The Fantastic Four was the first superhero comic book that Marvel Comics published after taking over the old Atlas Comics banner. The series was a hit, introducing the world to Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing. The Fantastic Four also brought in some incredible villains to the Marvel Universe, including names like Doctor Doom, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Rama-Tut, Mole-Man, and many more. However, there was one antagonist in the early comics that fans seemed to hate. In fact, the sales were so low for the comic with this villain that he disappeared for years after his debut appearance.
However, 50 years ago today, Marvel Comics brought back this controversial antagonist, and he quickly became a fan favorite, receiving a much-deserved second chance. On August 24, 1976, Fantastic Four #176 by Roy Thomas and George Perez brought back the Impossible Man.
In 1962, Fantastic Four #11 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the world to the Impossible Man. The story was the second in the issue, titled “The Impossible Man,” and it brought an alien from the planet Poppup to Earth, and he ends up getting into all sorts of trouble when he misunderstands Earth’s culture and laws, often taking things too literally. The police and the military try to kill the alien, but the Impossible Man is indestructible and ends up leaving because he gets bored with Earth and the people there.
This was one of two stories in the issue, with the other featuring the debuting Willie Lumpkin (“A Visit With the Fantastic Four”). However, it was the Impossible Man who was on the book’s cover, and it was that character that was blamed for the title’s low sales that month. According to Stan Lee, Fantastic Four #11 suffered from low sales, and that seemed to mark the end of the Impossible Man in comics.
However, all hope was not lost. Other than a cameo in one story in Fantastic Four Annual #1 titled “A Gallery of the Fantastic Four’s Most Famous Foes!,” the Impossible Man was missing from Marvel Comics for 14 years. In Fantastic Four #175 (1976) by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, Galactus prepared to consume Counter-Earth, and the High Evolutionary battled him. There was one twist, though. The Invisible Woman attempted to find a different planet Galactus could consume, and that ended up bringing in the Impossible Man in a shocking return.
When the Invisible Woman showed up, she showed Galactus a new world that she had found and asked him to come to consume it. This saved Counter-Earth, and Galactus went to the new planet, built his machine, and began to consume the planet. Then, he began to scream in pain, and the High Evolutionary saved him, possibly ensuring he would never feed again. That is when it was revealed that the Invisible Woman who had returned and sent Galactus on his way wasn’t Susan Storm at all. It was the Impossible Man who had saved Sue and then sent Galactus to Poppup, where the World-Devourer ended up with massive terminal indigestion that almost killed him.
This then led to the issue 50 years ago that finally rehabilitated the Impossible Man and helped him become one of Marvel’s most popular characters. In Fantastic Four #176, the Impossible Man was back on the main Earth, and he was causing all sorts of problems again. However, unlike his first appearance, where he was just a prankster, here he was breaking the fourth wall and doing something that She-Hulk would do in the 1980s, and Deadpool would popularize again in the 1990s.
What made this different was that the Impossible Man went to the Marvel Comics offices, and it had Stan Lee and the staff of Marvel Comics as main characters. In fact, they were all talking about creating a new Fantastic Four story, but the team was missing. Jack Kirby even suggested making up stories about the Fantastic Four instead of showing things that really happened. Lee didn’t like this, so Impossible Man showed up and said he wanted a comic made about him, and that made his official Marvel Comics return a meta-story that explained his first appearance. Lee reminded everyone that they did a story about him once and “a lot of our readers didn’t like that issue, because he looked too silly.” That caused Impossible Man to lash out. The Fantastic Four showed up and convinced Lee to create a new book for Impossible Man, and the rest is history.
Not only did this issue rehabilitate the Impossible Man and give him that little something extra that he was missing in his original comic debut, but he also became a recurring character in the Fantastic Four comics. He made regular appearances all the way until Fantastic Four #195, an almost two-year run on the title. It was a big return for a guy who Stan Lee said no one wanted to see in comics anymore.
