Why They Killed...?

This post contains a big spoiler. It's a spoiler that's all over the net so if you're someone interested enough in comics to regularly visit comics sites, you probably know the spoiler. That is, unless, you're doing everything you can to avoid the news, in which case this little paragraph here is your signal to go read something else now. Go. Shoo. Go away.

So...







....they killed the Human Torch. Being a rabid Hulk supporter I don't know if I should be angry that they didn't kill Ben Grimm, or happy that he's still around to get knocked around by the Hulk. Regardless, I have to ask the question, why kill the Human Torch?

Sure, Ben Grimm is pretty popular so killing him would be a bad choice. The reaction to killing Reed would be interesting considering the enemies he and his pro-reg friends made among fandom during Civil War. It would offer up interesting personal and romantic options for Sue, just as Sue's death would open up similar options for Reed. Of course, if Sue were killed, her death would leave a sausage party behind and that's always awkward.

Johnny's death, I guess, is the safest death. He isn't as popular as Ben Grimm, he isn't a parent like Reed and Sue, and his death wouldn't anger fans by opening doors for favorite characters to get busy with new people (i.e., I think if Reed were the one who bought it and two issues later Sue and Namor got an apartment together, fans might be a little ticked off).

But we all know Johnny won't be dead forever. Probably 2 or 3 years. That's the going rate, right? Then there will be a mini named Fantastic Four: Rebirth or Fantastic Four: Reborn or The Return of the Fantastic Four or Fantastic Four: Hey, That Dude Is Back.

Which leads to the question of how they will eventually bring him back. I didn't read the issue, but as I understand it, he got killed by giant bugs. That seems pretty tough to get around, but not impossible.

And that makes me wonder if maybe the reason they chose Johnny over the other characters is precisely because they would eventually have to explain how he comes back from the dead.

Almost as if there were another character somehow related to Johnny Storm who would eventually have something to do with the resurrection, a character who has already been resurrected a couple of times and has actually been used as the explanation for other characters' resurrections. A character who actually seems to only spring up whenever someone else needs some Lazarus treatment. Maybe even a character that the Fantastic Four's Human Torch was based upon.



I don't know. I'll have to put my thinking cap on.