Fantastic Four #175

Exoskeleton Era Is Over

Dec 29, 2025

We’ve reached the conclusion of our epic, which indeed is one of the better story arcs of the last few years. The High Evolutionary and Galactus are squaring off on Counter Earth, spouting off like cosmic Shakespereans, while members of the Fantastic Four are trapped on three other planets and thus unable to help.

But the battle is over pretty quickly, as one blast from Galactus banishes Ev to the Negative Zone. And just as suddenly, Ben, Reed, Johnny, and Gorr materialize on Counter Earth. Later to be joined by Sue!

She speaks to Galactus, and tells him of a world that has invited him to devour its energy. It sounds sincere, so Galactus hops in his ship and floats away.

Once there, Galactus starts the process of consuming the planet, but the inhabitants seem unfazed by the whole thing. Something goes wrong, and it appears Galactus is dying. He’s been tricked!

We’re treated to another plot twist when the High Evolutionary takes pity on Galactus and announces he’s going to save him. But not really — he merely reduces Galactus to a form of pure energy, floating in space, no longer limited to a physical body.

Yet another surprise awaits us when Sue materializes in the High Evolutionary’s spaceship. There are two Sues, but the one who first appeared was a fake. It was the Impossible Man all along.

The planet that Galactus devoured was actually the planet Poppup, and no one was killed, since all the inhabitants are now embodied within the Impossible Man. Easy peasy!

The team bids goodbye to the High Evolutionary and Gorr, and as they travel back to Earth on the final page, Ben is still feeling woozy from his battle with Galactus. He begins changing, finally busting out of his exoskeleton, and back into his Thing form.

What a ride. This is the kind of sci-fi barnburner that made the FF so good.

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