I for one am not at all opposed to drastic revamps that are justified and logically flow out of the characters' histories. So far with the CW series, I think that the majority of characters have been represented as very true to their roots with a few exceptions (that should definitely be addressed by the conclusion if it's going to hold any weight)... but back to the main topic...

What would really be so bad about Black Panther and Storm joining the FF?

Sometimes a shake-up is needed in a book. Other times it's pure shock schlock. I don't believe this is one of those times. I bet some people thought back in 1975 that some non-American X-Men were a cheap way to revamp a dead book, and guess what... it REVOLUTIONIZED the mutant genre permanently and re-shaped how a lot of people saw team books in general!!!

Imagine if Wein, Cockrum, Byrne, and Claremont just said "Let's just use the same characters from before and not try to shake up things with some new people, faces, and stories... yeah!!!"



From some of the comments posted here, I'm thinking of re-dubbing "Fear of a Black Planet" to "Fear of a Half-Black Fantastic Four".

Face facts- Marvel has been pretty dynamic about inventing and reinventing their ideas. (For the record, too, I wrote an entire senior project on how the Onslaught saga reshaped Marvel's brand of super-heroes.) I won't say that they don't screw up sometimes or do it unnecessarily or ad nauseum with certain characters or stories (oh man do they!), but if you really don't want your iconic views of books, characters, or stories challenged or shaken or reinvented, maybe you should read DC comics... they never change!

Cheap shot, I know, but hey- I love Marvel even if certain stories/ideas suck royally- but the sweet don't taste as sweet without the sour every now and again.

Mutatis Mutandis!

It is so. But on the plus side, it looks like he may FINALLY be leaving Amazing Spider-Man. Kind of a shame since he was only just recently writing it well, but if it means we never even hear of Ezekiel and Shathra and other characters of that ilk, I'm willing to compromise.

I think people are a lot upset only because they were upset about the Panther Storm marriage in the first place.

I'm actually happy about it cuase BP is one of my favorite characters though Hudlin's writing is going a long way to try and make him drop out of the top 5. I'm hopin this book will bring back a better written Black Panhter.

I've kinda changed my mind on the Storm/Black Panther marriage just because Christopher Preist said that if his run had continued he'd of made Storm and Panther get married. Though it wouldn't last forever... and knowing Priest he woulda actually gave them some backstory first.

Also i'm really hoping Black Panther ends up leading the Fantastic Four. Ironically it seems like there could be a big leadership struggle... between Panther and Storm.

Storm having lead the X-men before and Black Panther being a King and also having funded Fantastic Force.

Maybe Sue and Reed take off to "heal" after Civil War, leaving Ben and Johnny.

Not that I'm proud of the DC books from the 90's, but Superman died, Batman was replaced when his back was broken, Hal became evil and some cool other characters were introduced (Kyle, Steel, Superboy etc.). While the changes weren't permanent (who knows if they ever would be...ok, besides Supes' death), they were changes. According to a bunch of polls I've seen, more Kyle just edges out Hal these days.

Not all change is bad, but then again, not all change is necessary.

My point was that what really works always seems to come back to the fore. DC seems to recognize that a bit more readily than Marvel and brings the "old standards" before any permanent damage can be caused (Dead Supes, angry Aquaman, Red & Blue Supes, replacement Bats, etc.). Marvel seems to risk the permanent damage for the sake of making a permanent classic, even if it means having to hit the editorial "reset button" (Clone Saga, the Crossing, Planet X, half-naked-Invisible-Woman- Fantastic Four, "Fight Club" Thunderbolts, X-Statix, etc) further down the line. The exceptions to the rule would be when that was supposed to happen in the story, as with Heroes Reborn, House of M or the Infinity Gauntlet.

Something else to remember, too, is when a change is really good, leave it to Marvel to run with it like crazy unless they put a really responsible team on it.

If you go back to the orginal idea that the FF represent the 4 basic elements:

Sue: Air
Johnny: Fire
Thing: Earth
Reed: Water

It would make elemental sense that Storm would replace Sue (or to a smaller degree Reed). Storm also replaces (and surpases IMO) the tactical field abilities of Sue (and although Reed is a great tactician, please note I said Field tactician).

Black Panther brings with him unique fighting style, scientific know-how and money (Reed was the money bags of the original group). And his leadership experience being King would mirror Reed's big-picture approach to tactics.

I think there are very relevant parallels from Storm/BP to Sue/Reed. I look forward to seeing the story told with this different angle.