WARNING: Spoilers follow for Fantastic Four #30 by Dan Slott, Ze Carlos, Jesus Aburtov & VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
While King in Black has officially come to an end, the fallout continues throughout individual books, including Fantastic Four. In the main storyline, The Thing and Human Torch ended up as symbiotes, and the latest issue of the First Family's book shows how the two Knullified heroes met and battled their teammates.
The war between the team got down and dirty. The Fantastic Four didn't just fight each other physically, but also said some hurtful things to each other that seem to be engrained in true feelings. By the end, the Fantastic Four proved to be a fractured and dysfunctional family unit.
Reed Richards And The Thing
The Thing ended up battling Reed Richards in the battle under Yancy Street. This was a brutal fight, with Ben Grimm holding back nothing in his confrontation with his long-time friend. The Thing started with a basic insult, claiming that Reed has been more of a "Mister Pathetic" than Mister Fantastic lately, with the Fantastic Four leader doing things like opening a portal that allowed the Griever to make it to Earth, putting his home and family in danger.
However, what Ben said next ties in directly with the Griever when she was on Earth. She showed each member of the Fantastic Four their final moments in life or at least one version of how they could die. In Fantastic Four #28 by Dan Slott, and R.B. Silva, Ben Grimm saw a future where he was responsible for the death of Reed. The future Ben told his past self that Reed deserved to die by his hand. Ben never told Reed about this at the time, but he mentioned it here, saying the Fantastic Four's leader would keep pushing his family into adventures until he got all of them killed. Ben said that one day Reed will do something so bad that he deserve death, and Grimm would be the one to mete out the punishment.
The Invisible Woman And Human Torch
The fight between Johnny Storm and his sister was just as bad. However, instead of looking at a future where they would fall, Johnny aimed his comments at the past. He said Sue Storm was a sister who always kept her eye on him, never letting him be himself and that she got worse after their parents died. He said she ended up as a "lousy mother." He blamed her for him growing up to be a screw-up, and he was her first failure. He then hit below the belt when he said she was now screwing up her second generation of messed-up kids.
Valeria Richards And Franklin Richards
The final fight took place far away from Reed and Sue. Franklin and Valeria Richards were on the streets battling alongside Bentley when a symbiote took control of Valeria. Bentley pointed his weapon at her, but she easily knocked it out of his hands. Franklin stepped up and told the symbiote to let go of his sister. However, when he tried to fight for her, Valeria asked how he could save her when he was "the most useless member of the FF" with no powers or intelligence. She claimed they only kept him around out of pity after he lost his powers in Slott and Silva's Fantastic Four #25. When he used all his power to save the planet, he lost them completely. This clearly hurt him, but he made up for it when he blasted his sister with a lightning gun before turning his attack on the other symbiotes.
By the end, the Thing, Human Torch, and Valeria were back to normal, but the damage was done. Ben and Reed had a beer and talked. It was here that Ben tried to apologize, but Reed stopped him. He said he knows his friend meant everything he said, but he will always forgive Ben. Franklin was still mad at Valeria but admitted zapping her again with the lightning gun would probably make him feel better. As for the Torch, he took Sky to a private meeting where they pledged their love for each other. However, when they flew off, it turned out Sue had followed them and said she would always be watching him, proving Johnny was right in distrusting his sister. The Fantastic Four may be back to normal but the team is as dysfunctional as ever.