“Galactus: Devourer of Krypton? Superman: Herald of Galactus? The Fantastic Four: Earth’s Only Hope? The Infinite Destruction is upon us!” So reads the dramatic, Alex Ross-painted cover of 1999’s Superman/Fantastic Four, a one-shot crossover between DC’s Last Son of Krypton and Marvel’s First Family. While the rival comic book publishers had collaborated on intercompany crossovers like DC vs. Marvel and the jointly owned imprint Amalgam Comics, it wasn’t until 1997’s Silver Surfer/Superman, published by Marvel, and Superman/Fantastic Four, published by DC, that the heroes who launched the Golden Age of Comics and the Modern Age of Marvel Comics collided in an epic for the ages.
With DC Studios’ Superman movie (July 11th) and Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25th) set to go head-to-head at the box office this summer, Superman/Fantastic Four resurfaced online when artist Alex Ross recently shared his cover painting showing the Man of Steel side by side with the Fab Four.
The one-shot — with story and layout art by Dan Jurgens (The Adventures of Superman), finished art by Art Thibert (X-Men), and colored by Greg Wright (Zero Hour: Crisis in Time) — puts a twist on Superman’s abbreviated origin story in 1938’s Action Comics #1 by co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and the classic Galactus Trilogy spanning Fantastic Four #48-50 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
On its opening page, a matrix chamber containing baby Kal-El flees from the doomed planet Krypton as Galactus dispatches a tracking craft. Years later, when a crystal of Kryptonian origin presents Superman with a hologram of his father, Jor-El tells Kal-El that the Last Son of Krypton would grow powerful enough to stop the onslaught of Krypton’s destroyer: the planet-consuming Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds whose hunger requires a herald to seek out sustenance.
Jor-El thought Krypton’s death to be a result of natural occurrences, but he discovered that the planet was drained of energy by Galactus. “His hunger is endless. No planet is safe until you stop him,” Jor-El says. “He is our executioner, our devourer, our death.” So Superman seeks out experts from another universe who have saved Earth from Galactus in the past: the Fantastic Four.
When Superman meets with Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Sue Richards (the Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (the Human Torch), and Ben Grimm (the Thing), the super-quintet is suddenly ambushed by a villain from Superman’s universe: Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, who intends to wield the power cosmic as the herald of Galactus.
The tracking craft that Galactus dispatched to Earth years earlier then transforms the Man of Steel into his golden-skinned herald, endowing him with the power to soar the cosmos like the Silver Surfer. Now the second-most powerful being in existence behind his master, Herald Superman is summoned by Galactus and disappears with Reed.
Aboard Galactus’ ship, Reed desperately attempts to free Superman from Galactus’ will, but the galactic ravager has turned the Kryptonian into his most powerful herald ever. So declares Galactus, “Accept your destiny. From the time your embryo left your dying world, I have known the time would come when you would serve my interests. For my existence to continue, worlds of nourishment must be located. Such is your task, Kryptonian.”
Reed appeals to Superman’s humanity, which presents itself when he mentions the name “Lois.” Herald Superman then dispatches Reed, not heeding his warning that countless innocents will die if he carries out his mission across the cosmos to find that which his master craves. Still, Superman resists, selecting a planet devoid of life that can still satiate Galactus’ hunger for pure energy. When the Fantastic Four cross the galaxy to aid Reed in his mission to save Superman, the Man of golden steel tells them, “The will of Galactus is my own.”
Just when it seems all hope is lost, Superman is stirred from his trance-like state when the starving Galactus plans to consume a planet teeming with life. Superman resists and, for his betrayal, is stripped of the power cosmic. And then the Man of Steel fights side-by-side with the Fantastic Four, with the Human Torch offering him membership: after all, “It’s not hard to replace that ‘S’-shield with a ‘5.’”
The Fantastic Five are able to ward off Galactus when Reed manages to reverse-engineer his ship’s equipment, making it so that the equipment siphons energy from Galactus into the planets. Then Superman issues an ultimatum: leave this world and this entire sector, or he’ll continue to lose energy until he’s no more.
Galactus agrees, but when Superman demands justice for Krypton, Galactus claims the planet was gone by the time he arrived. It’s revealed that Henshaw altered the crystal’s message to make Superman believe that Galactus ate Krypton so he would crossover with Superman to the other universe, making it so that he could be granted the power cosmic as the herald of Galactus.
With the Cyborg Superman and Galactus thwarted, and doomsday averted, the Man of Steel gifts his cape to his young fan, Franklin Richards. Let’s hope the clash of the two titans is as amicable when Superman and the Fantastic Four meet at the box office in July.
“Galactus: Devourer of Krypton? Superman: Herald of Galactus? The Fantastic Four: Earth’s Only Hope? The Infinite Destruction is upon us!” So reads the dramatic, Alex Ross-painted cover of 1999’s Superman/Fantastic Four, a one-shot crossover between DC’s Last Son of Krypton and Marvel’s First Family. While the rival comic book publishers had collaborated on intercompany crossovers Read More