Fantastic Four #587
Fantastic Four #587 (cover-dated March 2011, published January 26, 2011) closes the five-part 'Three' storyline by delivering the first on-page death of an original Fantastic Four member in the title's nearly fifty-year history — Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, sacrifices himself to seal a Negative Zone portal against an overwhelming Annihilation Wave, saving Ben Grimm and the Future Foundation children at the cost of his own life. Because writer Jonathan Hickman had planted the seeds of this moment from the very first issue of his run, the payoff felt structurally earned rather than editorially arbitrary, and critics at the time drew a sharp distinction between it and the era's routine 'event death' formula. The issue's immediate cultural splash — wire-service coverage from the Associated Press, pickup across mainstream outlets, and a sellout before the issue officially reached shelves — demonstrated that the Fantastic Four could still command national conversation half a century after Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the team. Its downstream consequences were equally durable: the original Fantastic Four title was cancelled with the next issue and relaunched as FF, Spider-Man joined the team per Johnny's written will, and the Hickman run went on to be considered one of the most ambitious long-form narratives the franchise has ever seen.
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Jonathan Hickman had been building toward this moment since he took over the Fantastic Four with issue #570 in 2009, succeeding Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch on the title; he has confirmed in interviews that the Human Torch's death was part of his original pitch to Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and was never a late addition. Penciller Steve Epting, inker Rick Magyar (with assists from Mike Perkins and Epting himself), colorist Paul Mounts, and cover artist Alan Davis rounded out the creative team for the issue, titled internally 'Three, Part 5: The Last Stand.' Marvel packaged every copy in a black polybag stamped only with the 'Three' logo — a production choice deliberately echoing the bagged death issue of Superman (#75, 1992) — to prevent browsers from reading the ending at the rack, though the Associated Press broke the identity of the dead character in a wire story hours before the issue went on sale, generating both widespread media coverage and pointed debate about the modern impossibility of keeping comic-book plot twists secret.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published January 26, 2011 (cover date March 2011); written by Jonathan Hickman, penciled by Steve Epting, inked by Rick Magyar, Mike Perkins, and Steve Epting, colored by Paul Mounts, cover by Alan Davis.
- Concludes the five-part 'Three' storyline (Fantastic Four #583–588), which ran across Hickman's run beginning with issue #570 in 2009.
- Marks the apparent death of Johnny Storm (Human Torch) — the first on-page death of an original Fantastic Four member — as he holds the Negative Zone portal against the Annihilation Wave to save Ben Grimm and the Future Foundation children.
- Johnny Storm's final words in the issue are 'Flame on!' — his signature catchphrase repurposed as a last act of defiance against a billion-to-one army.
- All copies were shipped sealed in a black polybag displaying only the 'Three' logo, preventing in-store browsing; an unannounced, Hickman-signed variant with a black Fantastic Four logo (instead of the standard blue) was distributed inside the same bag, distinguishable only by removing the polybag.
- A 1-in-50 retailer incentive 'Spoiler Variant' with art by John Cassaday was also produced, depicting the surviving team in somber grey tones.
- Direct consequences within Marvel continuity: the Fantastic Four title ended with issue #588, was relaunched as FF (with Spider-Man joining the team as requested in Johnny's will), and the Human Torch was revealed in Fantastic Four #600 to have been enslaved and repeatedly resurrected as a gladiator by Annihilus in the Negative Zone.
- The issue's story is reprinted in the Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Vol. 1 and Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Vol. 2, ensuring ongoing availability for readers of Hickman's full run.
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