Make Mine Marvel: Looking Back at “Fantastic Four: Fourever”

Marvel Unlimited, Marvel’s digital comics subscription service, is currently offering all fans free access to some of Marvel’s most iconic stories from recent years, including now-classic Marvel Comics events and critically acclaimed runs featuring the Avengers, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and more.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a look back at these classic stories and maybe help you decide whether or not you would like to check them out. Our next series reunites Marvel’s first family after Reed and Sue Richards and their children have been away on an adventure when a new threat arises…

Fantastic Four: Fourever

The Fantastic Four have dealt with all kinds of cosmic, intergalactic and other-dimensional threats over their many years of adventure. However, they’ve only been able to accomplish that by being together. Now, at the start of this new series by writer Dan Slott, they are divided and more vulnerable than ever before.

Reed, Sue and their children – Franklin and Valeria – have been away for over a year (longer for them as they’ve literally been traversing time) exploring universes that Franklin himself has created. Meanwhile, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm are back on Earth, just about ready to give up hope that they will ever see the rest of their family again.

A new threat, the embodiment of grief, has appeared to destroy the false universes created by Franklin, and with them every living being that calls them home. It’s a hopeless fight for Reed, Sue and their Future Foundation of young explorers. At least, until they’re able to get their family back together.

This may not be the best starting point for Marvel fans looking to get into Fantastic Four comics, as it includes a great deal of characters that one might not expect to see. It is however, still a quintessential Fantastic Four story. A multiverse-spanning adventure pits the family against an all-powerful cosmic being. That’s just what the Fantastic Four do.

On the other hand, If you’re a Marvel fan who likes to see all of your favorite characters share a page, well you’re in luck. It’s not just the original members of the Fantastic Four that come together in this series, it’s all of them. A threat as big as the embodiment of grief requires a bit more firepower than the original lineup had to offer.

This story may not have the grand scope of something like “Avengers: The Final Host.” Afterall, it’s hard to hard to eclipse the potential destruction of Earth when the fight is actually taking place in an entirely different universe. Still, the stakes are high whenever there’s a cosmic being destroying universes.

Plus, this story isn’t really about the fight. The Fantastic Four has always been much more than a team of superheroes. We don’t call them Marvel’s first family for nothing. And if nothing else, this is really a family story.

So, if you want a story that will show you what the Fantastic Four is all about, this is the one for you. Sure. it’s a bit complicated and there are a great deal of other characters involved in this story, but the FF has a lot of friends and, let’s be honest, when is anything with Reed Richards not going to be complicated?

You can read “Fantastic Four: Fourever” for free now. And be sure to check back as we look back the rest of these classic Marvel Comics stories over the next several weeks.

Mike Mack
Mack is the Editorial Director for Marvel and ESPN content and he has covered comic cons, theme park events, video game showcases and other fun events. He is a fan of theme parks, sports, movies, Marvel Comics and is a self-proclaimed "nerd."