History ComicBook / FantasticFour

The characters first appeared in ''"[[ComicBook/FantasticFourNumber1 Fantastic Four]]''" [[ComicBook/FantasticFourNumber1 vol. 1 #1]] (November, 1961), created by Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby. The four were connected even before the same Main/NegativeSpaceWedgie gave them all their powers -- Reed and Sue were sweethearts and eventually got married, Johnny is Sue's younger brother, Ben is Reed's best friend since college (as well as war buddy from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, until ComicBookTime forced a RetCon) -- and are as much a [[TrueCompanions family]] (if occasionally a dysfunctional one) [[SuperFamilyTeam as a team]]. Reed is the World's Smartest Man, and his genius is often at least as useful as the powers he got from the accident. The royalty payments from all his inventions fund the Four's adventures, [[ReedRichardsIsUseless despite the fact that they never get implemented in the world around them]], and lets them live in high style in the time between.

In 1999, Lee and Kirby's original run was ranked #31 in ''The Comics Journal'''s list of the Top 100 Comic Books of the 20th Century, honored alongside the works of such greats as Creator/CarlBarks, [[ComicStrip/LilAbner Al Capp]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles M. Schulz]] and [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Bill Watterson]]. It was one of only a few mainstream superhero series to make the list (alongside Jack Cole's original run on ''Plastic Man'', C. C. Beck and Otto Binder's original run on ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]'' and fellow Marvel trailblazer, ''[[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManLeeAndDitko The Amazing Spider-Man]]'') and it was the highest ranked of any of them.

See the [[Franchise/FantasticFour franchise page for more details on the adaptations]].

[[index]]
[[folder:Fantastic Four comic book series and storylines]]
* ComicBook/FantasticFour1961
** ''ComicBook/FantasticFourNumber1''
** ''ComicBook/FantasticFourAnnualNumber1''
** ''ComicBook/FantasticFourAnnualNumber2''
** ''ComicBook/ABlindManShallLeadThem''
** ''ComicBook/FantasticFourAnnualThree''
** ''ComicBook/AmongUsHideTheInhumans''
** ''ComicBook/TheComingOfGalactus''
** ''ComicBook/TheTrialOfGalactus''
** ''Fantastic Force''
** ''ComicBook/{{FF}}''
* ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne''
* ''Fantastic Four / Superman'' (crossover with Superman, from DC Comics)
* ComicBook/FantasticFour2018
** ''ComicBook/FutureFoundation''
** ''ComicBook/XMenFantasticFour''
** ''ComicBook/ReckoningWar''
* ''ComicBook/NewFantasticFour''
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour2022''
* ''Fantastic Four 2099'' (set in the ComicBook/Marvel2099 universe)
* ComicBook/HeroesRebornFantasticFour (set in the ComicBook/HeroesReborn universe)
* ''Fantastic Five'' (set in the [[ComicBook/MarvelComics2 MC2]] universe)
* ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour (set in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe)
** ''ComicBook/UltimateFF'': spin-off of the previous book.
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFourLifeStory''
[[/folder]]
[[/index]]

* AnyoneCanDie: The focus of the ''Three'' storyline. [[spoiler:It was Johnny -- but of course he got better.]]

* AppropriatedAppellation: In the first story, Sue was the first person to call Ben a "Thing".

%% * ArcWords: Hickman's run has "solve everything" and "all hope lies in Doom"

* AvengersAssemble: Takes place in the very first issue. Reed calls together the team to repel the Mole Man, but as it's very early in their superhero careers, they don't have much in the way of quick transportation. Sue (whose powers are still developing) has to take a taxi, Ben has to stomp through the sewer, and Johnny's attempt to fly to the rendezvous point results in him being mistaken for a hostile enemy aircraft, causing him to be fired upon by the American military.
* BachelorAuction: Fantastic Four Volume 3 #50, in the backup story "In The Eye Of The Beholder", the Thing is forcibly volunteered to take place in a charity auction where the wealthy of New York donate money to go on a date with celebrities including some in the super-hero community.

* BadFuture: Mark Millar's run revolves around one. Some time in the late 21st century, after most of Earth's heroes were killed off, Earth goes to utter crap. All the powerful and rich run for it, leaving everyone else behind to starve and die.

* BattleStrip: Ben Grimm, in the very first issue, had the habit of ripping off a trenchcoat, pair of pants, sunglasses, and a fedora every time he went into battle.
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnElement: During Super-Skrull's first appearance, he manages to produce flame hotter than the Human Torch can create, overwhelming him.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Blackbeard is actually [[spoiler: Ben]].

