- 02/07/2025
You thought the Fantastic Four had their powers permanently? Think again.
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00:00Now, despite the Fantastic Four's clear importance on the comic book history,
00:04there are still a lot of details the readers get wrong about the iconic quartet. Contrary to
00:09popular belief, the leader, Reed Richards, isn't the world's smartest superhero, the Thing isn't
00:14the strongest team member, and the group didn't receive their powers accidentally. Confused? Well,
00:19let's have a chat. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 Lies You Always
00:23Believed About the Fantastic Four. 10. The Fantastic Four Are Marvel's First Superheroes
00:28In August 1961, Marvel Comics published Fantastic Four No. 1, making them the first Marvel
00:35superheroes, right? Well, at least that's what many people believe. Contrary to popular belief,
00:39Marvel wasn't created in the 1960s. The company was formed in 1939, only one year after Superman
00:46officially debuted. At the time, the company was called Timely Comics. But unlike DC Comics,
00:51this incarnation of Marvel didn't focus on superhero stories and instead had a plethora of
00:55diverse series including mystery, horror, and romance. But when the company decided to focus
01:00on superheroes, they rebooted under the name Marvel Comics in the 1960s. Although the Fantastic Four
01:06were the first superheroes under this banner, there were many other iconic characters long before,
01:11including Namor the Submariner, Citizen V, the original Vision, Hellcat, Bucky, and of course,
01:16Captain America. 9. The Fantastic Four Got Their Powers Accidentally
01:20Reed Richard, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm obtained their powers after being struck
01:25by cosmic rays whilst in space. This incident transformed them into Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible
01:30Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing, respectively. For the longest time, the team assumed that this
01:35encounter was a freak accident. But in Fantastic Four Volume 6 No. 14, they discovered that this
01:41wasn't actually the case. On that fateful day, Reed and his company ventured to space, hoping to find
01:46an Earth-like planet. However, an entity called Overseer learned of Reed's voyage and deduced
01:51his ship would eventually arrive on his world spire. Terrified that the four explorers' arrival
01:56would jeopardize his harmonious society, Overseer blasted the ship with cosmic rays, forcing it to
02:01return to Earth. As a result, Overseer is indirectly responsible for creating the Fantastic Four.
02:07Weirdly, this revelation contradicts Fantastic Four No. 530, when an entity called The Entity told the
02:12Fantastic Four that he created the cosmic rays that struck their ship. The entity claims that
02:17the rays served as a beacon to help him find others who sought the secrets of the universe.
02:21It's not certain if the Overseer story is a retcon or the creative team just forgot about
02:25the entity's backstory, but either way, those cosmic rays were deliberately intended.
02:308. The Fantastic Four Are The First Marvel Super Team
02:33Even though the Fantastic Four are known as Marvel's first family, this nickname is highly
02:37debatable. The first team to exist in the Marvel Universe chronologically was Avengers 1 million
02:42BC, which was forged in, well, you can probably guess. Comprised of Odin, Lady Phoenix, the original
02:47Black Panther, Agamotto, Iron Fist, and the first Ghost Rider, the heroes united to defeat a mad
02:52Celestial who invaded the world. So okay, the Fantastic Four might not have been the first heroes
02:56to band together, but surely they're the first super team in the modern world, right? Nope,
03:00because the first team to appear in a Marvel series was the All-Winners Squad in 1946. This team was
03:05composed of Namor, Bucky, the Fred Davis version, the robotic Human Torch, Toro, Miss America,
03:10Whizzer, and Captain America. But in 1969, it was revealed that the original Cap, Steve Rogers,
03:16formed a team called the Invaders in the early 1940s, making them the first superhero team of
03:21the 20th century. So depending on how you phrase it, the first Marvel super team was either Avengers
03:261 million BC, the Invaders, or the All-Winners Squad. But one thing is for certain, it wasn't the
03:31Fantastic Four. 7. Their Powers Are Permanent
03:35Since Reed Richards and Sue Storm are scientists, they understand their powers on a microscopic and
03:40quantum level. Not only does this help the Fantastic Four learn how their powers work,
03:44but it also helps them discover new ways to utilize their abilities. Even though Reed and
03:48Sue have analyzed their superpowers for years now, there's one thing that they never realized
03:52until quite recently, that their abilities only work if the Fantastic Four are in constant contact.
