History of The MC2: The Fantastic Four

I was inspired recently to make a timeline of events covering the history of the MC2, spanning the nebulous 15 year stretch of time after the Main Marvel Universe (or Universe-616) split off and became the MC2 (or Universe-982) and before the next-generation of heroes began to emerge in J2 #1, A-Next #1 and What If #105.

Given that Marvel's First Family are being relaunched with a new #1, I decided for the second installment of this series I would look at the MC2's Fantastic Four team. The events surrounding the rebranding of the team from the Fantastic Four to the Fantastic Five is a major mystery from the team's first cameo in What If #105, through their guest appearances in Spider-Girl, A-Next and in the pages of their own series. Parts of the mystery unravel within the pages of Fantastic Five #1-5 but some aspects were left unresolved when the series was prematurely cancelled. These lingering mysteries would be addressed in the Fantastic Five mini series years later.

While we don't know the exact point at which the history of the Main Marvel Universe Fantastic Four stops being the same as that of the MC2 Fantastic Four/Five, we do know a few things about the teams past history. At some point, the Skrull called Lyja joined the Fantastic Four and married Johnny Storm (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1). Reed and Susan's own son Franklin Richards would also join the team afterwards, despite the group still officially being known as the Fantastic Four (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, #4). While it's unclear exactly when, Ben Grimm and Sharon Ventura married and had twins Alyce and Jacob Grimm (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, #3, #5).

Approximately 11-12 years prior to the dawn of the second generation of heroes (the beginning of the MC2 as seen in J2 #1, A-Next #1 and What If #105) a war broke out between Doctor Doom and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Hearing a war was brewing, Doom's former ward Kristoff Vernard had returned to his native Latveria (A-Next #5). During the war, Latveria was devastated, Atlantis was ravaged and most of Namor's people were slaughtered (A-Next #3, A-Next #5, Fantastic Five Vol. 2 #1).

In the war's aftermath, Doctor Doom went missing and was widely believed to have been killed by The Sub-Mariner, Namor himself was branded an international war-criminal and went into exile and Latveria was hotly disputed with various nations vying for control of the secrets and weapons within Castle Doom (A-Next #3, Spider-Girl #3, A-Next #5). S.H.I.E.L.D. is placed in Latveria's capital city Doomstadt by the United Nations (A-Next #5). Unknown to everyone else, Namor held Doom prisoner in a grotto deep under water within the Great Atlantis Trench, returning to torture him once a month as punishment for the destruction of Atlantis and it's people (Fantastic Five Vol. 2 #1).  With his intimate knowledge of Doctor Doom's extensive arsenal, and aware that he himself could be exploited by those seeking to gain access to the weaponry, Kristoff went into hiding within the remains of Castle Doom which was now a disputed no-man's land protected by S.H.I.E.L.D. (A-Next #5, Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #5).

During a battle with the villainous Terrax, Ben Grimm aka The Thing had the rock-like hide torn from much of the left side of his body by a miniature black hole. Reed Richards created bionic armour to cover the exposed tissue but explained it could take years to regenerate his missing hide. As a side effect of his bionics in situ, it would be impossible for Ben to revert to his human form (Fantastic Five Vol. 2 #1-2).

*I think I should point out the slight continuity error in the flashback above: Other flashbacks depicting events occurring after the one above clearly show the team wearing F4 uniforms and operating under the name Fantastic Four. Likely, the F5 uniforms are a simple artistic error*

At an unknown point, the long-time F4 foe The Wizard lost the use of both his legs in unrevealed circumstances. Blaming Reed Richards for his disability, The Wingless Wizard went unseen for years while plotting his revenge. To achieve his goal, he began recruiting people for a new team dubbed The Wizard's Warriors (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #2).

Approximately five or so years prior to the events of Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, the Fantastic Four prepared to battle Hyperstorm, a cosmically powered warlord from an alternate future who had built a doomsday weapon in the Negative Zone (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4, Spider-Girl #87). Lyja was pregnant at this time and did not join the team on their mission (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4). Franklin engaged Hyperstorm in a 'mind-war' on every plane of existence which ultimately left Hyperstorm comatose and apparently stripped Franklin of much of his god-like power (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4).

 Unfortunately, the doomsday device had already begun to tear a hole in the fabric of reality. When Reed Richards was forced to overload the device to stop it, Susan Richards attempted to shield him from the radiation with her force field. Caught in the blast radius, half of Reed's body was left in a melted and deformed state. With the rip in reality still widening, Susan used her powers to hold the tear in place, with the strain leaving her in suspended animation.

In the wake of the tragedy, The Fantastistation was built in the Negative Zone around the tear in reality. This allowed Reed to keep Sue company while she remained in suspended animation as he worked to slowly repair the hole in the fabric of reality (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4, Spider-Girl #87). Over the next few months, while the Fantastic Four remained in seclusion, rumours and speculation spread about the fate of Susan Richards despite the team never releasing details to the public. Reed developed the Big Brain robot to allow him to remain on the team by remotely controlling it from the Negative Zone ( Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1).

