A future issue of Fantastic Four promises a fight to the death between two of the team's heroes, and their fate is looking grim -- Ben Grimm, to be exact.
Released by Marvel, the cover and solicitation for Fantastic Four #42 promises "a battle to the death" between the Thing (Ben Grimm) and Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), with the issue titled "Brother Against Brother." The two have been friends and founding members of the super team since their first comic book appearance in 1961, helmed by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The current Fantastic Four series is led by writer Dan Slott, who teased the two's eventual death match over a year before the upcoming issue is set to release.
FANTASTIC FOUR #42
- DAN SLOTT (W) • RACHAEL STOTT (A) • COVER BY CAFU
- CONCEPT ART VARIANT COVER BY R.B. SILVA
- CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER BY MIKE ALLRED
- "Brother Against Brother"
- One of the most pivotal planets in the Marvel Universe faces imminent destruction.
- Jennifer Walters, the Sensational SHE-HULK, finally learns her part in this chaos.
- And in the middle of all of this carnage, two lifelong friends will have a battle to the death – prepare yourself for THE THING versus MISTER FANTASTIC!
- 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
On January 27, 2021, Fantastic Four #28 plunged three of the team's members -- Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman and the Thing -- and Dragon Man into "necro-spheres." Conjured by villain the Griever at the End of All Things, the necro-spheres showed each teammate their eventual and most likely death, having them experience their demise on a loop, over and over again. When the Thing jumped into Mr. Fantastic's necro-sphere, he was in disbelief that Reed's murderer would be Grimm himself.
One of the common issues that Grimm had with Richards was blaming the scientist for Grimm becoming the Thing. Grimm spoke to a future version of himself in Fantastic Four #28 as he was killing Mr. Fantastic, citing that they had gotten over this issue. However, the future Thing claimed that this was not the reason why Grimm will eventually kill Richards.
The grievance that Richards is responsible for turning Grimm into the Thing has been shown in live-action as well, both in the 2005 release of Fantastic Four and the 2015 reboot, with another film set to release in the future for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, helmed by Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts. It is unclear at the present moment if the animosity between the two heroes will be adapted again in the upcoming film.
As for the upcoming death duel, it is also unclear what will cause the eventual fight. The team is currently involved in the Daredevil-centric event Devil's Reign, where Grimm can be seen protecting Richards' and Sue Storm's children from Kingpin's forces after the couple was apprehended. The team will also be involved in their own event, The Reckoning War, which Slott has discussed in an exclusive interview with CBR as being two decades in the making, with the event also set to feature Marvel favorites like She-Hulk, Thor, the Watcher, Doctor Doom, Silver Surfer and more.
Written by Slott with art by Rachael Stott, Fantastic Four #42 goes on sale March 30, 2022 from Marvel Comics.
Source: Marvel