Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Time for more science-kid hijinks in FF vol. 2 #5, with some mystery along the way.

Recap: The Fantastic Four have left for an expedition through time and space that’s meant to last only four seconds back home. But they never returned. Now, a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – are left in charge. Then a future version of Johnny, now known as “John Storm” appeared, saying Dr. Doom will kill the Fantastic Four in the future. While Ant-Man plots to take down Doom before this can happen, Medusa and Bentley-23, the Foundation’s would-be supervillain in training, have their own plot in the works.

This issue begins with Medusa introducing her son Ahura to the Future Foundation kids. She shows them a flower that’s been exposed to the Inhumans’ terrigen mists, which gives the Inhumans their powers, and then she begins a history lesson. Nearby, Ant-Man is fretting over Alex Power, who ran off after disagreeing with the plan to confront Dr. Doom. He breaks down in front of Darla, insisting it’s his responsibility to keep everyone together. Darla says not to worry about Alex, and instead focus on John Storm, who has also wandered off.

John Storm wanders into some sort of art gallery/nightclub place, looking for a place to sleep for the night. When two locals try to get him to leave, he flames on, singing one man’s beard. He flies off, as a photographer gets a pic of him. Back at HQ, Medusa shows off teleporting dog Lockjaw to the kids. Crystal is there with her daughter Luna, having brought Ahern to the building. Luna has a sort of second sight power, and she sees purple energy swirling around Medusa. She says Medusa looks “un-good.” Medusa chides Luna, saying she shouldn’t use her powers on the queen of Attilan.

Out in New York, Johnny is flying about in madness, saying he’ll burn the whole city to the ground. Ant-Man gets the team together to stop him, with Medusa reminding everyone that John is a friend and must be treated with compassion. Before leaving, Ant-Man asks the Foundation kids for ideas on how to stop John safely. The team finds John out in the city, and a brief fight breaks out. Just as Ant-Man is about to subdue him, the Foundation’s two Atlantean kids, Vil and Wu, summon a huge sea monster to splash water down onto the whole city. This douses John’s flame and knocks him out. The photographer is back, and he takes a humiliating pic of the team all wet.

Later, the team is visited by Ul-Waa of the Uhari. Remember that the Uhari are the long-lost offshoots of Atlantis recently discovered. Ul-Waa is the interim regent of the Uhari in Sue’s absence and uncle to Vil and Wu. He says he won’t allow the children to come to harm, even though they saved the city. John wakes up in the building’s infirmary, saying “End Doom.”

Then we learn where Alex Power ran off to. He’s in… Latveria?!? He arrives at Castle Doom, saying he’s written ahead, and that he’s there to talk about Ant-Man and the new FF. That night, back at the new Baxter Building, Bentley-23 has a dream (or is it?) where he sees Medusa, Blastaar the Living Bomb-burst, and the Wizard. (Remember that Bentley is a clone of the Wizard.) The Wizard calls Medusa “wife,” and he says to Bentley, “Call me dad.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: The opening text page recalls that Ant-Man blames Dr. Doom for the death of his daughter Cassie. This hasn’t been made explicit in the story itself, but it does add extra motivation to his actions.

When fighting John, She-Hulk and Darla do a variation of the X-Men’s famous “fastball maneuver,” with Darla throwing She-Hulk at John.

Medusa’s history lesson is about Herodotus, The Iliad, and a historical representation of women through the centuries. Sounds like heavy stuff, but the Foundation kids are geniuses, remember.

Darla tries on a number of helmets to protect her head while in her Thing suit. Dragon Man gives her an invisible helmet that was originally built to mimic Sue’s powers. Some of her other options include the metal helmet Ben wore after Wolverine scratched his face. Sue’s Malice mask (where did Darla get that?), and the Mask of Mandragora from the Negative Zone and/or from Dr. Who.  

Foundational: While Vil and Wu have normally been silent throughout this run, they do talk in this issue, calling their uncle “Pop-pop” several times.

Onome is unimpressed with Lockjaw, saying that back in Wakanda, her father owns a panther.

Willie Lumpkin is shown teaching a class for the Foundation kids, with “birds” and “bees” written on a chalkboard. Make of that what you will.

Trivia time: There’s a lot of backstory involving Ahura. He was born without permission of the Inhuman high council, and grew up in secret. He has the same madness as his uncle, Maximus, but in this issue he insists he’s gotten over it. The Marvel Wiki names him as an official member of the Future Foundation starting with this issue.

There’s also a lot of drama surrounding Luna. While we were initially told that she had no super powers, that changed over time. During the Decimation crossover, she played a part in Quicksilver trying to terrigen mists to restore his powers. As for Luna, her powers involve seeing and interpreting people’s auras.

Fantastic or frightful? This issue is all over the place with subplots. The mystery of something being up with Medusa is our only throughline. It’s a comic that’s read better as part of the trade rather than a single, which is what comics have been for a while now.

Next: Go into the light.

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