Fantastic Five

For other uses of this name, see Fantastic Five (disambiguation).

The Fantastic Five was a team formed on Earth-772 when a relatively new-to-the-job Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four. The Invisible Girl (Sue Storm) was marginalized and left the team to marry Namor. Sue's departure led to the now-Fantastic Four (again) ultimately disbanding when a distraught Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) blamed Spider-Man. Reed and the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) later attacked Atlantis, but while Reed saw the error of his ways, Johnny swore further revenge.

Sue eventually returned to the surface world after her differences with Namor became too great- leaving their child behind with her husband- and the Fantastic Five were reunited. Reed and Sue married, and they had a child, Franklin.

Alternate Timelines

In another timeline, Reed was replaced during the days of the Fantastic Five by his Counter-Earth duplicate, the Brute (which may have helped the disintegration of the team along). Sue never left Namor's side.

Further Fantastic Fives with Spider-Man as the fifth member can be found on Earth-4400 and Earth-99476.

Other Fantastic Fives

On Earth-912, the Silver Surfer never left Earth, and eventually joined the Fantastic Four. Ultimately, his membership made the team a target of Mephisto, who trapped them in the hopes of forcing the Surfer to relinquish his soul. After the Human Torch was slain, the Surfer surrendered, but Mephisto found he'd made an error when the Surfer's pure soul became a counterpoint to his evil in the hellish realm he ruled.

On Earth-917, Namor, who had just regained his memory, joined the Fantastic Four. With romance blossoming between Namor and Sue Storm, Reed left the team to pursue scientific research (remaining a friend), and the Five became a foursome again.

Comments

Originally, the first timeline described above was presented as two separate histories- one universe where Sue stayed with Namor and the Fantastic Five disintegrated, ending with a vengeful Johnny Storm, and another (explicitly noted as a divergence from the previous) where Sue left Namor after a short time and returned to Reed, with the team remaining together and Sue having Franklin. The Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 retroactively combined the two together into one history.