Fantastic Four #644: The End is Fourever #3 *spoilers*

[Ravin' Ray]

Fantastic Four #644: The End is Fourever #3 *spoilers*

We've come to the penultimate issue of James Robinon's run and the invasion of Earth from Franklin's corrupted dreamscape is in full swing as he with Sue, Jim, and Namor plan to summon Sleepwalker and enter it to end the nightmare at the source; Reed goes to confront Quiet Man; Johnny and Wyatt watch over Rick's body; and Ben with the rest of New York's heroes face off against the invaders and Heroes Reborn Avengers.
spoilers:

Ben and the Avengers hold their own, barely, but the Scarlet Witch ups the ante with chaos magic causing turmoil. Bentley circumvents his promise to Reed to stay inside the Baxter Building as he creeps towards the sidelines of the battle with the rest of the reluctant class. Ben regains his sight from Wanda's blindness effect to see a new Frightful Four with Wizard, Sandman, She-Thing, and Thundra as Bentley looks on in dismay. Reed leaves Val in the Fantasticar as he tracks down Quiet Man in Manhattan who then unleashes androids on Reed. And as Sue's team enters Franklin's dreamscape, they face the being who corrupted it: Psycho-Man.

end of spoilers
So, surprised and rather disappointed that spoilers:

Sandman and Thundra teamed up with Wizard seeing that the former appeared to be on good terms with Ben during their prison break, and Thundra's long made peace with Ben

end of spoilers.

Also no surprise over the reappearance of spoilers:

Psycho-Man who was credited by QM earlier and who was guessed by many readers months ago.

end of spoilers

[Marvel Forever]

Thanks, but are you going to leave us hanging so much? What happens in the battle with Psycho-Man? Does he cause nightmares for Jim, Namor and Sue? Do they defeat him or does the issue end with them still trapped in nightmares? Meanwhile, what happens with the new Frightful Four? Are they defeated?

[Mooper Films]

Thanks, but are you going to leave us hanging so much? What happens in the battle with Psycho-Man? Does he cause nightmares for Jim, Namor and Sue? Do they defeat him or does the issue end with them still trapped in nightmares? Meanwhile, what happens with the new Frightful Four? Are they defeated?

I've really enjoyed these rosters for the Frightful Four during this, showing why they were brought together but also why they aren't working.

[SickAlice]

Not my favorite issue though not terrible either. First off and there's nothing to really spoil here, misleading cover is misleading. Know this persons who haven't read it. Don't use that cover as a draw to buy the issue. Else:

spoilers:

The dialogue was piss poor. Why you do me like this Robinson, normally your dialogue is usually good? Namor is making fun of his own self in meta-commentary? " I just wants to punch! Grawl! ". Val is speaking and acting like a toddler? Everyone acts like anything a little " weird " , and I mean by our worlds terms is somehow a big shocker to them? Good art and the plot rolled along fine but the dialogue was just flat as old tea. 8 out 10 from me so not bad but that script really hurt it.

end of spoilers

@Ravin' Ray:
spoilers:

The characters from the prison break seemed off but we only just seen them show up. There's a chance they all roll over and join the fight against the Counter-Earth invaders and that's all misdirection to invoke surprise in the reader. In fact I'd bet on it.

end of spoilers

[SickAlice]

@Marvel Forever:

Are you speaking to Robinson or Ravin' Ray? Neither left you hanging. All those things literally end on the points he summed up and are continued in the next issue.

[Moriarty]

the new Frightful Four roster was surprising. as others have stated, i thought several members had put the past behind them? anyway, looking forward to Ben taking em all on.

[Marvel Forever]

Are we sure that this Frightful Four is from the 616 Universe? Perhaps all or some of them come from an alternate Universe?

[SickAlice]

@Marvel Forever: They haven't implied that they came from alternate universes in any of the issues thus far. Or did I miss a beat somewhere?

[saucemaster]

the new Frightful Four roster was surprising. as others have stated, i thought several members had put the past behind them? anyway, looking forward to Ben taking em all on.

I'm not convinced that the 'Frightful Four' is there to start trouble. I think we are left with a cliffhanger for a reason.
They don't actually start fighting, and what The Wizard says could be leading to something else, something like, "I know what you're up against....and we're here to help"

[nightw1ng]

I thought it was clear the Frightful Four are actually there to help fight off the invasion. Besides The Wizard, the other 3 (Sandman, She-Thing, and Thundra) aren't evil anymore. The Wizard was most likely inspired by his son's decision to be good. I'm surprised quite a few readers are confused and assumed 3 characters went bad again without explanation instead of 1 going good for a reason that can be explained by recent events.

[Huntsman Spider]

If Sandman's there, then it stands to reason he survived the events of Superior Six in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #5-7, after all. In that case . . . I wonder what that means for his eventual return to the Spider-Man comics, given the aforementioned Superior Six fallout.

[swerve]

If Sandman's there, then it stands to reason he survived the events of Superior Six in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #5-7, after all. In that case . . . I wonder what that means for his eventual return to the Spider-Man comics, given the aforementioned Superior Six fallout.

Sandman is not only alive, he's recently helped Ben escape from prison in #13, with she-things consent. I think it's perceptive that the frightful 4 are there to help, but the book definitely hopes that we will follow Bentley in thinking that they're enemies (and setting up redemption / possible sacrifice in 644).

[Moriarty]

I'm not convinced that the 'Frightful Four' is there to start trouble. I think we are left with a cliffhanger for a reason.
They don't actually start fighting, and what The Wizard says could be leading to something else, something like, "I know what you're up against....and we're here to help"

hmm. i hadn't thought of that. makes sense.

[SickAlice]

Sorry, I couldn't resist it. Okay actually I could but this happened anyways.

SleepwalkerPrice.jpg

[xMatt]

I thought this issue was a triumph in long-form storytelling. There are multiple cliffhangers in this issue, each of them interesting and worth the time and investment it took to get there. Every character is in 'danger' and I can't wait to see how it resolves next issue.

I'm not convinced that the 'Frightful Four' is there to start trouble. I think we are left with a cliffhanger for a reason.
They don't actually start fighting, and what The Wizard says could be leading to something else, something like, "I know what you're up against....and we're here to help"

Yeah, I think they're going to help out. I'm surprised more villains don't help out in these 'end of world' scenarios.