Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer Matt Fraction’s dual comics experiment continues with FF vol. 2 #11. With all these characters and storylines going at once, why not have Impossible Man pop up?

Recap. The Fantastic Four went on a journey throughout time and space, leaving behind a replacement Fantastic Four – Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and newcomer Darla Deering – to run the Future Foundation in their place. They disappeared, leaving the new team on their own. An older Johnny Storm, now known as Old John Storm, arrived from the future with a tale of an all-powerful Dr. Doom, called the Conquering Doom, who killed the Fantastic Four in the distant future. But then, present-day Dr. Doom has made a deal with Alex Power to spy on the new FF, holding Alex’s parents hostage. Doom wants Alex to kill Old John. For help with this, Alex and some of the other kids consulted Maximus the Mad, only to accidentally set him free.

Plans are under way to rescue the Fantastic Four, with help from immortal alien who met the Four in distant past when disguised as Julius Caesar. Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and Darla are in Caesar’s time ship with a plan to go back to the day the Fantastic Four disappeared and stop them. The ship has a bumpy takeoff, and then it disappears. At the new Baxter Building, Alex, Bentley-23, Onome, Ahura, and Tong sneak Maximus through the place, all while Caesar gives a lecture to the other kids on the subject of conquering (!). He catches Alex’s group while they try to sneak past.

The replacement four arrive in the past, only to find NYC turned all green and purple, and seemingly abandoned. Everything gets all twisty-turny until the face of the Impossible Man appears on the side of a building, asking “Did you miss me?” There’s a brief fight, after Impy says he pulled them there as soon as they were unmoored from time, because he has request. He’s heard they run a school now, and he has a kid who needs help.

The heroes dismiss the idea, saying the Future Foundation is not a conventional school, but one with a specific curriculum for specific types of students. Impossible Man says his son needs help because the boy is “entirely too possible.” He offers to help them find the missing Fantastic Four in exchange for meeting the kid. They go to this New York’s library and they’re introduced to the impossible boy, who is impossibly named Adolph.

At HQ, there’s some comedy bits with Maximus disguising himself as a H.E.R.B.I.E, robot to sneak around. In the library, Adolph is a brainy scientist type, who’d rather read books than go to New York. The four make their case for how great the Future Foundation is, and how much fun it is to live in New York. Adolph freaks out, using his Impossible Man powers to trap the heroes in grey boxes. Medusa manages to reach him, saying that the Future Foundation can help him understand and control his volatile emotions. She says that, as a mother, her job is to protect children.

Later, Impossible Man tells Ant-Man that the Fantastic Four are about to be pulled into an alternate dimension where no one can look. We warns them that bad things are coming, and that the replacement team must focus on protecting themselves from “the doomed future.” The timeship takes off with Adolph. On Earth, Caesar finds Maximus in the Baxter Building kitchen, stuffing his face. They shake hands, as Caesar introduces himself as “in the business of conquering worlds.”

To be continued!

Fantastic fifth wheel: Ant-Man pilots the timeship, while also admitting this is the first time he’s ever time-traveled.

She-Hulk is very abrasive to her teammates throughout this issue, so the fight between her and Medusa a few issues back is still unresolved.

Medusa claims that having the city of Attilan floating in the sky over New York makes New York safer than it’s ever been. I don’t know if that’s true.

Darla tries to convince Adolph to come to NYC by describing the great music there. She adds that when she was a child, one of her babysitters was a member of the Strokes.

Multiple H.E.R.B.I.E. robots patrol the hallways of the Baxter Building wearing “hall monitor” sashes. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Impossible Man says he likes the Fantastic Four and wants to help them. This calls back to the time he was part of the short-lived “Fantastic Seven” team lineup in the ‘70s.

Foundational: Welcome to the Future Foundation, Adolph Impossible! This is his first appearance… maybe? In Marvel Two-In-One #86, he fathered a whole bunch of children, the Impossible Kids. It’s unclear whether one of them eventually became Adolph, but it doesn’t look like it.

Bentley suggests that some of the girls in the Future Foundation have a crush on Alex Power, singling out Onome in particular. She shushes him before he can go further.

Trivia time: Who is Adolph’s mom? That’d be the Impossible Woman, who shows up briefly at the end of this issue. Impossible Man created her from his own essence (!), back in Marvel Two-In-One #60, and they’ve been on-again/off-again ever since.

Fantastic or frightful? His name is Adolph, is it? I don’t know. I guess the joke is that it would be impossible for someone to name their kid that. Fortunately, we’ll see him become an interesting addition to the Future Foundation in issues to come. Beyond that, Impossible Man is no one’s favorite character, but Matt Fraction does right by him in this issue. He’s funny and wacky, but also a genuine character.

Next: You old fossil.

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