Marvel's First Family

The Fantastic Four

It's hard to pitch a Make My Marvel version of Fantastic Four because the series never seems to work when it deviates from the initial four characters of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing and Human Torch.  They're all so perfectly balanced and characterful that any tip of the apple cart is too much.  However, I think a fun variation of the team would be to, while not changing the membership, switch up their powers.  It's change for the sake of change, but could liven up a team that's been pretty consistent now for about 50 years.  

They dabbled with this a bit in the second Fantastic Four movie, and I'd bet money it's been played with in the comics before, but I'd like to try it as a long-term ('cause nothing's permanent) change to the status quo.  I accept that it's a gimmick, but let's see how it takes.

Strangely, I couldn't find any pictures of them with switched powers,

so I made this handy chart to track my intent.

Mr. Invisible (Reed Richards)
Based on Reed's deep-set desire to see and understand the underpinnings of the universe, Reed takes on Sue's ability to bend light and manipulate "hyperspace forces" (whatever that means).  As Sue could, he can turn himself and others invisible as well as produce invisible force fields.  His engineering-oriented mind is able to create more complex shapes and effects than Sue ever could, but he finds that his structures aren't as strong as hers were.

It-Girl (Sue Richards)
Sue's desire to protect her family and others leads her to adopt Ben's monstrous strength and appearance.  While I'd like the artist to find a slightly more feminine way to draw her than She-Thing, she does have to learn to cope with her new appearance much as Ben had to in his earlier days (and she does it in much the same way, thanks to the unconditional love of her husband and children).  Her new form is even more indestructible than Ben's was, but she isn't able to reach the same strength that he did.

The Torch (Ben Grimm)
We all know Ben's got a bit of a temper, and he loves to fly, and these two traits lead him directly to Johnny's flame powers.  He's not as good as Johnny was  with the fire shapes, but can really pour out the speed and power.  Unfortunately his flame doesn't last as long, and Ben finds his flames can exhaust themselves pretty quickly if he doesn't moderate them.  On a personal note, he's obviously ecstatic to have his human appearance back, but is almost as distraught by having (inadvertently) foisted his disfigurement onto Sue.

Thin Man (Johnny Storm)
I kind of hate the name, but I tried to keep the new names thematically similar to the meter of the previous names, and the best I could come up with for Johnny was to tie his name into another WWII-era superhero, in this case, one with stretchy powers. In any case, it's Johnny's carefree personality which leads him to adopt the shape-altering powers of Mr. Fantastic, although his vanity makes him slightly less likely to distort his features too much. He mostly limits himself to elongating his limbs and trunk rather than flattening his body or taking on shapes.  Still, he's more acrobatic than Reed was with the same powers, and he can be an elusive combatant.



Recent leanings in the writing of the Fantastic Four have depicted them as explorers, gallivanting around space and the dimensions, and having a series of out-of-this-world adventures (ha!).  I actually like this interpretation as it's in keeping with early comics of them discovering Subterra or aiding alien civilizations, but it shows the same flaw (to me, at least) as all those stories of Thor in Asgard.  I lose interest in the characters if they're removed from the recognizable world.  Putting them in the Negative Zone or rocketing to Altare V gives me zero investment in whatever it is they discover or achieve.

Looking again at their early adventures, the FF weren't just exploring new places, but were discovering new threats to the Earth there and stopping it.  Having just survived a major alien invasion (and feeling more than a little responsible for it), puts Reed and the rest of the FF in a position to re-dedicate themselves to watching for extra- (or sub-) terrestrial threats to the Earth.  The Foursome is more focused on being a first-line defense against anything "not of this Earth."

Initially I was kind of directionless about the Richards kids.  Franklin and Valeria are getting old enough to participate in adventures, and my first blush was that adding these two to the mix upsets the 4-way balance of the main characters.  In fact, I briefly had the idea of renaming the group the 'First Family' (playing off both the growing family aspect as well as their often-used sobriquet as the first family of comics. But then I remembered that was exactly the title of one of Kurt Busiek's Astro City groups and I didn't want to be ripping him off at all.

Although it might be fair to ask who ripped off whom in his instance.

But then the idea dawned on me that being old enough to have adventures is not the same as joining the team.  I think the occasional back-up story of the Richards kids going all Goonies would be a lot of fun.

Thanks to some destruction during Secret Invasion, the upper flours of the Fantastic Four's skyscraper HQ are eligible for some redesigning.  I'd like to see the tower take on some traits of an observatory, and serving as a reminder of their goal as watchmen for extra-terrestrial threats to the Earth.  In a departure from the clean, symmetrical geometry of Four Freedom's Plaza, the new tower is topped with a jumble of Kirby-esque domes and devices.