The Fantastic Four is Marvel’s first family. It’s the book that defined everything else from the former Timely Comics. And their huge summer movie might be their last chance to be relevant to pop culture again.
The trouble really starts with the comic, which has been struggling for years. Despite the insistence of nerds, the reality is that Marvel’s editorial staff has worked hard to make the Four relevant. In the last four years, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction and James Robinson have written for the book, and the art team has included Mark Bagley, Mike Allred, Leonard Kirk and Steve Epting. And, creatively, it’s paid off — Hickman and Fraction’s work, in particular, earned critical praise.
But despite great reviews, frustratingly, nobody’s buying the book. In October, when the book was officially canceled, sales were at one of their worst points in its recent history. If you look at the numbers, the book is running into diminishing returns: Each relaunch starts strong but drops off even faster and the numbers plunge ever lower as it progresses. Everybody wants to defend the Fantastic Four, but apparently they also don’t want to read their adventures.
Similarly, it’s not like Marvel hasn’t tried to encourage interest in the team elsewhere. But the last attempt at a film series fizzled out with the second movie. One could argue that says more about the quality of the movies than the team. Still, it’s a consistent problem. There have been four attempts at cartoons, the most recent in 2006, and none have made it past a season. Heck, they even tried a radio show, back in the ’70s; not even Bill Murray could save that one.
So, for Marvel’s first family, in the end, it comes down to this movie. A hit movie would likely revitalize the Four; it would bring back their book, boost interest in the all-important merchandise, and would likely mean the team becomes more relevant. Conversely, if the movie bombs, it’s difficult to see how Marvel could interpret that as anything other than fundamental disinterest in the team from both nerds and the general public.
It kills me to talk about the Four like this. I fell in love with comics as a kid reading my dad’s hardback copies of Lee and Kirby’s run on the book. Even decades later, those stories hold up as a slice of Space Age fun. I don’t think the members will go away; they’re already turning up elsewhere in the Marvel Universe, and they’re central to Marvel’s massive Secret Wars crossover. But if we want to see more of the Fantastic Four as a team on their own adventures, nerds have to put their money where their mouths are.
