What is your opinion on the retcon of Molecule Man? (SPOILERS)

[xcoijoi]

I wouldn't trust molecules - they make up everything

Didn't catch the joke, until just now. Good one.

[xcoijoi]

Sort of. In his origin in the Fantastic Four, he was just a lowly factory worker in a nuclear energy plant and got powered up by accidental exposure, which was how a lot of characters got their power in the Silver Age. So I was wondering if this was a cover story or myth and he was altered by the Beyonders.

This is some of the scans I have of FF #320 where Owen talks about how he got his powers but not being forme into a 6 sided cube.



Then he returns to Earth the reunite with Marsha aka Volcana from Battleworld

Yep, I remember this, though not the details about the 6 sides. But yeah, it looks like Owen is now saying, that this was not the correct interpretation of the story. In the past, we were viewing a writer's rendition of a tale told by someone else, who knew someone who knew Owen or Doom, who presumably had told them what really happened.

[xcoijoi]

Molecule Man has been depicted working on / juggling some sort of energy cubes in New Avengers #29 and #33, so the Cosmic Cube business might not be forgotten. My speculation is that Doom siphoned the energy of the killed Molecule Men to the 616 Molecule Man to reshape into nascient Cosmic Cubes that would serve as prisons for the Beyonders. Although admittedly that plan almost literally blew up in Doom's face.

As it often does, with Doom, the way he has been depicted in recent years. Brilliant but often careless; with some plastic surgery, he could have passed for Tony Stark, in today's Avengers movie.

[Mark]

It's a retcon that serves the story, that's what comic book writers do these days

[Michael P]

Sort of. In his origin in the Fantastic Four, he was just a lowly factory worker in a nuclear energy plant and got powered up by accidental exposure, which was how a lot of characters got their power in the Silver Age. So I was wondering if this was a cover story or myth and he was altered by the Beyonders.

It doesn't have to be a cover so much as the Beyonders were pulling the strings of events behind the scenes.

[Melab]

I really prefer the pre-Hickman take on the Cosmic Cube beings.

[jackolover]

It was a good nod to Fantastic Four # 20 and why the Watcher was so concerned that Owen Reece exists. Most appearances with Owen wasn't taken serious enough, but Bendis' Dark Avengers really showed how you could use something as powerful as a Molecule Man, while still not using his full potential. Hickman greased it up a bit and we have this Silver Surfer MAX Herald of the Beyonders.