The 8 Fantastic Four comics you need to read before the movie

This one’s obvious, starting at the very beginning of the Fantastic Four’s story all the way back in the very first issue. Not only does this serve to introduce us to the four leads – stretchy genius Mr Fantastic, super-strong rock-man The Thing, invisible force field generator the Invisible Woman, and human torch... the Human Torch – but it also naturally captures the idealistic early ’60s tone and retro-futuristic vibe that the movie appears to be shooting for. Movie and comic alike also contain an appearances from the team’s very first antagonist, Mole Man.

From the very same year as that first issue comes Marvel’s next recommendation, and it’s the first of three issues forming a larger narrative arc. This one sees the Fantastic Four visited by the Silver Surfer, a powerful herald of a godlike being known as Galactus, who threatens to devour the Earth. This is the plot that formed the basis of 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and it also appears to play a major part in this latest film, where Julia Garner plays the Silver Surfer and Ralph Ineson the voice of Galactus.

The second part of this potentially Earth-shattering story, aka The Galactus Trilogy, sees Silver Surfer’s warning come to pass. The vast entity known as Galactus reaches Earth, with only our modestly proportioned and empowered foursome standing in his way. This is the issue where Silver Surfer emerges from his ostensibly villainous role and ends up being swayed by his sympathy for humanity, all courtesy of Ben Grimm’s / The Thing’s future love interest, Alicia Masters.

The Galactus Trilogy wraps up in suitably bombastic style, with The Silver Surfer facing up to his boss in defence of humanity, albeit with limited effect. Perhaps a handy mega-weapon MacGuffin holds the key to humanity’s salvation? Who are we kidding – of course it does. Thus wraps up one of the most influential story arcs in all of comic history. How faithfully The Fantastic Four: First Steps follows this plot will be fascinating to see. We suspect there’ll be a fair few tweaks, and probably some wholesale changes along the way – likely to fit the MCU’s current metaverse brief.

Marvel leaps forward in time for its fifth and final entry to its required reading list... kind of. Fantastic Four: Life Story issue 1 is an interesting inclusion, released to celebrate the Fantastic Four’s 60th anniversary. The entire series serves to set the Fantastic Four within the real world time period in which they were written. This first issue is set around the time of their ‘60s debut. It also depicts a Reed Richards with the weight of the world on his shoulders as he plans for the arrival of Galactus... a possible pointer to the drama at the film’s core.

We’ve dealt with the Fantastic Four’s storied past, but we all know Marvel likes a spot of synergy. As such, it probably pays to catch up with the team as it exists today. The latest comic run is Fantastic Four: Into the Depths, which kicks off in issue one with the team tracking down a familiar foe. As we’ve already discussed, Mole Man figures in the new movie, which suggests that this latest run is worth monitoring. This is a nice gentle soft reboot that serves to (re)introduce us to these beloved characters, but with an appropriately modern sensibility.

Given what we know about the MCU’s current multiverse-obsessed phase, and what we’ve gleaned from the early movie trailer material, we’re pretty sure that there’s going to be some science-led multiverse traversal driven by Marvel’s smartest man, Reed Richards. A good place to get a little taster of what may be in store is this first part of Jonathan Hickman’s hugely well-received 2009 run, Solve Everything. It gives us a fresh start for the FF in a modern setting, with Reed Richards building a bridge to the multiverse and consulting a whole bunch of alternate versions of himself.

The breakout star of the initial movie trailers is the team’s cute-as-a-button helper robot. H.E.R.B.I.E. stands for Humanoid Experimental Robot B-type Integrated Electronics (they really struggled there, huh?), and was introduced in the Fantastic Four animated series of 1978 as an enforced replacement for the Human Torch, proving that Marvel’s cross-media licensing issues aren’t a recent phenomenon. Get the full lowdown here, in the character’s comic book debut, before your kid/niece/little brother starts hounding you for a H.E.R.B.I.E. lunch box.