The Fantastic Four is a team of comic book superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. Although the name suggests the team only has four members, in reality a number of other characters have, at one point or another, been considered members.
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Fantastic Four
| Character | Real Name | Joined In | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Fantastic Four | |||
| Mister Fantastic | Reed Richards | Fantastic Four #1 | Currently an active member. Husband of the Invisible Woman. Team leader. |
| Invisible Woman (formerly Invisible Girl) |
Susan Storm Richards | Fantastic Four #1 | Currently an active member. Older sister of the Human Torch. Wife of Mister Fantastic. Second-in-command. Served as team leader while Reed Richards was presumed dead (due to the actions of Hyperstorm). |
| Thing | Benjamin Grimm | Fantastic Four #1 | Currently an active member. Served as team leader during Reed and Susan Richards' first joint leave of absence. |
| Human Torch | Jonathan Storm | Fantastic Four #1 | Currently an active member. Younger brother of the Invisible Woman. Ex-husband of Lyja. |
| Later Recruits | |||
| Crystal | Crystalia Maximoff | Fantastic Four #81 | Member of the Royal Family of the Inhumans. Younger sister of Medusa. Former girlfriend of the Human Torch. Marriage to Quicksilver was annulled. Served as a replacement for the Invisible Woman during her pregnancy with Franklin Richards, and later when Reed and Susan Richards took a leave of absence from the team. |
| Medusa | Medusalith Amaquelin | Fantastic Four #132 | Member of the Royal Family of the Inhumans. Older sister of Crystal. Wife of Black Bolt. She first appeared in Fantastic Four #36 as an amnesiac member of the Frightful Four. She soon regained her memory, and years later served as a replacement for the Invisible Woman during a marital separation from Mr. Fantastic. |
| Luke Cage (formerly Power Man) |
Carl Lucas (at birth); legally changed to Lucas Cage | Fantastic Four #168 | Superhero for hire. Husband of Jessica Jones. He was hired by Mr. Fantastic to serve as a member of the Fantastic Four after the Thing briefly lost his powers. |
| Human Torch III (later known as Nova) |
Frankie Raye | Fantastic Four #239 | Longtime ally of the team before joining. Stepdaughter of Phineas Horton, the creator of the original android Human Torch. She had powers similar to Johnny Storm (whom she dated), and almost prompted the team to change its name to the Fantastic Five. She left Earth to become a herald of Galactus. Killed by Morg in Silver Surfer vol. 3 #75. |
| She-Hulk | Jennifer Walters | Fantastic Four #265 | Former member of the Avengers. Cousin of Bruce Banner (the Hulk). Marriage to John Jameson was annulled. She replaced the Thing on the Fantastic Four after the events of Secret Wars while he remained on Battleworld. |
| Ms. Marvel II (also known as the She-Thing) |
Sharon Ventura | Fantastic Four #306 | Former love interest of the Thing. Joined the team after Reed and Susan Richards took a leave of absence, but remained for some time after their return. After being bombarded by cosmic rays, she came to resemble a female version of the Thing. |
| Ant-Man II | Scott Lang | Fantastic Four #384 | The Fantastic Four's technical advisor while Reed Richards was presumed dead (due to the actions of Hyperstorm). Killed by a zombified Jack of Hearts under the influence of the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #500 (September 2004). Father of Cassandra Lang, who becomes the superheroine Stature after his death. |
| Namorita | Namorita Prentiss | Fantastic Four vol. 3 #43 | Cousin of Namor the Sub-Mariner. Former girlfriend of the Human Torch. Joined temporarily during a mission into the Negative Zone to rescue Reed, Sue and Ben. Died in Civil War #1, in the incident which precipitated the passage of the Superhuman Registration Act and the start of the superhero "civil war". |
| Storm | Ororo Munroe | Fantastic Four #543 | Queen of Wakanda. Member and former leader of the X-Men. Wife of the Black Panther. Storm and the Black Panther replaced Susan and Reed Richards after they decided to take a leave of absence in the aftermath of the events of Civil War. |
| Black Panther | T'Challa | Fantastic Four #543 | Hereditary monarch of Wakanda and former member of the Avengers. Former benefactor of Fantastic Force. Husband of Storm. The Black Panther and Storm replaced Reed and Susan Richards after they decided to take a leave of absence in the aftermath of the events of Civil War. Former team leader. |
| Franklin Richards | Franklin Richards | Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #3 | Son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. Older brother of Valeria Richards. He has been a part of the Fantastic Four mythos since his birth. He is an Omega-level mutant possessing vast psionic powers (although they are currently dormant). His abilites rival those of the Celestials, one of the most powerful races in the Marvel Universe. |
| Valeria Richards | Valeria Richards | Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #3 | Daughter of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. Younger sister of Franklin Richards. She has been a part of the Fantastic Four mythos since her birth (although it was once believed that she died during a miscarriage). Although still a toddler, she possesses an enormous intellect which even approaches that of her father, Reed Richards. |
New Fantastic Four
In Fantastic Four (1st series) #347- 349 (December 1990 - February 1991) a female Skrull alien who was both a shape-shifter and a telepath managed to capture the team. Impersonating the Invisible Woman, she falsely reported the other members to be deceased and recruited four other heroes as a new Fantastic Four to avenge them, before dispatching them to try and steal a powerful weapon from the Mole Man. Members of this short-lived team included:
- The Hulk (in his grey "Mr. Fixit" persona)
- Spider-Man. He had actually once applied for membership in the team in Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #1 (March 1963), but quit upon realization that he wouldn't be paid. He and the Human Torch remain longtime friends.