03:57After Reed and Sue vanished for several months, Ben and Johnny noticed that their powers were kind
04:02of on the fritz. After being analyzed by a superhero scientist, which is a pretty standard job in the
04:06world of comics, Ben and Johnny discover that their abilities are tethered together, meaning that they
04:10only function when all four members are in proximity to one another. If any one of them is
04:15separated from the rest of the group for an extended period of time, the Fantastic Four can lose their
04:20abilities forever. Even though the team had their powers for years, they never knew this until recently,
04:24since they were never away from each other for longer than a couple of weeks.
04:276. The Thing Can Never Revert To Human Form
04:31Despite the Fantastic Four's happy-go-lucky demeanor, The Thing has earned quite the reputation as one of Marvel's
04:36most tragic superheroes. Although the orange hide covering his body empowered him with super strength
04:41and durability, Ben Grimm can't help but feel like a bit of a monster. Despite Reed Richards' best
04:46efforts to help his friend, he's never been able to permanently reverse Ben's transformation.
04:50But that doesn't mean that Ben has never reverted to his original appearance. In the second issue,
04:54Ben briefly turned to normal after being exposed once more to the cosmic rays, and Reed has performed
04:59a series of experiments to allow Ben to experience normality for a couple of hours or days. When he was
05:04exposed to a batch of radioactive material, he actually lost his rocky exterior for several
05:08months. More recently, the Future Foundation invented a gadget that can revert Ben to normal
05:12for one week every year. When Reed traveled 3,000 years into the future, he discovered that Ben was
05:17still alive, proving that he doesn't age while in his rocky form. Even though Ben used this gadget to
05:22revert to human form many, many times over the millennia, this story proved that Reed never found a way
05:27to permanently cure his friend.
05:295. Johnny Storm is a bit of an idiot
05:31Now, Johnny Storm is known for being the brash and impulsive member of the Fantastic Four. He may
05:36be loyal to his family, to a fault, but is regularly scolded for his immaturity and propensity to stir
05:42trouble. Because he tends to recklessly jump into danger without a second thought, it's no surprise
05:46that he's constantly accused of being an idiot. And when his sister and best friend are amongst the
05:51smartest people in the world, this accusation seems to have some merit to it. Now, Johnny may not be a
05:55scientist, but that doesn't make him an imbecile. Since his teenage years, he's been able to fix or
05:59drive any vehicle. In fact, his aptitude for driving at phenomenal speeds is what led him to earn a place
06:04on the space program. Although the higher-ups at NASA were certain that he would flunk the test since
06:09he was only 16 years old, Johnny succeeded with flying colors, becoming the youngest space pilot in
06:14history. He may not be able to split an atom or make an equation gain sentience like Reed Richards did,
06:19but that doesn't mean Johnny Storm is a moron.
06:214. Reed Richards is the world's smartest person
06:24There is no room for doubt that the Fantastic Four's leader, Reed Richards, is one of the most
06:29brilliant minds on Earth. He's patented over a thousand inventions, created a quantum calculator,
06:34and figured out how to turn urine into drinking water. He was terribly proud of that discovery.
06:39When he was labeled as the world's smartest person, no one seems to have contested it,
06:42well, save for Doctor Doom. And he may be one of the greatest geniuses to ever live,
06:46but that doesn't mean that Reed is the top dog. The cosmic radiation in Reed's DNA was passed
06:51onto his daughter, Valeria, granting her with intelligence that exceeded his own by the time
06:55that she was two years old. But guess what? Valeria isn't the biggest brain box either.
06:59When renowned scientist and occasional Hulk, Amadeus Cho, performed an intelligence test on
07:04the superheroine Lunella Lafayette in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur No. 12, he was astounded to learn
07:10her genius exceeded everyone else's on the planet, including Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, and of course,
07:15Reed Richards. Now, technically, Reed is still the world's smartest, but that's only because the people
07:19cleverer than him are actually children.