* BestOfAllPossibleWorlds: Jonathan Hickman's run shows that while Reed has made many a bad decision, and isn't necessarily the best person in the world, he's a severe step-up from all the other Reed Richards out there, who without a father turned into cold manipulators, willing to do all manner of things in the name of the greater good, and eventually left their families.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: A memorable moment in Issue #10, from a series not known for breaking the fourth wall on a regular basis. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, struggling to write a plot for that issue, reflect on the mistake of sending Doctor Doom into space. Then, almost as if on cue, Doom barges into their office and threatens the pair to call Mr. Fantastic to "discuss a new plot". Then, at that moment, Johnny answers the phone, telling Reed that it is Lee and Kirby, wanting to discuss a new plot, to which Richards questions it, stating that they just discussed working on a plot the previous day.
* BrokeEpisode: Issue #9, and the first 12 issues of their Marvel Knights series. FF # 9 had a bit of RippedFromTheHeadlines going on, as it was written shortly after the stock market crashed in 1962. Reed lost most of the team's money to bad investments, forcing them to participate in a humiliating and hilarious movie-making scheme put together by [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]].
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu:
** The Last Defenders, a group of heroes from one BadFuture recount to Johnny how they caught Galactus. Johnny is understandably dubious, since there's only six of them. Their Hulk mentions that there used to be a lot more of them.
** During the Mad Celestials arc, the Future Foundation manages to fire off a super-weapon made by the Council of Reeds at them, killing one, but Reed notes if they fire it again, they'll crack the Earth like an egg.
** A literal case happens during Ben and Alicia's honeymoon when Ben has to fight a mind-controlled Hulk. His best Sunday punch knocks the Hulk out, but it also breaks his arm -- he sports a vibranium cast for the next several issues.

* CandidsForSale: In issue #275 of the Byrne run, a sleazy tabloid takes pictures of She-Hulk sunbathing topless with the intention of selling them for a large amount of money. She-Hulk fails to stop the pictures from seeing print but is able to avoid public embarrassment thanks to the pictures being color corrected in the printing process, making the woman in the images unrecognizable as She-Hulk.

* CasualHighDrop: During Creator/JohnByrne's tenure, he had She-Hulk substitute for Ben Grimm. While fighting against the mask of Doctor Doom (who'd presumably died), she fell from a top-story window of the Baxter Building, and plummeted many stories to the street below. Of course, this won't hurt She-Hulk much; she instead aimed to miss the people and cars to minimize the collateral damage. How thoughtful.
* CelebrityCasualty: President UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush dies of pneumonia.

* CharacterDrivenStrategy: After a FreakyFridayFlip courtesy of a Celestial, Reed Richards's mind occupies Doctor Doom's body, and vice versa. During a tense standoff, Reed-in-Doom plays a game of chess with Ben Grimm. Normally, Reed plays a quiet game, mostly keeping his pawns and pieces in a tight formation to secure his half of the chessboard. During this game, however, Ben remarks that Reed is using an uncharacteristic ruthless strategy, more fitting for Doctor Doom, that aims to dominate as much of the board as possible. Though he hides it well, Ben is worried that Reed is becoming more like Doom the longer he remains in Doom's body and armor.

* CourtRoomEpisode: Issue #262 is a follow-up on a story arc seen in Issues #242-244 where Galactus comes to Earth to die. Interestingly, this was spurred behind-the-scenes from Creator/ChrisClaremont having the Fantastic Four make a brief appearance in ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' #167 to have Majestrix Lilandra of the Shi'ar Emprie call out Reed for saving Galactus from death. Not only was this appearance unauthorised by then-current ''FF'' writer Creator/JohnByrne, he found the scene to come across as a "TakeThat" towards his writing and complained to then-Editor-in-Chief Creator/JimShooter about it. With [[RunningTheAsylum Assistant Editor's Month]] coming up, Byrne decided to make an entire issue inspired by the ''X-Men'' appearance.
* CovertEmergencyCall: In Issue #348, Mr. Fantastic is secretly being held prisoner by a Skrull infiltrator disguised as Sue. As the leave the Baxter Building together, Reed tells his robotic assistant that he and his wife are going on a day trip and that she should tell that to his "friends in the Marines." The robot, knowing that Reed has no friends that are in the Marines, looks up the phrase, discovering its history as a Covert Distress Code and realises that Reed is in trouble.
* CreatingLife: In Issue #15, Reed had created a primitive, single-celled lifeform that lived for a few seconds. The Mad Thinker's Awesome Android is a {{Mechanical Lifeform|s}} created from Reed's notes.

* DangledByAGiant: While the Fantastic Four are visiting the Inhumans on the moon, gravity suddenly goes haywire. The cause is a Tractor Beam that's pulling the moon into the docking bay of a gargantuan starship. As a colossal alien begins to examine the moon, Ben Grimm tries to get its attention by tearing off a huge chuck from a control panel. Well, to Ben it's a huge chunk; to the alien, it's a mere sliver. The alien dangles the sliver with Ben still gripping it before its eye, but cannot see minuscule Ben. The alien shrugs, discounts the sliver as an anomaly, and does a Blind Shoulder Toss with the sliver. It's stated that poor Ben will take hours to plummet to the floor.

