The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2021

[Digifiend]

They just announced a new Amazing Spider-Man run, and it looks like it stars Ben Reilly. Will the FF have to attend Peter's funeral?

[Oberon]

The idea of Johnny having no control and being aflame all the time has been done before, but when you think about it

all of the four have had multiple similar types of events, that have resulted in haywire and over/new/increase powers.

We could argue that Reed has had less/significant examples, but he's been possibly a little more prone to mind-control and not for good: The Overlord comes to mind.
Considering some of the retcons or new ways of slicing and reslicing/stacking the story elements, I wonder if it is possible some link or causality links between the four for this, too.

We've seen where their powers could be transferred to each other's bodies, The Invisible Man - Johnny storyline.

Maybe certain repeated exposures to cosmic or similar radiations, or various tools or experiments by Reed or others seem to cause these events to occur.
Almost like a story in there.
The cosmic radiation did far more to them and thus their offsprings or in part.
It is almost like they are beyond mutants even. Maybe a part of the reason why Franklin was able to mask or alter the scopes that said he was an x-gene.
The supposed alt child of Franklin and another mutant Rachael Summers, Hyperstorm, though vaguely defined

seems to constitute another example of beyond mutant. ** We still don't understand fully what Sue's hyperspace connections are. But the four are just beyond most mutated heroes and possibly some mutants.
Ben should be showing himself to be stronger and more resilient and maybe, non-canonically he is, but hides it, he doesn't let everyone see or know how strong he is. This doesn't square with his Hulk battles, or does it. In my mind, the "thing" about the Thing is that his own self-consciousness about his looks, being ugly, being weak, etc are what impacts his power, mostly in ways the others don't. Ben has more humble origins. Both Reed, Sue and Johnny came from folks who were professionals, possibly more than one previous generation (now there's an idea, grand and great grand relatives of everyone?)
So maybe that, but then, Reed, my own weird own theory is, that his brain mind and consciousness exists in each and every cell of his body. It's the only way he could control the basic ability to be elastic. Each cell has to be guided by his incredible now computer-like mind. He too, is far more than what we know or believe.
The four, in a way, are a gestalt of a cosmic being such as Silver Surfer, not quite so super. But maybe not that far either.
Dr. Doom always covets the powers of either the Surfer or Galactus.

Always schemes to capture, thwart or otherwise conquer the Fantastic Four . . . . maybe maybe?
and now though in Marvel Time we may not know for just a bit, but
Zora, who I guess is partially empowered with cosmic power, may possibly

bear a child by Johnny. Besides all the other type of drama and plot possibilities what else could happen?

[cmore]

Seems Johnny's change is him being aflame all the time like some guessed or some other thing to do with his powers.

Being aflame all the time would certainly take care of his girlfriend problems.

[Shadowcat]

Oof. I just read that line from Planet Size X-Men where Erik called Franklin a pretender, and there is most definitely something sinister going on with him. I can’t wait to see this play out.

[Airtrap]

Being aflame all the time would certainly take care of his girlfriend problems.

It would be a terrible indictment for the women in Johnny's life if they all ditch him the moment he's not handsome anymore and has to deal with his new "condition". Usually the trope her is that he will find out who really loves him and sticks with him. I still think Slott is building towards a Johnny-Sky crescendo, not sure what his endgame is though

RE: Franklin as mutant pretender thing. I still think it's just a temporary splitting of the X-Men and FF stories they can undo in like one issue one day. It happens all the time in comics that one creator blocks another one from using a character and i don't think that's selfish or anything, it's just how the business works

[Digifiend]

I wonder if Johnny's soul band will be destroyed or just come off if he becomes permanent flame. And how would Sky react to that?

[Airtrap]

I wonder if Johnny's soul band will be destroyed or just come off if he becomes permanent flame. And how would Sky react to that?

Well it's gonna come down at some point anyway, i really doubt that it's gonna become a permanent feature on either character even if Slott would marry them off some day. Hell they look like comically oversized wedding rings anyway, just shrink em down for example

Just our of curiosity i checked Knullified permanent flaming Johnny from King in Black had a knullified band, so knull plus fire didn't hurt it before. Let's see what his unstable powers do to it

[Ravin' Ray]

Artist Paul Renaud just shared this art from FF #35.



https://twitter.com/PaulRENAUDart/st...49059902935045

[Iron Maiden]

Love his version of Sue

[Frontier]

Artist Paul Renaud just shared this art from FF #35.



https://twitter.com/PaulRENAUDart/st...49059902935045

I guess it's a flashback considering Sue's hair?

[Digifiend]

Yeah, that's probably set early in the team's history.

[Airtrap]

Plus: Mark Waid and Paul Renaud deliver dramatic new insights into the origin of the fabulous foursome in an all-new anniversary tale!

The solicitations text says it's a origin story, so the 60s flair is intentional even though with the sliding timescale it would be the late 2000s now

[juan678]

[Digifiend]

You know what my first thought was seeing that? Stargirl. Must be the combination of the blonde hair and the star on the chest.

[Spiderfan001]

It would be a terrible indictment for the women in Johnny's life if they all ditch him the moment he's not handsome anymore and has to deal with his new "condition". Usually the trope her is that he will find out who really loves him and sticks with him. I still think Slott is building towards a Johnny-Sky crescendo, not sure what his endgame is though

RE: Franklin as mutant pretender thing. I still think it's just a temporary splitting of the X-Men and FF stories they can undo in like one issue one day. It happens all the time in comics that one creator blocks another one from using a character and i don't think that's selfish or anything, it's just how the business works

Honestly I want Johnny to realize sky was the one(I don't like soulmate stuff but slott loves it, first Silk and now sky) and get rejected.
If he gets her that isn't a happy ending, it's just a bad one.He needs to learn .
But knowing slott he couldn't write anything remotely good in this sense.