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83-669: The Baxter Building first appeared in Fantastic Four #3 (March 1962) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . The Baxter Building was the first comic-book superhero lair to be well known to the general public in the fictional world. The Baxter Building is destroyed in Fantastic Four #278 (May 1985), written and drawn by John Byrne . Explaining why he chose to destroy the iconic structure, Byrne said, "The FF's HQ building had long been established as 35 stories in height. Quite impressive in 1962, but not so much in 1980, when I came to

166-675: A child with Rachel Summers . Their child would eventually grow up to become the villain Hyperstorm . Nathaniel would help Franklin and the Fantastic Four battle Aron the Rogue Watcher by rescuing Uatu the Watcher . Nathaniel later trained Susan Storm to better master her powers. Nathaniel returned to help Reed jump-start the Future Foundation , using the technology he gathered over

249-456: A clause of the rental agreement and bought the entire building to avoid eviction . Eventually, the building was destroyed by Doctor Doom's adopted son Kristoff Vernard , who shot it into space and exploded it in a bid to murder the Fantastic Four. It was replaced by Four Freedoms Plaza , built upon the same site. After the Fantastic Four and other costumed heroes were presumed dead in the wake of their battle with Onslaught , Four Freedoms Plaza

332-573: A few issues with temporary teams, Mark Waid took over as writer with #60 / 489 (October 2002) with artist Mike Wieringo with Marvel releasing a promotional variant edition of their otherwise $ 2.25 debut issue at the price of nine cents US. Pencillers Mark Buckingham , Casey Jones, and Howard Porter variously contributed through issue #524 (May 2005), with a handful of issues by other teams also during this time. Writer J. Michael Straczynski and penciller Mike McKone did issues #527-541 (July 2005 - Nov. 2006), with Dwayne McDuffie taking over as writer

415-602: A fixture on the issue covers into the 1990s, and on numerous covers in the 2000s. Issue #4 (May 1962) reintroduced Namor the Sub-Mariner , an aquatic antihero who was a star character of Marvel's earliest iteration, Timely Comics , during the late 1930s and 1940s period that historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comics . Issue #5 (July 1962) introduced the team's most frequent nemesis, Doctor Doom . These earliest issues were published bimonthly. With issue #16 (July 1963),

498-642: A number of stories involving the Avengers with Reed and Sue in the lineup, he then rewrote these for Fantastic Four . Simonson later recalled that working on Fantastic Four allowed him the latitude to use original Avengers members Thor and Iron Man , which he had been precluded from using in The Avengers . After another fill-in, the regular team of writer and Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco , penciller Paul Ryan and inker Dan Bulanadi took over, with Ryan self-inking beginning with #360 (Jan. 1992). That team, with

581-491: A power-mad individual who used Nathaniel's technology to rule the remaining humans. The Fantastic Four and Wyatt Wingfoot arrived in this dimension, defeated Cassandra and freed Nathaniel. After father and son had a heartfelt reunion, Nathaniel stayed behind to help rebuild. However, Nathaniel arrived in the present to kidnap Franklin Richards . Nathaniel aged Franklin to a teenager in an effort to prevent Franklin from having

664-550: A powerful portal through time and space, the building was once again destroyed by the Griever in an attempt to steal the portal. The building then went missing, having been sent one year into the future by Reed in an act of desperation. In the Marvel 1602 miniseries The Fantastick Four , Sir Richard Reed and Susan Storm are renting a manor house from Lord Baxter. Sir Richard has equipped it with an observatory and chemical laboratory. In

747-552: A sixteen-issue run. Following the summer 2008 crossover storyline, " Secret Invasion ", and the 2009 aftermath " Dark Reign ", chronicling the U.S. government's assigning of the Nation's security functions to the seemingly reformed supervillain Norman Osborn , the Fantastic Four starred in a five-issue miniseries , Dark Reign: Fantastic Four (May–Sept. 2009), written by Jonathan Hickman , with art by Sean Chen . Hickman took over as

830-514: A title called Spidey was released by Éditions Lug. Primarily featuring reprints from the juvenile comic book Spidey Super Stories , it also featured a similarly themed FF series produced in France. These original stories had art that closely resembled the work of Jack Kirby or John Buscema, but the storylines themselves included watered-down supervillains, the FF on vacation, and even Santa Claus . This series