* DeceptionNoncompliance: In one issue, Reed Richards is going along seemingly willingly with a Skrull Sue imposter. When he passes by the robot secretary the FF used at the time, he tells her to "tell it to the Marines," which she looks up in an idiom database and discovers it means he's lying.
* {{Deconstruction}}: The series as a whole, especially in the early days, lampshades and subverted common superhero tropes like secret identities, team unity and family issues, and even a secret base. Instead of a cave or fortress and masks, the team was out and proud. Later writers, like Mark Waid, have made this a purposeful event in the team's creation: Reed made them celebrities to atone for the accident that robbed them of a normal life.
** Mark Waid's run also throws a dark mirror on the Reed-Doom relationship. Both have always been shown with varying levels of similarities, but Waid accentuates it. Reed takes over Latveria and gets as obsessed with the then-dead Victor as Victor gets with him. Overall it's a fairly chilling look at how isolated and driven two intelligent men are, and how defined by each other they have become.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Lots, but the earliest issues are rife with it:
** Ben gets called "Thing" almost all the time. Before too long, the other three members called him "Ben" and "The Thing" was more or less just his call-sign.
** For the first two issues, the team just wears street clothes. And yet, Reed is able to make the clothes stretch with his body, and Johnny does not incinerate his clothes whenever he uses his powers. Even after they get uniforms in the third issue (designed and sewn by Sue, of course, as it was the sixties and only women did stuff like that), it's mainly to promote team spirit than to accommodate their powers. During this time, they also operated out of Central City instead of New York City--which is still canon as Reed's hometown.
** For the first twenty (or so) issues, the Invisible Girl can't, or at least doesn't, make force-fields. Her only displayed power was invisibility, which in the earliest comics she primarily used to...hide. Just hide, so the bad guys wouldn't get her. It was only starting with the third issue that she started using her power for espionage as well, and even then she tended to be given away by things like dogs barking at her, and was generally the DamselInDistress for the other three.

* EvilDetectingBaby: In Fantastic Four Volume 3, issue 67, Doctor Doom walks the streets of New York in civilian clothes (with a less ornate mask replacing his usual one). He passes a baby boy, who begins screaming and crying uncontrollably. Doom apologises to the boy's mother for frightening the child; the mother replies that [[spoiler:the baby is blind]].
* ExactWords: In an early storyline, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, and Torch are sent back in time to retrieve Blackbeard's treasure or Doctor Doom will kill Sue. Mr. Fantastic decides to dupe him, saying technically they promised to bring back the treasure ''chest'', so even if it's a chest filled with chains they've fulfilled their word.
** Reed likes doing this. In the second issue of Dan Slott's run, the Griever defeats Reed, Sue, and the Future Foundation and gloats that she thought it would be harder. Reed responds by saying that if the Fantastic Four were fully assembled they would have beaten her. Being a good sport, she agrees to let Reed summon the rest of the team for a rematch. Instead of just beaming in Johnny and Ben, however, Reed brings ''every past member of the Fantastic Four'', including people who were only on the team for a handful of issues like Luke Cage and Ghost Rider. The resulting team contains most of Marvel's heavy hitters (Hulk, She-Hulk, Black Panther, Wolverine, Storm, Spider-Man, etc).
* FaithInTheFoe: A godlike being called a Celestial has enacted a FreakyFridayFlip, namely housing Reed Richards's mind in Doctor Doom's body, and ''vice versa''. The other Four members journey to Latveria, aiming to undo this process. Part of the ruse involves the Human Torch incinerating Reed's body in Doom's throne room. Though Johnny Storm could have ended the Four's mortal enemy then and there, he instead controlled the flames so precisely that Doom was only warmed by the heat. Doom actually spells this out to Reed as both men recover their rightful forms.
* FakeoutEscape: There's a sequence in ''Fantastic Four #2'' where Sue turns invisible when government officials come to check on her, then runs out the doorway during their confusion; this was enough of an EstablishingCharacterMoment that it gets repeated in both the Ultimate and filmed versions.
* FantasticallyChallengingPatient: Issue #258 has Manhattan doctors discuss a peculiar patient found badly mangled with broken bones aplenty. They have the patient bandaged from head to toe, and give him a "sugar and booze" (sucrose and methanol 3% solution) intravenous drip. Some doombots abscond this patient, taking him to Latveria, where Doctor Doom (no, NotThatKindOfDoctor) manages to heal him. The patient is revealed to be Terrax the Tamer a/k/a Tyros the Terrible. Doom plans to use Tyros, infused with the Power Cosmic, to soften up the Fantastic Four, then claim the ''coup de grace''.
* FantasticVoyagePlot: Fantastic Four #606 had the FF doing this to cure Willie Lumpkin of an inoperable brain tumor.

