Fantastic Four Seeks 'Incredible' Success

July 8, 2005 — -- The members of the Fantastic Four -- the first family of superheroes -- fight among themselves while saving the world. It may sound familiar, but the movie is not a Hollywood knockoff.

"Fantastic Four," the movie adaptation of the long-running comic book, opens today. On the heels of "The Incredibles" -- a dysfunctional family of superheroes with similar powers -- some moviegoers may believe this is an imitation. ("The Incredibles" was made by Disney/Pixar, and Disney is the parent company of ABC News.)

But the members of Marvel Comics' groundbreaking superhero group have been saving the world -- and warring with each other -- for 44 years.

"Marvel Comics really gave birth to the idea of heroes with personal problems," M. Thomas Inge, author of "Comics as Culture," has said. "It became a signature of the characters who came out of Marvel -- The Fantastic Four, The Hulk. They all had personal problems."

The Fantastic Four, created by Marvel Chairman Emeritus Stan Lee and artist/writer Jack Kirby, debuted in "The Fantastic Four No. 1" in 1961. The quartet ushered in the era of the tortured superhero who openly battled both personal problems and super villains. Reed Richards; his girlfriend (and eventually wife), Susan Storm-Richards; her brother, Johnny; and close family friend Ben Grimm gained their powers when a cosmic-ray storm battered their spacecraft during a test flight and altered their molecular makeup.

Their nicknames reflected both their powers and personalities. Richards, aka "Mr. Fantastic" was able to stretch his body just like he always reached for perfection; Storm-Richards often played peacemaker between bickering members of the team. But sometimes she really felt like "The Invisible Woman" to her workaholic husband. Hot-tempered, impetuous young heartthrob Johnny Storm could turn himself into "The Human Torch" by simply saying, "Flame on!" Storm's good looks and free spirit often clashed with the brooding Grimm, who saw his powers as more of a curse than a blessing.