This year has seen Marvel Comics put the spotlight on Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars villain Doctor Doom in the pages of its One World Under Doom event.
The Marvel Universe's new Sorcerer Supreme quickly laid waste to Marvel's First Family, but this July, the heroes will fight back in the pages of Fantastic Four #1. The relaunch arrives just in time for Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps and will be a time-travel story according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The trade explains, "Amid a battle with Doom, the four are sent to different eras of Earth's history. Their only chance to put things right is to reach something called the Forever Stone, a mass of granite that is also one of Earth’s longest-lasting rocks, and is accessible in all time periods."
While we'd imagine the heroes are planning to revisit the 1960s (corporate synergy, and all that), it's said The Thing will battle a dinosaur, meaning the Fantastic Four is travelling back not just through the decades but hundreds of millions of years.
June's Fantastic Four #33 concludes Ryan North's current run but he'll return to pen this series and is going to be joined by artist Humberto Ramos.
"As much as this first story involves dinosaurs and time travel, it’s really about these four remarkable people and the depth of love they have for each other," North said. "People often think of the FF in terms of family, and they’re not wrong, but I think there’s something really beautiful about friendship too, and we get to see that with these characters."
He added, "It’s high-concept science fiction with real emotion. What’s not to like?"
Humberto Ramos also commented on this new Fantastic Four series. "I’ve been lucky to illustrate many of the most iconic superheroes in the universe, but this book felt different from the start," he teased. "The weight of history and legacy of these characters lay upon your shoulders, no matter who you are or how you’ve worked in this industry."
When it comes to this Fantastic Four comic book's place in One World Under Doom, North revealed, "This book comes in the middle of our One World Under Doom event, so you can be certain that he plays a role in those first few issues – and after that we’ve got science mysteries, monsters, and trips into space."
Check out a first look at Fantastic Four #1 below and stay tuned for updates on the series as we have them.