Death is Upon Them: Fantastic Four #586

Title: Fantastic Four #586

Author: Jonathan Hickman

Artist: Steve Epting

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Rating: 13+

Release date: December 22, 2010

Verdict: 9/10

This week I want to look at Fantastic Four #586, the last issue before one of the beloved members of the FF dies in some fashion. This tragic end has been hinted at for the better part of 2010 and with only one issue to go, my interest is truly piqued. We’ve seen preview images for the upcoming issues where only 3 members of the family survive, but the preview images have all been inconclusive as they have featured all four members, just never all four together. So who will bite it and who will survive? Let’s see if this issue can give us any solid leads…

After reading this issue, it seems that every member of the FF is in some kind of mortal danger and any one of them could die. Let’s do the roundup:

-Reed is off on Nu-World trying to save as many people as possible before Galactus gobbles up the whole planet. Can he save them in time and still make it off world before it’s too late? If he does save them…where will they go?

-Sue is in the Gulf of Thailand with Namor and the ancient Atlanteans and she’s the only thing keeping both of those adversaries from killing each other. Only now it seems like the ancient Atlanteans may be planning on killing Sue if things don’t go their way. Will Namor be able to prevent Sue’s death? If he can’t…will Namor finally go over the edge and show his true power? Can the ancient Atlanteans withstand a morning Namor? Can anyone?

-Johnny and Ben are at the Baxter Building with the kids from Reed’s Future Foundation (the other FF?) trying to stave off a bunch of nasties from the Negative Zone. Johnny is getting overwhelmed, but Ben has been changed back to a human being and is more vulnerable than ever before. This whole sequence makes it seem like Ben is definitely in mortal danger because he isn’t made of rock anymore, but Johnny does seem to be in as much of said danger.

So what does all of this lead me to believe? For months I have had the feeling that Sue was the one who was going to die. I don’t know why I’ve felt this way, but suffice it to say, I have. And now…it seems like my bet is leaning towards Johnny. I have this haunting feeling like he is going to sacrifice himself for his niece, nephew, and his best friend. I’m just having a feeling. And I’m not sure that I want to be proven wrong. Of course, there are plenty of story ideas that can result from any of their deaths, but for now I’m leaning towards Johnny going toes up.

What do you all think? What are the Vegas odds? We won’t know until the bagged issue comes out in January 2011 who actually dies. All that we know at this point is that Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting, the current masterminds behind the monthly Fantastic Four series, are launching a new series in February called FF with a new #1. Does this mean “Fantastic Four”? What about “Future Foundation”? If it is the latter, then we could surmise that Reed lives and he will work on “solving everything” with his cabal of pre-pubescent super-genius’. If it’s the former, we could see a new member join the permanent roster. There are so many possibilities that guessing seems silly. I’m sure Mister Hickman is going to surprise the hell out of us, and that my best guess will be wrong. But never fear! In Hickman we must trust J