WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #4 by Dan Slott, Stefano Caselli, Nico Leon and Erick Arciniega, in stores now.
Following the conclusion of the 2015 Marvel event Secret Wars, the Fantastic Four broke up. Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm remained on Earth while Reed Richards, Susan Storm, their children Franklin and Valeria and the rest of the Future Foundation left to explore and catalog the newly returned multiverse. Now, here we are three years later, and Reed, Ben, Susan and Johnny have finally reunited in the new Fantastic Four comic series by writer Dan Slott and artists Sara Pichelli and Stefano Caselli.
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After three issues, Marvel's First Family of superheroes is finally together again, and ready to embark on all new adventures -- right here on Earth. But where does that leave the Future Foundation, who has been an extended part of the team ever since its creation eight years ago? Well, in Fantastic Four #4, the Future Foundation gets a separate mission of its own -- as well as a new leader: Alex Power.
In order for the Fantastic Four to shine as the team they have always been once again, the members of the Future Foundation (save for Val and Franklin, who remain with their family on Earth) decide to travel the multiverse. However, their mission isn't simply to explore and catalog strange new worlds. No, theirs is a rescue operation: they hope to find any trace of the Molecule Man.
While he was once a villain, Owen Reece, the Molecule Man, became a part of the Future Foundation, and a trusted member of the family. Unfortunately, the character was killed by the Griever at the End of All Things in Fantastic Four #2, but given his extraordinary power, the Foundation believes that if they manage to find even one molecule that once constituted Owen Reece, they could find a way to save him -- and bring him back.
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On top of this new mission, the Future Foundation has new leadership in the form of Alex Power, of Power Pack fame. But Alex receives a bit of an upgrade of his own: before leaving, Reed and Susan tell Alex that, through his scientific research in the multiverse, he has more than earned the rank of Professor, a process of paperwork that they will handle back on Earth. Therefore, the full team now has a new purpose, a new leader and a new (unofficial) name: Professor Power and the Future Foundation.
Right now, there are currently no plans for a Future Foundation spinoff series, but Fantastic Four may keep up with the team from time to time. Time will tell where their adventures will lead them.