After 65 years, Marvel’s most iconic comic cover will never be the same. The image that started the Marvel Universe as we know it has been hiding a secret for six decades – one that Marvel just exposed in true sci-fi style.
In 1963, Marvel published Fantastic Four #1 from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. While characters like Namor, Captain America and the first Human Torch predated the ‘First Family,’ the FF kicked off the official continuity of the modern Marvel Universe.
Kirby’s image of the Fantastic Four tangling with Giganto – a burrowing monster controlled by the villainous Mole Man – has been endlessly reprinted, parodied and celebrated. Now, its final secret has been revealed.
Fantastic Four’s First Appearance Changes Forever
In today’s Fantastic Four #15 – from Ryan North, Edgar Delgado, Humberto Ramos and Joe Caramagna – the FF reveal the hidden truth of their first appearance. The issue sees the team attacked by mystical foe Nicholas Scratch, who has sent them careening back through time. After reversing the process, the team begin a voyage to the present, witnessing their most iconic moments play out.
In a genius reveal, it turns out that the team were present for Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1, watching the action from a nearby rooftop. They reflect on their relative youth, drawn into the original image as part of a sequence where they witness several key moments, including the coming of Galactus. Switch between the original cover and new art below:
The comic sets up the idea that the team are invisible while traveling back through time, but for the iconic Fantastic Four #1 image, that isn’t even necessary – on the classic cover, the rooftop is covered by text, almost as if it’s been saving this space for the team for over six decades.
Marvel Celebrates Fantastic Four’s 65th Anniversary
Other moments shown include the coming of Galactus and the Human Torch’s death in the Negative Zone, with the touching reveal that his family were secretly with him when he perished fighting alone against Annihilus’ hordes.
The issue also follows the lifetime of Clarina Canady – an eighteenth-century servant girl who, thanks to encountering the Fantastic Four, grows up to become a scientist, and is the one who manages to send them back to the present to defeat Nick Scratch and his vicious Feral Four team.
This celebration of the team’s most iconic moments is due to the Fantastic Four hitting their sixty-fifth anniversary, with today also seeing the publication of Fantastic Four: 65 Years of the World’s Greatest Comic Covers #1, collecting artwork from across their iconic career – each potentially hiding the invisible FF of the modern day.
Today’s issue of Fantastic Four reveals the First Family have always been hiding in their iconic first comic cover, overlooking their first superhero outing as a family after decades of adventure and inspiration.
Fantastic Four #15 is available now from Marvel Comics.