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 Out of the ashes of the Fantastic Four, rises the Future Foundation. The story of the Future Foundation begins with writer Jonathan Hickman being assigned to Fantastic Four. His FF stories began as a major world building exercise, and ended with the kinda-sorta dissolution of the Fantastic Four. After the tragic death of the Human Torch aka Johnny Storm, the Fantastic Four is no more. The team entirely rebrands and restructures themselves as the Future Foundation, a sometimes-adventurer, sometimes-scientist organization. The four key members still have crazy outer space adventures in traditional Fantastic Four style, but the many supporting players make up the rest of the FF science team. Part explorers, part scientists, the Future Foundation is essentially what happens when Reed Richards begins to slowly crack. In one of the more memorable (and that's saying something) scenes in Fantastic Four, Reed tells the world's leading scientists to gently caress off, and resolves to finally try to solve as many problems as he can.  The core team: Reed Richards - Super scientist, super stretchy, father. Reed is probably the smartest man alive, and can stretch. You guys should know this already. He was a founding member of both the Future Foundation and the Fantastic Four. There are currently a gazillion Reed Richardses in the multiverse, attempting to guard from threats they feel they can't handle alone. Think of it like an Avengers team made up of entirely alternate versions of Reeds who live in space. Sue Storm-Richards - Wife of Reed, the Invisible Woman, mother. She has the ability to turn invisible, turn other things invisible, and create invisible force fields that she projects. She can also fly around on an invisible force field disk thing. Sue is often an object of desire to Namor, king of the (New) Atlanteans. Sue recently became the self-proclaimed representative of all humanity to the Old Atlanteans and other unfamiliar races. Ben "The Thing" Grimm - Turned into a rock monster. Once died and met God, Jack Kirby, before coming back to life by way of Kirby's magic pencil. Ben Grimm recently gained the ability to (randomly) turn back into his human form for a single week every year. His first time as a human, he was forced to watch helplessly as Johnny Storm was ripped apart by space bugs. Peter "The Amazing Spider-Man" Parker - Bitten by a radioactive spider, with great power comes something, you all know Spider-Man. Joined the Future Foundation after the holographic will of Johnny Storm told Reed that Peter should be a member. So far he's proven that he actually fits in well with the Future Foundation, both as an adventurer and a scientific genius.  Besides the core team, there's also the following non-adventurers (but still incredibly important characters), mostly scientists: Valeria Richards - Daughter of Reed and Sue, sort of niece of Victor von Doom. Super genius, possibly smarter than Reed (unproven, but stated). Currently bent on cold hearted revenge after Annihilus slaughtered her uncle. Plans to somehow murder Annihilus. Oh and she's approximately 3 years old, though she's drawn to look at least 6. Franklin Richards - Son of Reed and Sue. Has the ability to, well, do pretty much anything he wants. Controls the fabric of reality. Lost his powers for a long time, currently has his powers and is mourning for his uncle. Leech - He is a mutant who can nullify or dampen other mutants powers (and sometimes non-mutants). Friend of Franklin's, and was bunking with him for a while, as Reed wanted Franklin's powers nullified for safety. Evolved Moloids - A group of creatures created by the Mole Man, these particular moloids are evolved to be intelligent instead of the usual mindless drones. Their names are Tong, Turg, Mik, and Korr, and contribute to the Future Foundation's science team. Dragon Man - An android who was upgraded by Valeria, is pretty smart, and contributes to the science team. He also looks like a dragon. Ancient Atlanteans - The Atlanteans we all know and love, Namor's people, are not the original Atlanteans. The ancient Atlanteans were buried away deep under ice and water, and if I remember right they do not like Namor's people. I don't remember much about them, and will fill in more later.  Dark Reign - This mini series is the first Hickman stories, and is actually quite good. Norman Osborn, then-leader of HAMMER, attacks the Baxter Building. Reed is locked in his lab perfecting "The Bridge", a device that scans alternate realities. Reed is distraught with his role from Civil War, the SRA, and now Osborn's reign, and decides to find out how other realities handled the Civil War, how many avoided it, and what he could have done differently. Meanwhile, the machine accidentally pushes Sue, Ben, and Johnny back through time for wacky adventures. Lastly, Valeria and Franklin are left alone to face Osborn and his HAMMER crew's invasion of the Baxter Building. What Reed discovers from his machine is that there are only a handful of realities that avoided a physical conflict like Civil War, and in those realities, the commonalities are that Iron Man and Hank Pym were not around to be part of the conflict. <Will insert better Fantastic Four summary here> Future Foundation - At the beginning of FF, several plot lines are introduced/continued. Nathanial Richards, Reed's father, returns from the future. Valeria and her young science team continue to plot