Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Fantastic Four 2099 #1, by Karla Pacheco, Steven Cummings, Chris Sotomayor and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
The world of Marvel's 2099 has always offered an ersatz glimpse of what could happen in one of Marvel's possible futures. Although Marvel's ongoing 2099 crossover has established its place in relation to the current Marvel Universe in no uncertain terms, it still has a history of its own as a popular imprint from the early '90s.
Like many other Marvel heroes, the Fantastic Four were reimagined for this world of tomorrow in the aptly-titled Fantastic Four 2099. Now, Marvel has revisited that title with Fantastic Four 2099 #1. In this one-shot, a new quartet of heroes starts discovering their powers, until H.E.R.B.I.E., one of the FF's oldest allies, brutally turns on them.
With his origins in the Fantastic Four cartoon of 1978, H.E.R.B.I.E. was originally created as an alternate member of the super team to replace the Human Torch. Although a popular rumor spread the idea that the TV executives were scared to use the Human Torch for fear that children would emulate his self-immolation, the truth was really that Torch's licensing was tied up in a possible feature film at the time. Either way, the cute robot sidekick H.E.R.B.I.E. replaced him on the team and eventually found his way into the comics.
The robot sidekick has not always been the most helpful, and often serves either as a tool for exposition or as sheer plot convenience to Marvel's First Family. Since his debut in the comic book Marvel Universe, H.E.R.B.I.E. has largely been confined to be an obscure reference, a cute shout-out, a babysitter for Franklin Richards or a piece of comic relief.
However, a lot can happen in 70 years, and Fantastic Four 2099 makes H.E.R.B.I.E. a very big deal. Although he looks as innocent as ever at the first issue's start, H.E.R.B.I.E. is the only original FF member in the comic itself. Much of the story focused on new parallel characters with similar power sets and personalities to the original Fantastic Four. However, there's an Invisible Boy instead of an Invisible Girl and a hot-headed woman who could light herself aflame ala the Human Torch, etc. But H.E.R.B.I.E. seemed like himself too, until he slaughtered the team.
Just as the team came together for the first time, stacking their hands in a huddle just as the original FF did in their first appearance, H.E.R.B.I.E. suddenly goes into a violent rage about something not being right. The robot unleashes an armory from its body that kills the four team members almost without resistance. After revealing that he engineered their origins himself, H.E.R.B.I.E. says that he got something about the operation wrong.
The H.E.R.B.I.E. of 2099 seems determined to recreate the Fantastic Four, but if they're not fantastic enough he's perfectly willing to murder them. It remains to be seen just what qualities H.E.R.B.I.E. is hoping for in his candidates, but if he doesn't find them soon the bodies will keep stacking up, four at a time.