- Wolverine
- Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch)
In Fantastic Four (1st series) #374- 375 (March 1993 - April 1993) Dr. Strange brings this same team back together to arrest the Human Torch after he went nova and destroyed a whole quarter of the city. This story was the start for the Secret Defenders ongoing series.
In Wolverine #148 (January 2000) the team comes back together during the Ages of Apocalypse reality to fight Arnim Zola, Blastaar and Annihilus with all four members wearing the popular blue FF costumes and the Hulk frequently switching between his various personalities. They also came together to battle a version of the Wendigo.
This team has also been shown in various What If tales and a Mini-Marvel one-shot.
Close associates
A number of characters are closely affiliated with the team, share complex personal histories with one or more of its members but have never actually held an official membership. They include but are not limited to:
- Namor the Sub-Mariner: Was cured of amnesia by the Human Torch in Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962). He has at times been an ally and at other times an enemy of the team. Namor and the Invisible Woman have occasionally been romantically attracted, though she eventually chose Mister Fantastic to marry.
- Doctor Doom: He and Mister Fantastic attended college together, and he blames Richards for an experiment gone wrong which scarred his face. As the monarch of Latveria, he is the team's most deadly foe, although he has sometimes helped them, such as when he aided in the birth of Valeria Richards.
- Alicia Masters: Blind sculptress, stepdaughter of the supervillain Puppet Master. She was introduced to the team along with her stepfather in Fantastic Four #8 (November 1962). Longtime love interest of the Thing, as her blindness meant she was able to see the man inside rather than what he looked like.
- Lyja the Skrull: Female Skrull, trained to impersonate Alicia Masters as an espionage agent. Secretly replaced Alicia between the events of The Thing #10 and Fantastic Four #265 (both April 1984). She fell in love with the Human Torch and they married in Fantastic Four #300 (March 1987). Her identity was revealed in Fantastic Four #357-358 (October-November 1991), though in truth this was a retcon. Lyja helped the team recover the original Alicia to prove that she could be trusted. Her allegiances were since divided between her native race and her new family, particularly her husband.
- H.E.R.B.I.E. (Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics): robotic ally who first appeared in the 1978 Fantastic Four animated television series. Introduced into regular Marvel Universe continuity in Fantastic Four #209 (August 1979). Original H.E.R.B.I.E. destroyed fighting Dr. Sun. Reed Richards has built later generations of H.E.R.B.I.E.s to act as a nanny/guardian for Franklin and Valeria.
- Kristoff Vernard: the former heir of Doctor Doom. While under the delusion that he was the real Doctor Doom, Kristoff destroyed the original Baxter Building in Fantastic Four #278 (May 1985).
- Wyatt Wingfoot: Johnny Storm's college friend, a Native American sometime-adventurer, and one-time love interest of She-Hulk. Son of "Big Will Wingfoot", one of Empire State University's most legendary football players.
Fantastic Five
Main article: Fantastic Five
In the MC2 alternate future, the team is known as the Fantastic Five and consists of the following members
- John Storm (the Human Torch) (team leader)
- Franklin Richards (Psi-Lord)
- Ben Grimm (the Thing)
- Lyja Storm (Ms. Fantastic)
- Jacob Grimm (Grimm)
This version appears frequently in Spider-Girl and were the focus of a Fantastic Five limited series.
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