913-676: A total of 29 issues. That series merged into Spider-Man . During 1985 the Fantastic Four and other Marvel titles such as The New Mutants , The Avengers , and The X-Men were included in the Secret Wars II reprint title. This mostly focused on issues which crossed over into the Secret Wars II maxi series. From 2005, around the release of the Fantastic Four film , the super-team appeared in two new publications published by Panini Comics : Fantastic Four Adventures , and Ultimate Fantastic Four . The latter only lasted 10 issues, ending in 2006. Fantastic Four Adventures which reprinted

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996-411: A weekly title that rotated the main feature with other Marvel titles. Williams Comics eventually obtained the rights to Marvel's line and began publishing (for the first time in color) in the mid-1970s. Fantastic Four was backed up with Daredevil and began with issue #1. No annual was published by Williams and some early numbers were left out (5, 6, 10, 12, 21 and 44). Condor Comic carried the title in

1079-559: Is approached by the Brotherhood of the Shield and joins their group. Along with Howard Stark , the two meet a super powered individual named Leonid and help him resolve a dispute between the time traveling Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton who had split the organization in two. These events somehow resulted in Nathaniel gaining the ability to travel through time. Nathaniel found himself in

1162-598: Is one of several Marvel titles originating in the Silver Age of Comic Books that was continuously published through 2015 before returning to monthly publication in 2018. Magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman , a publishing trend-follower, aware of strong sales on Justice League of America , directed his comics editor, Stan Lee , to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee, writing in 1974, "Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of

1245-609: Is overseen by General "Thunderbolt" Ross . Security duties are overseen by the soldier Willie Lumpkin . In this version, the Mole Man is originally Dr. Molekevic, a former employee of the Baxter Building. His service is terminated when his projects are deemed "unethical". After the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, the children who were not altered were moved to another facility in Oregon. The Baxter Building then becomes

1328-426: Is referred to as "El Hombre Elástico" (Elastic Man). Canada rarely translated character names from their English version, although sometimes switching back and forth between English and French names in the same issue (The Thing / La Chose, Mister Fantastic / Monsieur Fantastic, Invisible Girl / Fille (or Femme) Invisible, Human Torch / Torche Humaine). The names of Dr. Doom and She-Hulk were not translated into French for

1411-707: Is reverting to its original numbers, and the book is going away for a while. I'm moving towards the end of Fantastic Four . I just want to reassure people that you will not leave this book with a bad taste in your mouth." In the aftermath of the " Secret Wars " storyline, the Thing is working with the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Human Torch is acting as an ambassador with the Inhumans. With Franklin's powers restored and Reed having absorbed

1494-400: Is the abbreviation for Simple Sound Effects). In issue #326, Englehart was told to bring Reed and Sue back and undo the other changes he had made. This caused Englehart to take his name entirely off the book. He used the pseudonym John Harkness, which he had created years before for work he did not want to be associated with. According to Englehart, the run from #326 through his last issue, #333,

1577-599: The Essential Marvel range: As part of the Marvel Masterworks series: The issue numbering of Volume 3 reverted to the legacy number of the title, beginning with the issue #500. The issue numbering of Volume 5 reverted to the overall legacy number of the title. The Fantastic Four has been published in translation around the world, beginning in 1962 in Mexico as Los Cuatro Fantásticos published by La Prensa until

1660-555: The Marvel Two-in-One and Fantastic Four annuals that crossed over into the Invaders story would have to be published by the "other" company, and in fact that particular crossover was published twice, once by each company. This resulted in different translations of the characters' names — Susan Storm Richards was called "Jane" in her own title by Editions Lug, and Reed was called "Red," a combination of letters easier to pronounce than

1743-575: The Old Man Logan timeline, the Baxter Building is used as a missile, ultimately killing Loki in the Midwest of America. The smashed remnants of the building still contain many secrets, which attract people from entirely other galaxies. Peter Quill hopes to use these secrets to save what is left of the galaxy. In the Spider-Verse storyline, The Baxter Building of Earth-802 is the main office of Jennix of

