Fantastic Four #33: Bride of Doom Part 2 - Review with SPOILERS

[Ravin' Ray]

It's a regression in maturity that IMO does not take into account the horrific events of when he "died" several times when he was held captive in the Negative Zone. Teaming up with the Light Brigade he was able to take away Annihilus's Control Road and escape ....without any help from the FF.

Thing is Slott did write him as serious in Amazing Spider-Man at times, such as here from #680 (albeit co-written with Christopher Yost).



Johnny's not serious all the time, but knows when to step up.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Slott doing that too. Didn't Johnny have some affair a while back where the woman was pregnant but she disappeared or something?

FF Annual #32. They did date, but Psycho-Woman, the daughter of Psycho-Man, had the woman artificially inseminated with Johnny's sperm instead of it being a roll in the hay. In the end she jumped into the FF time platform and disappeared into the time stream carrying Johnny's unborn child. If anyone at Marvel still remembers that and does a follow-up it would be major surprise for me.

https://www.comixology.com/Fantastic...l-comic/621944

[Oberon]

I put my bet on that, or at least it will be a side dish.

[Oberon]

The good reason is, Soap.

You can wash with it, but you're never really clean.

[Oberon]

I remember this too. I think there was fan debate

(LOL, probably just me)

that the child could be Toro, or some such: since some of his parentage was mysterious?


But in other random unresolved things, there was some older guy who appeared in a Power Pack story and they sorta hinted he was Johnny or similar, from the future, maybe?

I do wonder if that story did or will ever come back.

[CaptCleghorn]

I do not remember who knew about the woman's pregnancy in that FF Annual. Hell, I don't even recall her name. But going into fanboy mode here, it seems extremely foolish for the FF to be depositing sperm willy nilly. Clearly, it's not good from a normal point of view, but when one of the actual offspring is Franklin, who created universes, there's a possibility of wild times. Just Johnny might not be but with Zora and the Power Cosmic, well, there's a fine kettle of genetics to play with. It is very appealing, if low-hanging, fruit for a writer's imagination.

[Hypestyle]

I do not remember who knew about the woman's pregnancy in that FF Annual. Hell, I don't even recall her name. But going into fanboy mode here, it seems extremely foolish for the FF to be depositing sperm willy nilly. Clearly, it's not good from a normal point of view, but when one of the actual offspring is Franklin, who created universes, there's a possibility of wild times. Just Johnny might not be but with Zora and the Power Cosmic, well, there's a fine kettle of genetics to play with. It is very appealing, if low-hanging, fruit for a writer's imagination.

someday there will be an alter-universe female child of Johnny and Zora; with flame powers plus (whatever Zora has)...

[Iron Maiden]

Ah, thanks for posting those pages with Johnny. I didn't realize how long ago (2008/2009) that was about the mystery woman being pregnant with Johnny's child. I didn't recall the part about artificial insemination. That is pretty creepy. I'm going to have to check that out. The writer Joe Ahearne IIRC took over for the last couple of issues of the Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch run on the FF. I forgot why Millar left the title early leaving someone else to script Hitch's work on their run together. I think he may have been having health issues.

[CaptCleghorn]

someday there will be an alter-universe female child of Johnny and Zora; with flame powers plus (whatever Zora has)...

I believe you are correct.

[Airtrap]

I don't see any clues for a pregnancy in the first two parts honestly, the timeline for it just doesn't work. The wedding is too soon after the one-night stand. Not saying there can't be a "several weeks" later flash-forward at the end but pregnancies and babies in comics always need a plot device like time-travel or other dimensions for it to be interesting. I mean look at Franklin he was born before the Moon Landing and is just now a teenager ...

Also the solicitation for part 3 states

This issue, DOCTOR DOOM’s actions will change the life of one of the members of Marvel’s First Family in a profound way

"Doom's actions" don't include Johnny and Zora sleeping together, unless he manipulated them from the start. Which is a possibility but so convoluted, it just doesn't seem like a Doom plan.

The "one of the members of Marvel’s First Family" part is also interesting because i would argue it includes more than just the core four. Alicia, the Kids maybe even Sky. I still think the big twist at the end is that Alicia uses her powers to take out Doom after he attacked the FF. Leading her down a "Puppetmistress" path, not necessarily evil but in a will do anything to defend her family kinda way.

[Chris0013]

FF Annual #32. They did date, but Psycho-Woman, the daughter of Psycho-Man, had the woman artificially inseminated with Johnny's sperm instead of it being a roll in the hay. In the end she jumped into the FF time platform and disappeared into the time stream carrying Johnny's unborn child. If anyone at Marvel still remembers that and does a follow-up it would be major surprise for me.

Wow...they've done some "how do we NOT have to deal with a kid" storylines...but that rates right up there.


Thoughts on the 'change the life' thing....what if he somehow swaps Ben's and Johnny's powers? But that would change the life of 2 of them.

[Brian B]

This is a fantastic development, not a bad thing at all.

Now, Doom has a REAL reason to hate the FF! :-)

[Marvell2100]

Or Zora’s pregnant….

It would be a game-changer but I don't see it happening because they'd have to come up with a way for Zora not to have the baby. And that wouldn't be a good story.

[Iron Maiden]

It would be a game-changer but I don't see it happening because they'd have to come up with a way for Zora not to have the baby. And that wouldn't be a good story.

I really was disappointed that it was said in an issue of the Doctor Doom series that Amara lost the child she was expecting back in Infamous Iron Man. Victor said she did not carry the child to term and that was that. I guess Marvel didn't want to deal with that sub plot once Bendis left.

[Marvell2100]

I really was disappointed that it was said in an issue of the Doctor Doom series that Amara lost the child she was expecting back in Infamous Iron Man. Victor said she did not carry the child to term and that was that. I guess Marvel didn't want to deal with that sub plot once Bendis left.

Yeah, one writer may have a story in mind involving heroes having a child but then another writer comes along and doesn't want to have to deal with everything that comes with it.

[U.N. Owen]

The added bonus of this issue's depiction of Johnny is that it makes him a vapid dipshit who cannot regard the feelings of others and has zero self-control. I know we've beaten the bones of the dead horse into a fine powder, but this issue cements it the most.

I'm not a shipper.

Also, you're right he was created 60 years ago. 50 of which it was allowed to deviate from the "norm" of being straight. Its not shocking that some may have the view that if Johnny was created today he might not be straight. Plus some of his interactions over the years could have been interpreted as not being 100% heterosexual. Because like you said, this is fiction. Which opens itself up towards interpretation.

Plus him being bi or pan does no damage to the characters integrity. Literally all of his past relationships would remain the same. If he was made gay then all his past relationships would be viewed in a different light, like Icemans, but being bi/pan leaves most of his past romantic relationships unchanged.

So I honestly don't see the issue. It give representation to an underrepresented demographic while barely changing the character. Honestly, what about Johnny would be negatively impacted? What would be changed besides him being attracted to a guy every now and then? I don't see the problem.

Having LGBT representation be with a guy this pathetically selfish and impulse driven is not exactly the representation I want to see in media.