Ultimate Fantastic Four #25 (Spoilers/Discussion)

DIrishB

The Timeline Guy
Joined
May 27, 2004
Messages
17,832
Location
You are all just obstacles on my path to Nirvana.
This was an ok issue, turned out better than the previews made me think it would.

Anyway, it starts with Namor jumping out of the water and Johnny immediately attacking him, as we saw in the preview. Namor ends up schooling his *** though and knocks him into one of the boats, which results in his flames igniting some stuff and exploding the boat. Namor then knocks Johnny through the boat, underwater, where Johnny can't breathe. Just in time Sue, Reed, and Ben show up and Sue saves Johnny by creating a forcefield around his head, filled with air (where she got the air from underwater is beyond me). Ben knocks out Namor and Prof. Storm rejoices in his kids being safe. We cut to the Baxter Building later on, where Namor is being held in restraints designed by Reed to hold the "most powerful meta-human on the planet", which turns out to possibly be Namor. Apparently from his 9,000 year nap his muscles atrophied a bit, so he wasn't up to full power when Ben knocked him out. Finally Namor speaks, surprising everyone, and relating that Atlantis was destroyed in a war with a place called Lemuria. Then Prof. Storm questions how he can speak English, saying that its barely a thousand years old (now I'm pretty sure the English language has been around since longer than 1000 AD, and was kind of surprised at this line). He then gives a bit more background on the Atlanteans, and says he'll share some of their ancient secrets, but only with one person...Sue (surprise, surprise). Reed mentions how Namor is hardly in a position to negotiate, and Namor responds by easily breaking out of the restraints. Ben and Johnny get ready to fight, but Namor explains he wasn't the one who started their last fight, Johnny was (and also makes a crack about Johnny's hair, which was my personal favorite part of the issue). Realizing they have no way to contain or control him, the FF give in to his demands about sharing his secrets only with Sue. Next we cut to Reed's lab, where we see some baby versions of Cap, Iron Man, and Thor (affectionatly dubbed the "Minimates", embryonic Ultimates grown in a petri dish, for what reason I don't know). Reed is working, and Mrs. Storm comes in. We get a look at a huge machine called the Fantastic Oh-Five (which will probably play a role next issue), and Mrs. Storm remarks about how Reed should be jealous of Namor's advances towards Sue. She then asks for his help in translating the Atlantean carvings, and mentions how she knows Reed's intelligence is growing every day as a result of the transportation accident. We cut to Central Park, where we see Sue and Namor conversing, being watched over by two huge machines...Ultimate HERBIEs (nice Ultimization I thought). Namor grabs Sue and flies her to Times Square, for some privacy from the HERBIEs. He then gets gropey, and Sue tells him to blow off and throws him into a truck with her powers. He freaks out and *****-slaps her, as the HERBIEs catch up to them. He tears them apart in short order, and we then cut back to Reed's lab where he is working on the translations and discovers Namor wasn't a Prince at all, but more likely a prisoner. The last page is of Namor holding Sue in a headlock.

To be continued...

An ok issue, I liked the HERBIE Ultimization and the crack about Johnny's hair, as well as the turn of events at the end, which nicely sets up next year's Ultimate Invasion mini. I'll give this one a 3/5.
 
DIrishB said:
This was an ok issue, turned out better than the previews made me think it would.

