Fantastic Four #46
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #46 delivered the first full appearance of Black Bolt, the silent king of the Inhumans — a character whose unique power concept (a voice so destructive he cannot utter a sound) pushed Silver Age Marvel storytelling into genuinely strange, operatic territory. Coming one issue after the Inhumans' debut, this chapter gave the royal family their first real stage, fleshing out Black Bolt, Triton, Karnak, Gorgon, Crystal, Lockjaw, and Medusa as a coherent cast rather than a mystery cameo, and also introduced the Seeker, a figure who would anchor the early mythology of Inhuman society. The issue also planted the seed of Johnny Storm's romance with Crystal, a subplot that would drive Fantastic Four storylines for years and eventually reshape Crystal's role across the Marvel Universe.
In "Those Who Would Destroy Us!", the Fantastic Four face off against the Inhumans in a high-stakes clash that escalates when Triton is taken by the Seeker. With the team cornered and captured as they try to rescue him, the tension mounts in this pivotal 1966 issue written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby, with inks by Joe Sinnott and colors by Stan Goldberg. The cover, a dynamic scene by Kirby and Sinnott, captures the moment of crisis with unmistakable energy.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 22 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 8.5 ▾ $400–$551 2 listings
CGC 8 ▾ $360–$490 2 listings
CGC 7 ▾ $329–$350 2 listings
CGC 6.5 ▾ $259–$300 3 listings
CGC 6 ▾ $200–$250 5 listings
CGC 5.5 ▾ $200–$299 4 listings
CGC 4.5 ▾ $155–$200 3 listings
CGC 4 ▾ $144–$200 2 listings
Raw — FN ▾ $100–$193 9 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.99–$2,000 27 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was written by Stan Lee with pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, and lettering by Artie Simek — the creative team at the height of their collaborative run on the title. It carries a January 1966 cover date and was part of the sustained Inhumans story arc that Lee and Kirby had been building since Medusa's earlier appearances as a member of the Frightful Four beginning in Fantastic Four #36; the royal family's true identity and their hidden civilization were being unveiled in installments across consecutive issues. The partial origin of the Inhumans delivered here was deliberately incomplete: the Seeker explains their existence as a genetically advanced parallel species, but the critical detail of Kree experimentation — and the role of the Terrigen Mist — was not yet part of the story, likely because Lee and Kirby had not yet developed those elements, which later appeared in Thor #146–148.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full appearance of Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon), the silent leader of the Inhumans, who had appeared only in cameo at the end of Fantastic Four #45.
- Second appearance of the Inhumans as a group (following their debut in Fantastic Four #45, December 1965), with Black Bolt receiving his first cover appearance on this issue.
- First appearance of the Seeker, an Inhuman operative tasked with tracking down and returning exiled members of the royal family to the Great Refuge.
- Story title is 'Those Who Would Destroy Us!' — a 20-page tale in which the Thing battles Black Bolt to a near standstill, establishing Black Bolt's physical power and hinting at his electron-based abilities.
- A partial in-story origin of the Inhumans is provided by the Seeker, describing them as a genetically engineered offshoot of humanity; the Kree connection and Terrigen Mist origin were not yet revealed here, coming later in Thor #146–148.
- Creative team: Stan Lee (script), Jack Kirby (pencils and cover), Joe Sinnott (inks), Artie Simek (letters).
- The issue establishes Johnny Storm's romantic attachment to Crystal, a relationship that would persist as a major subplot throughout the Lee–Kirby FF run and beyond.
- Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Vol. 5 (1993), which collected Fantastic Four #41–50 and Annual #3; a UK edition with a 10d cover price also existed, as did a German-language reprint distributed in the Marvel Jubiläum Pack 8 multi-pack.
Cast · 13 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Hit Comics #117 (1969), Marvel's Greatest Comics #34 (1972), I Fantastici Quattro #42 (1972), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #1 (1973), O Homem-Aranha #63 (1974), The Mighty World of Marvel #98 (1974), The Mighty World of Marvel #99 (1974), Los 4 Fantásticos #26 (1980), Fantastic Four Pocket Book #2 (1980), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #39 (1986), Marvel Masterworks #25 (1993), Fantastic Four #[nn] (1998), Essential Fantastic Four #3 (2000), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #5 (2004), Fantastic Four : L'intégrale #1966 (2007), Fantastic Four Omnibus #2 (2007), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #5 (2010), Marvel Gold. Los 4 Fantásticos #1 [3] (2011), Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans #[nn] (2013), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #4 (2015), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #97 (2017), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #3 (2018), Marvel Origins #44 (2025), Die Fantastischen Vier #42 + 3 more
Key issues in Fantastic Four
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
★Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.