As the Fantastic Four: First Steps movie joins Disney+, the Nerd Factor would like to invite aspiring future superheroes to consider carefully how they craft their names. Case in point, a superhero’s name should not give an enemy a combat advantage.
The Fantastic Four are often called Marvel’s first family. While they are by no means the first superhero team Marvel had, their 1961 introduction marked the beginning of what we now think of as the “Marvel Age of Comics.” The strong interpersonal relationships and dynamic action established in this book helped set the look and feel for the many Marvel heroes who would follow.
When the group’s poorly shielded spacecraft was bombarded with cosmic rays, the quartet of heroes developed superpowers. More importantly, they pledged to use those powers to make the world a better place.
Unfortunately, they also named themselves in a way that gave their villains a head start in fighting them.
The Human Torch’s powerset suggests an immediate set of weaknesses. Anybody who can burst into flames can be doused with water or other extinguishing chemicals, wrapped in fire-proof blankets, or exposed to a vacuum. Look, it’s not like Johnny Torch can hide this. However, villains who come looking for the Fantastic Four have the distinct advantage of knowing that they need to bring such things along with them. They would be stupid not to.
The Thing’s name does not necessarily suggest what he does. Again, Ben is a big, rocky guy. He’s obviously going to be strong and hard to hurt. What else can he do? Not much, but new baddies do not know this. He looks like a monster after all. We know that he would never eat the supervillain flunkies or something, but they may be intimidated by this mysterious name just long enough to lose the initiative.
Mister Fantastic chose a bold name that really does not give away his stretching powers. I’m sure once someone sees Reed elongate his arm out to punch a guy yards away or extend several floors up a building, that person is likely to say, “Wow, that’s fantastic!” But beforehand, there is no clue. Henchman #1 wonders, “What is this guy about?” Henchman #2 answers, “I don’t know, but we have to find out.” That’s the problem with henchman life. Henchmen always have to find out the hard way.
The big mistake, though, was the Invisible Girl (later The Invisible Woman). She literally gave the whole trick away.. Invisibility is one of the most effective superpowers out there… if you do not know an invisible person is out there. An unknown foe that cannot be seen is a terrifying combat threat. But if you know that an invisible person is lurking around, well then you can get all clever in locating them– throw paint, toss mud, clap chalk erasers together, et. Heck, even a blanket or tablecloth could help reveal an invisible opponent.
It took the Invisible Girl a few years to figure out how to create and manipulate invisible force fields. Doing so made her one of the most effective Marvel combatants with powerful offensive and defensive capabilities. But even after that, the team should have never admitted she existed. It probably would not be fair to ask Sue to live in obscurity. But imagine how the henchmen would freak out when they went up against the Terrific Three, and whole parts of their flunkie army got taken out by someone they did not even know was around.