Anyway, it starts with Namor jumping out of the water and Johnny immediately attacking him, as we saw in the preview. Namor ends up schooling his *** though and knocks him into one of the boats, which results in his flames igniting some stuff and exploding the boat. Namor then knocks Johnny through the boat, underwater, where Johnny can't breathe. Just in time Sue, Reed, and Ben show up and Sue saves Johnny by creating a forcefield around his head, filled with air (where she got the air from underwater is beyond me). Ben knocks out Namor and Prof. Storm rejoices in his kids being safe. We cut to the Baxter Building later on, where Namor is being held in restraints designed by Reed to hold the "most powerful meta-human on the planet", which turns out to possibly be Namor. Apparently from his 9,000 year nap his muscles atrophied a bit, so he wasn't up to full power when Ben knocked him out. Finally Namor speaks, surprising everyone, and relating that Atlantis was destroyed in a war with a place called Lemuria. Then Prof. Storm questions how he can speak English, saying that its barely a thousand years old (now I'm pretty sure the English language has been around since longer than 1000 AD, and was kind of surprised at this line). He then gives a bit more background on the Atlanteans, and says he'll share some of their ancient secrets, but only with one person...Sue (surprise, surprise). Reed mentions how Namor is hardly in a position to negotiate, and Namor responds by easily breaking out of the restraints. Ben and Johnny get ready to fight, but Namor explains he wasn't the one who started their last fight, Johnny was (and also makes a crack about Johnny's hair, which was my personal favorite part of the issue). Realizing they have no way to contain or control him, the FF give in to his demands about sharing his secrets only with Sue. Next we cut to Reed's lab, where we see some baby versions of Cap, Iron Man, and Thor (affectionatly dubbed the "Minimates", embryonic Ultimates grown in a petri dish, for what reason I don't know). Reed is working, and Mrs. Storm comes in. We get a look at a huge machine called the Fantastic Oh-Five (which will probably play a role next issue), and Mrs. Storm remarks about how Reed should be jealous of Namor's advances towards Sue. She then asks for his help in translating the Atlantean carvings, and mentions how she knows Reed's intelligence is growing every day as a result of the transportation accident. We cut to Central Park, where we see Sue and Namor conversing, being watched over by two huge machines...Ultimate HERBIEs (nice Ultimization I thought). Namor grabs Sue and flies her to Times Square, for some privacy from the HERBIEs. He then gets gropey, and Sue tells him to blow off and throws him into a truck with her powers. He freaks out and *****-slaps her, as the HERBIEs catch up to them. He tears them apart in short order, and we then cut back to Reed's lab where he is working on the translations and discovers Namor wasn't a Prince at all, but more likely a prisoner. The last page is of Namor holding Sue in a headlock.

To be continued...

An ok issue, I liked the HERBIE Ultimization and the crack about Johnny's hair, as well as the turn of events at the end, which nicely sets up next year's Ultimate Invasion mini. I'll give this one a 3/5.

Sounds actually really good. And God bless you for a summary instead of a tease like

*In a nerd voice* "I got the issue and it was good. I won't spoil it for you."

I find the Atlantis being destroyed in a war interesting. And the fact that they question Namor's knowledge of English when The Inhumans who were around earlier also used the English Language. See what I'm saying? Possibly the Inhumans and Atlantis were once at war? Or the Inhumans fled Atlantis? Anyway I'm sure this war has a great deal to do with them. Can't wait to read it.
 
Namor is uber powerfull in this issue. Thought the information about atlantis was really interesting.

4/5
 
He speaks modern English despite not having heard English in 9000 years? No, that reasoning isn't good enough.
Edit: Just read what you actually wrote.
 
Last edited:
DIrishB said:
Sue saves Johnny by creating a forcefield around his head, filled with air (where she got the air from underwater is beyond me).

Yeah. Weird. It's not like she could just break the oxygen from the water molecule. For one thing, I hope she ain't that powerful. For another, she'd have ended with 100% oxygen and volatile hydrogen so...

Best case scenario, she used some air from her suit, "bottled it up" and used it on Johnny.

Namor is being held in restraints designed by Reed to hold the "most powerful meta-human on the planet", which turns out to possibly be Namor.

Great. Here comes superman. With silly ankle wings.

Then Prof. Storm questions how he can speak English, saying that its barely a thousand years old (now I'm pretty sure the English language has been around since longer than 1000 AD, and was kind of surprised at this line).

It's about right. English is derived from a mix of the French and Saxxon language. It dates back to the Norman invasion of England in 1066 and evolved from there.

Reed mentions how Namor is hardly in a position to negotiate, and Namor responds by easily breaking out of the restraints.

These restraints don't look like they could have held Ben or the Hulk. And I think Millar is being fast and loose with that "most powerful metahuman on the planet." Especially if there is supposed to have been a whole civilization of these guys.

Can you imagine a city where any bar brawl can level a whole neighborhood because everyone involved can bench press over 100 tons?

She then asks for his help in translating the Atlantean carvings, and mentions how she knows Reed's intelligence is growing every day as a result of the transportation accident.

That was cool.

It wasn't as bad as I feared. I am delighted that Namor is a villain because I hate him anyway. At least, I can love hating him for his behavior along with hating him for his silly powers and idiotic wings.

EDIT : So now we know what happened to Atlantis. But what happened to Lemuria, huh?