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1826-520: The Baxter Building 's think tank accepted Reed, Gary was glad that he was gone. When Diablo kidnapped Reed's younger sister Enid, Gary went to Reed for help even though he still resented him. When Reed quit the Fantastic Four, Gary was there to greet him, not acting surprised. Gary, along with his wife Mary and two daughters, were killed in an explosion directed at the Richards household, later revealed to have been perpetrated by Reed himself, now

1909-537: The Fantastic Four in France were held by a company called Éditions Lug , which began publishing Fantastic Four first in a 1969 anthology title called Fantask , along with Spider-Man and Silver Surfer, then in another anthology called Marvel . The censors objected to the content of the book, and citing "nightmarish visions" and "terrifying science fiction" as the reasons, forced their cancellations after respectively 7 and 13 issues. Although other anthologies featuring Marvel strips continued, notably Strange (featuring

1992-554: The Masters of Evil . Thus, the Fantastic Four moved into a retrofitted warehouse along the Hudson River which they named Pier 4. The warehouse was destroyed during a battle with Diablo , after which the team received a new Baxter Building, courtesy of Reed's former professor Noah Baxter. This Baxter Building was constructed in Earth's orbit and teleported into the vacant lot formerly occupied by

2075-467: The 1980s and 1990s, and published a series of 47 pocket format books at about 168-196 pages each. It also published a paperback series in a similar format to the Marvel Graphic Novels with 12 issues of 52 pages each. Marvel Deutschland (later Panini Comics Deutschland) publishes "Die Fantastischen Vier". Since 2008 the series is named with its original title "The Fantastic Four". The German names of

2158-454: The Baxter Building back when the Fantastic Four reunites. Witnessing a large sculpture of the FF in the entrance hall that was created by Alicia Masters, the Torch reflects that he is glad that the building is staying with family. But when Parker Industries was destroyed during Secret Empire , it was sold out to an anonymous buyer and was shortly the headquarters of The Fantastix. With the creation of

2241-650: The Baxter Foundation is a US government think tank , where exceptionally gifted children are offered government positions to use their intelligence to serve their country. The government contacted Reed Richards because of his experiments in teleportation ; they had found small toy cars that he had sent into the N-Zone . At the Baxter Building, Reed meets Professor Franklin Storm ; Storm's two children, Susan and Johnny ; as well as Victor Van Damme ( Doctor Doom ). The building

2324-706: The Canadian reprints. British publication of the series began sporadically appearing in the black and white anthology title Mystic in the 1960s. It began to appear regularly in Wham! from 1966 to 1968, then Smash! in 1968 and 1969, both titles published by Odhams Press . In 1972, the Fantastic Four's adventures were published starting with issue 1 of the US comic in Mighty World of Marvel alongside Spider-Man and Hulk reprints when Marvel Comics began its imprint Marvel UK . In 1976

2407-687: The Conqueror . Unlike his descendant, the original Nathaniel is more of an adventurer who has a genuine love for his son. Nathaniel Richards first appeared in The Fantastic Four #272 (November 1984) and was created by writer-artist John Byrne . Dr. Nathaniel Richards was a successful scientist who specialized in multiple fields. He was married to Evelyn and together had a son named Reed Richards who possessed an intellectual mind like his father. When Evelyn died, Nathaniel continued to raise his son by supporting his scientific endeavors. Later, Nathaniel

2490-563: The FF's adventures from US Fantastic Four #1, but this was replaced by The Invaders towards the end of the run. In 1978 that series merged into Mighty World Of Marvel returning the FF to their original home alongside the Hulk . Their last adventure in that title was issue 329, when they were moved out so that the comic could be relaunched as Marvel Comic in early 1979. Their adventures briefly moved back into Spider-Man Comic before stopping shortly after John Byrne took over pencilling chores on

2573-471: The FF's headquarters. The Baxter Building also appears in Ultimate Iron Man , volume 1, issues 4-5. Fantastic Four (comic book) Fantastic Four is the name of several comic book titles featuring the team the Fantastic Four (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby ) and published by Marvel Comics , beginning with the original Fantastic Four comic book series which debuted in 1961. As