The team formally changed their charter, membership and name, finally re-branding themselves as the Fantastic Five, with John Storm aka The Human Torch leading the team of Ms. Fantastic aka his wife Lyja Storm; Ben Grimm aka The Thing; Reed Richards as Big Brain and Franklin Richards now known as Psi-Lord (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, Fantastic Five Vol. 2 #1).



Based on various comments throughout both Fantastic Five series and other MC2 titles, we can work out a (very) rough timeline of events. Despite vague comments in A-Next #3 and #5 and Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #5 stating the war between Doctor Doom and Namor occurred 'years ago' or 'a few years ago' it's not until Fantastic Five Vol. 2 that we get a fairly definitive statement regarding when the war took place: 'Almost 12 full years' ago. Given that the MC2 has seemingly had a year elapse (judging by Mayday aging from 15 to 16 years of age) since it began publication, we can place the war at around 11 years prior to the MC2 era. Apart from that, we only get one other fairly definitive statement to pieces together the timeline: it was 'About five or so years ago' that the team lost Reed and Sue Richards fighting Hyperstorm.

This last piece of information actually raises a bunch of questions about the age of John and Lyja Storm's son, Torus Storm...but we'll have to address that another day. So, to recap the timeline of events:

• Doctor Doom and Namor the Sub-Mariner go to war, ultimately causing the destruction of Atlantis in addition to leaving Latveria in political turmoil. Doom is imprisoned by Namor for over a decade.
• Following the war, Kristoff Vernard goes missing in action, secretly protecting and preventing Doom's arsenal of weapons from falling into the wrong hands.
• Ben Grimm loses the rock-like hide from most of his left side during a battle with Terrax. Reed Richards provides him with bionic armour for protection.
• The Wizard blames Reed Richards for the lose of the use of both his lower limbs following an unrevealed event. The Wizard is not heard from for years afterwards as he plans his revenge.
• Hyperstorm is defeated by the Franklin Richards who loses much of his power. Reed and Susan Richards are permanently incapacitated, with Reed partially melted and Susan in suspended animation holding a tear in reality.
• The Fantastistation is constructed around Susan Richards in the Negative Zone. Reed Richards chooses to stay with his wife, attempting to repair the tear in reality.
• The Big Brain robot is built by Reed allow him to continue to aid the team, being controlled remotely from the Negative Zone.
• The team officially renames themselves the Fantastic Five, with John Storm as their leader.

Hopefully this helps straighten out the timeline for the MC2's own Fantastic Four...er….Five? If you feel I've missed something or made a mistake, please feel free to let me know.

Until I run out of Fantastic Family Members to count, I remain

frogoat

The Buzz in Spider-Man Unlimited

As I discussed here, The Buzz aka Jack Jameson has been added to the Spider-Man Unlimited mobile game. As I haven't made a video in quite sometime and because I'm trying to put out more content more often, I decided to put this short video together to show off The Buzz in action.

If anyone is interested, here are links to posts about my earlier MC2 related videos:

The Evolution of Spider-Girl in Video Games

The Evolution of American Dream in Video Games

Black Suit Spider-Girl in Spider-Man Unlimited

Black Suit Swiney-Girl in Spider-Man Unlimited


I hope everyone enjoys and if you'd like to see more content like this, please let me know!

Until I run out of MC2 characters to make videos about, I remain

frogoat

The Incredibles in the MC2?!

When I finally watched Ant-Man and The Wasp recently, I also watched The Incredibles 2 right afterwards. The way my mind works, I was planning potential blog posts relating to Ant-Man and The Wasp that would relate to the MC2 while viewing the latter film. That's when I realized there was a direct connection between The Incredibles and the MC2's Spider-Girl: Edna Mode, dahling!

In Spider-Girl#91 ('The Shocking Secret of the Spider Shoppe!') fashion designer Daniel Kingsley is plagued by La Fantome at the fall premiere of his 'Season of the Spider' line. It turns out Daniel stole the designs in his show from the boutique Spider Shoppe and is now being targeted by La Fantome for exploiting the images of various Spider-Women. As a result of the bad publicity, one of Kingsley's supporters- a very familiar looking woman -decides to pull their funding...

…But the discussion is interrupted by the sudden arrival of La Fantome and the woman makes a hasty exit.

I'm surprised she didn't lecture La Fantome about the dangers of wearing a cape. Spider-Girl #91 was cover dated December 2005, only a year after the release of The Incredibles. I don't think it's a stretch to think Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz were fans of the film.

Until I stop drawing crazy patterns in fiction, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Girls Mini-Series for Spider-Geddon

While I wasn't expecting much from the upcoming Spider-Geddon event, I felt it would be remiss of me not to at least note the recent announcement from the Comic-Con International: San Diego. Among the Spider-Geddon tie-ins we got this:

SPIDER-GIRLS #1 (of 3)
JODY HOUSER (W) • ANDRES GENOLET (A)
Cover by YASMINE PUTRI
A SPIDER-GEDDON TIE IN!
• MAY "MAYDAY" PARKER, the original SPIDER-GIRL, ANYA CORAZON, the Prime Universe SPIDER-GIRL, and ANNIE MAY PARKER, A.K.A. SPIDERLING — together for the first time!
• May will do anything to protect her brother from the Inheritors, and Anya's knowledge of the mystical Spider-Totems could save the day.
• But how does Annie fit in? And what chance do three girls have against ageless universal forces?!

