So here I am, a life-long Fantastic Four fan trying to deal with the ending of the series – I can only console myself with the fact that I am sure that Marvel’s First Family will get another run soon enough – Seeing what Marvel has done with other iconic series and their re-boots (Thor, Hulk, Cap, etc.), I know this will be coming.  In Fact something called Fantastic Four: A Beginning is coming in March, somehow I don’t think it is an ongoing in continuity with the Richards family.

Well, here are my take on the odds of which member will have to go…

1:100  – Sue Richards – She is one of the strongest women in the MU and has a ton of potential as a secondary character / mentor in other books (i.e., Avengers Academy) – and this would be too devastating for the Richards children both of which are going to be major player in upcoming Marvel events.

1:50 – Reed Richards – He has died before and the fans weren’t fans of it (remember back in the 90′s when Sue was wearing the nasty hottie-wear), and besides Reed’s plan to “solve everything” will be part of the major infrastructure for upcoming marvel events.

1:3 – Ben Grimm – Taking out Ben would put the appropriate heartstrings for the fans, but he also had a recent “death” a few years ago (he met his own creator – Jack Kirby – very cheesy) and we have seen him all over upcoming Marvel art (Fear Itself event art and the recently released Marvel promo calender), but that could be nothing more than a red herring from Marvel.  This would be tought for me, for me Ben has always been the heart of the MU.  A huge arrow pointing towards Ben is Marvel has solicited later this Spring for some upcoming Thing anthologies which may predict Ben’s demise.

1:2 – Johnny Storm – While being a great plot device, Johnny has always been a “throwaway” character – the family could easily move on (after a period of mourning) without him.  There is a coming up “follow-up” story where Spider-Man is consoling Franklin on the loss of the family member – given their history, I think this puts the final nail in Johnny’s box!