Warning: contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #28!
In the latest issue of Marvel Comics' a being known as the Griever, the living embodiment of entropy. Carrying immense power and seeking to destroy all of existence in the Marvel Universe, the Griever is after the Forever Gate, a doorway to every point of space and time that was created by Valeria Richards, daughter of Mr. Fantastic and Sue Storm. She's also after Valeria's brother Franklin, despite having lost his near god-like power. While the FF get some much needed back-up from the Silver Surfer, the Griever traps Dragon Man, the Thing, Mr. Fantastic, and the Invisible Woman in individual necro-spheres, revealing to each member the most likely way each of them will die.
In the previous issue of Fantastic Four from writer Dan Slott with art by R.B Silva, the Fantastic Four thought that they had succeeded in trapping Griever. Sacrificing their own evacuated headquarters, they compressed it down around her by closing all of the additional dimensions Mr. Fantastic has placed within it in order to make room for all of the alien refugees that had fled to Earth to escape her wrath. However, in the final pages of the previous issue, the Griever managed to break free, swearing her vengeance on the powerful family.
Now, Fantastic Four #28 sees Groundhog Day thanks to the necro-spheres. For Dragon Man, he's tortured and killed by Diablo, while the Thing is stabbed with multiple energy swords by Rapture, fighting to his last breath again and again. Thankfully, the Human Torch was able to rescue them while Silver Surfer kept Griever busy, and they then went to save Reed and Sue next, who arguably had the darker fates.
While these are not confirmed deaths (merely the most likely), the fact that Sue will probably die as the last member of the Fantastic Four at the hands of Doctor Doom is a pretty big deal. Increasing her powers so that they work against her is a terrible way to go, and it looks as though Doom will never forgive her for the time she unmasked him to the public. Likewise, when the Fantastic Four first got their powers. Instead, this Ben from the future reveals that it will be because of something Reed hasn't done yet in the present. He also promises present-day Ben that whatever it is, he won't even hesitate before killing his best friend Mr. Fantastic.
It seems safe to say that seeing all the ways that they'll probably die is going to stick with these of the Fantastic Four. It's also possible that Reed in particular might take steps in the current era to prevent these futures from happening. However, fate could very well drive them there all the same, and that's if they can avoid the classic twist of causing a future to occur only because they were trying to avoid it. Fans will just have to wait and see as Dan Slott's Fantastic Four continues from Marvel Comics.
