A Complete Guide to the Fantastic Four's Many Headquarters

As the premiere family of the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four have always had some of the coolest stuff in the entire cosmos. Sometimes they’ve had to relocate because of the realities of their current situation, though, usually because their previous base was destroyed or they lost the land rights.

With the super team finally returning to Earth and relocating to a new base on Yancy Street, let’s take the opportunity to look back at all the places they’ve set up shop over the course of the last 60 or so years.

Baxter Building

The original headquarters for the Fantastic Four was introduced all the way back in Fantastic Four #3 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The 35-story building was home to many of early Marvel's major events and served as a source of financial woe for the team. See, Walter Collins was the landlord for the building, initially reasoning that having the most famous heroes in the world in his building would do wonders for business, but having the Fantastic Four as tenants meant dealing with the building sometimes being shot into space by Doctor Doom.

No insurance company would agree to a policy on the building, especially with Reed’s experiments and Ben’s brawls with villains. After a battle with Terrax destroyed the top three floors of the building, Collins tried to have the family evicted, forcing Reed to buy the building outright in Fantastic Four #244 by John Byrne. Kristoff Doom soon shot the building into space again in Fantastic Four #278. The team escaped, but the building was destroyed in orbit.

Avengers Mansion

While the team prepared to build their replacement home, they ended up crashing at one of the most famous locations in the Marvel Universe. Avengers Mansion was the original base for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Reed, Sue, Johnny and then-team member She-Hulk moved into the building while they decided where to set down roots next.

This served as a small but memorable crossover between the two books. When the rest of the world learned that Franklin Richards, a mutant, was staying there, there were even protests at the mansion. It’s also at Avengers Mansion that Reed Richards ends up experimenting on a cocoon found in the Hudson Bay and awakening the real Jean Grey from the coma the Phoenix Force had left her in. Eventually, the team moved into the Four Freedoms Plaza and left the Mansion behind.

Four Freedoms Plaza

Built on the site of the former Baxter Building, Four Freedoms Plaza was Reed’s chance to expand on the concept of the base. Creating a 100-story building, the first 50 went to former tenants of the Baxter Building. The top 50 was dedicated to the team and Reed's labs. The building served as their base for most of the 1980s and 1990s, even when the top floors were destroyed. They remained here until the entire team was seemingly killed helping stop Onslaught.

The building suffered major structural damage during the battle. Fearing what would happen if Reed’s inventions were stolen, his father, Nathaniel Richards, recovered his son’s work and hid it. The building was adopted by the Thunderbolts during their scheme to pose as superheroes, but was destroyed and shunted into the Negative Zone when Baron Zemo's plan was thwarted. By the time the Fantastic Four returned to the Marvel Universe following Heroes Reborn, the building was condemned. Following a battle with Ronan, the remains of the building were teleported to the Blue Area of the Moon.

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Pier 4

The shortest lived base for the Fantastic Four, Pier 4 was located alongside the Hudson River. Introduced in Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #1 by Scott Lobdell and Alan Davis, Pier 4 became their interim home following their return to the mainline Marvel Universe. The team was forced to contend with many of their fiercest enemies during this time, including the arrival of a Valeria Richards from another timeline, who’d been raised by Doctor Doom and his wife, Sue Storm. Seriously.

The base only lasted two real-life years before it was destroyed in a battle with Diablo in Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #36 by Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marin. It turns out the land had been procured by Noah Baxter, an old teacher and friend of Reed Richards. Their partnership eventually resulted in the new and improved version of the Baxter Building.

Baxter Building (2.0)

Noah and Reed reunited, and were soon working on the newest version of the Baxter Building. Notably, they did most of the construction in space. It was eventually lowered onto the spot where the original Baxter Building and Four Freedoms Plaza had once stood in Fantastic Four #39 by Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Marin and Jeph Loeb. The building was eventually seized by New York City in restitution for various damages caused over the years by the team in 4 #1 by Roberto Auguirre-Sacasa and Steve McNiven.

By the end of that series, the team had reclaimed the building and moved back in, although it now became a frequent target of attacks for various villains during a number of crossovers, like Secret Invasion and Age of Ultron. After half the Fantastic Four left Earth to help recreate the multiverse, the building was briefly owned by Peter Parker and turned into the Parker Industries Headquarters. It was eventually bought out from under him by a still-unknown buyer.

The Foundation

Created by Reed Richards as a secret base and home away from home for the students and members of his newly-formed Future Foundation, the Foundation is an orbiting satellite lab. It has arguably appeared the fewest times out of any of these locations, only showing up for a few issues of FF by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta and Steve Epting.

It still makes for a useful base following the events of Fantastic Four #600, which saw the triumphant return of Johnny Storm from the Negative Zone, where he’d presumably perished fighting off the entire Annihilation Wave. Now the lord of that alien horde, Storm used the Foundation as the spot to park the massive flagship he’d stolen away from Annihulus. The base has only appeared briefly since then.

#4 Yancy Street

Marvel has announced that, when the Fantastic Four return to Earth proper in Fantastic Four Vol. 6 #4 by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli, they’ll be taking up residence in a brand-new building. With the Baxter Building unavailable to them after Peter Parker lost it (Parker luck at it’s finest, ladies and gentlemen), the team will need to set up a new base of operations. To that end, it looks like they’re moving into the Thing’s old neighborhood and setting up shop at #4 Yancy Street.

The variant cover by Valerio Schiti shows off the family enjoying some of the various parts of the building, including a comfy reading nook for Sue, a kitchen for Johnny, a lab for Reed and a training area for Ben. With the Fantastic Four having been notably absent from the last few years of Marvel Comics, it’s exciting to see them settling into their new digs.

Fantastic Four #4 goes on sale Nov. 28. Fantastic Four #1 & #2 are currently available digitally and in comic stores.