Writer Tom DeFalco Talks About A Brief Return To Marvel In 2025

Coming Back To Marvel’s First Family

Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz have formed a writer and artist partnership that stretches back many years to include Spider-man, Thor, Thunderstrike and Spider-girl. In 2025 they are returning albeit briefly to the House of Ideas.

Tripwire’s contributing writer Paul N Neal finds out a little more, and is able to share some exclusive Ron Frenz art…

TRIPWIRE: Tom, yours and Ron Frenz’s names are familiar to even the most casual of Marvel Comics fans. Is it always exciting to get a phone call to return to that universe?

TOM DEFALCO: Absolutely! I have never lost my love of comics and it’s always a thrill to be invited back to the Marvel playground—especially when I get to work with people like Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding and Tom Brevoort.

TW: What can you tell your fans about your return to the Fantastic Four in 2025? It sounds exciting.

TD: We were invited to produce a new 10 page story that stars the ever-lovin’ THING and it will appear in the third issue of Fantastic Four Fanfare—an anthology series that includes talent like Mark Waid, Alan Davis, Jonathan Hickman, Mark Buckingham, Chip Zdarsky, Dan Slott and Mike Allred.

TW: As a partnership, you and Ron Frenz never managed an extended run together on the Fantastic Four. Will this story in some way go towards righting a wrong? Years ago, I am sure fans would have loved to see you both create a twenty or thirty issue run on the characters.

TD: I’m afraid not. A single 10-pager can’t compare with a 30-issue run, but I’m sure our fans will enjoy all the action & angst we stuff into this little tale—and we stuff plenty into this story!

TW: Clearly you have a soft spot for Marvel’s first family. Have you enjoyed previous attempts to bring the Fantastic Four to the big screen?

TD: I have. I thought the first two Fox films nailed the characters of the Fantastic Four (Doctor Doom, not so much). I also thought the story with the Silver Surfer was terrific!

TW: With the Fantastic Four now officially under the stewardship of Marvel Studios, what do you hope to see from this year’s release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the characters in the future? Did you enjoy the trailer for the film?

TD: I enjoyed the trailer for the film and have the utmost confidence in Marvel Studies to do a great job with the FF.

TW:  You mentioned The Thing may be central to the new story you are putting together with Ron Frenz. Can I ask why that is the case?

TD:  Tom Brevoort asked me which character I wanted to write, and Ben has always been my favourite. I know you’re not supposed to have favourites but I bonded with Ben as a child and loved writing him during my Two-In-One days.

TW: Do you perhaps feel he is the beating heart of The Fantastic Four?

TD: No, Sue is the heart of the team. Ben is the team’s spine. Reed is its brain and Johnny its passion.

TW: As a writer, is it difficult to return to characters you have written fairly extensively in the past with only ten pages to tell your story?

TD: Not at all. The smaller the story, the tighter your story structure and I like to keep my story structures tight. I think my last Ben story was only 5 pages.

TW: So you find that an exciting challenge?

TD: The challenge is to tell a complete story that will resonate with the readers, but that’s always the challenge. This particular story has at least five subplots which is more than many current 22-page stories contain.

TW: Do you approach The Fantastic Four as a family that never ages?

TD: Although I try to portray the characters as real people with real conflicts, I don’t ever worry about them aging. It’s my job to tell one story at one moment in time and do the best job I can. I want you to care about the characters as people and get caught up in their lives and this particular adventure.

TW: Do you accept the fact that with parenthood the family dynamic changes over time? After all, Marvel seem keen to hit the reset button on such things frequently.

TD: Parenthood changed the family dynamic, but the characters have always stayed the people we originally fell in love with.

TW: Even if Doctor Doom may not feature (or maybe he does) in your new story, how do you approach the character?

TD: In the course of our lives, we have all met or experienced someone who believes he knows all the answers—who believes he’s the only one capable of solving all the problems and who believes he’s the living embodiment of truth and justice. That’s Doom to me, and I have seen versions of him all around me.

TW: Would you argue he is one Marvel’s more nuanced and interesting villains? For that matter, do you look at him in that way?

TD: Absolutely! Doom’s goal is to end war, poverty, crime and injustice. All he asks is one little thing in return—TOTAL BLIND OBEDIENCE!

TW: Reed Richards is often written as a rather self-important individual who concentrates upon science and technology to the point of ignoring his family. Considering the headlines of the newspapers and news reports in recent years, do you find Reed to be an increasingly interesting character?

TD: I have always found Reed interesting. He is a brilliant scientist who made one mistake. He failed to consider the effect cosmic rays would have on him and his crew. As a result of this negligence, he spends his life trying to anticipate and solve any possible problem he may encounter. He uses his imagination to concoct threat scenarios and then fills his lab with various devices to defuse these possible threats. He concentrates on science and technology to protect his family…and everyone else.

TW: When the Fantastic Four was conceived do think any subtext was considered with the name given to Sue Storm as the INVISIBLE girl (Or thanks to John Byrne The Invisible Woman)?

TD: I think Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were products of their times and may have seen women as invisible in those days—but that’s just speculation on my part.

TW: Of the four characters in the First Family, was there ever one of the four you found more difficult to write or to “find their voice?” After all, on paper it is a slightly strange family dynamic. Ben Grimm is not FAMILY as such.

TD: Reed was the hardest to write because he is so much smarter than I am. My solution was to structure my story and figure out the ending. Once I figured out how Reed solved a problem. I could work backward to explain his solution. Ben was the easiest for me to write. We share a lot of the same personality and verbal quirks, and he is definitely a member of the family.

TW: Is there anything else you would like to promote that your fans can expect from you in 2025?

TD: I just want to thank the fans for allowing me to entertain for so many wonderful years.