DC Versus Marvel Omnibus Pt. 15: Superman/Fantastic Four #1

Despite their place of honor as Marvel's First Family and theirs being the original comic book that kicked off what would quite quickly become the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four had yet to appear in a DC/Marvel crossover as the 20th century was drawing to a close. Not even the 1996 DC Versus Marvel series, which seemed to feature everyone, had made any real room for them, with The Human Torch and The Thing sharing only a single-panel cameo in all of its pages, and the other half of the team not even getting that much space.

Perhaps that was simply because their number made them harder to pair with DC characters. Maybe it seemed like with four of them, there were just too many of them to meet up with DC's traditional crossover stars Superman or Batman, and yet there was also too few of them to battle against and/or team-up with a whole DC team, like the Justice League, Titans or New Gods. DC did have a couple of quartets in their character catalog, in the form of the Doom Patrol and Kirby-created Challengers of the Unknown, but perhaps neither was considered a good fit for the FF and a high-profile book like an inter-company crossover.

Whatever the reason, they seemed pretty low on the DC/Marvel crossover priority list, not being featured until they shared this 1999 book with The Man of Steel (Who, like the FF, was the first character in what would grow into a whole superhero universe).

It seems to have been writer/artist Dan Jurgens—who had at that point long been associated with DC Comics and Superman in particular but had more recently branched out to work for Marvel on Sensational Spider-Man and Thor—who found some connective tissue between the two franchises. 

He drew a line between Superman as the Last Son of Krypton and the FF's planet-destroying opponent Galactus, and further involved his own creation and pet character Cyborg Superman, whose own origin was so clearly based on that of the Fantastic Four. 

The resultant comic, officially entitled "The Infinite Destruction", would differ from most of the other DC/Marvel crossovers in two ways.

First, while it's not obvious from its collection in the DC Versus Marvel Omnibus we've been reviewing our way through, the book was published at the same bigger, 10-inch by 13.5-inch "treasury format" that the first three DC/Marvel crossovers of the late '70s and early '80s were.

This was no doubt a great showcase for Jurgens' art, which is here finished by Art Thibert and colored by Gregory Wright. Even at the smaller size, it looks good; cleaner and smoother than usual. (Although, having seen so much of Jurgens' '90s art of late, I still think it looks best inked by Jerry Ordway in 1994's Zero Hour: Crisis in Time). 

The cover is pretty cool, too. You can't really tell from that bum image at the top of my post, but it was by Alex Ross, painting over Jurgens' pencils, and no doubt instilling the image with an epic sweep that flattered the book. 

Second, in terms of its premise, Superman/Fantastic Four was one of the few such stories in which the DC and Marvel Universes were treated as separate and distinct dimensions within the greater multiverse, their barrier breachable only under certain conditions. 

This was, of course, the case with the1996 Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances and Silver Surfer/Superman and, obviously, that same year's DC Versus Marvel, which established a regular means for traveling between the universes going forward in its character Access, who would go on to star in the DC/Marvel: All Access and Unlimited Access, both of which involved Superman travelling to the Marvel Universe (Though he never met the FF on either occasion). 

Here, the people in the Marvel Universe seem to know Superman quite well, but in a way similar to that in which the people of our universe know him: He has a cartoon show that Franklin Richards and Ben Grimm both watch, and Franklin has a Superman toy he carries around with him, apparently occasionally peppering his mother with questions about the DC Universe's hero.

When Superman receives a Kryptonian communication crystal that projects a hologram of his father Jor-El that tells him that Krypton's destruction was actually hastened along by a feeding Galactus, the Man of Steel notes aloud that he has "heard whispers of his existence from the heroes of the other universe." Realizing that if Galactus is able to enter into Superman's own universe, then he could potentially pose a threat to his Earth someday, and he flies off to find experts on the dangerous cosmic entity.

"And to find them...I need Access," he says.

Superman apparently finds him off-panel, and through his powers makes his way to the Marvel Universe, where the story picks up with Superman arriving at the Fantastic Four's then-base, Pier Four. No sooner does Superman arrive though, then villains attack. 

Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, emerges from the Kryptonian crystal (he had apparently seen it arriving in Earth orbit and hitched a ride) and he immediately possesses the FF's computers and defenses and uses them against the heroes. 

Meanwhile, Galactus arrives, abducts Superman, infuses him with the power cosmic and makes him his new herald, which involves a bit of a makeover: Superman's cape disappears, and his skin and costume both turn a shiny gold color.

Galactus teleports his new herald aboard his ship, with Reed wrapped around him, and then sets off to resume his planet-eating lifestyle.

Meanwhile, the remaining Fantastic three strike a bargain with Cyborg Superman: If he will help them track Galactus through space, using the Kryptonian crystal, then they will release him from Sue's forcefield cage. He agrees, largely because he wants to become Galactus' all-powerful herald (That is, after all, why he had been hiding in the intercepted crystal after all). 

What follows is an adventure through space, as the FF try to stop Superman and Galactus from finding and eating new, inhabited planets. This involves the FF fighting Superman and Galactus. But as Superman is in his new, souped-up herald form—Reed calls him the second most powerful being in existence, presumably behind only Galactus—they're even a less of a match for him then they would usually be.

It will eventually take Reed's smarts and Franklin reminding Superman of his true self to free the Man of Steel from Galactus' thrall, thwart the planet-eating giant, and reach a sort of detente with him that resolves the conflict long enough to end the book. 

There's not much more to it, really, and it turns out to be not necessarily that great of a Fantastic Four story, which was perhaps inevitable, given its main contributor being such a longtime Superman creator. That is, it's not that difficult to imagine this story existing without the FF in it at all; it can certainly be seen as a Superman/Galactus story more than a Superman/Fantastic Four story. 

As for concerns that Jurgens here irrevocably changes Superman lore by putting Galactus at Krypton as it dies, it turns out that story was an invention of the Cyborg Superman, who had over-written and altered the contents of the Kryptonian crystal when he possessed it. 

Thus, things go back to normal for all of the characters involved at the end of the crossover, as is ever the case. Although Franklin does get to keep Superman's cape as a souvenir.

At this late date, the crossovers were winding down, with only three more to go before they officially ceased. One of these—in fact, the very next one—would again feature Superman, and end up being perhaps one of the better, if not the all-around best, of the DC/Marvel crossovers.

Next: 1999's Incredible Hulk vs. Superman