Fantastic Four #532

Any Day Now...I Shall Be Released

In order to understand the creation of everything, the alien is known as the Entity triggered the Big Bang at the beginning of time, sending Mister Fantastic speeding through time and place. The flow of creation is almost too much to process and Reed has to shield his eyes lest he goes mad. As the universe forms around him, galaxies form and planets smash together. As time and space spin out before him, Reed is contacted by the Entity who explains to Richards that the universe will fall apart unless Reed solves the problem. Reed doesn't understand, the Entity explains that it sought the questions and that he must seek to provide the answer.

In order to do so, the Entity asks Reed to open his mind to them and suddenly his thoughts are invaded by the Entity. They flash forward in time and space and witness the creation of planet Earth. The start of life on the planet and the evolution of the dinosaurs. They start understanding the reason for as they see the rise of early man and it's early struggles to survive. They soon realize that the universe is alive itself and that all the living creatures within it are its attempts to understand itself. The Entity realizes that it is the universe and it needs to continue to grow and understand itself.

With its answers solved, the Entity heads off to discover its destiny and sends Reed back on a beam of cosmic rays. The Entity tells him that it will take him back to Earth, along the way Reed realizes that it was he himself who caused the Fantastic Four to have unique powers based on their personalities. The Entity then offers Reed the chance to join it in the future, however as the years flash before his eyes, Reed instead chooses to return to Earth. Returning just before he sabotages the military test. Soon Reed and Doctor Love are called to Doctor Crane's office. He regretfully tells them that for some reason, the cosmic ray storm that they were planning on visits suddenly changed, ruining their opportunity to replicate the accident that created the Fantastic Four. With the project forcibly scrapped, Mister Fantastic asks if he can return home to his family.

He arrives home after Sue's fated meeting with Simone DeBouvier of the New York City Child Welfare Office and is furious at the suggestion that their home isn't safe for the children. Reed is happy to see his wife and takes her to bed. After making love to her, he leaves the room and bumps into Ben and Johnny who have just come back from shopping. Reed goes back to watching distant worlds and thinks about all the worlds he watch destroy themselves. However he now realizes that the important moments in life are not the Earth-shattering struggles, but those tender moments in between. With that, Richards leaves his lab and checks in on his sleeping son, Franklin. He is joined by his wife and as they leave Franklin's room, Reed comments about how happy Franklin sounds even when he is only sleeping. He tells his wife everyone deserves to be happy, even Ben. As he says this, Reed is unaware that Ben is in his room in his newly purchased suit, looking at himself in the mirror and crying.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Franklin Richards, The Entity, Debra Love, Stephen Crane

Continuity Notes

• Reed passes through a number of moments in the Fantastic Four's history:

  • The birth of the team in Fantastic Four #1.

  • Sue giving birth to Franklin in Fantastic Four Annual #6.

  • The Fantastic Four's first battle with Doctor Doom circa Fantastic Four #5.