As my regular readers (if any actually exist) will know, I'm less than enthused about the rehashing of the Spider-Verse story beats for Spider-Geddon. Especially given that the original event tore down 12 years of character development and world building by needlessly killing Mayday's father simply to temporarily (and honestly, artificially) motivate a 'tragic' story arc which never really paid off.

But I am determined to be positive about this particular mini-series as it is not being handled by Dan Slott or Christos Gage. Jody Houser is the current writer for the Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows ongoing series and has recently produced some solid work portraying a functioning Spider-Family, albeit eerily similar to some of the Spider-Girl series' own plot lines. Perhaps that's why I'm willing to be more open to her work on this mini-series? Unfortunately, the overarching plot of the event rests with Christos Gage and Dan Slott so we may see a repeat of the Mayday story from Spider-Verse; stuck between character beats without the emotional pay off.

I'll be interested to learn how the interactions between Annie May and Mayday Parker are handled. We've recently learned in the Renew Your Vows series, that baby May met the same fate as in the Main Marvel Universe. This provides fertile ground for some really great character moments. I have seen some Mayday fans declare they won't be checking out this mini-series simply because of the presence of Anya Corazon aka Araña because of the real-world reasons that led to Araña being rebranded as Spider-Girl. In my opinion, this is unfair. Anya has some great potential and I don't believe the character is responsible for editorially imposed decisions. It's also worth pointing out that Spider-Girl creators Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz embraced the character, even adding Anya to the MC2.

All in all, this mini-series won't change my mind about the event itself but I will be giving it a chance. With all that's happening in the Spider-Man books at the moment, it seems there's some big changes coming soon.

Until I fully commit to something instead of fence sitting, I remain

frogoat

Why Can't Hope Pym Shrink?

While doing research for my post about the Pym Family Tree in the MC2, I noticed that various sources claimed Hope Pym aka The Red Queen appears to lack the ability to alter her size. At first, I doubted this claim because no references were cited, so I did my own investigation of all of Hope's appearances from A-Next #7 all the way through to her most recent appearances in Spider-Island. Here's a selection:

This is the first time we see Hope with wings but judging by the dialogue, it appears she doesn't possess the ability to shrink down in size like Stinger. In fact, the mention of size changing actually seems to anger her further with her saying 'Stop shrinking on me! That power is rightfully mine--' when Stinger questions why Hope isn't changing size (A-Next #12).

There are a few examples in the Last Planet Standing mini-series where we see Hope at full size in flight or simply using her wrist mounted blasters, but no instances of her shrinking or even growing in size. It's also worth noting Hope is sometimes depicted in flight without her wings.

Another example of (potential) wingless flight from American Dream #3.

And here we have more examples of winged flight with no apparent change in size from Hope. Except for the last page-I just really love the art! (American Dream #5) And last but not least we have Hope's appearances in the Spider-Island mini-series....

...Where I don't think Hope actually does anything super human at all. So, I think it's fair to say Hope lacks the ability to change size in any manner. So what's the deal? Obviously if there was a definitive answer on the page, there wouldn't be a need for all this, but I do have a possible theory.

In A-Next #12 and various other appearances we clearly see Hope's twin brother Henry Pym Jr aka Big Man demonstrating his super human ability to increase in size. Henry even mentions he usually grows to twelve feet in height but can grow significantly larger, similar to his father Hank Pym aka Giant-Man's own abilities. I propose that despite Hope and Henry being twins, only Henry was born with super human abilities from his parents frequent exposure to Pym Particles.

Hope may have developed an inferiority complex growing up in a super powered family. Perhaps Hope's lack of super human powers, coupled with the death of her parents led to her disproportional hatred for the Avengers and her desire to humiliate and kill the next generation of the team.  Hope notably focuses much of her rage on Cassie Lang aka Stinger and  clearly despises the hero's own ability to change size. Presumably this is because Cassie and her father Scott Lang utilize Pym Particles to change their size while Hope either doesn't have access to or does not understand her father's method or formula.

Given the fact that in her civilian identity she oversaw the project that granted Ion Man his abilities and that as Red Queen she maintains a rather sophisticated looking headquarters or laboratory, we can deduce that Hope has both money and intellect. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that what Hope lacked in super powers, she compensated for with high tech gadgets, such as her wrist mounted blasters and artificial wings. Given that we've seen Hope fly both with and without the wings, it's possible they are merely an affectation to honour her mother, and that the ability to fly is achieved through other methods.  

Of course, I could be completely wrong. Let me know what you think! Who knows, maybe one day this will be cleared up and I can move on....

Until I stop dwelling on obscure plot points in 20 year old comics at 3am, I remain

frogoat