UPDATE: Whoops, got a little ahead of ourselves here. The death happens in Fantastic Four #587, not tomorrow's issue. But man, am I excited to see who's getting offed, so the conversation still stands, let the speculation begin!
In the current arc of Fantastic Four, "Three," Jonathan Hickman and the rest of Marvel have been very forthright that someone is going to die. They even go as far as to subtitle the arc "Countdown to Casualty" and the upcoming Fantastic Four #586, which ships tomorrow, will be polybagged and feature a new logo changing the iconic "4" to a "3." If you're like me, you've probably been wondering, "Who's going to die?" Well, we've analyzed the issues, we've broken down the characters and can now present to you the official odds on who's going to bite it tomorrow in Fantastic Four #586. Place your best now while you can!
The Thing – ODDS: 1000 to 1
The Thing's profile in the Marvel Universe has gained momentum recently, with his recent membership in the New Avengers (along with the added pay) and the recent reveal via the limited print that was provided at today's Marvel press conference, that he's involved in the Marvel 2011 event, Fear Itself. With his presence in other books and being featured in Fear Itself, it seems highly unlikely that Ben Grimm will be going anywhere anytime soon, which I'm glad to hear, especially since he's recently been able to revert from the Thing back to Ben Grimm once a year, thanks to the Future Foundation.
Speaking of the Future Foundation…
Franklin, Valeria, Dragon Man or any of the other members of Reed's Future Foundation – ODDS: 100 to 1
In a previous arc, Reed created a new think tank to help make plans for the future, aptly named the Future Foundation, the members included a unique cross section of smartypants, including Dragon Man (with some snappy glasses), Artie (of Artie and Leech fame), one of those annoying Power Pack kids, a few evolved moloids, a child clone of the Wizard and Reed's kids, Franklin and Valeria. Killing off a child or or an innocent voice for the future would have emotional impact, none of them are considered "members" of the Fantastic Four, so I don't think Hickman is going to go for the cop out of offing one of these characters.
The Human Torch – ODDS: 48 to 1
Of all the members of the Fantastic Four, the one character who's gotten the least amount of attention of focus on him during Hickman's run has been Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch. I'm not quite sure why, whether it's that Hickman doesn't like him or maybe hasn't had reason to "use" him yet, but we've yet to see to anything beyond Johnny's cliche tropes and his role as a supporting character (Aside from that run in with Arcade, which was odd). Killing the Human Torch would serve the dramatic purpose of killing off a founding member of the team, but there wouldn't be any emotional resonance or tie back to the great story that's been going on. It would be as close to a senseless death as killing off one of the Future Foundation. So based on that, I think Johnny's safe, or at least a longshot
Mister Fantastic – ODDS: 10 to 1
If any of the four members of the team have been the focus for Hickman for his entire run, it's been Reed. Hickman seems to have zeroed in on Reed Richards and used him as the basis for the stories up to this point, from the first epic story arc which introduced us to the League of Reeds, or to the establishment of the Future Foundation, it seems as if the real thrust for Hickman's stories have revolved around Reed. Based on that, it would make him a very good target, especially if, for instance at this current point in the story, he was going up against Galactus. Btu that said, I would be very surprised if Reed's the one to die, purely because Hickman has invested so much in laying the groundwork and building stories around Reed and his actions. Sure, his death would have a major impact, but in the grand scheme of things, how would it move things forward?
The Invisible Woman – ODDS: 2 to 1
If you're looking for a sure bet here, it's The Invisible Woman, at least according to this odds maker. We've seen the strain on the marriage between Reed and Susan Richards for years now, dating back to Civil War. While things have been rocky, Reed and Sue, the darling couple of the Marvel Universe, have been making it work. But with the recent few story arcs and the focus on Reed and his tendency to get lost in his work, we've seen that strain between the couple continue to get stressed. Factor in that right now, in the current spot in the "Three" story arc, Sue is in the most potentially volatile situation, attempting to negotiate peace between Namor and Atlantean people and the newly rediscovered by the Fantastic Four, Tribes of Old Atlantis. A situation that as of issue #585 already erupted into violence. It seems that if there's going to be a consequence to Namor's actions, Sue is going to pay the cost. Her death would send ripples through both the Fantastic Four as they lose their matriarch, as well as under the sea as Namor deals with causing the loss of the woman he loves (but could never be with). Broken down like that, it sure seems like Sue's got a big target on her back.
So there you have it, the official iFanboy odds and prediction that by this time tomorrow, we'll be mourning the loss of one of the greatest women ever to grace the Marvel Universe and it's safe to say that the Fantastic Four will never be the same.
