Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’ve all heard the jokes about comic book characters always dying and coming back to life. Our own Reed Richards was dead for a couple of years in the 90s. But now it’s time for another major character to bite the big one. Issue #587 is the final one in the “Countdown to Casualty” storyline, setting up writer Jonathan Hickman’s biggest swing on the series so far.

Recap: Reed recently founded the Future Foundation, a group of young geniuses now living at the new Baxter Building. The FF recently discovered and are caught up in the discovery of four lost civilizations, leading to conflict between Atlantis and the formerly lost Old Atlantis. Galactus is attacking Nu-World, which was co-founded by Reed’s ex, Alyssa Moy, and her husband Ted Castle. And finally, Annihilus is sending an army of his insectoids through the Negative Zone portal to Earth, straight through FF headquarters. Got all that?

The Future Foundation kids join Johnny and Ben in fighting the insectoids. Note that Ben is still human, during his new ability to spend one week per year as a human. Leech insists that someone punch him out. Valeria does, and this activates Franklin’s long-dormant mutant powers. He singlehandedly wipes out the insectoids. Johnny seals the Negative Zone portal, but Valeria says it won’t last for long. To close it permanently, she says they have to travel to the other side of the portal activate the shielding on the other side. Valeria says she can do it, with help of some of the other Foundation kids. A team of sorts is formed, with Johnny, Ben, Franklin, Valeria, Alex Power, Artie, Bently-23, and one of the Moloids.

Cut to Thailand, where negotiations between Atlantis and Old Atlantis have broken down following Namor’s murder of the Old Atlantis king. There’s a lot of confusing talk about who is or isn’t a pawn or a sacrifice. The Old Atlanteans say the king’s heirs are too young to take the throne in his place, so rule belongs to the king’s steward – Sue. They all bow before her. Things get even more confusing on Nu-Earth, where Ted says they will not evacuate the planet’s population. The people’s bodies are automatons, and their combined consciousness has been absorbed into the telepath Natalie X, who has evolved into Mother X, a “worldmind” with an impossible huge brain. To evacuate the entire planet, all they have to do is get Natalie off the planet. But then things accelerate, as Galactus isn’t trying to devour the planet like he usually does. In his outrage, Galactus will simply destroy the planet, killing them all so they can’t kill him in the future.

In the Negative Zone, Ben, Johnny, and Franklin fight more insectoids, while the rest of the kids use their genius to figure out how to seal the portal. Reed himself programmed the portal during his pro-reg Civil War days, making it impossible to reprogram. Bently jokes that they should just nuke the portal, but Alex suggests it as a real possibility. The kids set about using tech from the Baxter Building to create a bomb, while Valeria says one of them will have to stay behind to activate it.

In Thailand, Namor wants to wage war against Old Atlantis and kill them all, but Sue stands in his way. She says they’re under her protection now. He tries attacking her, but she swats him down with a force field. She says, “These are my people now. I rule here.” She drops her force field and tells Namor she’s going home. At Nu Earth, just before everyone can evacuate through a portal, they’re attacked by the Maestro, a.k.a. the Hulk from the future. He insists on joining them. Reed says, “Let’s go home,” mirroring what Sue just said. The portal is activated just as Galactus tears the planet apart.

Back inside the Negative Zone, the insectoid army has regrouped, giving everyone only a minute to activate the bomb. Ben volunteers to be the one who stays behind, sacrificing himself. The genius kids say there’s no other way, and Ben thanks Johnny for one of the best weeks of his life. The kids enter the portal, but then Johnny grabs Ben and throws him through, making Johnny the one who stays behind.

Johnny seals the portal, although everyone on Earth can still see and hear him. He activates the bomb. Ben tries to punch through the portal, transforming back into the Thing as he does so. Johnny asks the others to tell Reed this is where he made his last stand. He says to Ben, “You don’t wish it any more than I do.” He then faces the oncoming army of insectoids. With one last “Flame on!” he goes down fighting as the insectoids overwhelm him. We don’t see this bomb go off. Instead, the portal closes permanently. Ben holds Franklin and Valeria in his arms. The last page of the comic has a number 3 instead of a number 4 logo, with the title, “The Last Stand of Johnny Storm.”

Unstable molecule: Valeria at first says Reed made the portal so it can’t be reprogrammed. But, later in the issue, she says Reed would have a “backdoor” built in, suggesting Johnny can be saved. So, which is it?

Fade out: Sue punches out Namor by creating invisible force field armor around herself, complete with huge spikes. You have to wonder why she doesn’t do this all the time.

Clobberin’ time/Flame on: Despite my criticisms of this issue (see below), Johnny’s final moments are quite affecting. It’s clear that’s his sacrificing himself not so much to save Earth, but to save his friend Ben, just as Ben has found a new opportunity to find some happiness in his life.  

Four and a half: Franklin’s powers are back, but how are they manifesting this time? He’s just unleashing powerful energy blasts, something different than his usual create-pocket-universes power, or his lesser seen dreams/psionic power.

Our gal Val: With Reed not around, Valeria easily fills his role, not just in spewing out lots of science technobabble, but also in a leadership role.

Foundational: Bently-23’s job during the crisis is to watch the oncoming insectoid army and calculate how long until they’re able to attack. Artie uses his powers to create holograms of the portal’s inner mechanisms. Dragon Man is assigned as babysitter/protector for the kids who stay behind on Earth.

Trivia time: Is this Maestro the same one from the classic Hulk: Future Imperfect miniseries and its spinoffs? That does not appear to be the case, as this is the Hulk Jr. character we met a while back as part of the New Defenders, even though he looks and acts just like Future Imperfect’s Maestro in this issue. The Marvel Wiki says this Maestro is the same one who appeared in the ongoing Old Man Logan series, but regular Wikipedia disputes this, arguing that version of the Hulk was known simply as “The King.”

Johnny says the Avengers have been called for backup, but it’ll take them time to arrive. During this month’s issue of Avengers, the team was in crisis after Steve Rogers (who at this point was just “Captain Rogers” and not Captain America) learned about Iron Man’s involvement in the Illuminati, threatening to boot Iron Man off the team. It’s probably for the best that all this drama didn’t spill over into Fantastic Four.

And of course Johnny isn’t really dead. (Ooh, spoiler!) This story will be revisited in issue #600.

Fantastic or frightful? Johnny’s death was a big enough deal at the time that a few mainstream media outlets did some brief stories on it. I always felt that it came out of nowhere, not foreshadowed or built up at all. Upon this re-read it occurs to me that Hickman was trying a bait-and-switch, making us think Ben was going to die with all the “human again” stuff. Either way, this sets up the storylines that are the most well-known of Hickman’s run, and the team’s most famous alternate member.

Next: The end. (Not the end.)

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Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.