Fantastic Friday! In issue #581, we’re time traveling back to college. No Triple Lindy, though.

To recap: Reed has recently formed the Future Foundation, a sort of combination school and think tank composed of genius kids and others. Some time earlier, Valeria was contacted by a time-traveling future version of Franklin, who warned her about an upcoming conflict between four cities. This is likely a reference to four seemingly unrelated hidden cities the FF recently discovered.

This issue begins with future Franklin on another time travel jaunt, seeing images of the FF and Dr. Doom, culminating in him telling young Valeria “All hope lies in doom.” He says the mission was a success, and we see an adult Valeria telling him he better be sure. Turn the page and we see they’re both working for Reed’s long-lost father Nathaniel, also a time traveler. He tells them that, success or failure, they’re committed to their path. Valeria travels through a portal, telling Nathaniel to let her worry about the past and focus instead on his own future. Nathaniel prepares for a mission of his own while Franklin uses his powers to create a pocket universe as a cosmic escape hatch. Nathaniel enters a portal and disappears.

Cut to “years ago,” when Reed is in college, taking an ethics class. He argues that actions in one’s best interest begins with the self, then with family and friends, then the community, and then all mankind. The teacher praises this answer, but young Victor Von Doom stands up and argues that the only right action is one that promotes survival, evolution, and ascendance. Later, Reed commiserates with young Ben about Doom, when the two of them walk into some cosmic energy, right into Nathaniel, just traveled there from the previous scene. Reed hugs him, proclaiming, “Dad!”

Reed is somehow not full of questions about how and why his father disappeared, and instead it’s all jovial as he introduces Ben to Nathaniel. Nathaniel tells a story about how, in the future, he fought a man with a powerful quantum machine inside him. He failed, and the resulting explosion unstuck Nathaniel through time, and pulled all other Nathaniels from all other alternate realities into one. That man became Immortus, who founded the Auditors, a time police force. A war broke out between all the Nathaniels and all the variants of Immortus. Immortus won, and insisted that all but one Nathaniel had to die in a big Hunger Games/Battle Royale type of death sport. Now there are only two Nathaniels left and they’re hunting each other throughout the timeline/multiverse.

Nathaniel says this visit is his last chance to say goodbye to Reed before the end, but Reed wants to save his father. He then does the unthinkable and goes to Victor for help. Victor has been developing weapons (!) including some big robots. Later, we see Ben outfitted with a high-tech mech suit. It enhances his physical strength, and he says, “I could get used to this.” Not to be outdone, Victor dons a suit of armor of his own, like the classic Dr. Doom armor. Nathaniel opens a portal and says, “Time to go.”

Cut to the present, where the new Baxter Building’s alarms go off, announcing a “timequake.” A portal opens in front of Sue, and adult Valeria steps out. She fills the room with some sort of glowing blue energy that she says is for privacy. There’s a brief fight, until Sue realizes who Valeria is.

Then we cut to the future, in the ruined city of Chronopolis. Nathaniel leads young Reed, Ben, and Victor through the ruins, with a giant fortress in the distance. They enter the fortress, and Nathaniel and Victor both sense Nathaniel’s enemy nearby. Turn the page to see the alternate Nathaniel floating in air above them, saying, “Let the great hunt come to a close.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Again, it’s interesting that Reed is happy to see his father, but Reed doesn’t ask any questions about where Nathaniel has been or how he just teleported into Reed’s dorm room wearing a suit of future tech.

Fade out: I thought at first that Sue was hand-washing dishes when Valeria appears, but upon a closer look, we can see she’s simply making herself some tea.

Clobberin’ time: Back in college, young Reed wants to spend the weekend in the lab, but young Ben encourages him to come to a party and meet a girl. I wonder how this weekend would have happened without Nathaniel showing up.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Nathaniel Richards’ first appearance, the “Warlord” storyline from Fantastic Four #271-273, is one of my all-time favorite FF stories. So I’d gotten a little tired of Nathaniel’s following appearances never referencing it. Then this issue introduces the fortress at Chronopolis, which is the same design as the Warlord’s fortress from that original story. The Marvel Wiki states that Nathaniel’s time as the Warlord happened just after the great hunt depicted the past in these issues.

The alarm graphic on the FF’s computer screens is the face of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Four and a half: Future Franklin has controlled his mutant power to create pocket universes, while we the readers have seen those powers start to reemerge in the present.

Our gal Val: We get a future/alternate timeline version of Valeria, but no reference to the first version of Valeria we met, who was Marvel Girl from an alt. future.

Trivia time: In true time travel fashion, some of the images future Franklin sees at the start of the issue haven’t happened yet, but they will in upcoming issues.

Fantastic or frightful? It’s yet another issue of setup, promising big things to come. I’m reminded of Chris Claremont’s years on X-Men, where storylines would be introduced and then paid off years later. Is writer Jonathan Hickman attempting a similar long game with Fantastic Four? We’ll see.

Next: It’s time to pay the price.

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