Or do we have it wrong? Did we miss a key clue or misinterpret the events somehow? If you agree or disagree, post in the comments below to let everyone know who you think is going to die and why!
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I think it’s going to be Johnny, only because I don’t really care about the character and Hickman hasn’t made me care about him.
Please, oh please, do not make me sit through two little kids losing their mom at Christmas.
A few people have noted that one of hexagonal shapes in the “FF: A Beginning” teaser image is just an outline, which might suggest Sue. Somewhat abstract, but I think that may be something. And that would then suggest it’s not Sue. So, we’ll see. I’d say Johnny, but he would seem to have the least impact, and i’m not sure Hickman’s the type to stray from impact. I guess maybe I’d say Reed, although Hickman really has an affinity for him.
And really… it could be one of the kids, bringing the Richards family from four down to three — so the “Three” still works. I dunno. This is why I don’t really gamble.
I’ve been saying it was Sue for awhile but not for the reasons you listed. I think that something will happen to her that Ben could have prevented if he were the Thing, but he’ll still be in his human form. This will tie Ben more strongly to Sue and her memory and forge a greater bond between himself, Johnny and Reed in the wake of her death. At least that’s my theory.
I just want say, I’m kind of impressed that we still don’t know; usually comics getting spoiled is the chocolate to comic books’ peanut butter.
Reed has been “dead” before so I don’t think it’ll be him. It could be the Thing “dying” but Ben Grimm living. If it’s going to be a real death, I’m going with Johnny. It seems too predictable for it to be Sue.
Can you have a Fantastic Four without Reed? It’d be an interesting question to answer.
I was under the impression the death wasn’t until next month…
Yep, just checked. The polybagged final part is on sale in January with FF #587 – sorry to be a killjoy… I don’t doubt that the death will occur on the final page of #586, though (and I think it will be Sue, too).
And I notice the UPDATE now.
I think it has to be the Human Torch….Sue makes it the easy money, obvious pick, which is why i don’t buy it. I think Johnny sacrifices himself to save Sue (and the Richards family) and as a result becomes a martyr.
Can we get odds on a “return from death” 3 character Parlay?
@daccampo –i think there is something science related in that hexagonal thing and my first thought when i saw it was “cloning” to bring back whoever dies.
HERBIE.
Don’t worry @jimski, two children will loose their mother after Xmas. Bad joke. I’m putting money down on Reed for sheer story telling purpose. What do the ff do when the man who essentially made them who they are, has them go on their adventures and creates all those wonderful toys is no longer able to do that. How do you have a FF without Reed (yes you can say that about any of them).
And Ron I’d add that Thing died once in the past 7 or so years, which might give him better odds.
After talking with friends, I gotta think it’s Franklin. The 3 still works, it would have emotional impact but he’s a character you could keep dead for years without needing to bring him back.
Marvel needs as many female characters it can get. Surely they won’t get rid of the one in such a high profile team.
Major stories involving the 4.
-Reed -> Otheworld Reeds
-Sue -> Namor incident
-Ben -> looks human
-Johnny -> dates one of the weird freedom fighter aliens
Johnny seems like the least essential to the storyline and he is the one that disney will probably allow to die. At the same time, Sue’s death would be the most heartbreaking, Ben’s would be the saddest, and Reed’s the most logical.
If you had to kill an FF member and make it really have repercussions, then it has to be Reed, his death would totally change the dynamic of the team and make everyone else rush up to fill that void somehow, the dynamic would change, the kind of adventures would probably change.
But I would bet its going to be Johnny.
If we look back to recent arcs of the FF, specifically 581-582, we find that Future Valeria told Sue she must be strong for them all in a very rousing speech, and that when all seemed grim Sue should look to the sky and remember what her future children sacrificed. Thus, there is supreme doubt Sue will be dying.
The Thing will not die, because he died pretty recently (Mark Waid’s run had his death and resurrection). Although Hickman has made it easy to kill The Thing (given that he is currently without his protective rock shell). So thus, Susie and Mr. Grimm seem to be safe.
Johnny is one that I think could possibly be embracing the reaper’s touch, due to a slight reference. In FF 582 Future Franklin reveals his favorite hero is not Spider-man, but the Human Torch. While this can be seen as a cute line, it can also be a signifier of the future. In placing such significance on Johnny, future Franklin could be saying that in order to save Franklin from Galactus (something currently happening in FF 585), Johnny sacrifices himself. I think Johnny, because of this reference could be potentially the member to go, although he doesn’t amount to my actual choice, Reed.
