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If you're an insufferable nerd of a certain age (like me), you probably have a strong, likely even hostile opinion about HERBIE, the goofy robot sidekick of the Richards family in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. I've grown to love the little guy, but there was a point when he was one of the biggest punching bags in Marvel fandom, thanks in large part to a truly weird urban legend tied into his creation.
To explain the historic hate in a nutshell, HERBIE was once considered something like the Jar Jar Binks of the Marvel Universe - an oddball comedy character who wrecked up what could have been a perfectly serious story just by his very presence in it. A short-hand symbol of all the things that have ever gone wrong with a certain piece of beloved media.
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HERBIE, like DC's Harley Quinn, was actually created outside of comics for an animated series. In the robot's case, that's 1978's short-lived show The New Fantastic Four.
Created by semi-obscure animation studio DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (also known as DFE Films), who are perhaps best known for creating animated special effects for films including Star Wars and credits sequences for the Pink Panther movies, The New Fantastic Four was intended to be an extension of Hanna-Barbera's earlier Fantastic Four cartoon (hence the "New" in the title) but due to complex contractual reasons, the new show was instead created by DFE.
However, DFE's executives became concerned that seeing Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, who was depicted as an older teen at the time, bursting into flames might give kids the idea to light themselves on fire. The studio set about to come up with a new character who could carry the torch for Johnny Storm, without literally carrying any kind of torch whatsoever.
At least, that's the common lore. The truth actually seems to have more to do with a planned Human Torch TV film that was in development at some point in the '70s that likely conflicted with DFE's ability to use the character for their show.
Either way, the character DFE chose to replace Johnny was their original creation HERBIE, a robotic little ding-dong whose powers seemed to be producing whatever deus ex machina device a given episode might need for its resolution, and annoying the living crap out of Fantastic Four fans who just wanted to see one of the founding members of the team and not a flying dumpling with the personality of your most obnoxious nephew.
Nonetheless, HERBIE, whose name stands for "Highly Engineered Robot Built for Interdimensional Exploration," was quickly brought into comics by creators Marv Wolfman and John Byrne, and has remained a staple of the FF's larger mythos ever since - even as the loathing felt by Fantastic Four fans who were, pun kind of intended, burned by The New Fantastic Four animated series remained simmering in the background in the form of endless jokes and digs at the lil guy's expense.
Perhaps that persistence is why, like Jar Jar Binks, whose haters often misunderstand the care and craft put into the role by actor Ahmed Best, HERBIE has actually become more of a beloved mascot for now jaded fans who long for hints of the youth we lost despising an animated robot.
Anathema has turned to enough affection to even warrant including the character in Fantastic Four: The First Steps, where his trailer scenes have become some of the most heartwarming moments we've seen of the MCU's FF yet. And he's also a part of smash-hit game Marvel Rivals where he guides the Fantasticar through a ruined version of Midtown New York City.
There's also a little tidbit of lore lurking in HERBIE's comic book origins, where he is built not just by Reed Richards, but by Mister Fantastic and the Xandarians - as in the people who founded the Nova Corps in both comics and the MCU - in order to attempt to track Galactus.
And as we well know, Galactus will be a big part (again, pun sort of intended) of Fantastic Four: The First Steps, so perhaps there will be a connection to Xandar in play as well. Maybe it'll be an early target of Galactus in the film. After all, it was all but destroyed by Thanos in the mainstream MCU.
Whatever happens, HERBIE will be there to lighten the mood, and, hopefully, fully shed his hated past to solidify the character as a beloved part of the Fantastic Four and the Marvel Universe at large.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25 to kick off Marvel Phase 6. For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
