Share

By now, most of you know that one member of the "Fantastic Four" comic-book team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the '60’s, has been removed from the pages of the book.

(Spoiler alert.) Months ago, at the beginning of the “Three” storyline leading up to the demise, everyone has been guessing who. I surmised it would be either the Human Torch or Mr. Fantastic (think about how dated and corny those names are). Sue Richards (the Invisible Woman) in the beginning was warned that something terrible would occur, but presumably, not to her. The Thing was appearing in promotion material for another comic he appears in for months in advance. That left the Torch and Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards.

My first opinion, the Human Torch, turned out to be correct. But this was based on my feeling that he’s a weak character and should be removed. To make a bigger impression on the team and storyline and Marvel Universe, Reed could have been chosen... but even Marvel isn’t that gutsy. So, the dated, weak, stagnant character that was created probably by Stan and not Jack due to Stan’s connection with the originally-named character from the 40’s, supposedly bit the dust.

In the latest issue as it was revealed, we only see what appears to be his death. I hope the character really dies....I hope he stays dead. But in typical TV soap-opera fashion, you never see the corpse so the character will no doubt find a way back to life somehow.
The character’s powers have basically never changed or increased in the decades since the comic premiered, unlike Sue Richards and the other characters. And did I say his name is corny. So, we’ll see how long he stays dead. I wonder how long Superman and Captain America stayed dead, and who came back the soonest. In my opinion, the Torch can be burned out for a very long time.