The Fantastic Four's Greatest Discovery Proves They're Idiots

Warning: contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #44!

The Fantastic Four's latest adventure proves that despite their leader and patriarch Reed Richards' genius-level intellect, the team are still idiots for not capitalizing on their greatest discovery. Marvel's First Family has traveled through time, space and dimensions, and are now tasked with stopping the horrific Reckoning species from destroying all of existence. But Fantastic Four #44 reveals an easy way to stop not only the Reckoning, but all universe-ending threats. Unfortunately, the team is far too short-sighted to even think about using this method.

In current comics continuity, the Fantastic Four are embroiled in a universe-wide conflict as part of the company-wide Reckoning War crossover event. A long-dormant species called the Prosilicans (now known as the Reckoning) seek to destroy the universe and attack the Earth and countless other worlds. Their leader, Wrath of the Reckoning, is especially obsessed with destroying the Watchers, and the Fantastic Four (along with She-Hulk and Jack of Hearts) must journey into space to stop them.

Related: Reed Richards New Powers Confirms He's Marvel's Worst Partner

In Fantastic Four #44, written by Dan Slott with art by Andrea Di Vito, Davidae Tinto & Rachel Stott, the Reckoning search for the Apex of All Reality, a space-based phenomena observed and kept secret by the Watchers. The Apex is the gateway to every "What If" universe, and thus the gateway to all of existence itself. Using Reed Richards' Forever Gate, a squad of Prosilican soldiers make their way to the Apex only to find the Fantastic Four's children (Franklin and Valaria Richards) waiting for them in Thoughtspace: a dimension where the thoughts of sentient beings instantly become reality. Franklin and Valaria used the dimension to trick and trap the Reckoning...but they could have done so much more.

The dimension was discovered back in Fantastic Four #31 by Reed Richards and Ben Grimm; since the two could barely control their thoughts, they were almost killed by monsters and demons of their own making. But Franklin is a disciplined reality-warper, and his powers could easily bend Thoughtspace to the Fantastic Four's will. Any enemy can be defeated if one only journeys into Thoughtspace and imagines a weapon capable of doing so. Following the same logic, all diseases and sicknesses could be cured simply by thinking of a cure; Thoughtspace would then make the cure a reality.

The Fantastic Four have never even considered using Thoughtspace to solve the world's problems, let alone defeat their many powerful enemies. The likes of Doctor Doom, Galactus, and even Thanos could easily lose to any hero spending five seconds in Thoughtspace. The Fantastic Four's lack of foresight in this regard makes the team collectively dense; answers to all of the world's problems are just a simply Forever Gate jump away.

Next: The Fantastic Four Just Got Their Most Powerful Member Back

Fantastic Four #44 is available now from Marvel Comics.