What Are The Reasons For The Fantastic Four’s Decline In Popularity?

[Amadeus Arkham]

Once upon a time the F4 was Marvel’s flagship series that pulled in the most money at the sales, but as time went on their popularity began to fade and they eventually got overshadowed by Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Avengers. What do you think happen to cause this? Was it a result of creative stagnation? Bad movies that hurt the property’s rep? I want to know your answers on this question.

[Doom'nGloom]

Most marvel properties are one good movie away from being a success in greater media. In terms of comics Fantastic Four is about discovery. Reaching to new and unknown territories. For that Lee and Kirby's first run to me is the single most important run in the entire marvel history as it literally laid the groundwork for what was to come. Kree, Skrulls, Kang (as Rama Tut), Dr Doom, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Black Panther, Inhumans, Negative Zone, Annihilus were all introduced during that time. It was also the run that brought Namor to silver age. I think F4 might be the only comic that peaked in its first run (though Byrne and Hickman come close I think). Nowadays its recycling old story beats instead of its original mission statement to push the boundaries of marvel universe forward.

[GenericUsername]

How do we know how popular it is right now? None of the sales have been posted since the conversion to Penguin Random House, and in 2018 was in the number 1 spot in sales.

[The Cool Thatguy]

A decline over the decades?

Shocking!

[gurkle]

I don't know that they've declined in popularity that much. They've had some popular runs and others that are less popular. They haven't been the flagship property since Kirby left, but there have been periods when they were doing very well, like with Byrne or Hickman.

It's hard to do anything really new with an FF run because they have a small core cast and they default to the same stories over and over, like Johnny learning to be more mature or Ben trying and failing to get cured. The Avengers and X-Men have a rotating cast while Spider-Man fits into more different situations. But a Fantastic Four run is always in some ways a commentary on the Lee/Kirby run (and even they were spinning their wheels a bit by the time Kirby left).

I'm looking forward to the MCU movie because a movie trilogy won't have to worry about coming up with stories that have never been told before; there's so much from the comics that hasn't been done in movies yet. But movies don't have a huge impact on comics popularity, so it'll just depend on whether the current creative team is clicking or not.

[Anthony W]

Everything is cyclical. One upon a time The Avengers were bottom feeders. You just need the right three
1. The right artist.
2. The right writer
3. Enough time for them to do their thing.

I tried Hickman's FF. Much like his X-Men run it did everything right but just didn't reach me on an emotional level.

Slott's FF felt too melodramatic.

Doing the FF is the superhero comic equivalent of making an omelette. They taste great. It's simple. We all know how to do it, so I guess that's why it's so easy to get wrong.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Maybe a better question would be why hasn't it catched on like others? Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, ect have had numerous spin-offs but the FF's spin-offs don't tend to do so well. Marvel Two In One did well but that was back in the '70s.

[Hypestyle]

divorcing Franklin from being a mutant was a mistake. Now he's just a cosmic-rays imbued "mutate", I suppose. And Valeria naturally inherited her dad's hyper-intellect. They'd be better as mutants.

The series should have lots of travel. Interstellar, at this point, especially. I'm not sure what's left on Marvel Earth to explore as far as secret kingdoms, etc.

Invent new adversaries. Temporarily retire the core rogues (Doom). Make their next appearances really count, instead of just another "I'm going to take over the world or destroy it!"... Yawn.
The family is expanded. Ben is married to Alicia, they have two foster kids. There's Bentley, etc.
Reed is a square but he shouldn't be boring. Play up Sue's inventiveness with her force fields and her lean toward empathy when encountering problematic people.
Give Ben lots of big things to go UFC on.

[Iron Maiden]

Maybe a better question would be why hasn't it catched on like others? Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, ect have had numerous spin-offs but the FF's spin-offs don't tend to do so well. Marvel Two In One did well but that was back in the '70s.

I liked Chip Zdarsky's Marvel Two in One and I think it did pretty well.

[xcoijoi]

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't read most issues, because of the mistreatment of Victor.

[Iron Maiden]

How do we know how popular it is right now? None of the sales have been posted since the conversion to Penguin Random House, and in 2018 was in the number 1 spot in sales.

That was because it was relaunched in August of 2018 after Marvel cancelled it because Fox wasn't willing to come to terms on selling the rights back to Disney/Marvel. It's hard to tell where the title stand now with no figures.

I found a path to the old sales chart archive on Diamond but there's nothing newer than March 2020. On the last data available in March 2020, the Fantastic Four #20 was ranked #48 which is respectable.

[Iron Maiden]

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't read most issues, because of the mistreatment of Victor.

LOL. Yeah, Slott's Doom has nothing on Cantwell's version in the Doctor Doom solo. And his Christmas story with Iron Man & Doom tangling with a Knullfied Santa Claus was pretty funny.

[skyvolt2000]

Maybe a better question would be why hasn't it catched on like others? Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, ect have had numerous spin-offs but the FF's spin-offs don't tend to do so well. Marvel Two In One did well but that was back in the '70s.

Whose to say they haven't??

It might be an issue of how the product is delivered. Because I see kids interested in them it's just they are more interested in the trades more than the floppies of the past 20 years.

[Iron Maiden]

oops duplicate post

[JudicatorPrime]

The Fantastic Four is like the gateway drug of comics. There's just enough there to invite readers in and give them that "safe" buzz. But eventually reading about that same small cast of characters and staid family dynamic just doesn't do it for most readers, so they venture off for the more hardcore stuff, like Avengers, X-Men, etc. It's been that way for decades now and I don't see it changing, even with Marvel propping up their relevance with relaunches, events and expanding the cast.

That Marvel went, what, a year without publishing the FF and didn't skip a beat is pretty telling. There aren't many companies that can go that long without producing their top (flagship) item and not suffer a fatal revenue slump, but Marvel did.