vengeance. Spider-Man joins the team, and everyone grieves for Johnny. It is also revealed that Valeria has struck a deal with the brain-damaged Doctor Doom. She has agreed to return Doom to his former glory in return for something. She reveals that the thing Doom promised her is to defeat Reed. It is currently unknown what her plan is. Doctor Doom's former intelligence was returned using a "backup" brain in Doom's younger clone or son. He says he is a man of his word, however, and promises to help Valeria since she helped him. Restored Doom helps Reed gather a council of his rogue galleries to meet to ask and answer the question how can Doom, the Wizard, the High Evolutionary, and more team up with the FF to defeat Reed Richardses. Meanwhile, there are four other-dimensional Reeds stuck on Earth who are furthering the "four cities will war" prophecy. Doom and Reed do not provide refreshments for the council members.  Links to Doogz awesome FF annotations! (Thanks Matt Cruea for the reminder) The annotations are an in depth analysis of almost every goddamn panel of the issue(s). Part retrospection, part discussion, they will simultaneously answer and raise many, many questions. According to doogz, Edge & Christian is the best part of these annotations. Fantastic Four #570 Fantastic Four #571-572 FF #1 FF #2 FAQ Section Coming soon! Q:What is the reading order to getting caught up to Future Foundation? A: Thanks to Wachter - Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5 (collected in one trade) Fantastic Four #570-588 (collected in trades 1, 2, 3 and 4) FF #1-3 and onwards (ongoing, no trades yet) You might want to read Fantastic Four #554-561 for some of the set-up for Nu-World, but it's not really necessary. Myrddin Emrys fucked around with this message at May 16, 2011 around 13:19 |
| # ? Apr 28, 2011 23:42 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 12:56 |
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Placeholder to maybe talk about the wider Hickmanverse
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| # ? Apr 28, 2011 23:51 |
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I've always wanted to get into the Fantastic Four and I feel like these new turn of events are just the perfect excuse to start. Kinda silly they had to clip-on Spidey instead of introducing an all-new character though. Wonder how he manages his time between FF, Avengers and his own adventures. e: OP should add information about goddamn Dr. Doom playing along with Reed now.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 00:47 |
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Ka0 posted:I've always wanted to get into the Fantastic Four and I feel like these new turn of events are just the perfect excuse to start. Kinda silly they had to clip-on Spidey instead of introducing an all-new character though. Wonder how he manages his time between FF, Avengers and his own adventures. I was actually going to add him as a member somewhere, but after the "reveal" at the end of the last issue I couldn't in good conscience do it until we know what happens next. I also don't think it's silly that Spidey is on the team. I think since ASM #1 Spider-Man has wanted to be on the FF, he's actually BEEN a member before, he was best friends with Johnny Storm, I think it makes perfect sense. As for a jumping on point, yes, just start with Hickman's run for now. It starts with a bunch of what feel like oneshots, but they are pieces of a bigger puzzle.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 01:10 |
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Oh well I hope this will lead to him leaving the Avengers because damned if there are 3 names that should never be on that roster and Spider-man is one of them.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 01:24 |
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Great thread. I love Val, she's my favorite part of this book. Though, how is she 'sorta-niece' to Dr. Doom? I thought she was just calling him 'Uncle Doom' just to call him that. Ka0 posted:I've always wanted to get into the Fantastic Four and I feel like these new turn of events are just the perfect excuse to start. Kinda silly they had to clip-on Spidey instead of introducing an all-new character though. Spider-man makes perfect sense. He is considered 'family', and he had a friendship with Johnny. Ka0 posted:Wonder how he manages his time between FF, Avengers and his own adventures. Same way Wolverine does. I've stopped worrying about that sorta thing, since the big two (especially Marvel it seems) likes their characters to have the super power of omni-multitasking Ka0 posted:e: OP should add information about goddamn Dr. Doom playing along with Reed now. It's there.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 01:49 |
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Revol posted:I love Val, she's my favorite part of this book. Though, how is she 'sorta-niece' to Dr. Doom? I thought she was just calling him 'Uncle Doom' just to call him that. Then Loeb retconned her back to being Sue and Reed's (I am not making this up) unborn baby that Sue miscarried. Then I think Franklin magicked her back to life using his reality warping powers. And then Doom delivered the baby and named her after an ex-girlfriend.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 02:12 |
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Yeah, I read it after posting. It's hosed up. Oh, comics. 