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2656-583: The Inheritors and houses their cloning facility (which they use to resurrect themselves in case of death). The universe's version of the Human Torch is the head of security. The Scarlet Spiders infiltrated the building and became the site of battle with Jennix in which Ben Reilly sacrificed his life to destroy the building ending the Inheritors' only working cloning facility. In the Ultimate Marvel universe,

2739-505: The Inhumans and a member of the Avengers Unity Squad . As a result, the deserted Baxter Building was up for auction, until it was purchased to serve as the temporary headquarters of Parker Industries , much to the initial dismay of the Human Torch. However, Peter Parker explained to the Torch that he outbid Alchemax , Hammer Industries, and Roxxon for the ownership of the building simply to keep it out of their hands, and will give

2822-663: The Invisible Woman, Mister Fantastic, Valeria and Franklin Richards to the Earth 616 for the first time since Secret Wars. A new volume of Fantastic Four was launched in November 2022 by writer Ryan North and artist Iban Coello, after Slott had concluded his run with issue #46. The first issue of The Fantastic Four proved a success, igniting a new direction for superhero comics and soon influencing many other superhero comics. Readers grew fond of Ben's grumpiness, Johnny's tendency to annoy others and Reed and Sue's spats. Stan Lee

2905-508: The X-Men, Iron Man, and the Silver Surfer), the Fantastic Four remained unpublished in France until 1973. Éditions Lug created a format aimed more for adults; an 80-page series called Une Aventure des Fantastiques debuted where the old series left off, with the stories that introduced the Inhumans and Galactus. That series lasted over 15 years, coming out four times a year. In the mid-1970s,

2988-536: The book. It didn't seem like I could just start referring to the building as taller than all those previous stories had made it, so I decided on something a wee bit more dramatic." Located at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue in New York City , it had been built in 1949 by the Leland Baxter Paper Company. Originally designed as a high-rise industrial site to accommodate pulp recycling machinery to serve

3071-712: The characters are Das Ding (The Thing), Die Fackel or Die menschliche Fackel (The Human Torch), Die Unsichtbare (The Invisible One), and Mr. Fantastisch (Mr. Fantastic). Silver Surfer and She-Hulk retained their English names. Some early Williams editions refer to Dr. Doom as "Doktor Unheil". In one Williams publication Dr.Doom is also referred to as "Doktor Untergang". Later they call him by his original US name. Editoriale Corno initially published I Fantastici Quattro in Italy (first with Captain Marvel as backup feature, then rotating with other backup features). Star Comics published

3154-456: The comics field at the time, but the positive response to Fantastic Four persuaded him to stay on. The title began to receive fan mail and Lee started printing the letters in a letter column with issue #3. With the third issue, Lee created the hyperbolic slogan "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World!!" The following issue, the slogan was changed to "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" and became

3237-728: The cover title dropped its The and became simply Fantastic Four . Kirby left Marvel in mid-1970, having drawn the first 102 issues plus an unfinished issue, partially published in Fantastic Four #108, with alterations, and later completed and published as Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure (April 2008), Fantastic Four continued with Lee, Roy Thomas , Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman as its consecutive regular writers, working with artists such as John Romita Sr. , John Buscema , Rich Buckler and George Pérez , with longtime inker Joe Sinnott adding some visual continuity. Jim Steranko also contributed several covers during this time. A short-lived series titled Giant-Size Super-Stars starring

3320-550: The double E sound. When Aredit published a Fantastic Four appearance they kept the traditional US names. Generally speaking, their names in France were: Monsieur Fantastic (although Mister was often used as well), L'Invisible , La Chose , and La Torche . (Rarely was "Humaine" used in the French editions.) Dr. Doom was called Docteur Fatalis and She-Hulk was called Miss Hulk . " Die Fantastischen Vier " first appeared in Hit Comics ,

3403-565: The far future along with several other alternate versions of himself. The villain Immortus had gathered them together and forced them to kill each other off. Nathaniel fled. To protect Reed, Nathaniel provided for his future and then disappeared from his life. Nathaniel ended up in another dimension where the Earth had become a desolate wasteland when the moon was destroyed. He married a woman named Cassandra who bore two children for him, one of which grew up to be Huntara . Cassandra turned out to be

