The best Fantastic Four comics to read before the next movie

Ahead of the Fantastic Four’s return to the massive display screen, atone for Marvel’s first household of their absolute best, must-read comics.

Rumors are swirling that the solid of Marvel’s long-gestating Fantastic Four movie is lastly to be introduced quickly. All indicators level to Pedro Pascal signing on as Reed Richards, with Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon-Moss Bacharach rumored for roles. 

It’s a giant step for the property. Previous movie makes an attempt have been met with a less-than-enthusiastic response. The final effort, 2017’s Fantastic Four, has a soul-crushing 27 on Metacritic. 

If movies aren’t the means to go, the best means to get caught up on the FF is clearly going to be to read the comics. With that in thoughts, listed here are the best Fantastic Four comics to get to know the characters before the MCU’s movie. 

The best Fantastic Four comics to read before the MCU movie

Marvel Comics

The Fantastic Four veer into physique horror with Ultimate Fantastic Four.

The Fantastic – Ultimate Fantastic Four #1-6

It’s a little bit of forgotten trivia by this level, however Ultimate Fantastic Four was initially meant to be a prequel to the Ultimate Universe, with older variations showing in different books. The title exists in a bizarre limbo, disjointed to most of the Ultimate Universe for its early points. 

Regardless, Ultimate Fantastic Four begins with a hell of a bang. In distinction to the 616 universe, Earth-1610’s FF is straight-up physique horror. Mr. Fantastic has no inside organs and a literal black gap for a abdomen. The Human Torch has to molt periodically. And nobody is sort of certain how The Thing may even breathe. 

If you need your FF bizarre, Ultimate is the means to go. The collection has some fairly staggering lows because it makes its means by a few of the Ultimate Universe’s most controversial tales, however that is additionally the place a few of Marvel’s greatest and best trendy concepts – corresponding to Marvel Zombies and Reed turning into the evil Maker – get their begin. 

Marvel Comics

Reed Richards makes an attempt to clear up all the things in the aptly titled Solve EVerything, nevertheless it comes at an incalculable danger.

Solve Everything – Fantastic Four (1998) #570-574

Long before Jonathan Hickman was breaking minds with the X-Men, he was redefining the Fantastic Four. Coming off a preferred run by Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar, Hickman instantly marked his territory by getting nuts. The result’s one among the most critically acclaimed Fantastic Four runs ever. 

It begins with Solve Everything, by which Reed Richards lastly hits his breaking level. He’s received 100 concepts to make the world a greater place, and now he’s enacting thought #101: clear up all of them. To achieve this, he crosses the barrier of time and house to meet his personal array of variants, the Council of Reeds. 

It’s a haunting parallel, contemplating Kang and his Council of Kangs are a possible descendent of Reed’s line. And seeing Reed, an excellent man consistently beset by his best intentions, dealing with a number of variations of himself with equally good intentions and a number of Infinity Gauntlets is sufficient to let you know the way daring Hickman’s FF would get. 

Marvel Comics

Reed Richards takes the Fantastic Four to heaven to save Ben Grimm in Hereafter.

Hereafter – Fantastic Four (1998) #509-511

Mark Waid and the late-great Mike Wieringo had one among the best trendy Fantastic Four comics as a result of they centered a lot on the household facet of the crew. Their story Hereafter drives this dwelling with the story of a lifeless member of the family and the lengths they’ll undergo to save them. 

Hereafter is the endgame of an extended anniversary arc beginning with Fantastic Four #66 (the quantity was renumbered to #500 after concern #70). The Thing, possessed by the spirit of Doctor Doom, sacrifices himself to save the world. Refusing to stay with out him, Reed works for weeks to cheat dying, culminating in the crew happening their biggest journey into the afterlife. 

Ultimately, Hereafter turns into one thing of a cosmic reset, reviving The Thing and therapeutic bodily and emotional wounds the crew suffered. But the story, demonstrating the power of the first household’s unbreakable bond and that includes an unforgettable sequence the place the crew meets a model of God who appears to be like suspiciously like Jack Kirby, has gone down as a few of the best FF storytelling ever. 

Marvel Comics

The Thing and longtime lover Alicia Masters lastly tie the knot in Mr. & Mrs. Grimm

Mr. And Mrs. Grimm – Fantastic Four (2018) #5, Fantastic Four Wedding Special #1

Superhero weddings are quite a bit like wrestling weddings. They occur all the time, however they by no means go off with no hitch. The Fantastic Fours is analogous, with The Thing lastly getting engaged to longtime girlfriend Alicia Masters and the inevitable Doctor Doom interruption. 

The wedding ceremony is the fruits of some years of storytelling. Reed and Sue have been lacking for years, remaking the multiverse in the wake of Secret Wars. This story looks like a enjoyable, lighthearted reunion with the household lastly collectively for the first time in perpetually. Ben’s imminent wedding ceremony reaffirms the relationships and drives dwelling that the FF are a household first. 

The run was the first main work acclaimed Spider-Man author Dan Slott had achieved with the FF, and it reveals how a lot he actually loves the characters. From Sue educating Ben how to dance to the unimaginable Eleventh-hour reveal of Reed’s newest invention, the FF’s greatest wedding ceremony is a good primer for brand spanking new readers. 

Marvel Comics

The Fantastic Four are separated by an amazing private tragedy in Whatever Happened to the Fantastic Four?

Whatever Happened to the Fantastic Four? – Fantastic Four (2022) #1-6

How do you begin a brand new Fantastic Four quantity? Obviously, you cut up them up. Ryan North and Iban Coello’s Fantastic Four run kicks off with the crew scattered throughout the nation, having not spoken for months. 

Though the household has been fractured by an amazing tragedy, it doesn’t take lengthy to get the FF again in place. Out of their factor in the countryside, the quantity up to now has labored to re-establish why the crew’s household dynamic is so necessary. 

The first six points are collected as Whatever Happened to the Fantastic Four?, however actually, this run to date is an ideal leaping on level. There’s massive motion like The Thing caught in a city with a perpetual time loop and the superior sight of a dinosaur-themed Avengers & FF, however the e book additionally does some heavy lifting, like pushing the Invisible Woman to new limits when she makes use of her forcefields to blot out the solar. 

That’s all now we have for now on the best Fantastic Four comics, however keep tuned to Dexerto for the newest Fantastic Four and comedian e book information.

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