Tapu Te Ranga | Island Bay closing early

Tapu Te Ranga | Island Bay Library will close at 5:30 today due to staff illness. The afterhours slots will be open and we expect to be open as usual tomorrow.

Systems maintenance - Wednesday 23 July

From 8.30am-9am you may experience a short outage as we undertake some work on this website - we apologise if you experience any impact. NB. The online library catalogue and access to your library card will not be affected by this work.

The Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to... The Fantastic Four

By Gus

See, here's the Thing (and three of his friends). It’s the Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to the Fantastic Four!

Youth Youth featured
Comic covers arranged in a grid on a black background

[Video from the Marvel Entertainment Youtube channel]

Meet the family!

Who are the Fantastic Four?

During an expedition in space, four astronauts - scientist Reed Richards, pilot Ben Grimm, student Sue Storm and her kid brother Johnny - were bombarded by cosmic rays. After returning to Earth, the team discovered they had gained superpowers: Reed could stretch his body to incredible lengths, Ben became a super-strong being made of rock, Sue was now able to turn invisible and create force fields, and Johnny could ignite his body into flame and fly.

Dubbing themselves Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, the Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch (respectively), the quartet now explore the cosmos and fight incredible villains together as the Fantastic Four!

Fantastic Four : Origins

We have the first ten issues of the original Fantastic Four series on our eLibrary, which covers their origin and their first meetings with their iconic villains, such as the Skrulls and Doctor Doom. The team's origin and early history have also been retold in the Grand Design graphic novel, the Marvels miniseries, and the History of the Marvel Universe.

Top Four

Regarded as the one of the best Fantastic Four series, this run by Mark Waid and Mike Wierigo perfectly balances family sitcom shenanigans with super-science adventures. Stories collected here include one of Doctor Doom's greatest revenge plots, the Human Torch becoming the herald to Galactus the Devourer of Worlds, and the team travelling to Heaven itself to resurrect The Thing.

Waid would later return to the Four to write the Antithesis miniseries.

The Future Foundation

In this series, Reed meets the multiversal Council of Reeds and is compelled to 'solve everything' in his world, Sue becomes a diplomat to the newly discovered 'Four Cities', and establishes the Four's super-science spinoff team, the Future Foundation.

The Future Foundation would return in a new series, starring members of another Marvel family superhero quartet, the Power Pack.

Two Sets of Four for Marvel NOW!

During the publishing reboot know as Marvel NOW!, Iron Man writer Matt Fraction split the Fantastic Four into two series. While the main four went on a family road trip to outer space, the Future Foundation (made up of Ant-Man, She-Hulk, Medusa of the Inhumans, and Johnny's girlfriend Darla) looked after Earth in their stead.

Later, the Fantastic Four series was rebooted again by James Robinson. Here, the Four were beset with a number of personal tragedies, including the Thing going to jail and the Human Torch losing his powers.

Four divided by Two

After the universe-ending conflict of Secret Wars, Reed, Sue and the Future Foundation took a leave of absence in another plane of existence, leaving Ben and Johnny to protect the world as a duo. In the Marvel Two-in-One series by Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil), the pair set off through the multiverse to reunite the team.

Now and Fourever

In this series by Dan Slott, the Four just reunites in time to see the Thing finally tie the knot with longtime partner Alicia Masters, help the Avengers save Earth from a Kree-Skrull invasion in Empyre, and team up with the Watcher to prevent the cosmos-spanning Reckoning War.

Volume 6 and 7 of this run are also collected as Fantastic Four. Vol. 3 / Slott, Dan

Four Science!

The current Fantastic Four series is written by Squirrel Girl and How to Invent Everything scribe Ryan North, who brings his own background in science and engineering to the Four's improbable adventures. Here, the Four travel to a parallel world populated by intelligent dinosaurs, try to outthink a future-predicting AI, and fight off a vampire invasion.

More Fantastic Four books

The Fantastic One

Some of the Four have had their own solo books; the Invisible Woman had a series where she was an Agent of SHIELD, and the ever-lovin' Thing has a few books of his own, including Marvel Two-in-One and Clobberin’ Time.

