10 Things You Need To Know About The Fantastic Four

1. Marvel Cancelled The FF Comic In 2015

Fantastic Four
Marvel Comics

Released in April 2015, Fantastic Four #645 saw Marvel Comics officially bring its Fantastic Four books to a close.

Given how Marvel's First Family had been such a staple of the company for over 50 years by then, many were taken aback to see the call made to cancel such a historically important title. But the reality of the matter, is that Marvel made this decision due to the movie license of the Fantastic Four.

At this time, the movie rights for these characters were still at 20th Century Fox. With the larger Marvel Entertainment group owned by Disney, that meant that Marvel had zero say over what silver screen adventures were seen by Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, the Thing or their villains and supporting characters.

The established members of the Fantastic Four themselves were still active, it's just that Marvel Comics was no longer to publish FF stories. For example, the Thing joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, while the Human Torch tagged along with the Inhumans.

One popular school of thought was that Marvel Entertainment didn't want to continue to publish Fantastic Four stories knowing that these tales could then be adapted as blockbuster movies that would make a bunch of cash for 20th Century Fox.

A logical argument against that, of course, is that Fox already had 50+ years of FF stories to already pull from if they so chose.

Either way, Marvel pulled the plug on their Fantastic Four comics in 2015. Following Disney's assimilation of 21st Century Fox - including the movie license for the FF - in 2017, the Fantastic Four title would be relaunched in 2018.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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