Ben Grimm Presents His Fantastic Four!

 

It might seem almost preposterous to consider a Fantastic Four team without one-half of it being Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, yet there have been instances when even Reed and Sue needed to exit the team for awhile--a gap that wasn't filled when Reed took it upon himself to remove the two of them in order to keep Sue out of harm's way when she became pregnant, but was addressed when the pair left the team after the events of Civil War to patch up their relationship. On that occasion, it was no less than royalty who filled in for them.

But much earlier, Steve Englehart, during his time as the book's writer, decided to shake up the team while Reed and Sue left to devote more time to their son, Franklin--moving up Ben Grimm, the Thing, to the leadership position, while returning to the fold former team member Crystal, who had proposed to fill in for Sue when she was sidelined during her pregnancy. That left a fourth position to be filled, by a virtual stranger to not only readers but also to the super-human community--an old friend of Ben's while he was on the wrestling circuit, someone who had gone through her own personal hell when she was held prisoner by Curtiss Jackson, known as the "Power Broker," and was so traumatized by the experience that she carries with her both rage against and fear of men. Unfortunately for the alchemist-villain known as Diablo, it's the "rage" part that she brings to the Fantastic Four's battle against him when showing up at the Baxter Building to visit Ben.

Though she's beaten Diablo to within an inch of his life, Sharon Ventura, the new Ms. Marvel, managed to save all four members of the original FF from certain death--and Ben believes that the place for her to recover from her past ordeal, while also bringing her focus and a sense of self, is the fourth slot on the team roster.

And it's looking like this new team's baptism of fire might be Round Two with Diablo.

Once the goodbyes have been said with Reed, Sue, and Franklin, our new team settles in--but even on the printed page, you can almost hear the echoes of those parting moments, as Englehart, laying the groundwork for future issues, has Sue voicing doubts about not only the "high-strung" Sharon, but also Crystal, who is estranged from her husband Quicksilver following her admitted act of adultery and who now may turn her attention to Johnny, whose marriage to Alicia Masters remains a sore point for Ben. And if you've guessed that may be one reason why Ben wanted Sharon on the team, well, you're now fully partaking of this soap opera soup--but for now, things look fairly upbeat in terms of their budding camaraderie.

As for Diablo, what sort of threat could he be, seriously injured and in traction at the hospital? It certainly doesn't pay to underestimate him, whatever his condition.

As we'll see, it doesn't take Englehart long to start the ball rolling on the potential for internal strife where the new FF are concerned, and this coming battle will indeed bring some of that to light. To his credit, however, he'll demonstrate that 4-to-1 odds eventually overwhelm a villain limited to throwing potions; but for now, Diablo has another use for his "hospital," one in keeping with his thousand-year history.

For those of us who might have questioned Ben's choice of another "slugger" for the team rather than someone whose abilities might prove useful should super-strength prove to be inadequate in a situation, there's a certain curiosity here as to how to make the pairing of Sharon and Ben work consistently. There are two ways for Englehart to go in this first battle in terms of Ms. Marvel proving her worth, and we can make a fair bet at this point as to how she'll acquit herself here (and judging by the final page, you might want to wage heavily in her favor)--yet it stands to reason she'll rely heavily on her writer's skill at characterization to make her presence interesting for the long haul.

Meanwhile, it's difficult to know what to make of the chemistry between Crystal and Johnny, who obviously have some things to work out.

Now in close quarters, Diablo's options become more limited, depending on his reaction time, the effectiveness of his potions, and his ability to keep himself from being closed on. But thanks to the persistence of the FF, all three are under attack.

How much weight we should give Ms. Marvel's solution is debatable, since it stands to reason that, given the opportunity, you would naturally want to restrain Diablo's arms in order to halt his ability to attack. But a win is a win, particularly so for this untried team--and once the dust settles, they can rightly enjoy their laurels their first time out of the gate.

Sharon, in one form or another (truer words were never spoken), would have an extended history with the FF, even after the inevitable return of Sue and Reed to the team and the departure of both Crystal and Englehart, with the Ms. Marvel we see here quickly giving way to a change in the character which for a time would prompt additional concerns about having two muscle-powered members on the roster. Whatever our expectations might have been of the new Ms. Marvel as one-quarter of the Fantastic Four, the extent of her "staying power" probably surprised us all.