I think Reed, given all of the evidence is the most likely to die, being that he is central to the FF and Hickman’s run. Reed also is known to be in trouble because Valeria needed to talk to Doom in FF 583, to have Doom help her because in the future she fears Reed will be in trouble. Future Valeria also tells Sue to be strong for the family, which essentially says that their central figure, as the FF are patriarchal, Reed, will be dying. Reed is also currently in space, speaking to Galactus, with other people coming brought by the Surfer. Galactus is also very worried about Franklin, which could mean that Reed sacrifices himself to save Franklin in some way.
TL;DR: No way Sue or Ben. Maybe Johnny. Probably Reed.
This is probably almost exatly correct. In fact, it’s so close to being on target that I almost don’t think it’d be Sue, but Marvel has shown that they generally *don’t* zig when they could zag away from what seems like the obvious death (like Dr. Voodoo).
So yeah, Sue’s gonna bite it, even though I think whacking Reed would be more interesting. Best part is, it’ll like give us a really fucked up Reed who’ll probably do something to make himself an actual villain in a year or so. 🙂
At 48 to 1 I’ll take Torch ten times with the over.
Also put me down for “under 8 months” for the “Torch Reborn” mini.
do i read the fantastic four?
no.
would i be very upset with marvel if they were to kill off the only female member on a “flaagship” team?
yes, very much.
…put me down for reed… just because…
I keep going between Sue and Johnny.
So what are the olds on how long it’s going to take for whoever to come back?
I think its going to be Johnny also. He is the risk taker and besides teaming up with Spidey every now and then, has been really unimportant to the entire Marvel U. Really he is the most loyal member of the team also. Ben, Sue and Reed have all left the team before. Johnny kinda left during Civil War, but not long enough to be significant.
Please don’t turn Sue into another body in a refrigerator. I don’t read the book but it really would be depressing if comics continued this trend.
After fully catching up on the series, I think it’s going to be Johnny. Hickman seems to be setting up for Johnny to do something heroic to show he isn’t a complete child.
I’m thinking it’s Reed just because he seems to be the central focus of Hickman’s whole run, so his death would have the most impact. My second guess is Johnny mostly because the most recent FF annual implied that he has a child running around with the same powers as him so he’d be easy to replace on the team.
@Spoons Hickman’s writing it, so at the very least it would be a SCIENCE-REFRIGERATOR.
how could Hickman do this?
I thought I was sooooo smart at my lcs when I predicted sue storm lol. But I’m sticking to it!
I think it’ll be Johnny, just cuz he’s annoying
It has to be Johnny because they need a reason to explain why Chris Evans can’t play him anymore. =)
Reed. ’nuff said.
@AlanMooresBeard Reed also has a child running around with the same powers as he has — and I don’t mean stretching into spare tires — who sure gets a lot of screen time.
I sort of think Sue is obvious but would have the most interesting consequences.
This seems so early 90’s to me because I think I have a conversation about a character being killed off weekly. It’s easy for me to say ” Write the character instead of killing them off” but really, death shouldn’t be character development.
My money is on Reed
1. Hickman mentioned in some interviews prior to his run that the Fantastic Four has mostly been about Reed and he wanted to get away from that. Killing him off would be the easiest way to do this.
2. You could theoretically get ‘back to the status quo’ by replacing Reed with one of his altenrate earth duplicates. Even though people coming straight back from the dead is out of the question this would be a fairly seemless way to get back to the original status quo.
3. Killing Sue would make the Fanastic Four full of dudes. Im sure Hickman is aware of the Women in Refridgerators stuff and talk about how Reed is kind of shitty husband to Sue and I think he might try and avoid that. Also killing Reeds wife means you kinda have to focus on how Reed is handling it more than the others, making the book more about reed.
I don’t want it to be Sue, but if it is, MAN is Namor gonna get pissed off at someone.
I reckon it’s herbie.
I’m betting it’s Reed. That would be the only death that would really make Hickman’s run seem cohesive.
Then again, the run hasn’t been cohesive at all up till now, so maybe there’s no reason to think it’ll start getting cohesive.
I’ve been enjoying the run, but I think a lot of the hype isn’t warranted. People say they like it, but I wonder if they’re just sleepwalking through the process. If it weren’t for the recent cover treatment telling us there’s a “countdown” to something big happening, I honestly don’t think people would say that the last few issues have been an improvement. (I don’t think they’re bad, just not excellent.) And I was thinking earlier, if people aren’t even aware of when the “death” issue is, then how much can y’all really be paying attention?
It’s a decent series. I like Hickman as a writer, but S.H.I.E.L.D. is twenty times better than his FF.
