FF #384 problem?

[JephYork]

I notice that most of the FF have this in their chronologies right now:

FFU 4
FF 384 (3:4 - 23)
FFU 5
FF 384 (1 - 3:3)
FF 385

That can't be right, can it?

-Jeph!

[DonCampbell]

I believe the problem stems from trying to reconcile events depicted in the monthly FF series with events in Fantastic Four Unlimited #5, especially those concerning how Scott Lang (Ant-Man) came to work with the team.

FF #384 shows how Scott Lang joined the group and revealed to them that he was Ant-Man. However, FFU #5 had Ant-Man as part of the team fighting against a Frightful Four which included the She-Thing (Sharon Ventura). As I recall, there was something at the end of FFU 5 about how the FF's battle with the evil FF would be wiped from their minds, and that's the reason why the Thing was surprised when he (later) discovered that Sharon Ventura was missing in the first few pages of FF 384.

So, to add context to the listing:
1. FF 384 (3:4 - 23) - Scott Lang comes to work for the FF and later, during a battle, reveals that he is Ant-Man.
2. FFU 5 - The FF (with Ant Man already working with them) battles the Frightful Four (with Sharon as the She-Thing). The villains escape and somehow the FF's recent memories are erased so that they no longer remember that Sharon had turned against them.
3. FF 384 (1 - 3:3) - The Thing discovers that Sharon Ventura is missing (and doesn't remember that he already knew that).

Personally, I think that it would have been better to have Scott Lang's joining the FF and revealing himself to be Ant-Man as an "untold story" that took place just before FFU #5, and then the events in FFU 5 took place and ended with even more of the FF's memories being wiped so that they didn't even remember that Lang had joined them. Then, FF 384 would occur, the Thing would discover that Ventura was missing and Scott Lang would join the team (again) and reveal to them (again) that he was Ant-Man.

Don Campbell

[Russ Chappell]

Is there anything to prevent this:

FF 385 (1 - 3:3): Thing discovers that Sharon Ventura is missing.
FF 385 (3:4 - 23): Scott Lang works for the FF and reveals he's Ant-Man.
FFU 5: Ant-Man fights with the FF and Sharon Ventura's absence is explained.

[DonCampbell]

Is there anything to prevent this:

FF 385 (1 - 3:3): Thing discovers that Sharon Ventura is missing.
FF 385 (3:4 - 23): Scott Lang works for the FF and reveals he's Ant-Man.
FFU 5: Ant-Man fights with the FF and Sharon Ventura's absence is explained.

Well, I'm working from memory here but I believe that FFU 5 features the FF headquarters being invaded (separately?) by the Wizard and Klaw. They meet and then encounter the Red Ghost before finding Sharon Ventura comatose in a tube. They wake her and, maddened by her transformation into the She-Thing, she joins the bad guys in fighting the FF team which already includes Ant Man (Lang).

Unfortunately, this is inconsistent with the monthly FF mag which had Sharon in a tube with Klaw looming over her (FF 382) before the Thing finds Sharon missing and Susan hires Scott Lang just before a battle between Teenage Franklin and possessed Invisible Woman causes Lang to reveal that he is Ant Man (all in FF 384).

So, if one is restricted to using published material and can't invent an "untold story" to provide a better explanation for the contradictions, then rearranging events in FF 384 seems to be the only option available, inelegant though it may be.

Don Campbell

[Russ Chappell]

I tend to come down on the side that says the chronologies here are correct. It may be inelegant, but if you just read the stories the way we've outlined it, it makes sense. On the other hand, if we go with the second option of untold stories, and listed FFU 5, followed by FF 384 (1 - 23), then people who actually read the stories would question our listings here, and we'd have to remember (possibly years from now) the made-up stories that we devised to explain the snafu.

[Col_Fury]

Would this mean that FF 384 (3:4 - 23) should be listed as a flashback?

No, FF 384 don't intend those pages to be a flashback, but once FFU 5 is added into the mix, it looks like they have to be.

[DonCampbell]

I tend to come down on the side that says the chronologies here are correct. It may be inelegant, but if you just read the stories the way we've outlined it, it makes sense. On the other hand, if we go with the second option of untold stories, and listed FFU 5, followed by FF 384 (1 - 23), then people who actually read the stories would question our listings here, and we'd have to remember (possibly years from now) the made-up stories that we devised to explain the snafu.

I wasn't actually suggesting that the MCP should decide on its own that there was an "untold story" that resolved the contradictions. It's more like I was wishing that the creators of FFU 5 had chosen the "untold story" option instead of using the "memory wipe" explanation which was shoehorned into the last page of that story.

Also, if some continuity-obsessed Marvel writer were to come up with a retcon story which provided a better explanation than what appeared in FFU 5 and that story was published, then I for one would welcome it. The type of story I had in mind was like that one in which Reed and Sue entered 4 Freedoms Plaza only to find it filled with all of their belongings which had supposedly blown up with the Baxter Building years earlier. They eventually discovered that Uatu the Watcher was behind it and when they questioned him he apologized for having "borrowed" all their stuff for study and for not returning it until then. Reed bought that story but Sue pointed out that Uatu had actually acted to save their belongings for them and was using the idea that he had taken them for study as a way to get around his non-interference oath.

Don Campbell