Fantastic Four 71 | Percival Henry: The Fantastic Four and more

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1967, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 71, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 71
“…And So It Ends!”
Published: Nov. 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Picking up where Fantastic Four 70 leaves off, the Invisible Girl is alone, facing the Mad Thinker’s android while the rest of the team appear dead before her. Turning invisible, she manages to fire an “electra-force beam” at the android, and the discharge revives the rest of the team. The Thing awakens, and no longer under the influence of the Mad Thinker’s brain washing, takes on the android, knocking it through the wall and onto the street below.

Now revived, Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, not aware of Ben’s transformation, attack him, but eventually they are convinced he has returned to normal and the team again battles the android, which has returned and quickly overpowers Ben and Johnny. All seems lost until Reed lures it into the Negative Zone, where it is lost presumably forever.

The issue concludes with Reed declaring the Fantastic Four is too dangerous for the pregnant Sue, and that they will leave the team, spelling the end of the FF.

What’s going on here?

After a slow start to this story arc, which relied heavily on the cliché of Ben turning against his team, it ends on a bang. This is another issue that is almost entirely action, and it delivers. The android is a ferocious opponent, and as in many classic FF battles, it’s Reed’s brains, not the team’s brawn, that saves the day.

The issue also puts the spotlight, even if briefly, on Sue, who was sidelined the previous three issues. While it doesn’t last long, she holds her own against the android, and buys time for the rest of the team.

But she is quickly shunted to the side again, keeping our run of sexist sixties entries intact:

The end of the Fantastic Four

Has any super hero team threatened to break up as often as the Fantastic Four? It is a recurring feature, perhaps because, as a family, a departure of a member or two seems to have much bigger consequences than say, for the Avengers or Justice League.

Of course, they never really break up for long (although recently they gave us reason to worry). Here are a few examples of team breakups:

In Fantastic Four 15, the team splits up after the Thinker secretly (Zgives them all inducements to leave:

In Fantastic Four 188, Reed, who has lost his powers, declared he is leaving the team. Sue goes with him and in issue 190 (FF 189 was a reprint) Ben and Johnny deal with the consequences:

In Marvel Knights: 4, the team find out they’re broke, and splits up to find real jobs (I confess I found this story line totally implausible – in a world where even the most minor celebrity can mild their fame for decades, there’s now way the FF would ever need to work 9 to 5 jobs).

And most recently, in the wake of the Secret Wars II series, Reed, Sue and the kids voyaged in space while Ben and Johnny remained on earth, unaware of their fate (readers were also unaware, since Marvel’s corporate office canceled the FF for about three years in a fit of pique).

Here, in Marvel 2-in-One 11, Reed tries to explain to Ben why they left: