When The Fantastic Four left to travel the universe, it was up to Ant-Man and a few other heroes to fill in for Marvel’s First Family.
In 2013, the Fantastic Four embarked on a journey across time and space. After just recently defeating a band of Mad Celestials, Marvel’s First Family had certainly earned a vacation. In truth, however, Reed Richards was dying. With no Earthly cure for his ailment, Mister Fantastic needed to travel off-world to save himself. Disguising his quest as a family trip, Richards headed off for the cosmos.
Still, the Fantastic Four had responsibilities on Earth. Indeed, Richards had recently formed the Future Foundation, a team of bright young minds from many different species. The Future Foundation, while smart, still needed a guiding force in their young lives. Moreover, the Fantastic Four were needed to defend the Baxter Building. While the Fantastic Four have typically called in substitutes for individual members, this time, the World’s Greatest Heroes needed an entire replacement team.
FF, by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred, focused on this substitute Fantastic Four. Each hero in the new FF was selected by an original team member. Reed approached Scott Lang, Ant-Man, to take his place. Still reeling from the loss of his daughter, Scott was hesitant to watch over a group of children. Yet Ant-Man ultimately accepted Reed’s offer.
The Thing naturally asked She-Hulk to take his place, since Jennifer Walters had already filled in for Ben Grimm during John Byrne’s run on Fantastic Four. Medusa was chosen by the Invisible Woman, since both were powerful leaders within their respective families.
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Characteristically, the Human Torch put off finding a replacement until the night before leaving. Hastily, Johnny Storm asked his then-girlfriend, Darla Deering, an ordinary woman, to take his place. Given a mechanical Thing suit, Darla became Ms. Thing.
While the FF said they would only be gone for four minutes, as usual, things went wrong. While waiting for the original team to return, the new FF were subject to many trials and tribulations. Most embarrassing was the public scrutiny and ridicule which came with taking the place of such a prominent team. The Daily Bugle had no mercy on this new FF. Ant-Man also struggled with looking after the children of the Future Foundation, especially since these mutants and aliens were very eccentric and excitable.