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 02:22 |
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Has there ever been an explanation why Ben Grimm has to wear a muscle shirt while everyone else gets long sleeves? Logically, Reed should wear the muscle shirt or perhaps a speedo so they wouldn't need magic stretchy material. In the process, if you can throw in how Johnny Storm died and save me the trouble of googling it, that would also be appreciated.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 03:51 |
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Add Artie Artie owns.  Also Alex Power, Bentley, and Nathaniel Richards. I love this cast.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 04:24 |
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JD Brickmeister posted:Has there ever been an explanation why Ben Grimm has to wear a muscle shirt while everyone else gets long sleeves? Logically, Reed should wear the muscle shirt or perhaps a speedo so they wouldn't need magic stretchy material. Reed could never pull it off. Ben has the body for it. I recall there being some kind of hulking hero who had to use a suit to help deal with their immense weight. (Similar to Citizen Steel, but that regulates his strength, I believe.) JD Brickmeister posted:In the process, if you can throw in how Johnny Storm died and save me the trouble of googling it, that would also be appreciated. He has a placeholder for an explanation of the current Hickman run. I'll just give the quick rundown: While Reed and Susan were out of town, Johnny and a human (for one week) Ben were watching the kids. (Reed was trying to prevent Galactus, who had just found his future-corpse, from devouring Nu-Earth, while Susan was mediating between the new and old Atlanteans.) I believe Johnny brought home a date, who turned out to be a spy in disguise for Annihilus, and she opened the Negative Zone. They push an invasion force pack in through the portal, but the only way to close it is from inside the Zone, and somebody has to be on the other end to do so. Ben volunteers to stay, but Johnny pushes him through the portal and sacrifices himself. As Ben starts to from human to Thing, he watches Johnny get torn apart. The Avengers come to the Baxter building to late, and find the Thing and the two Richards kids huddled together in front of the portal.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 05:10 |
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JD Brickmeister posted:In the process, if you can throw in how Johnny Storm died and save me the trouble of googling it, that would also be appreciated.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 12:17 |
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Myrddin Emrys posted:Reed loses his poo poo and grabs the ultimate nullifier gun and threatens to shoot him, before realizing that he will probably cause the endof the universe if he does that. Huh? Killing Annihilus will destroy the universe?
