For those of you who do not read comic books and do not follow Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four, it’s been known for a while now that the series — which debuted in 1961 and has spawned two Hollywood movies — would be ending at issue #588, and that one of the elite four members would die before it was all said and done.
Who exactly would perish, however, has been a guarded secret, and only now is it being revealed whose story ends right before the Fantastic Four comic series ends.
Obviously if you do read these comics, you don’t want to know the answer to this question, so DO NOT continue reading. For the rest of you, click on over to the other side to find out if it’s Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, or The Thing whose fate has been sealed.
Yes, it’s true: it has been revealed that The Human Torch, also known as Johnny Storm, is the one who dies in issue #587, which is being released later today. According to reports, the Torch will fall in a huge battle that writer Jonathan Hickman has been working on for over a year and a half.
Hickman spoke about the comic event, saying:
In doing this, we’re going to elevate the other three and the family in general and going forward with the story that we want to tell. I think it makes complete sense. It’s kind of a logical move.
Our readers get heavily involved in the lives of these characters. They fight alongside them, they share their triumphs and pitfalls. They live with them and they grasp them very tightly to their breast. They take them on in a very one to one, very personal sort of way.
Of course, we also can’t forget that this is comic books and characters are killed all the time. Will the famed Fantastic Four really be ending forever and will this really be the last we ever see The Human Torch? Your guess is as good as the next person’s, and only time will really answer that question.
[Source: Yahoo! News]
Unfortunately, this is the easiest way out Marvel could chosen.
I’m very disappointed with the choice. Let’s face it – the demise of Human Torch doesn’t do that much to the internal dynamics.
If it was Mr. Fantastic, the whole quest for his legacy, abandoned leadership and potentially some members growing up to the responsibility, would have been much more interesting. Same for Sue – imagine the team left with two grief-stricken family members.
This way, Marvel keeps the basic concept of the team pretty much the same and has just another “epic” comeback in the sleeve.
Comment by Morf — January 25, 2011 @ 5:38 am
Marvel is a tired, broken company. The only way to stir up interest is to kill a character, then a few months later, they bring them back. They shouldn’t kill them off in the first place. It’s lazy and uninspired. I won’t be buying any of this.
Comment by Tom — January 25, 2011 @ 6:00 am
Yawn. Marvel kills off another character with a view to having them return to a newly revitalised book in a few months’ time.
Are there any Marvel characters who actually *haven’t* been killed off and later resurrected yet?
And DC are just as bad, it’s not just Marvel. Comics require a certain suspension of belief but they’ve gotten to the point where they are simply unbelievable and it’s exactly for this reason that I actually stopped reading most of them a few years back.
Comment by Anna — January 25, 2011 @ 9:38 am
Marvel had already announced weeks ago a new book titled “FF” will be starting in March. they’re labeling it “the second massive arc in the bold new direction for the ‘World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.'” you just know it’s only a matter of time before they revert back to the original numbering like they did with Thor, Iron Man & Daredevil. it’s 12 issues (1 year) away from the 600th, they won’t pass up a ‘milestone’ number like that. the only real mystery is how long will it be until the Torch comes back to life. my money’s on less than 2 years.
Comment by Dax — January 25, 2011 @ 10:04 am
Enough already with the cheap, tawdry, repetitious use of a superhero’s death to generate a frenzy in the non-comic-oriented mass media (NPR’s Morning Edition reported the demise of the Human Torch complete with “Spoiler Alert”), followed by commemorative one-shot tributes, mini-series of the funeral and mourning, and a special collectible “Return of [Fill-in-the-Blank]series. See other recent examples: Death of Captain America, Brightest Day, Thor’s Comeback, etc, ad nauseum. Hickman is a hack.
Comment by Maurice Kane — January 25, 2011 @ 11:04 am
kill off the humantorch?is marvel that desparate for sales on that book?of course they could always bring him back.d.c. did it with superman.
Comment by andrew koster — January 25, 2011 @ 12:45 pm
make way for the terrific three
Comment by kevo282 — January 25, 2011 @ 6:50 pm
I knew it!
They’ve already killed Reed Richards once (after which the team swelled to something like seven members and Mrs. Richards slept with Namor).
Thing, even though he’s never been killed, comes and goes and has a set of regular replacements waiting to fill in for him.
Susan Richards just recently got “killed” by Mark Millar.
Logically that pretty much left Johnny Storm.
No surprise there. His resurrection in the next year or so will probably be really interesting, I’m sure.
Comment by Rob — January 26, 2011 @ 5:06 am