Spider-man Joining Fantastic Four

The Fantastic 3 is no longer content with being one short of four. On March 23, FF #1 starts the new run of Fantastic Four with Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting at the helm. Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and Thing are joined by Spider-man as the Future Foundation with one simple mission: save the Marvel Universe from its greatest threats and prevent future dangers from arising.

“FF will alter the very fabric of the Marvel Universe,” explained Tom Brevoort, Senior Vice President of Publishing. “Jonathan and Steve have crafted a unique, powerful new series that’s going to surprise a lot of fans with its combination of mind-blowing ideas and visuals.”

So what's going on Marvel? You kill off Human Torch, probably the oldest and most storied member of the Fantastic Four (as far as longevity goes). Then, not even a month later you introduce the newest member in the new title as Spider-man? Really? I get that deaths happen. And I get that characters come back. Not only do you leak the death of Human Torch to the media BEFORE the comic comes out but before the bloom has even fallen off that rose you replace him.

And the new title is called FF for Future Foundation. Because it's not like casual readers won't see FF and think that it's a new Fantastic Four series, which it sort of is but isn't. The entire chain of events leading up to this point just seems like nothing more than a cash grab capitalizing on your rabid fanbase. I'm fine with killing off Human Torch, but it's a little disrespectful that you don't even let his death sink in before the entire team that was his family for years just moves on with a replacement.

Comments