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 13:17 |
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No, using the nullifier might. It's like using a nuclear bomb to kill a bug on the floor but on a larger scale.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 13:34 |
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Revol posted:Huh? Killing Annihilus will destroy the universe? In order to use the nullifier you have to be extremely focused. Using the nullifier out of revenge is likely to not be wielded by a super focused person. Officially I think that basically an unfocused mind would cause the same damage to both ends of the weapon, however the "stronger the mind", the more damage you can do, including universal destruction. It was being used by Reed, who is one of the most powerful minds on the planet.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 13:41 |
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Don't forget that using it in an open doorway between Earth and another universe would probably cause untold damage to the fabric of space-time (a la The Fault) even if it was used in the most focused of fashions.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 16:13 |
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This book is fantastic(lol!) and I really hope Hickman sticks around for a long time. I've been reading his run since the beginning and it's definitely worth it. So many plot threads come back in surprising ways and you can tell he's building to something big(war of the four cities!) Doom being on the team seems a little tired though. Especially since Marvel has done the same thing with Magneto/X-men I don't even know how many times.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 16:40 |
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Doom on the team will be amazing, especially since they didn't drag out "fixing" him. I've said this for awhile now but Hickman's run is one of the great runs. We are reading a 90s Claremont, an Alan Moore Swamp Thing, dare I say it- A Kirby FF run. In 10, 15, 20 years, fat, smelly geeks are going to look at Hickman's run and argue why it is better/worse/can-beat-up-your-dad.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 17:28 |
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Huh. I learned something about The Ultimate Nullifier today. I thought that no matter who used it or how focused you were, you basically started a universe-destroying chain reaction. Now I'm wondering if Reed could use it if he had Charles Xavier keeping him focused.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 18:15 |
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Matt Cruea posted:Add Artie Artie owns. I'm holding off on adding some people to the "official" roster list until we learn more. Notably Doom and Nathaniel, because it seems to me that they are just going to be around for a little while. I'm probably going to reread the Hickman run soon and write up a nice plot synopsis of each arc (there's only a couple) and add in characters I missed.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 21:00 |
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I gotcha. A link to Doogz' awesome annotations would also be helpful. They're awesome.
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| # ? Apr 29, 2011 23:59 |
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Matt Cruea posted:I gotcha. A link to Doogz' awesome annotations would also be helpful. They're awesome. Done, added a section. I found the FF #1 Annotation (I think) were there more?
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 00:58 |
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Spider-Man on the FF is a great place for him to be and was over 45 years in the making. If you haven't and even though it isn't really connected, the recent Spider-Man and Fantastic Four mini-series pretty much perfectly sums up how the FF view Peter as not just a friend, but family. I'd also say the arc in Amazing where Peter re-reveals his identity to them was very well done as well. What does everyone think Peter was thinking when he was watching Reed? It almost seemed like he wasn't going to stop him if he decided to purge Doom's mind. I don't think he really approved, but it seemed like he wouldn't have blamed Reed for doing it even if he disagreed. Though he did look rather menacing in the panel. And if you're complaining about how he can appear in so many comics... just sit back and enjoy reading them!
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 01:18 |
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Myrddin Emrys posted:I'm holding off on adding some people to the "official" roster list until we learn more. Notably Doom and Nathaniel, because it seems to me that they are just going to be around for a little while. I think the whole point of The Great Hunt arc is that Nathaniel is going to hang around for quite a bit longer than usual.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 01:36 |
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I'm not saying I dislike Spidey, on the contrary. However, the Torch could ignite himself, shoot fire from his hands and fly through air and space at ridiculous speeds. At the risk of sounding DC, I feel as if Spider-Man is up for an upgrade, powers-wise.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 02:54 |
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Ka0 posted:I'm not saying I dislike Spidey, on the contrary. However, the Torch could ignite himself, shoot fire from his hands and fly through air and space at ridiculous speeds. At the risk of sounding DC, I feel as if Spider-Man is up for an upgrade, powers-wise. Then you'll love Slott's run on ASM.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 03:11 |
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I'm finding Future Foundation more exciting than I should. I'm a big FF fan and I took the Human Torch death with a grain of salt. But given how it's being handled in the first issue, I'm quite pleased. I love the current trend of bringing back all sorts of Absurd characters that were phased out in the early '90s and seeing Monoids and Dragon Man as part of the FF has just brilliant. Just one question: why is Doom brain-damaged? What happened there? And speaking of kids, I wonder if we'll get any of the Fantastic Force or Kristoff as part of the gang now.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 03:14 |
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Mad Doctor Cthulhu posted:Just one question: why is Doom brain-damaged? What happened there? And speaking of kids, I wonder if we'll get any of the Fantastic Force or Kristoff as part of the gang now. Quick summary: an alliance of evil geniuses (MODOK, the Leader, etc.) tries to use the intelligence of the smartest men in Marvel for some plot I did not read the full crossover of, in shutting this down, Doom suffers brain damage from the device they're using as the whole thing crashes down around them. It was a Hulk crossover.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 03:20 |
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I'm going to be so pissed when the resurrect Johnny within two years of Hickman being off the book. "They actually just captured me to act as a power source for their new scary war machine. Thanks for saving me the last six months was brutal."