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3486-572: The far future with the other Nathaniels by Immortus , called the Beast, was a homicidal maniac who took the opportunity to slaughter all of his counterparts. The Nathaniel of Earth-616 teams up with young college-age Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Victor von Doom in order to defeat him. In the Ultimate Marvel reality, Reed 's father is renamed Gary Richards and he does not have a scientific background. He also seems to despise his son's scientific mind, preferring his friend Ben Grimm's athletic abilities. When

3569-619: The feature was moved to star in Marvel UK's The Titans , in an attempt to revive flagging sales, starting with issue #27. But after just a few months the feature was removed from The Titans (replaced by The Avengers ) to form part of the line up of the new Captain Britain Weekly for its first issue in October 1976. After the demise of Captain Britain Weekly the FF went with Captain Britain into

3652-413: The first superhero team title produced by Marvel Comics, it formed a cornerstone of the company's 1960s rise from a small division of a publishing company to a pop culture conglomerate. The title would go on to showcase the talents of comics creators such as Roy Thomas , John Buscema , John Byrne , Steve Englehart , Walt Simonson , Tom DeFalco , Mark Waid , and Jonathan Hickman . The Fantastic Four

3735-415: The five upper levels and the base of the building. The buffer-zone contains some support equipment for the upper levels, but mostly it is the " mechanical floor ", which provides heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and elevator support equipment for the lower 30 stories. A running gag for years in the title was that the landlord , Walter Collins, was initially eager to rent out to a superhero team for

3818-582: The following issue, and Paul Pelletier succeeding McKone beginning with #544 (May 2007). As a result of the events of the " Civil War " company-crossover storyline, the Black Panther and Storm temporarily replaced Reed and Susan Richards on the team. During that period, the Fantastic Four also appeared in Black Panther , written by Reginald Hudlin and pencilled primarily by Francis Portela. Beginning with issue #554 (April 2008), writer Mark Millar and penciller Bryan Hitch began what Marvel announced as

3901-483: The mainstream version of the team lasted longer, ending in February 2010. Publication history in France started with the reprinting of the first 10 pages of Fantastic Four #50 in 1967 in an anthology title called Les Chefs-d'Oeuvres de la Bande Dessinée [Comic Book Masterpieces]. In 1974, the first four issues of the title were published, one page at a time, in the daily newspaper France-Soir . But primarily, rights to

3984-591: The merged Super Spider-man and Captain Britain Weekly in July 1977. A few months after the merger a new title The Complete Fantastic Four was launched in September 1977 starting with the story from the US Fantastic Four #133. Unusually The Complete Fantastic Four reprinted an entire issue of the US publication at a time when stories were always broken up into several installments. As a backup strip it started serializing

4067-469: The mid-1970s, then by Macc Division until 1980 and finally by Novedades Editores from 1980 to 1982 and French-speaking Canada as Les Fantastic Four , from 1969 to 1986, after which the title was merged with the Spider-Man title for three more years. Mexican translators were not consistent in their translations of the characters' code names; The Thing was called Coloso (Colossus) in the first series, La Mole in

4150-561: The mid-Manhattan area, each floor height is 24 feet (7.3 m). The top five floors of the 35-story building were purchased outright by the Fantastic Four. The building's steel frame construction utilized the first application of "K bracing" in the world and is one of the strongest structures of its kind. The Baxter Building is located a few city blocks from the United Nations Building. Reed Richards has applied for many land-use zone variations to allow massive reconstruction of

4233-578: The newly formed Marvel France line in the late 1990s. Fantastic Four shared space in the Silver Surfer's own book until the Heroes Reborn storyline created their own title, supported by Captain America. "Fantastic Four" then appeared in the anthology "Marvel Legends" and currently appears in "Marvel Icons", sharing that title with the Avengers. Two different French companies held rights to Marvel Comics at

