In the mainstream Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four are one of the best examples of the power of superheroes to turn tragedy into triumph, taking the strange effects of their exposure to Cosmic Rays and turning them into superpowers. But in the new Ultimate Universe, their story is very different - and far, far more tragic than triumphant.
In Ultimates #4, writer Deniz Camp, artist Phil Noto, and letterer Travis Lanham show the fates of Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm, and explain exactly why the new Ultimate Reed Richards is called "Doom." And there's even a glimpse of how a new Ultimate Fantastic Four may yet come into the picture.
Spoilers ahead for Ultimates #4
In Ultimates #4, young Tony Stark confronts Doom - in this case, the new Ultimate Universe's Reed Richards - in his laboratory, while Doom himself confronts his tragic past with his version of the Fantastic Four.
Like many other potential heroes in the new Ultimate Universe, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm had their timelines meddled with by the Maker (himself an evil Reed Richards variant from the original Ultimate Universe), with Doom discovering that, had the Maker not intervened, they would have become superheroes like the core Marvel Universe's FF.
But the loss of his intended life stings extra hard for Reed/Doom, because of how the Maker's machinations took their toll on his loved ones. As shown in a series of non-linear flashbacks, we learn that up until Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben took the fateful space voyage that bathed them in Cosmic Radiation, Reed's history is almost identical to his life in the mainstream Marvel Universe.
Reed goes to college as a child prodigy, eventually becoming a rocket scientist and building a special craft to monitor a strange energy storm in space. Enlisting his girlfriend Sue Storm, her kid brother Johnny, and his best friend, ace pilot Ben Grimm, Reed absconds with the rocket against orders not to launch, taking the whole crew into the storm.
Things diverge here though. Right off the bat, Johnny is exposed to radiation and bursts into flames, dying on re-entry as the ship crashes back to Earth. Later, despondent and disgraced, Ben Grimm takes his own life by leaping into a rock quarry. And finally, as Sue Storm's father curses Reed's name, we learn that she is dying of cancer and will soon "fade away" - twisting all of the FF's powers into horrific deaths.
Reed is then kidnapped by the Maker and tortured in a chamber where the Maker can control time itself, leading to him eventually becoming disfigured as if his flesh is melting, with the Maker naming him "Doom" as a punishment for all the horror his actions brought on his own loved ones.
This brings us back up to the present, where Doom and Tony are arguing about an experiment Doom is conducting, which he says needs more time. As Tony departs the lab, we see that Doom has been experimenting on mice, attempting to imbue them with the powers of the Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing, and even his own Mister Fantastic counterpart's elasticity, implying that Doom eventually plans to create a new Fantastic Four by giving their powers to human beings - hopefully with far less nightmarish results, as all the mice are dead from the experimentation.
Ultimates #5 goes on sale October 9.
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