* FingerInABarrel: When the Fantastic Four first encounter Prince Namor, the Submariner is preparing an invasion of New York to combat "the human filth." At one point, some Atlantian soldiers are preparing a large gun for firing when Ben Grimm stuffs his whole arm down the barrel, causing the weapon to explode. Ben then brings four dazed and unconscious Atlantians to Reed's laboratory, saying, "Hey, Reed: I found ya four volunteers."

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** During Jonathan Hickman's run, when Valeria recounts what happened when she went through The Bridge, one of the alternate Reeds comments after their lucky escape from the Mad Celestials that it's lucky they didn't combine. Toward the end of the arc, guess what happens.
** In the last issues of Hickman's run, the time-travelling future version of Franklin drops some hints of future events that he's lived through, which would only be revealed in his ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman Avengers]]'' run and ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''. First, Franklin stops the war between the Inhumans and the Kree by showing Black Bolt a glimpse of an upcoming future catastrophe, which he should focus on instead of waging war. We do not yet learn what the catastrophe is, but the words "everything dies" are dropped, their significance becoming clear in Hickman's ''New Avengers''. And in the final issue of Hickman's Fantastic Four, future Franklin encourages his present day child version to use his imagination and populate the pocket universe he had created (in the beginning of Hickman's run) with all sorts of fantastic beings, hinting that his boundless imagination together with his reality-altering powers would one day be of utmost importance.

* FromShameHeroism: Reed Richards explains to his daughter Valeria that he founded the FF after the space mission that gave them their powers because it was his effort to make amends after ruining their lives, that by making them beloved celebrity heroes with public identities and fame, he might be forgiven for the damage his arrogance caused...someday.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During Hickman's run, in ''FF'' issue 14, Bentley is seen saying something to Katie Powers. Whatever it is he said, she slugs him for it.

* GoodWearsWhite: The first volume of Jonathan Hickman's run had the team wearing white costumes after the formation of the Future Foundation.

* GrandTheftMe: Doctor Doom forcefully switches bodies with Reed Richards in Volume 1, issue 10.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Johnny does this to save his niece and nephew. He succeeds, but dies in the process]]. ([[DeathIsCheap Don't worry, kids, this is a comic book]]).

** As for the rest of the team: The Thing is likewise a very intelligent ex-fighter pilot. On his worst days, he's needy, pessimistic, and pushy; on his best, he is braver than [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]. Sue is the most powerful member of her team and on her best day the TeamMom, but she's got self-esteem issues and doubts Reed's devotion to her and to the family. Most interesting of all is Reed: he's brilliant, he's rich, he's famous, he's got a great family and the name of every other superhero on his rolodex, and he's [[EvenTheGuysWantHim even easy on the eyes]], but every so often he admits his deep guilt over causing the accident that made the Fantastic Four in the first place - even guilt over what happened to Victor Von Doom, even though he didn't have a damn thing to do with it.
* HiddenElfVillage: The Fantastic Four discovered Attilan, a hidden city, which was the retreat of the Inhumans, hidden in the Himalayas (they've moved since).
* HistoricalInJoke: What was Blackbeard's true identity? Find out in ''Fantastic Four'' #5!
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** In one story Doctor Doom gloats to an imprisoned Reed Richards about a torture room he designed full of thousands of mirrors arranged in such a way that the myriad reflections are so incomprehensible to the human mind that looking at it without protective goggles can induce a HeroicBSOD. At the end of the story, about five issues later, Doom and Reed's climactic battle leads to Reed chasing Doom into the aforementioned room, where Doom beats the living crap out of Reed and strangles him while screaming about how much he hates him. However, Reed manages to tear off Doom's mask just before he passes out, and the sight of his grotesquely disfigured face reflected at him thousands of times drives Doom completely insane ([[UnexplainedRecovery he gets better]]).
** ''Fantastic Four'' #10. Doctor Doom develops a ShrinkRay device with the intent of using it on the Fantastic Four, but he ends up getting shrunk down to nothingness by it.

* HopeSpot: During the early days of the series' run, Ben would periodically revert back to his old human self for a few minutes before turning back into The Thing again. Not only did this give Ben hope that the power of the cosmic rays were weakening on him, but it gave the rest of the four hope it might do the same for their powers.

* JustIgnoreIt: The first time they fought the Impossible Man.
* {{Kaiju}}: The Fantastic Four fought a lot of these within the first issues of the series. The list so far:
** Issue #1: Mole Man's massive army that he managed to train while on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Monster Isle]].
** Issue #2: A giant snake, a massive, spike-covered golem made of iron, and an enormous bird, all of which were actually Skrulls in disguise.
** Issue #3: A papier-mâché statue of "The Monster From Mars", which was brought to life by Miracle Man.
*** Lampshaded during the Fantastic Four's cameo in Creator/JossWhedon's ''Comicbook/AstonishingXMen'' when they helped the X-Men battle one of Mole Man's monsters:
---->'''Thing''': ''We'' do big monsters! Big monsters in Manhattan, it's our signature piece!
** Issue #4: A massive whale-like creature with legs called [[MightyGlacier Giganto]], summoned and controlled by Submariner.