The New Fantastic Four

In one storyline, the team were replaced by a 'New' Fantastic Four, made up of solo heroes Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider Daniel Ketch, and the Hulk (specifically, his grey-skinned 'Joe Fixit' persona). This team has occasionally been reunited or recreated with characters that stand in for the original team (ie, X-23 for Wolverine).

New Fantastic Four appearances or variations

Team-Ups and Crossovers

The Fantastic Four have played a role in just about every Marvel Comics event. As a member of the secret superhero council The Illuminati, Reed has played a role in many of them, such as building a prison for unregistered superhumans during Civil War, or facing God Emperor Doom in Secret Wars.

The Thing has also been a member of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Human Torch was on the Uncanny Avengers, a team made up of human, Inhuman and mutant heroes.

Speaking of mutants, the Four also have a contentious relationship with the X-Men, as Reed and Sue's son Franklin is an extremely powerful mutant and the X-Men have occasionally made a plea to recruit him.

Doctor Doom

Victor von Doom is a brilliant scientist, accomplished mystic, despotic ruler of the nation of Latveria, and the Fantastic Four's greatest enemy. Compelled by his massive ego and a hatred of Reed Richards, Doom will stop at nothing to gain the ultimate power he believes he deserves. Occasionally, he gets it, such as when he rebuilt the multiverse and made himself its God Emperor in Secret Wars.

Notable Doctor Doom appearances

After Secret Wars, Doom turned over a new leaf and restyled himself as a new Iron Man while Tony Stark was out of commission. However, he eventually returned to his own egotistical pursuit of power.

The Maker - the Ultimate Reed Richards

In the alternate continuity of the Ultimate Universe, a younger Mister Fantastic founded the Fantastic Four, but eventually grew cold and maniacal to the point where he betrayed the team and became a supervillain. Redubbing himself 'The Maker', this Reed tasked himself with creating a world free from imperfection, coming into conflict with the Ultimates, his universe's version of the Avengers.

The Maker in the Ultimate Universe

The Maker survives the destruction of the Ultimate Universe in Secret Wars, and continues his evil schemes in the main Marvel universe of Earth-616, where he faced resistance from the New Avengers, the Ultimates, and Venom.

The Maker on Earth-616

Recently, the Maker created his 'perfect world' by altering the timeline of another Earth so that none of the Marvel heroes ever existed, resulting in a new universe that he now rules in secret. However, a small resistance cell calling themselves The Ultimates, led by Tony Stark and Doctor Doom, plot to take the Maker down.

The Maker in the new Ultimate Universe

Characters that debuted in Fantastic Four

The original Fantastic Four series laid the groundwork for several characters and concepts in the Marvel Universe, and even revived characters that had fallen into obscurity. Here are just some of them:

The Skrulls

First appearing in Fantastic Four #2, the shapeshifting Skrulls have been a perennial threat to Earth. They are usually depicted as clandestine invaders, like in Secret Invasion where they covertly replaced various Marvel heroes in a plot to take over Earth. Recently, the Skrulls have appeared in a more sympathetic light, such as the recent Meet the Skrulls.

Notable Skrull appearances

Namor the Sub-Mariner

The son of an Atlantean and a human, Namor is the proud but arrogant ruler of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. After fighting in WWII as a member of the superteam The Invaders, Namor the Sub-Mariner fell into obscurity, until he was revived in Fantastic Four #4 in 1962 as their enemy and occasional ally.

Notable Namor appearances

The Inhumans

The Inhumans are a secretive race of superhumans that gain their powers in a coming-of-age ritual where they are exposed to the transformative Terrigen Mist. Recently, a Terrigen storm triggered transformations in all people across Earth with latent Inhuman genes, and the Inhumans came out of hiding to offer sanctuary to these 'nuHumans'.

Notable Inhumans series

Black Panther

Black Panther and his hidden nation of Wakanda first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four #52. T'Challa did briefly lead the Fantastic Four alongside his then-wife, Storm of the X-Men, and has been a member of the Illuminati along with Mr. Fantastic.

Black Panther in the Fantastic Four

The Silver Surfer

One of the most famous stories in Fantastic Four introduced Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, and Silver Surfer, his reluctant herald who scouts new planets for his master to consume. The Surfer has had a few series of his own, and is also a member of The Defenders.

Silver Surfer appearances

Silver Surfer in The Defenders