The Fantastic Four may be the red-headed stepchild of the Disney subsidiary’s films, but for years, they were a big deal in the comics. Then suddenly, they weren’t. Where there was once an ongoing series, appearances in merchandise and the status of being the “first family,” nothing has stood for the past several years.
Though recently, things have changed. According to a new report from ComicBook.com, the whole team has returned to the world after years away. Similar to a meta-moment previously which saw the cast of the 2015 film killed off in a story, the reason why the entire Fantastic Four roster was apart was a commentary on their various appearances in other media.
In the upcoming Marvel Two-in-One #11 by Chip Zdarsky, Reed Richards reveals that Ben Grimm, himself and his wife Susan Storm were bored with being superheroes. As such, they lost track of their initial work as scientists and spent time exploring the multiverse with their children in order to rediscover a passion for their interests.
Honestly, this is pretty funny. While it serves as a nice joke about how the characters haven’t really landed in media since their debut, let’s not forget that the real reason that both them and the X-Men were hidden from fans of Marvel in the merchandise they control. And that’s because older executives like noted Trump-supporter Ike Perlmutter got into a pissing match with Fox and as a result, the fans suffered.
Thankfully, he’s since been sidelined and with the deal now in place to acquire Fox’s entertainment assets, things are changing. But still, let’s never go back to such a dark time when merchandise was made to minimize each property out of fear of helping out the Fox films.
Maybe now that they’re back, the comics with the characters will tell more scientific stories. For the Fantastic Four, we can only hope.