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 16:27 |
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Syrg Sapphire posted:Quick summary: an alliance of evil geniuses (MODOK, the Leader, etc.) tries to use the intelligence of the smartest men in Marvel for some plot I did not read the full crossover of, in shutting this down, Doom suffers brain damage from the device they're using as the whole thing crashes down around them. I'll look it up. Thanks! What's the extent of the damage? Is he just not that smart anymore? Nevvy Z posted:I'm going to be so pissed when the resurrect Johnny within two years of Hickman being off the book. They could just bring Jim Hammond in. Nothing like the Original Human Torch!
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 16:35 |
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Nevvy Z posted:I'm going to be so pissed when the resurrect Johnny within two years of Hickman being off the book. Every time we get a death in comics someone makes this post. They always come back and it's usually through either a painfully obvious or absurdly convoluted back door. Welcome to the industry. The death itself was handeled well, and I'm sure the return will receive a similar treatment. BSS should implement a burtle rule: no deathchat unless you're willing to eat the book.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 17:07 |
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At least the whole clone-fad is no longer as prevalent as it was during the 90's. God that was annoying.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 17:24 |
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Nevvy Z posted:I'm going to be so pissed when the resurrect Johnny within two years of Hickman being off the book. I don't know why you're saying/implying that they'll do it when Hickman is off the book. From the way the book is going it's obvious that Hickman himself has a game plan in place where he'll bring Johnny back. Waterhaul fucked around with this message at Apr 30, 2011 around 18:21 |
| # ? Apr 30, 2011 17:54 |
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Waterhaul posted:I don't know why you're saying implying that they'll do it when Hickman is off the book. From the way the book is going it's obvious that Hickman himself has a game plan in place where he'll bring Johnny back. My bet is FF #12 which I believe should equal Fan Four #600.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 18:19 |
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invalid user posted:My bet is FF #12 which I believe should equal Fan Four #600. Yeah it seems like the most logical point to have Hickman tie up the plot points that he's been sprinkling throughout his run then. The main thing about Johnnys death though is that while it did happen and he was straight up killed in front of people future Valeria and Franklin have still set in motion a plan to alter the past seen in FF #582. 
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 19:00 |
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So Val and Doom are going to repeat the Doom brain fix process on the whole basement of Dooms to gently caress up the Council of Reeds, yeah?
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 19:08 |
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Waterhaul posted:Yeah it seems like the most logical point to have Hickman tie up the plot points that he's been sprinkling throughout his run then. Whoa, I never even realized that panel showed Johnny was going to die. Isn't that what I'm seeing? Franklin says "Dead men must not be forgotten" and the Human Torch is right there next to him in crayon.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 19:24 |
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^burtle posted:So Val and Doom are going to repeat the Doom brain fix process on the whole basement of Dooms to gently caress up the Council of Reeds, yeah? That would be amazing. Edit: I've had a hard time getting copies of Future Foundation, have they said what their logo specifically means?
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 19:29 |
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^burtle posted:So Val and Doom are going to repeat the Doom brain fix process on the whole basement of Dooms to gently caress up the Council of Reeds, yeah? Holy poo poo that makes a lot of sense. The failing of the Reed/Doom cosmic balancing act is what set about the Fraklin/Val/Nathaniel future, which explains why he was so disdainful about the idea that "everyone just does what Reed wants" when Reed mentioned his plan for the moon. Reed[s] bring[s] about whatever terrible poo poo goes down.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 19:48 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 12:56 |
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This is it. That's exactly what's going to happen. This is going to be awesome, Dooms will fix EVERYTHING.
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| # ? Apr 30, 2011 20:04 |
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