When the Fantastic Four met Marvel’s ultimate god, the One-Above-All, they got a surprisingly literal look at one of their creators.
The final issue of Immortal Hulk featured the Hulk having an angry conversation with the One-Above-All, the ostensible ultimate god of the Marvel Universe. It was a revelatory moment, both for the Marvel Universe at large and the Hulk himself, who seemed to gain a better understanding of what he was capable of. However, the Hulk and his companions’ encounter with the One-Above-All wasn’t the first time a Marvel character met “god” at the climax of a story. The Fantastic Four once stormed heaven to save one of their own, and they quite literally met their maker in the process.
In 2004’s Fantastic Four #508, by Mark Waid, Howard Porter, Norm Rapmund and Avalon Studios, Mister Fantastic was forced to kill the Thing after a mystically empowered Doctor Doom took control of his body and threatened to murder the Human Torch. In the subsequent story, “Hereafter, Waid, Mike Wieringo, Karl Kesel and Paul Mounts’ Fantastic Four #509-511 saw the team work through the aftermath of Ben Grimm’s death.
While the rest of the Fantastic Four and their allies grieved, Mister Fantastic attempted to find a scientific way to resurrect him. He discovered that the Thing’s brainwaves were faintly active in another plane of existence. While Reed was hesitant, the Torch identified it as Heaven and insisted in joining him in his search. The Invisible Woman had misgivings about treating the afterlife like it was the Negative Zone but joined them.
When the trio arrived in Heaven, they weren’t greeted by pearly gates. Instead, they were attacked by a horde of sword-wielding angels. Reed’s pleas that they came in peace were met with a simple message: “You don’t belong here.” In spite of having the team at their mercy, they left the FF to their own devices after delivering the message.
The Invisible Woman and the Torch both got brief moments in their version of Heaven, but they also received more serious signs that they weren’t welcome, including a tidal wave of blood. The Thing himself, as flesh and blood Ben Grimm, stepped in to save his teammates. Intending their reunion to be a goodbye, Ben and his brother Daniel were on the doorstep of Heaven. However, they needed Mr. Fantastic’s help to get it open, because it was made from his tech.
The Thing revealed that Mr. Fantastic had things wrong; he wasn’t still alive and in limbo. Reed’s attempts to resurrect Ben had locked his friend out of heaven. Before Mr. Fantastic could help Ben reach his just reward, the Torch snapped, furious that they’d given up on resurrecting Ben. His outburst led to Mr. Fantastic’s usually reserved facade to crack, just as Heaven started coming apart around them.
His teammate’s emotions tore heaven apart. Ben rushed to go through the door before it was too late but realized that he was the one who had things wrong. Arriving in Heaven first, he had set the terrain. Ben pulled Mr. Fantastic out of the literal hole he was having a nervous breakdown in, telling him he wasn’t going to abandon him for the afterlife. The team was reunited, but Reed’s curiosity led him back to the door to Heaven.
“The Man In Charge” offered the FF the chance to stay in Heaven, but Reed declined, saying that his family wasn’t done exploring yet. It turned out that the offer was a test, and they passed. Their prize was a visit with God, who turned out to be an unassuming man behind a drawing board. While they didn’t recognize him, this was clearly Jack Kirby, the Fantastic Four’s co-creator and one of the chief architects of the Marvel Universe. True to form, Kirby barely looked up from his board the entire time the team visited him. After speaking with the team, healing Reed’s scarred face and restoring Ben’s rocky form, he sent the full Fantastic Four back to Earth, alive and well.
This wasn’t the first time Kirby appeared in an issue of Fantastic Four. He and Stan Lee appeared multiple times, including a cameo at the wedding of Reed and Sue in Fantastic Four Annual #3. His appearance was one of many love letters to Kirby in comics, paying homage to his unmatched creativity by making him the creator of the Marvel Universe from within the Marvel Universe itself.
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