In 2006, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes hit television screens. Its run would be brief, lasting just one season comprising 26 episodes.
Through a series of posts, I am revisiting Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, to remind ya’ll about it. The aim is to talk a bit about the episodes, discuss what worked and what didn’t, and basically spend some time in the company of Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben.
I’ve watched half of the series so far, discussing the first seven episodes in Part One and the next six in Part Two. Today I’m tackling another seven.
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Revenge of the Skrulls
First up is ‘Revenge of the Skrulls’, which brings back a couple of past villains. In fact, the next few episodes bring back former foes, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
*Presses start*
1min 15secs – “It’s clobberin’ time!”
1min 25secs – “Flame on!”
2mins – As this episode begins, a Skrull is destroying Fantastic Four bots, under the watchful eye of returning villain, Ronan the Accuser.
4mins 25secs – “Flame on!”
8mins – The same Skrull is now on Earth and ready to face the FF. Oh, and this is the Super-Skrull, who has the same abilities as all four members of the Fantastic Four.
13mins – Johnny has been abducted and left in the hands of Ronan who is ready to exact his revenge. Ronan has been waiting patiently for this moment, biding his time, only for Johnny to reply…
“Do I know you?”
14mins 45secs – Ha! Ronan is very angry that Johnny has no clue who he is. This revenge plot line has been seeded since the beginning of the show, and this payoff is hilarious.
18mins – Johnny: “Hey, blue guy, thanks for shooting off my collar, and as for what’s going on, you’re about to get your butt kicked. Whoever you are.”
*Presses stop*
A great episode, which brings back Ronan largely to make fun out of him. Johnny is hilarious, Ronan’s frustration is brilliantly played, and the Super-Skrull is set up as potentially a formidable foe.
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Molehattan
*Presses start*
4mins – The Mole Man returns… or actually, he makes his first appearance in the show… despite previously appearing in ‘De-Mole-Ition’. And yes, this is because the episodes are all out of order.
‘Molehattan’ was written as the second episode of Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, but didn’t air until 2009! Whereas the aforementioned ‘De-Mole-Ition’ was set to come later in the season but aired in 2006!
The scheduling of this show was criminal. It’s no wonder this series struggled to find an audience in the ‘00s.
10mins – The plot of this episode sees the Mole Man attempt to recruit The Thing, believing him to be a kindred spirit. Meanwhile, his mole creatures attack the Baxter Building, and New York is on the brink of being transformed into Molehattan.
18mins – After battling it out with the Mole Man’s minions, the FF get the upper hand.
18mins 45secs – “It’s clobberin’ time!”
*Presses stop*
Great animation, so-so story. The problem is the Mole Man just isn’t all that interesting. No biggie.
—
Strings
*Presses start*
4mins – The city is turning against the FF. The team is being regarded as menaces, yet they don’t understand why.
Something is going on…
5mins 15secs – After ruling out the Mole Man, Doom, and the Skrulls, they believe the Puppet Master could be behind the city’s dislike for the team. They are of course correct.
9mins 30secs – The FF have become public enemy number one.
12mins – Sue, Johnny, and the Thing have given themselves up to the police, while Reed is determined to clear the team’s name.
14mins 30secs – The Puppet Master has revealed he is indeed behind all the problems the FF are facing, by taking control of all the city officials. He also has Reed under his control.
17mins 50secs – “Oh, it’s definitely clobberin’ time!”
19mins – The Puppet Master has lost control of Reed, so it’s back to prison for the villain.
*Presses stop*
I’ve previously complained about the lack of a story arc or any connection between stories in this show, but the series is starting to pick up some continuity now. This episode includes brief cameos for Mole Man, Doom, and the Skrulls, while returning villain the Puppet Master is on fine form.
‘Strings’ is a great episode. Probably could have been a two-parter, with a bit more development, but good stuff nonetheless.
—
Doomsday Plus One
*Presses start*
2mins 30secs – Doombots have infiltrated the Baxter Building.
6mins – Oh, it’s so much worse. Doom is lifting the building into space.
11mins 30secs – Reed is using the building as a vehicle to bring everyone back to Earth (this includes the FF and all their neighbours). Johnny is absorbing the heat from re-entry back into the Earth’s atmosphere.
14mins 20secs – H. E. R. B. I. E: “Dr. Richards, remember when I said no problem? Well we have a slight problem now. We’re going to crash.”
16mins 40secs – “It’s clobberin’ time!”
17mins – Back on Earth, the FF take the fight directly to Doom… and will win. Obviously.
