50 Fun Facts About Fantastic Four

Which future Saturday Night Live star voiced the Human Torch in a 1975 Fantastic Four radio show?

Bill Murray played Johnny Storm in the short-lived radio series, which Stan Lee narrated from scripts taken almost word for word from the comics.

What struck Reed Richards's experimental rocket and gave the Fantastic Four their superpowers?

Cosmic rays hit the crew on an unauthorized test flight, and Stan Lee moved the destination from Mars to the stars in case the Soviets reached Mars first.

Which robot took the Human Torch's place in the 1978 animated series The New Fantastic Four?

H.E.R.B.I.E. filled the gap because Universal had tied up the screen rights to Johnny Storm for a film that was never made. The little robot later joined the comics too.

Which actor played Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in the Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007?

Chris Evans went on to play Captain America for Marvel Studios, then returned as Johnny Storm in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine.

Doctor Doom rules which small fictional European country as its absolute monarch?

Latveria has its own currency, the Latverian franc, because Doom refuses to join the European Union or adopt the euro.

Which herald of Galactus defied his master to save Earth at the climax of 1966's Galactus Trilogy?

Silver Surfer was a surprise even to Stan Lee: the artist added him to the pages unasked, and gave him a board because he was tired of drawing spaceships.

Which lead of a Star Wars television series plays Reed Richards in the 2025 film The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Pedro Pascal wanted to give Reed a Mid-Atlantic accent to suit the film's 1960s setting, but Marvel Studios asked him to use his natural voice.

Which artist co-created the Fantastic Four with Stan Lee and drew the first 102 issues?

Jack Kirby said he meant Ben Grimm, the gruff Thing from New York's Lower East Side, to be an alter ego of himself.

Besides turning invisible, Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four later gained the power to create what?

Force fields arrived in issue #22 in 1964, and Sue later learned to use them to immobilize enemies and strike from long range.

Which villain did the Fantastic Four fight on Monster Isle in their very first issue in 1961?

Mole Man was an explorer ridiculed for his Hollow Earth theories, who went on to rule the underground realm of Subterranea.

Which future Avenger debuted in Fantastic Four #52 by inviting the team home, then attacking them?

Black Panther, mainstream comics' first Black superhero, was testing himself for a coming battle with the villain Klaw.

Which shape-shifting aliens posed as the Fantastic Four in issue #2 to turn the public against them?

Skrulls lost that first round, and Reed Richards hypnotized three of the stranded invaders into living out their days as cows.

Which 1940s antihero did Johnny Storm find living as an amnesiac drifter in Fantastic Four #4?

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, got his memory back with Johnny's help and went straight home to his undersea kingdom.

Which hidden race, ruled by Black Bolt and Medusa, was introduced in Fantastic Four comics in 1965?

Inhumans supplied two later members of the Fantastic Four itself, Crystal and Medusa, and Crystal went on to join the Avengers as well.

Which hero joined the Future Foundation in 2011, replacing the apparently dead Human Torch?

Spider-Man joined at the last request of his old friend Johnny Storm, and the renamed team swapped its blue suits for black and white.

Which child of Reed and Sue Richards does Galactus demand in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Franklin is named after his grandfather, the father of Sue and Johnny, and takes his middle name from his godfather, Ben Grimm.

Which event in 1965's Fantastic Four Annual #3 drew many of New York's superheroes as guests?

Reed and Sue's wedding ends on a gag: Stan Lee and his artist partner turn up as themselves and are turned away at the door.

Which Oscar winner for Oppenheimer was announced in 2024 as the new big-screen Doctor Doom?

Robert Downey Jr. worked out his own backstory for Doom and contributed costume ideas for the part in Avengers: Doomsday.

Which actor made a cameo as Reed Richards in 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

John Krasinski had long been a fan favourite for the part, and his scene was shot late to replace a planned cameo by Daniel Craig.

Which blind sculptor is the longtime love of Ben Grimm, the Thing, in Fantastic Four comics?

Alicia Masters arrived in issue #8 as the stepdaughter of the villainous Puppet Master, and turned on him once she saw he was mad for power.

Which actress played Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its sequel?

Jessica Alba earned an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Hero for the part, losing to Christian Bale for Batman Begins.

Which actor played Johnny Storm opposite Kate Mara's Sue in the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four?

Michael B. Jordan was cast, the director said, to bring the team in line with real-world demographics, so Sue became Johnny's adopted sister.

Which actor plays Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in the 2025 film The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Joseph Quinn admired the 2000s film version of Johnny but did not copy it, playing him as more self-aware and less of a womanizer.

Which star of The Bear plays Ben Grimm, the Thing, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach played the Thing through motion capture, not prosthetic makeup, and saw the same deep loyalty in Ben as in his chef-world character Richie.

Which Avenger replaced the Thing on the Fantastic Four after he stayed behind on Battleworld?

She-Hulk stayed for much of the mid-1980s and fell for the team's old friend Wyatt Wingfoot along the way.

