8 Best Fantastic Four Comics That You Should Reading Update 04/2024

Best Fantastic Four Comics

What comic book story lines would be best for Marvel Studios to adapt? The Fantastic Four will be in the MCU for the first time soon.

This is a great time for comic book fans to go back and read some of the best stories about the Fantastic Four. In 2021, it will be 60 years since the group first came out. There are a lot of road maps in those stories for how the team will look on the big screen in the MCU, which makes them even more interesting for fans of both the comics and the movies.

When the Fantastic Four came out in 1961, they started the Marvel Universe. They’ve been a big part of the Marvel Universe for the last six decades, both in terms of characters and ideas. Many of the most important stories in Marvel Comics and the MCU came from them. Now, their influence will be even more direct.

1. The Beginning

The Beginning

The early Fantastic Four stories written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby are a must-read for fans. It doesn’t seem like the first five issues are part of an arc, but they are still some of the best comics because of all the major things they introduce.

The first three issues show how the team came to be, how they use their powers, and how they first wore their iconic costumes. For the Silver Age, Namor, the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom made their debut in Issues 4 and 5.

2. Three

As a writer, Jonathan Hickman did a great job modernizing the Fantastic Four for today’s world. The three-part arc is the heart of his run, and it is one of the best in the team’s history. A lot of new ideas and concepts were introduced or expanded on when he ran the team in 2009-2011. Science and exploration have always been important parts of the team.

One of these ideas is the multiverse, which has become a big part of the MCU over the years. As he fights interdimensional aliens and saves the world, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, dies in this storyline.

3. The Power And The Peril

The Power And The Peril

Dr. Doom is one of the most ambitious villains in all of Marvel Comics, and the story “The Power and the Peril” is a good way to show how ambitious he was early on. During this arc, the Silver Surfer loses the Power Cosmic. Doctor Doom steals it from him.

For a short time, Doctor Doom has real power, but he loses it almost as soon as he gets it. This is how he is. His power is taken away when he tries to break through the barrier Galactus put around Earth to keep the Silver Surfer from coming to Earth.

4. The New Fantastic Four

The core team of the Fantastic Four is well-known, but there have been a lot of great teams with other people. Black Panther and Storm are part of the “new” Fantastic Four, which is one of the best, Fun: It was written by Dwayne McDuffie, and it was about the team’s history even as the rest of Marvel split up.

During the Civil War comic book crossover, many superheroes went up against each other over the Superhero Registration Act. This era comes from that. This is how Black Panther and Storm keep the FF together and connect with the world outside of comic books. They also have a good time while they do it, though!

5. 1234 (1234 #1-4)

1234

With the Fantastic Four, Grant Morrison is known for coming up with big ideas that stretch the boundaries of reality. The limited series 1234 with artist Jae Lee doesn’t disappoint when it comes to big ideas. That’s not the only thing 1234 does. It also manages to get to its big conclusion about super science through personal stories and narratives.

Morrison and Lee break up the Richards family through a series of personal setbacks and put them up against a who’s who of some of their biggest enemies. Doctor Doom is the team’s biggest threat. During the course of the plot, 1234 turns into a story about two of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe, Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom.

6. Fantastic Faux (FF Vol. 2 #1-16)

Following Jonathan Hickman’s years-long run on the Fantastic Four, Matt Fraction took over both the main title and its sister title, FF, as well as both of their stories. Fraction sent the FF into space and back in time in the pages of FF with artist Mike Allred. He also brought a substitute team into the Baxter Building with him.

Johnny Deering’s pop-star girlfriend Darla Deering is now known as Ms. Thing, and she wears a mechanical suit that makes her look like the Thing. This is the new team. They were in charge of the Future Foundation’s group of advanced science students, which they took care of. All 16 issues of this volume were written by Lee Allred, Mike’s brother. They look at the families we choose and the ones we’re born into, and they get to the heart of the Fantastic Four’s family dynamics.

As for sci-fi weirdness, Kang the Annihilating Conqueror is a mix of Dr. Doom, Annihilus, and Kang. There is also a Voltron-style Dr. Doom/Annihilus/Kang mash-up villain named Kang. It also brought Scott Lang to face the man who killed his daughter, Doctor Doom.

7. This Man, This Monster! (Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #51)

This Man, This Monster

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are often credited with introducing superheroes into modern storytelling with the Fantastic Four, which focused on the team’s humanity and personal relationships. This was a new idea in the early ’60s, and it gave a new look at characters with powers that can be both a blessing and a burden.

When a criminal scientist steals Ben Grimm’s powers, he impersonates him in front of the FF and puts Reed Richards in danger. This dynamic is best shown in the story “This Man, This Monster!”

The single-issue story ends with a brave sacrifice that has tragic, unintended consequences for Ben Grimm and his quest to find his humanity. It’s an O. Henry-style twist that shows off the best of what Lee and Kirby could do together.

8. Unthinkable (Fantastic Four vol. 2 #67-70, vol. 2 #500)

A story by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo called “Unthinkable” made the Fantastic Four’s arch-nemesis Dr. Doom even more evil, with dark arcane power, a suit made of flesh – and the death of one of the FF’s own.

It was after dark rituals in which his former lover’s flesh was turned into new necromantic armor that he gained a lot of magic power. With the help of magic, Doom tried to defeat Reed Richards once and for all. Magic is the one “science” Reed doesn’t understand.

‘Unthinkable’ made the Fantastic Four, and Reed in particular, stretch themselves in every way possible. Doom, on the other hand, magically disfigured Reed’s face and set him on a path that would lead to Ben Grimm’s death.

Doom’s magic and Reed’s science came to a head at the end of Waid and Wieringo’s run, setting a dangerous precedent for the Fantastic Four’s villains, and setting the stage for the best story the pair ever wrote together. Wieringo did an amazing job with the art, as well.