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4316-606: The original Fantastic Four series had continued unbroken, with issue #42 / #471 (June 2001). At the time, the Marvel Comics series begun in the 1960s, such as Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man , were given such dual numbering on the front cover, with the present-day volume's numbering alongside the numbering from the original series. After issue #70 / #499 (Aug. 2003), the title reverted to its original vol. 1 numbering with issue #500 (Sept. 2003). Karl Kesel succeeded Loeb as co-writer with issue #51 / #480 (March 2002), and after

4399-479: The original Baxter Building and Four Freedoms Plaza. The current Baxter Building's ground floor is used as a Fantastic Four gift shop and museum open to the public. In the aftermath of the collapse of the multiverse , the Fantastic Four have disbanded as the Richards' family have gone on to reconstruct the multiverse, leaving the Thing to join the Guardians of the Galaxy , while the Torch is working as an ambassador for

4482-436: The outside. Solid, armored, exterior walls are also mirror-clad and are indistinguishable from transparent sections. The top five sections of the Baxter Building are completely airtight; all doors are airlocks. Complete environmental support (including atmosphere) is provided by the area between elevators 2, 3, and 4 on all floors. The building's steel-alloy framework is rigid enough to be stood on one corner and not collapse (It

4565-557: The power of the Beyonders from Doom, the Richards' family are working on travelling through and reconstructing the multiverse, but Peter Parker has purchased the Baxter Building to keep it "safe" until the team is ready to come back together. Writer Dan Slott and artist Sara Pichelli launched a new Fantastic Four series in August 2018 to commemorate the 56th anniversary and part of Marvel's " Fresh Start " relaunch. The new series returned

4648-451: The publicity and prestige, but he soon regretted his decision, as the building became a constant target for numerous attacks by supervillains starting with Fantastic Four #6 in which Doctor Doom launched the entire building into outer space. The attacks made things difficult not only for the Four, but for the other tenants in the lower floors as well. Eventually, Reed Richards decided to invoke

4731-478: The same time in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Éditions Lug (which eventually became Semic Comics ) published Fantastic Four , Spider-Man , X-Men , Daredevil , and Iron Man , and most related series, while Aredit held the rights to Avengers, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Sub-Mariner and many of the 1970s-era modern series like Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Power Man and the first She-Hulk series. Often, crossovers would force one company to publish another's title, i.e.

4814-432: The second and the third (which was the name used for The Hulk in the first series). The other three main characters had more stable translated names: Mister Fantástico (sometimes translated as Señor Fantástico), La Chica (or La Mujer) Invisible, and La Antorcha Humana. Dr. Doom was Doctor Destino and She-Hulk was La Mujer Hulk in her run in the Fantastic Four. In the movie, and in current appearances in Mexico, Mister Fantastic

4897-492: The series regular writer as of issue #570 with Dale Eaglesham and later Steve Epting on art. In the storyline "Three", which concluded in Fantastic Four #587 ( cover date March 2011, published January 26, 2011), the Human Torch appears to die while stopping a horde of monsters from the other-dimensional Negative Zone . The series ended with the following issue, #588, and relaunched in March 2011 as simply FF . The relaunch saw

4980-482: The slumping title with his run. Originally, Byrne was slated to write with Sienkiewicz providing the art. Sienkiewicz left to do Moon Knight , and Byrne ended up as writer, artist, and inker. Various editors were assigned to the comic; eventually Bob Budiansky became the regular editor. Byrne told Jim Shooter that he could not work with Budiansky, although they ultimately continued to work together. In 2006, Byrne said "that's my paranoia. I look back and I think that

5063-495: The strip. In March 1980 Marvel UK launched the monthly Fantastic Four Pocketbook reprinting older Lee and Kirby stories. In September 1980 their new adventures continued in the new weekly anthology title Marvel Team-Up , remaining in the comic until its cancellation with the edition dated 4 March 1981. From 1 April 1981, the Fantastic Four was part of a new title, Marvel Action , which only lasted 15 issues before it merged with Captain America (#21). The FF strip transferred to

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5146-473: The super-team's appearances including the Human Torch solo series from Strange Tales . Nathaniel Richards (Marvel Comics) Nathaniel Richards is a fictional time-traveling scientist appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . He is the father of superhero Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four and is the namesake of his descendant, the futuristic villain known as Kang