For no good reason I’m taking a strong stance that you’re wrong (and will be the first to apologize if you’re not). First, there was the whole recent Millar fake-out “death of the Invisible Woman” nonsense, and it seems weird that they would actually kill her now. Also, as others have said, killing the female character just doesn’t seem like something they would do right now, I’m just not getting that vibe. My vote is for Franklin: I like what someone said above about the “three” referring to the actual Richards family, and didn’t something recently happen where Doom or someone told Reed that Franklin’s powers were back, or something (my memory is tanking)? Like, maybe he’ll sacrifice himself in some way, cop-outty as that would be. Finally, my hatred of Reed is well known, so I’ve been pulling for him to be the victim this whole time, and I think there’s a good chance, but I’m not going to officially take that position for fear of crushing disappointment.
just googled Fantastic Four who dies and back to 2004 members have been “died”. At one point in time or another Reed and Sue have both “died”. Leaving Johnny and Ben unscathed, since we know Ben lives (unless someone else takes the Thing role) I’d have to say it’s Johnny.
With the return of the original Human Torch and Toro, there is a ready replacement for him. No name change required.
apaprently ben has also died before. So it has to be johnny to havea perfect set.
Reed
MY MOTHER just asked me about this. Apparently MSNBC just ran a story on this? This was a women who does not know who Stan Lee is, and she just asked me if I knew one of the FF was going to die in #587.
I’m still a little shocked.
My money is on Ben. They had the whole nice part in this arc about him getting to be a human for a week, so that feels like a death knell to me.
I’ve always loved the Human Torch, so I hope that it’s not him.
Reed. I’ve missed the last few issues as I have been living in a comic-book-less country for 6 months but I choose Reed for 2 reasons. One, Hickman’s stated goal prior to jumping onto FF was to eventually make the book more family-centric and take the focus off of Reed. Killing him would bring that full circle. Second, between the Future Foundation and Sue stepping up I feel like Hickman is paving the way for a post-Reed FF both in terms of the madcap genius aspect (the Future Foundation) and establishing a new team leader (Sue’s new role vis-a-vis the Atlanteans).
It isn’t gonna be sue. She is on the teaser.
Three hexes. One is not filled in. It’s invisible.
Courtesy if Vince at 11 oclock comics.
No powers plus alien invaders equals ben’s dead.
Reed. He and a gang of alternate Reeds killed Galactus from the future or alternative timeline/reality. When this universe Galactus saw that he was a tad miffed. This can’t go unanswered for and since Reed was in on it he gets the repercussions. But the Reed that dies will later be revealed to be one of the Alternate Reeds and our Reed will return along with the traditional numbering of the book at #589.
I say it’ll be The Thing, only because he’s been in the spotlight lately (New Avengers etc.) so it would be a much larger impact as far as media attention goes. The bottom line is it’s about sales and I think his death would generate the largest reaction, both positive and negative.
Death in Fantastic Four 587. We should not discuss and bet on who will die. All of this is only a commercial gimmick. The current Marvel’s leaders unscrupulously decided to destroy its own myth to cash money. But the myth does not belong only to them! The myth belongs to everybody! Today there will be someone who will cash the money. And tomorrow? Tomorrow there will be only the desolation at the fact that one of the myths that have accompanied our childhood and our youth is gone. There is only sadness because we can no longer read the old wonderful adventures without thinking that a character was killed by the authors. Men should learn to keep their myths. And the Fantastic Four are a modern myth! Killing one of them is like killing Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or one of Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs. We must say NO! I boycott all of this! I won’t buy No 587 Fantastic Four! I won’t buy new series! Let’s diffuse this concept also in Facebook and Youtube! Let’s pretend that Marvel returns us our hero! (sorry for my bad english).
well i heard years back that jhonny storm was going to be killed off im not sure if that was a myth or at the time the writers shelved that idea but im confused a little what happend to galactus going into a chamber of reeds a year back in his human form as galan to escape the essence that made him galactus i must admit i missed some epsiodes of the comic but i beleve this is a past or future galactus esp with the silver suffer as his hereld the art in this future storyline about 3 could be better it would make the story better in my openion the fantastic four will change to 3 perhaps for a time like supermans death big hype sold lots of comics like the current fantastic four story is doing ive allways loved the first family of marvel and hope whoever dies comes back as so many of them do..
@SummerSleep: Good homework and I agree!
I think it will be Reed. He has tried tackling all the world’s problems and this time I bet he bitten off more than he can chew. I hope this is the case. I want to see a new FF status quo where Sue steps up. She has always had a strong character and her powers were always the most powerful. Also with Reed gone there are plenty of Namor/Sue stories that can be told.
The Council, The great hunt, this has been a great run. There is always hope. This is a terrific series.