* LastNameBasis: The Thing seems to be on a permanent last-name basis with Bruce Banner (possibly having to do with his main rival being [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner Bruce's alter-ego]], and when he gets sufficiently pissed at Reed he'll start referring to him exclusively as "Richards".

* LeaveHimToMe: Happened in an old comic, as shown [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150528001046/http://www.superdickery.com/the-thing-loves-sloppy-seconds/ here]]. Mr. Fantastic tells The Thing to leave Namor to him.

* MediumBlending: Some of the Creator/JackKirby-drawn issues featured photographed models of objects in place of drawings.

* MindRape: A notable example when the Psycho Man twisted Susan's emotions to turn her into the villain Malice. Sue explicitly compared the experience to being raped, and it was a key factor in her decision to [[MeaningfulRename change her name to the Invisible Woman]], and take [[TookALevelInBadass one of the biggest levels in badass in comics]].

* MistakenAge

* NoDialogueEpisode: #588 dealing with the aftermath of the Human Torch sacrifice.

* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: In one issue, a MrAltDisney goes mad and believes himself a {{Messia|nicArchetype}}h. To solve the problem of overpopulation he plans to use the Human Torch to reignite the Earth's core thus expanding the landmass. He dies just as he's about to push the big button. Afterwards his assistants claim the idea would never work. Queried why they were doing it, they admit they were programmed to obey him. The point being, they know the messiah stuff is rubbish but they can only do what they're told.
** Subverted the second time Galactus attacks Earth. He is preceded by his new herald Air Walker, a very impressive-looking being who just happens to be named ''Gabriel Lan'' [[note]] Technically, it's a [[RobotMe robot duplicate]] of the real Gabriel Lan, who is deceased by then. [[/note]] and who, as a herald of Galactus, has come to announce the end of the world. Naturally, the human onlookers assume he is the Biblical Gabriel announcing Armageddon and are terrified. Air Walker is then confronted by the Characters/SilverSurfer, who makes it plain that he himself ''does'' believe in God, and that Air Walker cannot possibly be His agent, because Air Walker is acting like a bullying jerk.
--->'''Silver Surfer:''' The ultimate power need never be flaunted! You cannot possibly be who you claim!
* NotWearingTights: For the first two issues. They only started wearing them because of fan demand.

* ObliviouslySuperpowered: In John Byrne's classic run, there is one story where a [[TheEveryman absolutely ordinary middle-aged man]] is actually a nigh-omnipotent RealityWarper. He remains unaware of this throughout the story, never realizing that the small lucky breaks and coincidences around him are caused by his power. At one point, he even [[TimeMaster speeds up time]] so that the weekend will arrive sooner. In the climax of the story, he spends all his power to fix the Earth when it's destroyed in a battle between Ego the Living Planet and the Fantastic Four, becoming truly an ordinary man, while everyone (including himself) remains unaware that planetary destruction has been overwritten.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: During "Three", Valeria has a flashback to when she went through The Bridge, but it comes without dialogue. Several months later, she explains what happened to Reed, and we get to hear what's said this time.

* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Just before ''Civil War'', the FF have to deal with a newly returned Doom trying to lift Thor's hammer (Thor having lost it due to a temporary case of dead). Of course, Doom is not worthy. Neither is Ben (who figured he'd give it a try).

* OriginsEpisode: Mixed with VillainEpisode, the second ''Fantastic Four'' annual is all about Doom's StartOfDarkness.
* OtherworldlyVisitsYoungestFirst: In the build-up to the Onslaught story, Franklin Richards was visited by his "imaginary friend", Charlie. Charlie was a manifestation of Onslaught, who was, initially, gestating in the brain and body of Charles Xavier. Eventually, the entire Marvel Universe would be reeling from just how real he was.

* PoweredArmor: Somewhere early 70's The Thing lost his powers, so he wound up using a PoweredArmor version of his previous body.