*Presses stop*
Some fun moments, and I especially like the pulp sci-fi nonsense of blasting the Baxter Building into space (and Reed bringing it back). Doom is still a bit of a non-starter for me, but a fun episode.
—
The Cure
*Presses start*
2mins 20secs – She-Hulk!
3mins – This episode opened with a flash forward showing She-Hulk as the 4th member of the FF, replacing the Thing. We are now jumping back to show why.
Basically, Reed has perfected technology to transform the Thing back into Ben Grimm, but…
6mins – …while the machine works, Ben loses all knowledge of who the Fantastic Four are or how an accident caused them all to gain super powers.
8mins 30secs – Meanwhile the villain of this episode is the Mole Man.
11mins – With Ben out of action, Johnny has been auditioning new recruits.
13mins 30secs – Amongst the candidates is Captain Ultra, Frog-Man, Texas Twister, Squirrel Girl, Flatman, and the Hulk’s cousin, She-Hulk.
14mins 40secs – She-Hulk: “Don’t make me angry, big guy. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
16mins 30secs – The classic comic book version of the Fantasticar puts in an appearance as Ben Grim rushes to the FF’s aid in a battle with the Mole Man. Ben might not remember his life as member of the team, but he knows he needs to help his friends when they are in trouble.
18mins 30secs – “It’s clobberin’ time!”
21mins 30secs – As the episode draws to an end, She-Hulk quits the team, explaining that being part of the FF isn’t just a job, it’s being family. And with that, Ben informs Reed he wants to be the Thing again.
*Presses stop*
A fun little episode, which has no major repercussions as Ben reverts back to the Thing by the end of the episode. However, it’s great to see She-Hulk (a character who has actually been a member of the FF in the comics), plus the Mole Man serves a purpose, providing the story with a villain without overshadowing the real thrust of the story: Ben’s transformation.
—
Frightful
*Presses start*
2mins – When the city is in danger, a super-powered team steps forward. And it ain’t the Fantastic Four. The team includes The Wizard, Klaw, The Trapster, and Dragon Man.
8mins – With the FF becoming more than a little frustrated that The Wizard and his team are stealing their thunder, and generally disrespecting the Fantastic Four, Johnny hires a New York freelance photographer to take photos of his good deeds (presumably it’s Peter Parker).
11mins – Obviously this new team is filled with bad guys.
12mins 20secs – While the team is officially known as The Wizard’s Four, Reed dubs them the Frightful Four.
14mins 30secs – With the Fantastic Four challenging the Frightful Four, the citizens of New York begin to sour on the FF. Jeez these people are fickle.
16mins – Reed is convinced the Frightful Four are committing disasters on purpose, in order to perform people-pleasing rescues.
17mins – The Frightful Four’s endgame has been revealed. They want to steal Reed’s unstable molecules, which he uses for various things (including creating the FF’s shape-altering, fire-proof costumes).
*Presses stop*
Solid episode. No major problems here. Introducing four villains in one quick go provides more foes for future episodes. It’s just a shame this season doesn’t have much longer to go.
—
Out of Time
One final episode for now and this one involves dinosaurs, time travel, and alternate timelines.
*Presses start*
2mins 30secs – As the episode begins, the FF have gone back in time to the Jurassic era. Reed wants to figure out what exactly caused the dino extinction, as it may not have been an asteroid. However, they have arrived on the day of the asteroid heading to Earth!
3mins – Fleeing the dino age, the FF return to their own time period, only to discover it isn’t as they left it.
7mins – In this new alternate timeline, Doom reigns supreme.
7mins 30secs – Johnny: “Ugh, time travel stinks. You just know I’m going to get wiped out of existence. Just watch. It’ll be me!”
10mins – As the FF meet up with Doom, Doom destroys Reed’s temporal displacement bracelet doohickey (the thing keeping him out of time). He vanishes out of existence. It’s up to the remaining three to go back in time, save Reed, and return everything to how it was.
14mins 30secs – Sue, Johnny, and the Thing have travelled back to the day of the FF’s cosmic accident. Nice!
20mins – After figuring out how to fix the timeline, the FF put things right. Well, almost. Upon returning to New York, the Statue of Liberty has been replaced by the Statue of Johnny! Brilliant.
*Presses stop*
Another great episode with lots of fun sci-fi goodness. The beauty of the FF is that one minute they can be battling Mole Man in the city, while the next they can be rubbing shoulders with dinosaurs.
This has been another good run of episodes. Sad to know it is almost over.
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Anyway… that’s it for now. In the next post I’ll bring this journey to an end with the final six episodes of the show.
In the meantime, if you’re a fan of Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, be sure to shout it loud and proud.
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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about the Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes. For more Marvel posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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