Fantastic Four Debuts Marvel’s New Version of Superman With the Perfect Origin

Warning: Contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #24!!The Fantastic Four have encountered many strange things in their years of exploration, and now they’ve recovered the last dreams of a long-dead civilization. After impossibly fast particles begin bombarding the Earth, the team learns that they are infinitesimally small vessels piloted by aliens. A few disturbing revelations later, Reed and Johnny investigate the final vessel, only to make a Superman-worthy discovery: the final living daughter and hope of the entire species.

In Fantastic Four #24 by Ryan North, Carlos Gómez, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna, the team confronts the only living pilot from the preionic-sized ships they’ve been investigating. The alien, who calls herself Zrixa, insists upon using Reed’s particle accelerator to resume her journey, and eventually does so by force.

The altercation gives Val and Sue enough time to make sense of the information from Zrixa’s people, revealing that the pilot extinguished their sun and doomed their planet. In retaliation, they sent countless bombs after her, but that wasn’t all. In a Superman-worthy moment, one family, billions of light years away, sent their child into the void of space for a chance at life.

The Fantastic Four Just Discovered the Last Living Daughter of an Alien Species

Fantastic Four #24 by Ryan North, Carlos Gómez, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna

The unsettling revelation that Zrixa’s people sent countless nuclear bombs in retaliation for the harm she caused does not paint the best picture of their species, but vengeance was not their only final, desperate act. In their last days, someone on a dying planet poured all of their love and wishes for the future into their child and sent her away into the unknown. It’s the same dream that Kal-El’s family held as they sent him to Earth. On the surface, the young alien looks nothing like DC’s Superman, but they represent the same idea: hope.

Perhaps the most important takeaway is that, in the case of this child, the family was right. The Fantastic Four are the perfect people to find her and, as Human Torch promises her, she will be loved. Just as Clark Kent found a home and family on Earth, the last child of this species has a chance to do the same. Her future is still uncertain, and to be a survivor is a heavy and lonely burden even to Superman, but she has a chance at the life her family doubtlessly wanted for her. Fortunately, she lands with some of humanity’s greatest representatives.

The Fantastic Four Are Perfect Ambassadors for Earth

In their many adventures, there’s little the Fantastic Four haven’t encountered. They’ve dealt with several different alien species and are always keen to explore further and learn more. Zrixa’s people were an advanced race, but so little is known about them, overall, that practically everything will be a new discovery with the surviving child. The FF is equipped to handle it, or at least figure out a way forward, but it could be a long road ahead for all of them. For now, the Fantastic Four hold Marvel’s Superman in their hands after rescuing the last daughter and hope of a lost species.