* RageAgainstTheAuthor: {{Author Avatar}}s of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby attended the wedding of Reed and Sue... and were expelled by ComicBook/NickFury.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless:
** The second issue prevents an alien invasion, and by the end of it we have three alien prisoners on Earth. The potential of that would be awesome: they can be interrogated to no end to [[ETGaveUsWiFi get technology ideas from them]] (that if they didn't keep any actual alien devices with them), and their alien biology would open whole new fields of science (no need to get to an AlienAutopsy, just some useless samples of hair and nails would be an incredible thing to analyze). But no: Reed simply hypnotized them to think they are cows, and good riddance.
** The Fantastic Four get broke in issue #9, as a result of the stock market crash of 1962. The team proposes to monetize their powers so they can be back on their feet, but Reed rejects that: the only way they can earn money is either in a freak circus, or as criminals.
** {{Invoked|Trope}} in Mark Waid's run, where it's revealed that companies pay Reed gobs and gobs of money to ''not'' commercialize his patents, because he'd put them out of business if he did.
* ReplacementScrappy: Invoked during the Dan Slott era. The FF want to resume their original mission of space exploration, the one in the rocket that crashed and gave them their powers. In a new and improved version of that old and vintage rocket, even. The Thing refused to take part in that nonsense, and was very adamant in his refusal. But he's not a complete jerk, so he will salute the team before they leave... and they are all happy, with an H.E.R.B.I.E. robot at his chair! Ben immediately changes his mind, suits up and joins the gang. [[spoiler:And then he discovers that it was just a prototype H.E.R.B.I.E. that does not work, and that the pilot seat in the new rocket is bigger, sturdier and designed for someone with big hands.]]
* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: To save Ben.

* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Volume 1 #19 keeps spelling the word Pharaoh as "Pharoah". This was pointed out in the "Fantastic Four: The Legend" special.
* RunsOnIgnorance: In one arc, Reed Richards was helpless against Doctor Doom's magical prowess, so he had to learn magic from Doctor Strange, however he kept trying to analyze it scientifically and logically, making his results less than impressive. He only managed to use his magical skills to defeat Doom once he admitted that he had no idea what he was doing.
* SacredFlames: In ''Fantastic Four #260'' Doctor Doom gets his body obliterated during a fight between Tyros The Terrible and the Silver Surfer. Doom's mind resides in the body of a bystander, who now uses "Gypsy magic" and the "Flames of Falroth" in his Latverian castle to try and reconstruct his mortal body. When these sacred flames cannot undo the disintegration, they summon The Beyonder instead. It's an awkward moment, having recently returned from ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984''.

* ShoutOut:
** Annual #12 sees the Thing fighting an out-of-control robot and crashing into ''Series/TheGongShow''.
** ComicBook/{{Tintin}} managed to have a cameo in volume 3, issue #1 of the series, drawn by Scott Lobdell and Alan Davis where Reed and Sue (in disguise) meet the reporter during a protest march, where he is addressed as French, but quickly points out: ''"For the record, I'm Belgian."''. Later in the story he is seen again fleeing, while shouting Haddock's catchphrase: ''"Billions of blistering blue barnacles"''. [[http://www.comicscube.com/2011/07/easter-eggs-in-comics-tintin-in.html]]
* ShrinkRay
** Volume 1 Issue #10. Doctor Doom develops a shrink ray device with the intent of using it on the Fantastic Four, but he ends up getting HoistByHisOwnPetard and shrunk down to nothingness.
** Volume 3 Issue #65. Using Doctor Doom's shrink ray device, Reed Richards shrinks Characters/TheThing down to half size so he can [[AirVentPassageway travel through the Baxter Building's ventilation ducts]] in search of intruders.
** Issue #606, the team shrunk down to microscopic size to remove an inoperable brain tumor brain tumor from their postman and very good friend Willie Lumpkin.

* SuddenHumility: In one issue, Sue and Johnny swap powers. Sue constantly loses control over her new powers and notes how she constantly "Flames On!" by accident whenever she gets excited or emotional. She's utterly amazed that a HotBlooded person like Johnny was able to keep this much power under control, and she gained a newfound respect and appreciation for her brother because of how difficult it was for her to remain in control at all times.

* TakeThat: When HERBIE the robot was infamously introduced for the 1978 cartoon, Marvel's writers were evidently not too happy about it. First, Johnny explains to [[ComicBook/{{Nova}} Richard Rider]] that he was absent when the others signed the contract for the show (as, much to Ben's ire, Reed was busy creating a real HERBIE robot with a Xandarian scientist so they could get back to Earth easier). A few issues later, it's revealed [[BrainInAJar Doctor Sun]], [[RoguesGalleryTransplant a former enemy of]] ComicBook/{{Dracula|MarvelComics}}'s who had joined Nova and company in an attempt to gain the knowledge of Xandar's computers, uploaded himself into HERBIE and attempted to kill the team. HERBIE/Sun ends up getting blown up by the end of the issue.
* TeamHandStack: Used in the origin story, when the team and members are named.
** And in multiple repeat variations of the origin story.
** And on the cover of Issue 524.

* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: In the 1970s the Frightful Four (who were betrayed by Thundra and now reduced to just the Wizard, Sandman and Paste-Pot Pete) defeated the FF and kept them captive while making auditions for a forth member. They got: a guy with no powers, a guy who can make tornados but would only join if he was well paid for his services (and they expected a member that was in it ForTheEvulz), Thundra (who was there only to have another chance to strike them), a guy with awesome powers but with a fobia to fire, and Tigra (a new character then; he found the Wizard very attractive... because he was the nearest one to the lever that would release the FF). The Wizard then made a general call: ''any'' of those waiting outside that helps them defeat the Torch and the Thing would be accepted as a member. [[DirtyCoward They all ran away]]. The only one to remain was The Brute, who finally became the 4º member.

* ThatManIsDead: In Issue 284, when Sue gives a speech about her newfound maturity at the end:
-->'''Sue:''' There is no '''''Invisible Girl''''' anymore, Reed. She '''''died''''' when the Psycho-Man [[MindRape twisted her soul]].
** As of Issue #5 of Dan Slott's run,[[spoiler: Ben and Alicia]].
* TheBusCameBack:
** The Richards family and the Future Foundation were absent from the Marvel universe in the three years of publication after ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''. Then came Dan Slott's run.
** Mark Waid's run had Doom cast into Hell (well, ''a'' Hell. Marvel's got a lot of 'em.) He returns during Strazinsky's run.
** Kristoff, Doom's protégé / heir just sort of vanished after a while. Christos Gage explained his absence completely in-character in a 2010 Spider-Man[=/=]Fantastic Four miniseries, with the Mini ending with him about to confront Doom directly. Hickman's run paid homage to this miniseries by having Kristoff in the same armor he wore in the Gage miniseries. Hickman said in an interview that Kristoff failed, had his personality rebooted ''again'' and got booted off into exile.
** Hickman's run '''also''' explained why there had been so many different Nathaniel Richards running around over the years, being a "Great Hunt" instituted by Immortus.
* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: During Hickman's run, Johnny invites himself to live with Peter Parker. Peter gets increasingly irritated by Johnny's antics over the next few weeks, finally reaching his breaking point and kicking Johnny out when he finds Annihilus sitting on his toilet.

* TwistingTheProphecy: When the Overmind was introduced in ''Fantastic Four issue #113'', he was fond of quoting a prophecy about himself: "From out of the heavens shall come the Overmind, and he shall crush the universe." Indeed, none of the heroes can make a dent in him, even with the TeethClenchedTeamwork of [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]]. It took the DeusExMachina of The Stranger showing up, and summarily shrinking the Overmind to particulate size, taunting: "Now the Overmind has his universe to crush, on a nameless mote of dust."
* {{Tyrannicide}}: Issue #247 has [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] bring the Fantastic Four to his homeland to show them how Prince Zorba has reduced Latveria to a CrapsackWorld where its people live in misery and fear. While the Four battle war-class Doombots, Doom seeks out Zorba and confronts him about his tyranny.
-->'''Prince Zorba''': So long as I live, you have no claim to the throne!\\
'''Doctor Doom''': [[ImpliedDeathThreat Precisely]].
* .UnexpectedInheritance: [[spoiler:Following Johnny's ComicBookDeath at the hands of Annihulus, his holographic will revealed that he decided to give his spot of the FF to ComicBook/SpiderMan.]]

* WeddingEpisode: Reed and Sue's wedding quickly went from kink-free and blissful to a disaster of epic proportions when it was crashed by a very-pissed conga line of recurring villains who tore up the Baxter Building and a large portion of New York while fighting over who got to kill the FF, tangled with all the FF's [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avenger]] and X-Men pals who had been invited to the wedding, and turned the event into one of the most famous [[MeleeATrois Battle Royales]] in all of comics history. It took the frickin' ''Watcher'' [[DeusExMachina popping in with a machine that threw all the villains back in time to before the attack began to end the chaos]].

* WhamEpisode: Issue #216 opens with the following disclaimer: "'''Warning:''' In this incredible issue, you'll find the '''one word''' you never thought you'd see in a Marvel comic '''again!'''" At the end of the issue, the Fantastic Four (seeking to know who the mysterious alien beings behind the Nuwali and Fortisquains were) locate a defunct Nuwalian heater in the currently frozen-over Savage Land and open it up, finding one word among the machinery: '''''Beyonder'''''. This is the name of a group of powerful aliens that were first mentioned back in issue 63 of the Thing's own TeamUpSeries, ''Marvel Two-In-One''. The revelation also inspires most of the Fantastic Four to visit the singular entity of the same name (from ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' and ''ComicBook/SecretWarsII'') a few issues later.

* YouCantFightFate: A theme of Hickman's run. Despite everything Nathaniel and Valeria can think of, the Mad Celestials always end up killing the Fantastic Four. Much of the run is spent with Val trying to find a way to ScrewDestiny.

%% * BachelorAuction: Fantastic Four Volume 3, #50 backup story "In The Eye Of The Beholder".

* LegacyCharacter: The Human Torch is loosely based on the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Human Torch.