5229-468: The team assume a new name, the Future Foundation , adopt new black-and-white costumes, and accept longtime ally Spider-Man as a member. In October 2011, with the publication of FF #11 (cover-dated Dec. 2011), the Fantastic Four series reached its 599th issue. In November 2011, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fantastic Four and of Marvel Comics, the company published the 100-page Fantastic Four #600 (cover-dated Jan. 2012), which returned

5312-494: The team began in May 1974 and changed its title to Giant-Size Fantastic Four with issue #2. John Byrne joined the title with issue #209 (Aug. 1979), doing pencil breakdowns for Sinnott to finish. Bill Mantlo briefly followed Wolfman as writer of the series and wrote a crossover with Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #42 (May 1980). Byrne wrote and drew a giant-sized Fantastic Four promotional comic for Coca-Cola , which

5395-444: The team comic The Avengers , had gotten approval for Reed and Sue to join that team after Engelhart had written them out of Fantastic Four . Yet by The Avengers #300, where they were scheduled to join the team, Simonson was told the characters were returning to Fantastic Four . This led to Simonson quitting The Avengers after that issue. Shortly afterward, he was offered the job of writing Fantastic Four . Having already prepared

5478-485: The team of writer Scott Lobdell and penciller Alan Davis , it went after three issues to writer Chris Claremont (co-writing with Lobdell for #4-5), penciller Salvador Larroca , and inker Art Thibert ; this team enjoyed a long run through issue #32 (Aug. 2000). Following the run of Claremont, Lobdell and Larroca, Carlos Pacheco took over as penciller and co-writer, first with Rafael Marín , then with Marín and Jeph Loeb . This series began using dual numbering, as if

5561-532: The temporarily renamed Marvel Action starring Captain America . The FF strip's last appearance was in Captain America #36, stopping in preparation for the comic's merger with another Marvel UK anthology title, Marvel Super Adventure the next week. After the cancellation of the Pocketbook in July 1982 the classic FF strips continued in the short lived Fantastic Four weekly title that ran from 6 October 1982 for

5644-463: The title had become stale with the normal makeup of Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny, so in issue #308 Reed and Sue retired and were replaced with the Thing's new girlfriend, Sharon Ventura , and Johnny Storm's former love, Crystal. The changes increased readership through issue #321. At this point, Marvel made decisions about another Englehart comic, West Coast Avengers , that he disagreed with, and in protest he changed his byline to S.F.X. Englehart (S.F.X.

5727-427: The title in the 1990s, followed by Marvel Italia. Character names are typically translated as "la Cosa" (Thing), "la Torcia Umana" (Human Torch) and "la Donna Invisibile" (Invisible Woman), while Dr. Doom is "Dottor Destino". Mister Fantastic, She-Hulk and Silver Surfer kept their English names. Also released in Italy was the series I Fantastici Quattro gigante , an oversized magazine reprinting in chronological order all

5810-469: The title to its original numbering and featured the return of the Human Torch. It revealed the fate of the character of Johnny Storm after issue #587, showing that while he did in fact die, he was resurrected to fight as a gladiator for the entertainment of Annihilus. Storm later formed a resistance force called Light Brigade and defeated Annihilus. As part of Marvel NOW! Fantastic Four ended with #611, ending Jonathan Hickman's long run on FF titles, and

5893-559: The title was relaunched in November 2012 with the creative team of writer Matt Fraction and artist Mark Bagley . In the new title with its numbering starting at #1, the entire Fantastic Four family explore space together, with the hidden intent for Reed Richards to discover why his powers are fading. Writer James Robinson and artist Leonard Kirk launched a new Fantastic Four series in February 2014 ( cover dated April 2014). Robinson later confirmed that Fantastic Four would be cancelled in 2015 with issue #645, saying that "The book

5976-453: The title's sales increased over the period. The ongoing series was cancelled with issue #416 (Sept. 1996) and relaunched with (vol. 2) #1 (Nov. 1996) as part of the multi-series " Heroes Reborn " crossover story arc. The yearlong volume retold the team's first adventures in a more contemporary style, and set in a parallel universe. Following the end of that experiment, Fantastic Four was relaunched with (vol. 3) #1 (Jan. 1998). Initially by