Bet we'll get a "they destroyed" each other cautionary tale about the dangers of nuclear weapon and other WMD.

Oh, and I'm always annoyed by stories about uber advanced civilizations that are only 9000 years old. The Egyptians pyramids are about 5000 years old you know. See how they managed to leave traces of their civilization? So Atlantis was even more advanced than us but couldn't even muster more than a ruin that sunk in the ocean as a trace of their passage? Pfft. Lame. Dinosaurs left more trace than that. Yet they weren't even trying and are 500 to 1000 time older than Atlantis is supposed to be!

If Atlantis is to exist is the UU, it shouldn't have been such a secret. There should have been records of artefacts found all over the world and serious research conducted on the subject for centuries before Mary Storm finally located their ancient capital.

I know, I know, suspend your disbelief. I have to. It makes no sense.
 
Last edited:
So some problems I'm having...

Once again Sue Storm pulls something off that's nearly unbelievable. And secondly Namor is stronger then Ben? I think the big three should always be Hulk, Thing, and Colossus. Why does Namor have to be that strong? There's no reason for it. He should be there with Captain America at the most.
 
E.Vi.L. said:
It's about right. English is derived from a mix of the French and Saxxon language. It dates back to the Norman invasion of England in 1066.
Kinda. That is generally recognised as the second wave of English language. Beowulf would be far more frenchified than it is if a form of English hadn't existed beforehand. The first wave is considered to be about the 9th century when the germanic tribes and scandinavians settled. 9th century Old English, 11th century Middle English. Neither of which are very similar to modern English at all.

See, trust a bloody celt...
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
*In a nerd voice* "I got the issue and it was good. I won't spoil it for you."


It's night i denmark and im laughing my *** out. I think i woke my entire family. haha.
 
SeAcoW said:
It's night i denmark and im laughing my *** out. I think i woke my entire family. haha.

I'm glad you had a laugh. You can credit it to DIrishB because if someone else came in and pulled that other **** I would've flipped out and it would've turned into a classic MWoF Vs. ? thread for a few more posts.
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
And secondly Namor is stronger then Ben?
The designers of the Marvel VS Card game seem to agree with Millar's take on Namor. (If that can be accepted as 'official' reasoning for which characters are stronger than others.) All versions of the Namor card that I'm aware of exceed Thing in terms of raw power.
 
Last edited:
compound said:
The designers of the Marvel VS Card game seem to agree with Millar's take on Namor. (If that can be accepted as 'official' reasoning for which characters are stronger than others.) All versions of the Namor card that I'm aware of exceed Thing in terms of raw power.

I'm not doubting them. I'm saying it was a bad idea to make him stronger.
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
I'm not doubting them. I'm saying it was a bad idea to make him stronger.
Now if they make him more powerful than the Hulk, that's just crazy talk.
 
I would be annoyed by Namor's strenght if he was a hero.

But as a villain, fair enough.

It's weird that in Ultimates the best Bruisers are mostly heroes or at least not clearly villains.

The "Powerhouse" archetype usually lends istelf well to villains. Now Juggernaut isn't alone anymore (unless you count the Rhino...).

The unexplained flying (don't tell me it's the ankle wings!) is a lot more annoying to me than his strenght.
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
So some problems I'm having...
And secondly Namor is stronger then Ben?
He threatened to punch a hole in him :wink:
 
14rdb said:
Now if they make him more powerful than the Hulk, that's just crazy talk.
And Ben should only be a tad below Hulk too. Namor, tough yes, but it should be his "smarts" that would win a fight with a heavy hitter like the Thing, not general strength.

Interesting to see Reed's intelligence addressed too. I wonder if that is going anywhere. Or is it just to say that hyper intelligence is a superpower along with his stretchiness.
 
14rdb said:
Now if they make him more powerful than the Hulk, that's just crazy talk.


namor has beat the hulk on several occasions (though i believe that he was in the water which does help him out a bit)

so yeah...namor is freaking strong and is the freaking man!
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
Reed's intelligence is superhuman? ****in' Card!! Seriously that's lame too! No matter how they deliver it.
Accord to Dave.
Dave said:
She then asks for his help in translating the Atlantean carvings, and mentions how she knows Reed's intelligence is growing every day as a result of the transportation accident.
I haven't read the issue yet.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top