* MostCommonSuperpower: For a time during the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks mid-90s]], the Invisible Woman wore a skimpy costume with a cut-out "4" on her cleavage. This was before writers and editors realized that they didn't have to dress Sue up in a slinky costume to make her sexy -- she was already a MILF.

The World's Greatest Heroes. The Fabulous Foursome. The Greatest Team Ever.

Creator/MarvelComics' ''First'' Family.

'''''[[TropeCodifier The]]''''' {{Superhero}} [[BadassFamily Family]].

* TakeThat: When HERBIE the robot was infamously introduced for the 1978 cartoon, Marvel's writers were evidently not too happy about it. First, Johnny explains to [[ComicBook/{{Nova}} Richard Rider]] that he was absent when the others signed the contract for the show (as, much to Ben's ire, Reed was busy creating a real HERBIE robot with a Xandarian scientist so they could get back to Earth easier). A few issues later, it's revealed [[BrainInAJar Doctor Sun]], [[RoguesGalleryTransplant a former enemy of]] [[ComicBook/TheTombOfDracula Dracula's]] who had joined Nova and company in an attempt to gain the knowledge of Xandar's computers, uploaded himself into HERBIE and attempted to kill the team. HERBIE/Sun ends up getting blown up by the end of the issue.

* TrueCompanions: [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] is one of the most trusted allies and friends of the Four. After the [[spoiler:Torch's supposed death]], Spidey temporarily became a member of the ''Future Foundation''.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Susan used to have only invisibility in the early stories until Lee and Kirby realized that it was next to useless compared to the male members' powers. As a result, they gave Susan her force field powers, but it was only later under John Byrne's period that she learned to really make it a kick ass power set, using it with a new aggressiveness in battle. Since then, different writers have her being considered not only the most powerful member of the team, but one of the most powerful heroes, period. To give an example, she's used those forcefields to ''knock out the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]]''. It's further implied that if Sue didn't adhere to the rule of [[ThouShaltNotKill heroes not killing their enemies]] she could easily defeat most of her opponents by simply generating force field bubbles in their bodies and/or vital organs and making said force fields expand.

* {{Worthy Opponent}}s: Ben Grimm and the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] to each other. Banner himself has said that if Hulk ever really cut loose, Ben would probably be the only hero on Earth with even a chance of slowing "ol' Jade-Jaws" down.

** One universe, depicted in ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #11, is one where [[SelfInsert the original Marvel Bullpen]] was the Fantastic Four, with Creator/JackKirby as the Thing, Flo Steinberg as the Invisible Girl, Sol Brodsky as the Human Torch, and none other than Creator/StanLee as Mr. Fantastic.

** Johnny and [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] have a friendly rivalry with each other; so do Ben and Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}. Encounters of the two duos are common in crossovers.

** [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] sometimes takes this role for Franklin. Notably when he consoled Franklin after Johnny Storm's death. In a {{Video Will|s}} he left behind, one of Johnny's reasons for asking Spider-Man to take his place in the team line-up was because he knew Franklin would be thrilled.

* LastNameBasis: The Thing seems to be on a permanent last-name basis with Bruce Banner (possibly having to do with his main rival being [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Bruce's alter-ego]], and when he gets sufficiently pissed at Reed he'll start referring to him exclusively as "Richards".

* LeaveHimToMe: Happened in an old comic, as shown [[http://www.superdickery.com/the-thing-loves-sloppy-seconds/ here]]. Mr. Fantastic tells The Thing to leave Namor to him.

* TheNicknamer: Ben. Some of his nicknames include "Stretcho" for Reed, "Bic-head" and "Matchstick" for Johnny, "Suzie-Q" for Susan, "Jade-Jaws" for [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]], etc.

* OrpheanRescue: To save Ben.

** {{Invoked}} in Mark Waid's run, where it's revealed that companies pay Reed gobs and gobs of money to ''not'' commercialize his patents, because he'd put them out of business if he did.

** Spider-Man's close relationship with the Fantastic Four has had him serve as this multiple times well before being inducted into the group proper as the Future Foundation. He would later lead a modified incarnation of the team (simply referred to as the "New Fantastic Four") comprised of himself, the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]], Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} and ComicBook/GhostRider (Danny Ketch)[[labelnote:*]]Was replaced with ComicBook/IronMan in a modern-day "What If?" story.[[/labelnote]], which in turn saw some of their [[LegacyCharacter successors and counterparts]] (like X-23, Amadeus Cho, Gwen Stacy and Robbie Reyes) form their own variants for certain occasions.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: ComicBook/SheHulk was a member of the team for a while when the Thing went solo. Having the same powers let her fill the role effectively.
** Earlier, Characters/LukeCage had filled in for Ben for a few issues during a period when Ben was depowered.

* DeafComposer: Alicia Masters is a blind sculptress. More impressive because she makes lifelike statues based purely on description.

* CatchPhrase: "IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" "FLAME ON!!"