In 2006, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes aired on television. The series ran for just one season comprising 26 episodes.
Over the course of three previous posts I’ve watched twenty episodes and have discussed them along the way (seven in Part One, six in Part Two, and Seven in Part Three). Today I’m concluding the journey with the final six episodes.
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Atlantis Attacks
First up, is a return to Atlantis, which means the return of Prince Namor. And the final time with Namor too (I’m not angry about this).
*Presses start*
2mins – It’s pouring down with rain in New York City, Johnny and the Thing are bickering inside the Baxter Building, then all of a sudden…
2mins 25secs – …Namor appears!
3mins 15secs – “Imperious Rex!”
4mins 30secs – Namor is not having a good time. Atlantis has been overthrown by Attuma (a fish-guy) and with the Atlantean army now under his control the world is in danger.
9mins 30secs – Reed, Sue, and the Thing go under the ocean with Namor to face Attuma and his guards, while Johnny remains on the surface to protect the citizens from a big sea monster. A sea monster which looks like a cross between Godzilla and Free Willy (or just Willy as he is actually known).
15mins – Lots of underwater action, some fish guys, yadda yadda yadda. Namor/Atlantean stories do nothing for me when it comes to Marvel, in the same way Aquaman/Atlantean stories do nothing for me when it comes to DC Comics.
*Presses stop*
Yeah… try as I might, I just can’t gel with Namor stories. The episode itself is fine, but he just doesn’t excite me.
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Shell Games
So, the title of this episode, ‘Shell Games’, offers a clue as to which Marvel character guest stars. The clue being the Shell part of the title.
In the comics, Iron Man is sometimes referred to as Shell Head. So, yeah, the guest star is Iron Man.
*Presses start*
2mins – While Reed, Sue, and the Thing are busy installing a new security system into the Baxter Building (following various attacks in recent weeks/months), Johnny has been busy pimping the Fantasticar. Nice to see Johnny has his priorities right.
2mins 30secs – No time to worry about all that, as Iron Man has arrived, wearing his classic silver suit. Oh, and he’s attacking the Fantastic Four. How rude.
3mins 30secs – Ah, now here’s something interesting which I had forgotten about: The FF refer to Iron Man as Tony Stark’s bodyguard. They think Iron Man and Tony are separate people.
It completely slipped my mind that Iron Man is sometimes referred to as Tony’s bodyguard, rather than the man himself. This is something taken from the comics, which had been erased from my memory because the Iron Man movies did away with it.
4mins 30secs – Of course, this isn’t actually Iron Man – it’s an empty suit of armour. And it’s not alone. Various empty Iron Man suits are now attacking the FF. Yes, even the War Machine armour is gunning for the team.
7mins 30secs – Noteworthy thing No. 2: Tony Stark doesn’t sound like Robert Downey Jr.’s version of the character. Most modern versions of Iron Man/Tony (post-2008) sound like RDJ, because he is the default take on the character these days.
But Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes was produced in 2006, two years prior to the release of Iron Man (2008), so Tony just sounds like a regular guy here.
12mins – Not surprisingly, Doctor Doom is involved in all the drama in this episode.
15mins – Doom has control of Iron Man’s armour (with Tony in the suit).
16mins – Reed knows Tony is secretly Iron Man. As he puts it: “of course you’re Iron Man. Who else could it be?”
18mins – Iron Man vs. Doom!
*Presses stop*
A good episode, with a decent introduction for Iron Man. Shame we don’t see him again.
It’s also a shame there are no FF/Avengers team-ups in this series. With Ant-Man, Hulk, She-Hulk, and Iron Man now part of this series, it feels like they would have played bigger roles if the show had continued beyond one season.
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Johnny Storm and the Potion of Fire
*Presses start*
1min 30secs – Enter: Diablo!
4mins 30secs – Following a battle with Diablo, Johnny has been left covered in a magical chemical. He’s not impressed.
7mins – The chemical has increased Johnny’s heat/fire abilities, making him much, much hotter. He seems fine with this, but everyone else is understandably concerned, because he is melting through things!
10mins 30secs – Another side effect of Johnny’s increased power is the appearance of fire imps. Oh, and he’s become darker, and less carefree.
14mins – Johnny vs. the Fantastic Four!
15mins 30secs – Johnny vs. Sue!
17mins – After coming close to hurting Sue, Johnny expels the fire-demon-magic-thingy which has taken over his body.
18mins – The Fantastic Four vs. Diablo!
*Presses stop*
A fun episode which turns regular jerk Johnny into big jerk Johnny. Even to the point that by the end of the episode he has to apologise for his behaviour (not something Johnny tends to do very often).
