Fantastic Four #205
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #205 (April 1979, cover date; January 1979, release) is the first full team appearance of the Nova Corps, the Xandarian space-militia that writer Marv Wolfman had been seeding since the solo Nova series launched in 1976. By transplanting that concept into the pages of Marvel's flagship cosmic-adventure title and staging a massive Skrull assault on Xandar, Wolfman dramatically expanded the shared infrastructure of Marvel's cosmic universe — giving the Nova Force, the Xandarian Worldmind, and Xandar's segmented homeworld their first real showcase beyond a single hero. Decades later that foundational mythology fed directly into the Annihilation event, the Guardians of the Galaxy comics revival, and ultimately the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy film, proving that a Bronze Age mid-run arc could quietly plant seeds with extraordinary long-term reach.
In "When Worlds Die!", the Fantastic Four face a dual threat across galaxies and Earth: battling the Skrulls on the distant planet Xandar alongside the warrior Adora, while Johnny Storm remains oblivious to the sinister plot unfolding at his new school—where Monocle and the Enclave are quietly pulling strings from the shadows. Written by Marv Wolfman and brought to life by Keith Pollard’s dynamic art and Joe Sinnott’s sharp inks, this 1979 issue delivers high-stakes intergalactic conflict with a grounded, personal edge, all wrapped in a striking cover by Pollard and Sinnott.
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Marv Wolfman was the writer of the Fantastic Four title during this period, and according to notes published in the Marvel Masterworks collection, he explicitly wanted to craft a large-scale intergalactic space battle — an ambition that likely reflected the post-Star Wars appetite for cosmic spectacle that swept pop culture in 1977–79. Wolfman had already invented both Richard Rider/Nova and the Nova Corps concept in Nova #1 (1976), and this issue represents his deliberate effort to integrate that mythology more deeply into the wider Marvel Universe via the FF. Penciler Keith Pollard and longtime inker Joe Sinnott provided the art, with Jim Shooter credited as consulting editor and Glynis Wein (Oliver) on colors; the cover itself underwent substantial alteration before printing, with a spaceship and background elements added or changed from the original Pollard/Sinnott art.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First full team appearance of the Nova Corps, described in-story as Xandar's space militia and the protective force of the Andromeda Galaxy — originally consisting of roughly 500 soldiers ranging in rank from Corpsman up to Centurion Nova Prime.
- The Nova Corps concept was created by Marv Wolfman; the first individual member (Richard Rider) appeared in Nova #1 (September 1976), and the Corps received a cameo in Fantastic Four #204 before this full debut in #205.
- First appearance of Prime Thoran (also identified elsewhere as Thoran Rul), who later undergoes a transformation through the Xandarian Worldmind and becomes the Protector, a member of the Champions of Xandar.
- The true name of Emperor Dorrek VII — the Skrull emperor who had appeared as far back as Fantastic Four #18 — is revealed for the first time in this issue; Marvel: The Lost Generation #11 later clarified he was the fourth Skrull emperor to use that name.
- The issue also introduces the mysterious shadow organization the Enclave (referred to under that name here for the first time), later retroactively identified as the same group the FF faced in issues #66–67, as clarified in Fantastic Four #240 and Avengers Annual #12.
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times: in the French Nova (Editions Lug) #88 (1985), the Italian I Fantastici Quattro #245 (1980), the trade paperback Fantastic Four: In Search of Galactus (2010), Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 9 (2013, black and white), and Nova Classic Vol. 3 (2014).
- The Nova Corps went on to become a centerpiece of the 2006 Annihilation event and appeared prominently in the 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy MCU film, making this issue the direct print origin of one of Marvel's most widely recognized cosmic organizations.
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↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #35 (1979)
Reprinted in Fantastic Four #95/96 (1979), I Fantastici Quattro #245 (1980), Fantastiske Fire #2/1981 (1981), Nova #88 (1985), Fantastic Four: In Search of Galactus #[nn] (2010), Marvel Série I #14 (2012), Essential Fantastic Four #9 (2013), Nova Classic #3 (2014), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #19 (2017), Nova: Richard Rider Omnibus #[nn] (2022), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #11 (2024), Fantastic Four #10, Fantastiska Fyran #2/1981
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