World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2022

[Triniking1234]

Well the new continuity implies that Susan meets Reed, Ben and Victor in college so they already sorted that out.

[Iron Maiden]

There was the time when Abraxas was on the loose and causing havok with reality. He placed members of the Fantastic Four in different versions of themselves in the multiverse. In FF #47 vol. 3 Sue ended up switching bodies with a version of herself that became an MD. But she does use her powers to see the broken bone. I wonder if she could have picked up some first aid skills from her Dad

[Darkshadow]

Well the new continuity implies that Susan meets Reed, Ben and Victor in college so they already sorted that out.

Unless I've missed a retcon, the main universe still operates under high school Sue meeting college Reed who lived across the street (sometimes, based on the story, the same house). All while the artists try to veer closer together in their ages unlike the...little bit uncomfortable...age difference Byrne's art demonstrated.

[CitizenXXX]

I don't like Matt Fraction's retcon so I prefer to ignore it. I don't see anything wrong with the age difference between Sue and Reed and I don't see what the problem is

[Crimz]

I don't like Matt Fraction's retcon so I prefer to ignore it. I don't see anything wrong with the age difference between Sue and Reed and I don't see what the problem is

The age gap wouldn't be a problem if Reed hadn't met her until she was an adult. But him knowing her since she was child makes it gross and presets a weird power dynamic, that's why the retcon was needed.

[Crimz]

I don't know how old Sue was supposed to be, but I'm guessing that Reed was at least in his late 30s right? Sue was probably old enough that she had to have some career goals right?

One of the interesting aspects of the Storm family is that Franklin Storm was a brilliant man but owed a lot of money before he went to prison. That should really be part of Sue's backstory before the Fantastic Four. That she had been trying to pay off their father's debts while also helping Johnny get through college. But all in all, it still seems like the disadvantage in status betwesn her and Reed is just way too big for modern society. In the 60s I understand the idea that maybe Sue didn't really have a career or aspirations, and she was just a pretty girl dating a successful and brilliant man. But I can't really cope with that.

Today she would certainly have been written as a scientist, but if it's too much of a retcon, I think her struggling with her father's debt kind of fills that whole

Sue barely gets any stories about her which is why her history has some information missing and why she lacks goals outside of the family. Exploring how she handled having to raise her brother from young age and how she felt about it could do a lot for her character. We rarely get the chance to really explore Sue's thoughts and feelings outside of reacting to something Reed does.

Giving her career aspirations is an easy thing to do. It's one of the very few retcons that would benefit the character as well as the team and is well overdue. This run alone has done worse retcons and multiple of them....

All it would take is a writer who actually cares to develop her instead of doing yet another breakdown of Reed vs Doom for the millionth time

[Darkshadow]

I don't like Matt Fraction's retcon so I prefer to ignore it. I don't see anything wrong with the age difference between Sue and Reed and I don't see what the problem is

The problem was self evident when portrayed the way Byrne portrayed it as them having met when she was 12. Lee never made so specific a "first meeting" depiction. Fraction's retcon adjusted it to high school Sue meets college Reed going for a 3rd Doctorate and it clears away an entirely unnecessarily young first encounter portion of the collage Byrne created.

[Chris0013]

That was so Victor...
spoilers:

"You have defeated me...just so you know I am reallly...." "Don't care....poof, be gone"

end of spoilers

[Iron Maiden]

That was so Victor...
spoilers:

"You have defeated me...just so you know I am reallly...." "Don't care....poof, be gone"

end of spoilers

Yeah, that was funny. He may regret that!

spoilers:

but he did gain a powerful ally in the Cormorant which could prove important in the final battle

end of spoilers

[Marvel Forever]

I have not posted here in many moons. I wonder what all these huge ramifications will be when the current FF arc ends? Other than the introduction of Reed's long lost sister, they are keeping us in the dark. Unless certain heroes and foes die, perhaps the changes will be some Ultimate Marvel characters coming into the Marvel Universe?

[Darkshadow]

I, based only on anecdotal evidence, believe the Helmsman is:

spoilers:

The Collector

end of spoilers

[Oberon]

That would be very interesting. Has more continuity possibly.

[Iron Maiden]

I, based only on anecdotal evidence, believe the Helmsman is:

spoilers:

The Collector

end of spoilers

Interesting. I have a couple others but maybe I should look back on more of the appearances of the Helmsman.

I think going with a legacy character from Marvel's more distant past is probably a good choice. Slott's "finale" seems to be rife things from the Silver Age, like the planet that the Watchers gave great powers to but became corrupted by them.

Some other possibilities:

The Stranger
Abraxas (joking, but who knows?)
an iteration of Kang. Marvel's been having him pop up all other the place since the Loki series.
Long shot: The Prime Mover. I lost track of what happened to it. but I think the reveal with be some humanoid creature and not a machine.

[CaptCleghorn]

Interesting. I have a couple others but maybe I should look back on more of the appearances of the Helmsman.

I think going with a legacy character from Marvel's more distant past is probably a good choice. Slott's "finale" seems to be rife things from the Silver Age, like the planet that the Watchers gave great powers to but became corrupted by them.

Some other possibilities:

The Stranger
Abraxas (joking, but who knows?)
an iteration of Kang. Marvel's been having him pop up all other the place since the Loki series.
Long shot: The Prime Mover. I lost track of what happened to it. but I think the reveal with be some humanoid creature and not a machine.

I don't think Slott's planned on who was behind the mask. His lack of detail as seen with whatever Protocol Zero was shows he's doing some glossing over to keep plot moving fairly quickly. The ignoring by Doom to the Helmsman's unmasking was, to me, a sign that Doom knew who it was and further humiliated them by further lessening their importance. This is not to say that some future writer might not take the character again, but the Helmsman here struck me as someone who seemed playing out of their league.

[The BaRoN]

I don’t believe for a second that Slott has this dull overused story planned for 15 years.

If he did, then he’s even worse than I thought.

It’s a nothing story that’ll be forgotten in a year and doesn't surprise me how it wasn’t used as a big event, they should have just used the FF in judgement Day instead.