Which witch debuted in Fantastic Four comics as governess to Reed and Sue Richards's young son?

Agatha Harkness went on to tutor the Scarlet Witch in magic, the relationship that later carried her to television.

Ben Grimm, the Thing, grew up on which Lower East Side street, home to a gang that torments him?

Yancy Street is a nod to the real Delancey Street, and many of the gang's booby-trapped parcels were secretly sent by Johnny Storm.

Which Moon-dwelling alien broke his oath never to interfere when Galactus first came for Earth?

The Watcher, whose name is Uatu, was later found to have broken his pact of non-interference almost 400 times.

Which skyscraper at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue houses the Fantastic Four's headquarters?

The Baxter Building was put up by a paper company in 1949, and the team bought its top five floors outright.

Which actor insisted on a practical suit, not CGI, to play the Thing in 2005's Fantastic Four?

Michael Chiklis was singled out by critic James Berardinelli as a standout, even though he spent the film buried in makeup.

Strong sales of which DC team comic led Stan Lee's publisher to order up the Fantastic Four?

Justice League of America was outselling most titles, so publisher Martin Goodman told Stan Lee to come up with a team book of his own.

Stan Lee said which DC hero inspired the stretching powers of Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic?

Plastic Man had no equivalent at Marvel, Lee said, so Reed got the stretch, while Sue's power drew on stories such as The Invisible Man.

Which weapon did the Human Torch fetch from Galactus's own home to make him spare Earth?

The Ultimate Nullifier never had to be fired: Reed only threatened to use it, and handed it back once Galactus agreed to leave.

Which antimatter universe is home to the Fantastic Four villains Annihilus and Blastaar?

The Negative Zone later housed a prison for heroes who refused to register during Marvel's Civil War storyline.

Which material did Reed Richards use so the Fantastic Four's costumes work with their powers?

Unstable molecules mean a suit can be used safely with each member's powers, and Reed makes the rest of his own wardrobe from them too.

Ben Grimm, the Thing, is forever quoting which aunt, the much younger wife of his Uncle Jake?

Petunia married the uncle who raised Ben after his parents died, which is why her name is never far from his lips.

Which low-budget producer made a 1994 Fantastic Four film that was never officially released?

Roger Corman agreed to make it for about $1 million, which let a German producer hold on to the film rights before his option ran out.

Which actor beat Kit Harington to the role of Reed Richards in the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four?

Miles Teller played Reed as a young prodigy who had been exploring the universe from his garage after school.

Which Chronicle director made the 2015 Fantastic Four and then left a planned Star Wars spin-off?

Josh Trank said the online scrutiny he faced while filming Fantastic Four made him want to do something original and smaller in scale.

Which actor wore a 350-pound suit of armour as Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Ralph Ineson did not see Galactus as evil, more a god of sorts for whom planets are simply food.

Which actress plays Shalla-Bal, the herald of Galactus, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Julia Garner played the part through motion capture, as a former scientist who took the job to save her own planet.

The original 1940s Human Torch, who inspired Johnny Storm's powers, was what kind of being?

An android built by Professor Phineas Horton, the first Torch could set himself alight, and Stan Lee revived the name for a human teenager.

Which writer-artist's 1980s Fantastic Four run renamed the Invisible Girl the Invisible Woman?

John Byrne wrote, pencilled and inked the book himself; the first Marvel comic he read, as a boy in 1962, was Fantastic Four #5.

Which Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 character debuted in Fantastic Four comics, known only as Him?

Adam Warlock rebelled against the scientists who created him, and only gained his full name in a 1972 revamp by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane.

The 2007 Fantastic Four sequel hid Galactus behind what, instead of showing his comic-book form?

A cloud was director Tim Story's choice, though the effects team slipped in a shadow and a fiery mass shaped like the villain's helmet.

A 1979 cartoon gave the Fantastic Four's Thing a show whose title promised a meeting with which duo?

Fred and Barney never really met him: the Flintstones pair shared only the title sequence and brief bumpers with teenage Benjy Grimm and his magic rings.

Which team-up comic paired the Fantastic Four's Thing with a new guest hero each issue from 1974?

Marvel Two-in-One ran for 100 issues and even sent Ben through time, to fight beside Doc Savage and the wartime Liberty Legion.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in which numbered universe, named for an artist's birthday?

Earth-828 marks August 28, the birthday in 1917 of the artist who first drew the team, whose words also close the film.

Which demon held the soul of Doctor Doom's mother, Cynthia, until Doom and Doctor Strange freed her?

Mephisto was Doom's opponent in a yearly ritual, a duel for his mother's freedom that he kept fighting until she at last ascended to Heaven.

Which studio made the first Fantastic Four cartoon, which ran for 20 episodes on ABC from 1967?

Hanna-Barbera took on the show after its agent, Sy Fischer, noticed his son reading a Fantastic Four comic book.