One World Under Doom has put the Fantastic Four into a very interesting place. Doom now rules the world, and every time the Fantastic Four and Avengers have stood against him, they’ve lost and lost badly, made to look like fools by Doom. Doom was able to cure the Thing of his powers, a seemingly altruistic action that would prove to be a huge problem in Fantastic Four #31. The loss of the Thing’s power could destroy the Fantastic Four forever, as the team’s powers start to go on the fritz. The reason was revealed in 2017’s Marvel Two-In-One — if the team is separated for too long, they’ll lose their powers. This includes when one of them loses their power, because somehow their cosmic radiation feeds off itself in their bodies. This leads the team to make a desperate choice.
Cosmic rays of the type that gave the Fantastic Four their powers are very hard to find, and that leads to the team realizing that there’s only place they can to with a hundred percent shot of being exposed to them again — the past. However, they decide to travel back to the past of other universes to expose Ben to the cosmic radiation, all so he can get his powers back without changing the timeline. However, things get pretty crazy when they realize that not every version of the Fantastic Four in other universes is like them.
The Fantastic Four decided to jump into the multiverse rather than just go back in time, just in case they ruined their own origin story. Most of the time, they encounter themselves but with a twist — for example Sue and Johnny go for each other’s throats immediately trying to kill the other. There’s another example of a universe where Sue’s power to turn invisible in uncontrollable, forcing her to wear a mask in order for anyone to see her. In another universe, Reed’s stretching power is much more of a detriment, his body getting weaker the further he stretches. Then there are the completely different versions of the team they watch as they fail again and again to regain the Thing’s powers.
One of the universes has a Skrull version of the team, although it’s impossible to know if it’s because Earth was taken over by the Skrulls or if this version of the team were infiltrators. There’s a universe where the Fantastic Four aren’t human, but sentient sharks. There’s the gender swap universe, where Ben, Reed, and Johnny were women and Sue was a man. However, there’s an even more bizarre version of the Fantastic Four. Only one member of the original team is there, just Ben Grimm. In Reed Richards’s place is Wolverine, who gains the power to, at least, stretch his claws. Bruce Banner was a member of the crew, and somehow become a Hulk Torch. Finally, there’s Thor who gains the power of the Invisible Woman. This is easily the weirdest version of the Fantastic Four; while the Hulk and Wolverine have been members of the team, it’s strange to see the two of them on the space mission the Fantastic Four went on and got their powers. The same thing can be said for Thor being there. It’s actually a cool team composition, but it’s undeniably unique.
The Fantastic Four’s plan to get the Thing’s powers back show a remarkable level of caution. They obviously can’t destroy their own past, so going into the multiverse is a prudent decision. However, they go through universe after universe, and Ben never actually gets his powers back. This drives him deeper and deeper into despair — making his depression over losing his powers into hopelessness. This drives him to make a desperate choice — taking the team into the past of the 616 universe.
The Thing is able to get his powers back, but blocks the cosmic ray storm from hitting the Marvel-1. The Fantastic Four’s rocket lands on Earth… and they don’t have their powers. Ben’s despair forced him to make the wrong choice, and he wipes out the Fantastic Four. The issue ends with the world completely changed, but there’s hope — Valeria Richards still has her memories and exists in this new world.
Fantastic Four #31 is on sale now.
One World Under Doom has put the Fantastic Four into a very interesting place. Doom now rules the world, and every time the Fantastic Four and Avengers have stood against him, they’ve lost and lost badly, made to look like fools by Doom. Doom was able to cure the Thing of his powers, a seemingly Read More