The Fantastic Four‘s hardcore spin-off is back, and it’s the key to turning Marvel’s First Family into the MCU’s next Avengers-tier franchise. With the surprise return of the Fantastic Force, Marvel just unlocked the way to make the most of the MCU’s Earth-828 (focus of the recent Fantastic Four: First Steps.)
The Fantastic Force Are a Combat-Focused FF Spin-Off
The Franchise Goes Back to 1994
In The Ultimates #17 – from Deniz Camp, Phil Noto and Travis Lanham – Marvel just introduced a new version of the Fantastic Force. Many of Marvel’s biggest teams have darker offshoots that take a more lethal approach to safeguarding the world. The Avengers have the Secret Avengers, the X-Men have X-Force, and the Fantastic Four have the Fantastic Force.
Fantastic Four: First Steps introduced MCU fans to the FF, and even stealth-introduced their support team the Future Foundation. However, in terms of future movies, the team have one major drawback: there are only four of them.
While there have been many members of the Fantastic Four – like She-Hulk, Ant-Man and Storm – they’re far fewer than the heroes of the Avengers roster. The franchise is also generally focused on the Richards/Storm family. This makes Fantastic Four an inherently insular franchise, with four essential characters who can never be gone for too long, and supporting characters who can only briefly take their place in the meantime.
Marvel has tried to solve this issue a number of ways, from introducing the next generation of the FF family to complementing their stories with the Future Foundation roster. However, if the FF are going to become an Avengers-tier franchise, they need something more drastic: they need the Fantastic Force.
Who Are the Fantastic Force?
In the Ultimate Universe, the Fantastic Force are a superhuman army created by (the heroic) Doctor Doom, exposing young heroes to carefully controlled cosmic radiation. Doom then tested and trained the new superheroes, with select few like magnetism-controlling Magna and density-altering Gravity Girl making the cut.
However, the franchise actually goes all the way back to 1994, when Reed’s dimension-hopping father Nathaniel Richards needed a team to go up against the villainous Hyperstorm. The founding members were Psi-Lord (aka Franklin Richards), Huntara (Franklin’s teleporting aunt), Vibraxas (a Wakanda hero with vibrational powers) and Devlor (a beast-like member of the Inhumans.) The team were mentored by both Black Panther and the Human Torch.
The name was used again in 2009, describing a group of futuristic heroes from the world introduced in Old Man Logan, including an older Wolverine, former Herald of Galactus Lightwave and Hulk’s son, Bruce Banner Jr.
This team not only beat Galactus, but killed him and turned him into an energy source for their time machine. In short, the Fantastic Force are traditionally an aggressive team with ties to time travel, assembled to take down a godlike villain.
Warning, spoilers for Fantastic Four: First Steps from here on.
How the MCU Can Use the Fantastic Force
Fantastic Four: First Steps ends with Galactus far across space, but with a definite grudge against Earth. It makes perfect sense that Reed Richards would prep for Galactus’ return with a more combat-focused team like the Fantastic Force. With the movie introducing snippets of lore like the Mole Man’s Subterranea and alien worlds like Silver Surfer’s home, it would be easy to bring in related heroes, just as the original Fantastic Force tapped the Inhumans and Wakanda.
Fantastic Four is defined by the core family members, but the team’s roster needs to be able to shift and evolve to support a true movie franchise. The Fantastic Force as a team are far more similar to the Avengers, with some cornerstone characters but the ability to constantly cycle new characters through its roster.
Ultimates #17 proves that Marvel hasn’t forgotten the Fantastic Force. If the MCU’s Earth-828 is going to survive and build the Fantastic Four out into its own franchise, introducing the Fantastic Force is the perfect way to do it, giving the franchise the versatility of the Avengers while allowing the core family to persist as a separate but connected group.
Ultimates #17 is available now from Marvel Comics.
- First Film
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The Fantastic Four
- First Episode Air Date
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September 9, 1967
