5 Reasons The Fantastic Four Should Stick Around

1. High Adventure In Bright, Colourful Science Fiction

While Marvel it retains an interesting and vibrant universe of aliens and galactic empires it never seems to quite know how to use it properly, and this has been getting worse of late. Despite the successes of Annihilation, The Thanos Imperative and making Richard Rider a popular character, many writers seem to be backpedaling when it comes to cosmic stories and push for a more grounded setting. Many new stories go out of their way to be Earth focused, with the likes of Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, and even supposedly cosmic events like Infinity and Inhumanity suffering from this. Half the time Marvel comics seem to be almost ashamed of such colourful aspects which serve as the very foundation of their genre; mocking such elements or trying to treat them in an ironic light. Even those trying to draw in new audiences like Ms. Marvel seem to have flipped the company's traditional approach to their characters, with superheroics and her alien origin being secondary to teenage life. By comparison, the Fantastic Four are one of the few who seem to wholeheartedly embrace the weirdness, goofiness and outlandishness of their universe without any regret. Stories will frequently focus upon alternate realities, alien gods, dark eldritch beings and time travel at the drop of a hat. Whereas the Avengers are increasingly focused upon which supervillain will attempt to invade America this month, the Four's stories are devoted to bigger, brighter and more outlandish tales whenever they can. This gives the universe greater variety, and they are one of the few tales which still treats the brilliantly alien parts of the Marvel universe as something wondrous and outlandish. Even when they do go for more Earth based threats and Doctor Doom, these tend to involve Silver Age style science fiction. Like him stealing an all-powerful surfboard from the herald of world consuming remnant of a previous universe. If that's not the kind of brilliant insanity superhero comics are supposed to be about then Lord knows what is. Do you have a few other ideas why the Fantastic Four need to remain a part of Marvel? Please leave your own suggestions and thoughts in the comments below!