Pro Teaches n00bs: Lesson 30: The New Fantastic Four

On the newest lesson of Pro Teaches n00bs, Bianca and I go over one of the most absurd incarnation of a Super Hero Team...pretty much ever! The "New" Fantastic Four! Consisting of the best selling characters of 90s Marvel...The Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Ghost Rider!

Walt Simmonson & Art Adams, for three issues (347-349) united these 4 in an absurd story! A skrull infiltrates Four Plaza and incapacitates them all! Disguised as Sue, she claims the four are dead so these new four can go after their killer. Why? She needs someone to go after the skrulls following her while she finds a secret weapon hidden on Monster Island!

Yeah trust me it's balls to the wall insanity! But this is also so beloved that Marvel would tell a few tales of "What if they continued on"?

First in What If Vol 2 #78 we got a "What if the four died during the fight on Monster Island" and the New Four continued on! And they heave to deal with the fours finances in addition to fighting their usual fights. Sadly it ends with them going their separate ways.

Mike Wieringo was going to do a different what if that asked the same story...sadly he died before it was completed. As a tribute, Hero Initiative gathered a lot of his friends to finish the story. Here, the Skrull killed the four off the bad except for Ben (who was stuck as a human). The new four continue on but not much of the finances is brought up! We get Doom making a deal with Mephisto AND an interesting incarnation of the Frightful Four! They stay together at the end!

A later What If loosely continued the tribute story (Since it wasn't widely released, it would be confusing to make it a direct sequel) with them together by the time of Infinite Gauntlet! Ghost Rider is snapped out and replaced by Iron man and...well...it's an interesting tale I'll say that.

Overall the New Fantastic Four is an insane idea that is beloved for a reason HOWEVER it's clearly not meant to last THAT long! It is a stable in Marvel History and is getting a new mini that fills in some of the time in between scenes of the original story. I can't wait!

#NewFantasticFour #Wolverine #Spiderman #Hulk #Ghostrider