Diablo always feels like a throw away villain, but he works fine here. Maybe if the show had continued with more seasons he would have come back.
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Contest of Champions
*Presses start*
1min – Ronan’s back!
2mins – Ah, they missed a trick here, not carrying on the joke about Johnny not knowing who Ronan is.
2mins 45secs – More than a little peeved with the FF, Ronan is enlisting the aid of the Grandmaster to drag the team into the Contest of Champions!
6mins – The FF are being pitted against Ronan, Mole Man, Annihilus, and the Super-Skrull!
7mins – Scratch that. Mole Man has been replaced with The Impossible Man.
8mins – The prize for this contest is ‘one wish’. If the bad guys win, this could be disastrous for humanity.
16mins – The challenges are nonsense/ludicrous, but this is all rather fun. It’s also good to see how petty Ronan is.
22mins – The Thing wins the contest, and saves the world in the process.
*Presses stop*
Lots of fun to be had with this episode, and nice to see old villains brought back. Although the highlight is just how obsessed Ronan is becoming over the Fantastic Four.
There’s a lot of comedy that could have been mined from Ronan’s encounters with the FF. Sadly this episode marked the final appearance of the villain in the show.
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Doom’s Word is Law
*Presses start*
1min 30secs – A Doombot is attacking the Fantastic Four. However this bot is more advanced than the regular robots and can anticipate the FF’s every move.
3mins – Reed is intrigued by this ‘Adaptoid’ bot, as it appears to have a personality.
8mins – The main angle of this episode is the bot becoming more human.
9mins – Of course things aren’t running smoothly, and the bot is still under the control of Doom.
16mins – “Flame on!”
18mins – The Thing is attempting to reach the humanity inside the Adaptoid, to turn him back against Doom.
18mins 30secs – It appears to have worked.
18mins 45secs – “It’s clobberin’ time!”
20mins – The bot sacrifices his body in an attempt to kill Doom. However, he downloaded his consciousness into Reed’s computer, so all is good.
*Presses stop*
Meh. A couple of decent moments, but nothing exciting. Doom episodes tend to have been some of the weakest throughout this season.
—
Scavenger Hunt
Onto the final episode now. Almost all of the previous twenty-five episodes have been fun, so it’s frustrating that things are coming to an end so soon.
*Presses start*
1min 30secs – It seems fitting the final episode begins with Johnny and the Thing bickering, as usual.
3mins – The bickering will have to wait (doesn’t it always?). The world is facing a new threat.
7mins – The threat comes in the shape of Terminus! He’s an alien who has come to Earth to strip it of resources.
7mins 50secs – This episode feels as if it could have easily been a Galactus story. Presumably it wasn’t, because Galactus was being used (albeit very lightly) in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer(2007).
On a side note, although it isn’t specifically stated, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes seems as if it fits into a loose continuity with the ‘00s FF movies. The team’s origins are connected to a space station accident (just like in 2005’s Fantastic Four); Doom was involved (again, see 2005’s Fantastic Four); and the show avoids using Galactus or Silver Surfer who appear in Rise of the Silver Surfer.
As such, if you’re a fan of those two ‘00s movies, I’d recommend you watch this series and consider it a loose continuation.
13mins – Anyway, back to the episode, where Johnny has been giving Terminus the runaround, while Reed formulates a plan.
15mins 30secs – Despite his best efforts to fix the Terminus-shaped problem, Reed believes the FFmight have met their match. However, the rest of the team insist they will find a way to defeat him, as they always do. Or rather, Reed always does.
15mins 40secs – A moment of team bonding, as Reed comes to agree.
15mins 45secs – Reed: “Now let’s go clobber this guy.”
15mins 50secs – “Flame on!”
18mins – A spot of teamwork and Terminus is defeated! Hurrah!
*Presses stop*
Another fun story, which focuses on the FF working together to overcome their foe. It doesn’t necessarily feel like a season finale, but it works perfectly fine as one.
The FF demonstrate their skills, as well as their close-knit bond. Plus, the show ends with the sense the team will continue their heroic escapades, irrespective of whether the series exists or not.
—
And that’s it for Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes. Generally speaking, a delight to watch and EASILY the best FF cartoon.
There were a few bumps at the beginning, which seems to be due to a.) the series finding its feet, and b.) episodes being shown out of order. However it soon found its groove, and there was much enjoyment to be had.
I do think a story arc would have helped the series a little, but maybe that could have come in time. Ultimately, the erratic broadcast
schedule is what killed this show and it’s a big shame, as this could have run for years and could have been a big hit, with accompanying toys, fast food tie-ins etc.
Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes should be more widely known. Perhaps in another dimension or another universe it is.
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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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