It's July 1961, 41 years before Stan Suesmoral. Stan Lee's convertible Buick whips down the

streets of Manhattan. Stan hits the gas and leaves the New York skyline behind him. Stan's

passenger, artist Jack Kirby, puffs on a cigar, and barely notices how fast Stan is driving.

Stan's taking Jack home to Long Island, and the two men use the time to brainstorm about the

new superhero team they're creating, the fantastic four. Jack, I'm telling you, we need something big,

but simple. Something to make it clear to the readers that these characters are different now.

They have their superpowers. Oh, gamma rays or something like that. But that's nothing new Stan. You

keep on talking about how we need to create something new and different. Well, different doesn't

have to mean complicated. Our story will be different because our characters are different. They'll

have regular problems. They bicker. They get jealous. Just like every other family. At that,

Jack Kirby gets excited. He has an idea. He gestures wildly with his cigar in his hand. Stan, okay,

okay. We'll grab them right from the cover. A monster coming up through the ground. It's

holding our hero, Sue Storm. Our guy, the thing. Look just as much of a monster as the one holding

Sue. Well, that's smart. Yeah, we don't know who's the hero and who's the villain and neither do the

people around them. They see this thing and they're horrified. You know, the citizens, the police,

and the government, they want nothing to do with them. But what is he? Is he an alien? Is this an

invasion? You know, our superheroes are feared. They're outsiders. Yeah, yeah, that's something different.

Stan's car, a coast along the streets of Long Island, towards the small, idyllic neighborhood,

where Jack makes this home. What if we start in the middle, Jack? Well, what do you mean? Well,

when we meet them, they're doing everyday things. We think we're going to see a typical origin,

story unfold, but then, but then something happens. They drop what they're doing and they rush

back to headquarters. They're already a team and they already have their superpowers. And then

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