There’s this highly-anticipated movie on the horizon called Fantastic
Four: First Steps from Marvel Studios. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
One of the aspects unique to this big-screen theatrical adaption of Marvel’s
First Family is the debut of the robotic companion H.E.R.B.I.E. So, let’s
look at the history of H.E.R.B.I.E. in the MC2.
H.E.R.B.I.E.’s origins lie outside the comics, having
been conceived by Stan Lee for 1978’s The New Fantastic Four
animated series as a replacement fourth member of the team when the Human
Torch was unavailable for use due to a planned but never realized solo
film. Fantastic
Four co-creator and comic book legend Jack Kirby provided the design
for the character.
H.E.R.B.I.E. or ‘Herbie’ was soon after introduced into the comics, making his (‘its’?) first appearance in the pages of Fantastic Four #209 by Marv Wolfman and John Byrne in 1979. Built by Reed Richards (and Master Xar of Xandar), it is revealed the animated series itself exists in-universe as a licenced product and that Reed offered the design to the producers as a replacement for Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch who was out of town that day and unable to sign a contract. According to Richards, H.E.R.B.I.E. stands for Humanoid Experimental Robotic B-Type Integrated Electronics.
Let us hop on over to the MC2 Universe now, where
what appears to be a version of H.E.R.B.I.E. makes a cameo appearance as
a member of the Fantastic
Five in What If #105. But is this really H.E.R.B.I.E.? When
we next see the Fantastic Five in Spider-Girl #3, we learn the
public story that Reed Richards body was mangled in an accident, leading
him to use a robotic form resembling H.E.R.B.I.E. albeit under the
codename ‘Big Brain’.
We learn more of the mystery surrounding Reed’s
accident in Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #1 when the Big Brain robot
is destroyed. Soon after we see flashbacks to a battle in the Negative
Zone about 5 years beforehand between the Fantastic Four and
the villainous Hyperstorm. In the aftermath of this battle, a 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 a coma,
forcing the misshapen Reed to place her suspended
animation (Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #4).
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).
With the destruction of the previous Big Brain robot
in Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #1, Reed begins using a new model with
a more humanlike shell, marking the last time we’d see the H.E.R.B.I.E.
design utilized in the MC2.
Until I decide to put my brain in a robot to spend more time
with my wife, I remain
frogoat