07:213. Their nemesis, Doctor Doom, has never shown his disfigured face
07:25While the Fantastic Four's arch-enemy Victor Von Doom was in college, an experimental machine
07:30blew up in his face, scarring him permanently. He was so horrified by his deformed appearance,
07:35Doom has worn a metal mask ever since. Anytime the Latvian monarch takes his mask off, his face
07:40is obscured in some way, enticing readers to speculate upon his appearance. However, readers forget
07:45that we actually saw Doom's face immediately after the accident in Fantastic Four No. 278.
07:50In this issue, we can see the burns that the egomaniacal dictator suffered were nowhere near
07:54as bad as one would presume. Unfortunately, Doom was so narcissistic, he ordered his followers to
07:59seal a metallic face over his head before it cooled, charring his face beyond recognition.
08:04In the 2015 saga Secret Wars, Doom unmasked himself to Susan Storm, revealing that the burns on
08:09his face had become so severe his nose had rotted away. Although his appearance was healed in the
08:14story's conclusion, he was scarred again soon after. In Christopher Cantwell's miniseries Doctor
08:18Doom, Victor seemed to embrace his appearance for once, since he showed off his face to multiple
08:23people, including Morgana Le Fay and Kang the Conqueror.
08:262. The Thing is the strongest Fantastic Four member
08:29For a superhero team to work, each member needs to have a purpose. In the Fantastic Four,
08:34Reed is the Big Brain, Sue uses force fields to protect her teammates, and Johnny can move at
08:38super speed. And since Ben Grimm's skin, bones, and organs are layered in rock, you'd assume that
08:42he's the muscle. After all, the ever-loving Blue-Eyed Thing has gone toe-to-toe with the
08:46Incredible Hulk and lived to tell the tale. He's even defeated the Jade Giant once or twice.
08:51But for all of Ben's powers, Susan Storm is arguably stronger. Because she has the ability
08:55to create psionic shields, Sue is only limited by her imagination. Hypothetically, she can create
09:00a micro-forcefield in a person's heart or brain, killing them instantly. She's said that she can
09:05easily take down the Hulk by creating a forcefield in his lungs and then expanding it to the size
09:09of a football stadium. She's so powerful that she's fought Iron Man, Captain America, Falcon,
09:14Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and the Hulk at the same time, and won. It may be
09:20dangerous to face Ben in combat, but it is a sure death to go up against Susan Storm.
09:241. Why Herbie Was Created
09:27In 1967, Hanna-Barbera Productions released the first animated series of the Fantastic Four. Ten years
09:33after the series concluded, NBC created their own show based on the Marvel characters, which is better
09:37known as the New Fantastic Four. But viewers were confused by the cartoon since the Human
09:42Torch had been replaced by a comic relief robot called Herbie. Naturally, fans assumed the studio
09:47removed Johnny Storm because they were worried younger viewers could start fires, attempting
09:50to replicate the exploits of the flame-creating superhero. Although this rumor has persisted
09:55for decades and has appeared on dozens of random-fact websites, it is completely untrue.
09:59During the 1970s, Marvel licensed the Human Torch to Universal, hoping to have a live-action film
10:05or TV series that centered around the character. During this time, Johnny wasn't allowed to appear
10:09in other mediums, including the 1978 cartoon. So there you go, the real reason that Johnny was
10:13absent from the show was due to a legal issue. This inconvenience seemed to work out in the
10:18long run, though, since Herbie became such a popular figure, he made the jump into comics
10:22one year later, and has become a valuable member to the Fantastic Four ever since.
10:26And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 lies you always believed about the Fantastic Four.
10:30I hope you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the
10:32comments section below. As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Twitter
10:36at RetroJayWithAZero, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming
10:40outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there, my friends. But before I go,
10:44I want to end things on a bit of a positive note, a fantastic note, considering the subject
10:48of this list, and that is just to make sure that you're treating yourself with love and respect,
10:51my friend, because you are a massive ledge. I don't let anyone or anything else tell you
10:55otherwise, alright? I'm going to go up there and smash it like it is goddamn clobbering time.
10:59As always, I've been Jules. You have been awesome. Never forget that.
11:02I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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