Fantastic Four

John Byrne's Fantastic Four run is the second-greatest creative achievement in the character's history after Lee and Kirby's founding run — a systematic reinvention of the team that returned to their core dynamics while introducing major concepts including She-Hulk's substitution for Thing, the death and rebirth of Galactus, the introduction of Frankie Raye as Nova, and the extended Reed Richards trial before the Shi'ar Imperial Guard that is one of the most conceptually ambitious single storylines in 1980s Marvel.

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Vol. 2 pays off the architecture of Hickman’s family-and-future saga, with the Future Foundation, the Council of Reeds and the Richards family all pushed toward consequences that feel cosmic and intimate at once. It is big-idea Marvel rooted in a very human household. For a Fantastic Four shelf, the appeal is the family engine: exploration, ego, affection and scientific danger all matter because the team is a household before it is a brand.

Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four run established his Marvel career's defining mode — massive, architecturally complex narratives with years-long payoffs, introduced through the Council of Reeds (alternate universe versions of Reed Richards who had solved every problem and abandoned their families) and the War of Four Cities that pitted the Kree, the Inhumans, the High Evolutionary's creations, and the Kree's counter-faction against each other simultaneously. This is Hickman operating at maximum ambition before the Avengers work that followed.

Dan Slott's Fantastic Four run began in 2018 and immediately engaged with the team's foundational mythology in ambitious ways — exploring the nature of Richards family intelligence across generations, the Griever's attempt to destroy all that the FF have created, and the team's return to active duty after a period of absence.

Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Fantastic Four run applied the same widescreen action cinema approach the pair had pioneered in The Ultimates to Marvel's First Family — massive scale, cinematic set pieces, and a villain (the Old Power-wielding Skulls) designed for maximum visual spectacle. The run also contained one of comics' most emotionally effective death-and-legacy storylines, as Millar used the threat to the team's future as an opportunity to examine what the Fantastic Four's legacy would be if they were gone.

Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo Omnibus understands the team as a family of explorers before anything else. Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo bring warmth, invention and emotional clarity to Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben, making the cosmic ideas work because the people at the centre still feel close. For a Fantastic Four shelf, the appeal is the family engine: exploration, ego, affection and scientific danger all matter because the team is a household before it is a brand.

The second Byrne Fantastic Four omnibus covers the conclusion of his major run, including Sue Storm's evolution from Invisible Girl to Invisible Woman, the extended Secret Wars connection, the Thing's return from self-imposed exile, and a major Doctor Doom conflict that reinforces Doom as one of the team's defining enemies.

Marv Wolfman's Fantastic Four run represents the final pre-Byrne era — the creative tenure immediately before John Byrne's major reinvention of the team. Wolfman introduced the Frightful Four's most ambitious membership configuration, developed the Nova connection between his simultaneous run on that character and the FF, and used the team format to explore large-scale cosmic threats that his successor Byrne would later ground in more character-focused directions.

The fifth Fantastic Four omnibus continues Roy Thomas's run through the transition to Len Wein and other writers, covering the period when Marvel was experimenting with the team's format — including the Thing's solo focus, the shifting relationship dynamics post-Medusa's team membership, and the introduction of new antagonists that would define later FF eras. This volume documents the book's creative search for a post-Kirby identity before Byrne's eventual major reimagining.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 4 collects the close of the most influential creative run in Marvel history and the transition that followed. It gathers Fantastic Four #94-125 — Jack Kirby's final issues on the title (his last is #102) — and then continues past his departure as Stan Lee is joined by John Romita Sr. and John Buscema, with the peerless inks of Joe Sinnott. It documents the end of an era and the passing of the FF art baton, in an oversized hardcover built for these classics.

The third Fantastic Four omnibus covers the final period of the Lee/Kirby collaboration — the run toward Kirby's departure to DC, featuring the introduction of the Him/Warlock concept, Crystal's full integration into the team after Sue Storm's pregnancy, and the complete Kree/Skrull setup that Thomas would develop in Avengers. These late Kirby issues show a creator pushing against the creative constraints of the Marvel system before leaving for DC and the New Gods concept that would be his ultimate artistic statement.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2 continues the Lee and Kirby run as the series expands from family adventure into full Marvel mythology, with cosmic scale, recurring villains and the sense that every issue can add a new piece to the universe.

The first Fantastic Four omnibus collects the genesis of the Marvel Universe — Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's creation of the concept that would define American superhero comics for six decades. The Fantastic Four #1 through the early issues introduced not just four characters but the entire conceptual framework of the Marvel approach: fallible heroes with genuine relationships, science fiction adventure grounded in human drama, and a shared universe that was being invented issue by issue. These are the issues that changed everything.

The Ultimate relaunch of the foundational Marvel team with a teenage genius Reed Richards, a college Johnny Storm, a young scientist Sue Storm and a Ben Grimm as his childhood best friend. Adam Kubert on absolute form: one of the best Marvel cartoonists of the 2000s. Co-scripted with Brian Michael Bendis.