic Four universe, young Franklin Richards.
- The "God War" storyline draws not only on Marvel characters created by Jack Kirby, but his DC Comics Fourth World characters as well. When asked about readers' making connections betwen his storyline and Kirby's The Forever People, Mike Carey said in an interview, "Some of the characters are best viewed in [the context of the original story of the Fantastic Four's meeting with the Kree].Others call on different Kirby precursors."[1] In another interviews, Carey said "God War" "harks back to some very different Kirby concepts and situations, so the way it all fits together I think will genuinely surprise people. To name one thing, Ronan is Thanos's son - and the empire he serves is Thanos's empire, not the Kree."[2]
