10 Things You Didn't Know About The Fantastic Four

2. They Were Created As An Answer To The Justice League Of America

The Justice League preceded the Avengers by three years, being introduced in 1960 in comparison to the Marvel team's introduction in 1963, and most people would assume that the Avengers were Marvel's answer to DC's flagship team, but it was actually the Fantastic Four who were created for that purpose. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the team after magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman told Lee that the best-selling National Comics title (National Comics being what DC were known as back then) was the Justice League of America and suggested that Marvel put out a comic based on a superhero team. The Avengers are far more similar to the Justice League than the Fantastic Four are, so you can certainly be forgiven for making the assumption that Marvel made them as a reaction to the DC team, but it was actually Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben whose initial task it was to rival Superman and company.