6059-493: The titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The [ sic ] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes. ... 'If the Justice League is selling', spoke he, 'why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes?'" The release of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961) was an unexpected success. Lee had felt ready to leave

6142-422: The top five floors for the installation of a heavily silenced silo, with a muffled rocket . The design of the headquarters of the Fantastic Four is along strictly utilitarian lines, except for apartments and public areas. All aspects of the design are constantly being improved, including security. For example, windows are 2 ft (0.61 m) thick composites of various glasses and plastics which are mirrored on

6225-568: The very occasional different inker, continued for years through #414 (July 1996). DeFalco nullified the Storm-Masters marriage by retconning that the alien Skrull Empire had kidnapped the real Masters and replaced her with a spy named Lyja . Once discovered, Lyja, who herself had fallen for Storm, helped the Fantastic Four rescue Masters. Ventura departed after being further mutated by Doctor Doom. Although some fans were not pleased with DeFalco's run on Fantastic Four , calling him "The Great Satan",

6308-656: The years. He then helped them battle the Kree Army and the Mad Celestials . Nathaniel Richards has no superpowers, but he is a scientific genius and skilled inventor in advanced technology . He invented a device called the Time Platform, which allows him to travel through time. The armor that he built on his own granted him increased strength, physical resistance, and access to various gadgets, as well as energy weapons for defense. A version of Nathaniel Richards pulled into

6391-399: Was "one of the most painful stretches of [his] career." Writer-artist Walt Simonson took over as writer with #334 (December 1989), and three issues later began pencilling and inking as well. With brief inking exceptions, two fill-in issues, and a three-issue stint drawn by Arthur Adams , Simonson remained in all three positions through #354 (July 1991). Simonson, who had been writing

6474-445: Was Shooter trying to force me off the book". Byrne left following issue #293 (Aug. 1986) in the middle of a story arc, explaining he could not recapture the fun he had previously had on the series. Byrne was followed by a quick succession of writers: Roger Stern , Tom DeFalco , and Roy Thomas . Steve Englehart took over as writer for issues 304–333. The title had been struggling, so Englehart decided to make radical changes. He felt

6557-454: Was rejected by Coca-Cola as being too violent and published as Fantastic Four #220-221 (July–Aug. 1980) instead. Writer Doug Moench and penciller Bill Sienkiewicz then took over for 10 issues. With issue #232 (July 1981), the aptly titled "Back to the Basics", Byrne began his run as writer, penciller and inker, the last under the pseudonym Bjorn Heyn for this issue only. Byrne revitalized

6640-455: Was replaced by 1960s-era X-Men reprints when Marvel demanded the same royalties for Éditions Lug's original stories that they did for the US reprints. Eventually, a regular monthly series began publication in France, and the Fantastic Four took over the headlining position in the pocket format anthology Nova (sharing the title with Spider-Woman, Peter Parker, She-Hulk, and Silver Surfer) and lasted until Marvel began publishing its own titles under

6723-623: Was stripped clean of all the FF's equipment by Vernard and Reed Richards' father Nathaniel , who sent it into the Negative Zone to keep it out of the hands of the United States military. Upon their return, the Fantastic Four could not move back into Four Freedoms Plaza, as it had been destroyed by the Thunderbolts , shortly after the revelation that they were actually the Avengers ' longtime foes,

6806-536: Was suggested that the Baxter Building did not collapse under its own weight due to the use of tactile telekinesis by Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard . Reed stated that even with the reinforced structure, it should not be possible otherwise.). The buffer-zone is the interface between the top five floors and the lower levels. It provides a rapid-disconnect between upper and lower segments of building. It contains an array of large oil-rams to dampen any oscillations between

6889-454: Was surprised at the reaction to the first issue, leading him to stay in the comics field despite previous plans to leave. Comics historian Stephen Krensky said that "Lee's natural dialogue and flawed characters appealed to 1960s kids looking to 'get real'". As of 2005, 150 million comics featuring the Fantastic Four had been sold. The Fantastic Four stories have been collected into several trade paperback and hardcover editions. As part of

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