Fantastic Four #4
Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #4 is the first appearance of the Fantastix, a team of young heroes — former Liberteens members — who had legally claimed the lease on the Baxter Building while Marvel's First Family was presumed lost following Secret Wars. Their debut gave Dan Slott's 2018 relaunch a witty, self-aware hook: the world had moved on so thoroughly during the four-year publishing hiatus that a new team of well-meaning stand-ins had literally taken up residence in the FF's own headquarters. The issue works as both a punchy standalone chapter and a thematic statement about legacy, replacement anxiety, and the irreplaceability of Marvel's founding family — all within the 'Fourever' arc that marked the team's long-awaited return to monthly comics.
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The Fantastic Four had been absent from Marvel's publishing line since the conclusion of Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars in 2015 — a gap of roughly four years that fans widely attributed to a period of corporate tension between Marvel and Fox, which then held the film rights to the characters. Dan Slott, coming off a celebrated decade-long Amazing Spider-Man run, was handed the relaunch beginning with issue #1 (August 2018). Issue #4 was originally solicited with series lead artist Sara Pichelli on interiors, but Bleeding Cool reported in October 2018 that Pichelli would not be drawing the issue; Stefano Caselli — known for his work on Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Avengers — stepped in instead, while Esad Ribic continued as cover artist throughout the arc. The issue shipped November 28, 2018, and carries legacy numbering #649.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Fantastix — a four-person team of young heroes (2-D, Hope, Iceberg, and Ms. Fantastix) who are former members of the Liberteens and have relocated from Philadelphia to New York to occupy the Baxter Building.
- First appearance of Ms. Fantastix in her Ms. Fantastix identity (Erika Kelley).
- Written by Dan Slott; interior art by Stefano Caselli (replacing Sara Pichelli, who had drawn issues #1–3); cover by Esad Ribic.
- Sara Pichelli's departure from this issue was announced by Bleeding Cool in October 2018, after the original solicitation had listed her as artist.
- Legacy numbering: this issue is also designated Fantastic Four #649, continuing the original 1961 volume's legacy count.
- The issue shipped November 28, 2018, and received a second printing with a Stefano Caselli variant cover (dated January 16, 2019).
- The Wrecking Crew appears as antagonists, with Bruce Banner making a cameo — a moment that ties into the concurrent 'Immortal Hulk' storyline being published at the time.
- Collected in Fantastic Four Vol. 1: Fourever (trade paperback collecting issues #1–4) and subsequently in Fantastic Four by Dan Slott Omnibus Vol. 1.
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