The Fantastic Four Annual #3, is a comic released as part of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run on Fantastic Four.
The third annual of the Fantastic Four is the big one, true believer! After so much time of flirting, teasing and evading things, and the interference of one Atlantean with his own underwater kingdom, Reed and Sue have finally decided to tie the knot! Not a What If?, not a lie, not an imaginary tale... this is for real, beloved readers!
But if you thought that we would settle for a mundane recap of old wedding tropes, forget it, it seems that you had not read our comics before! This is the first marriage of the Marvel era, and the second superhero marriage ever!note So it has to be the highest spectacle ever, and nobody wants to be out of it! All superheroes from the House of Ideas are invited! But the nefarious Dr. Doom is up to no good, so he "invited" all supervillains to attend it, too! You can imagine what will happen... or better yet, read it! And keep an eye open, because even hilarious Stan and joyful Jack will try to be there!
Fantastic Four Annual #3 provides examples of:
- Always Someone Better: The Human Top boasted that nobody was quick enough to stop him. Nobody... except Quicksilver.
- The Cameo: Loads and loads of them. Some characters had short roles, and others appeared for a single panel.
- Conflict Ball: This is not exactly a complex and well-thought plan from Dr. Doom. Just start a Hate Plague that throws all supervillains against all superheroes.
- Crisis Crossover: Not quite, but Stan and Jack touched the idea a pair of decades before Marvel and DC produced the first proper examples.
- Kent Brockman News: Sure, the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four would surely be newsworthy, but... a full cover coverage, with nothing but the headline and two small photos?
- Jumped at the Call: Doom's ray intended for Namor never reached him, he was having an adventure at the high deeps. But the warlord Attuma got it instead.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Two guys named Stan and Jack claim that they're close enough to the Four to be invited to their wedding.
- Legion of Doom: Doom's plan was to lure all supervillains ever against the Fantastic Four.
- Molotov Truck: HYDRA tried to throw one against the Baxter Building. Fortunately, Daredevil foiled their plan. He does not want to be cheated out of his piece of wedding cake!
- Out of Focus: Surprisingly, despite being already one of the Marvel's core characters by that point, Spider-Man appears on just a single page. The majority of the fighting instead falls on the F4, Avengers, and X-Men.
- Secret-Keeper: Someone (the Puppet Master) tried to attack the Fantastic Four, but was stopped by SHIELD. The Thing was about to tell Reed, but then reconsidered: he does not want to spoil their wedding day.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Amora magically causes a big safe to fall on Hawkeye. He stands there watching and describing it, instead of moving away.
- Tempting Fate: Several villains attack Iceman together, and the Beetle asks "Who could ever stand up to us?". Cyclops can!
- Victory-Guided Amnesia: Thanks to the Watcher's device, all villains returned to their original locations, forgetting about the attack. Even Doom himself is said to be caught by the effect.
- Wedding Smashers: Reed and Sue's wedding gets interrupted by a cavalcade of villains looking to get even with the Fantastic Four (their hatred amplified thanks to Doctor Doom's interference), leading to a massive battle royale between them and every other superhero who'd shown up for the event; it gets so out of hand that the Watcher ends up popping in to give Reed the means to reverse the damage.
- Wham Episode: Reed and Susan get married in this issue and have stayed married ever since.
- Wolverine Publicity: Namor and Hulk are on the cover, but not in the comic. The comic even acknowledges and explains their absence.