Approximate Ages For FF?

[taylor51]

I know, I know, it's a sliding timescale, and you're not supposed to ask questions; however, I'm having some difficulty in placing Reed in all his many roles (world renowned scientific authority, family man, age relative to members of his family, etc.) without running into logical headaches, so I was looking for some help. I could conjecture for a million paragraphs, but I figured I'd just ask to see if there was ever an "established" age, and then let the sliding timescale pacify me into non-questioningness once I have the "initial" understanding :). Thanks!

[Mechano]

i like my Reed Richards a little wrinkly...

[Beast]

Add 13 years to the ages established in FF #1. My guess is that Reed is likely pushing 40 now.

[Zolton]

Reed - 45
Sue - 35
Johnny - 28
Ben - 40

Something like that.

[taylor51]

Add 13 years to the ages established in FF #1. My guess is that Reed is likely pushing 40 now.

See, I whipped out FF #1 the other day and I couldn't find established ages. Mind you, I only skimmed it, but yeah. Maybe I'll give it another look.

[Shallot]

Well, the sliding timescale is the key. Here's Stan's response in the letters page of Fantastic Four #11



If you do add 13 years Ben and Reed would be just pass 50, Sue somewhere in her thirties, and Johnny right at 30. I don't think that's the case. I'd peg Ben and Reed in their upper 30's, Sue in the lower 30's, and Johnny in his mid 20's.

[taylor51]

Well, the sliding timescale is the key. Here's Stan's response in the letters page of Fantastic Four #11



If you do add 13 years Ben and Reed would be just pass 50, Sue somewhere in her thirties, and Johnny right at 30. I don't think that's the case. I'd peg Ben and Reed in their upper 30's, Sue in the lower 30's, and Johnny in his mid 20's.

Thanks, that was exactly what I needed. You wouldn't happen to know if the age gap between Sue and Johnny has been established anywhere? Knowing that Sue is 7 years younger than Reed and that, we could do a little algebra and be on our way :).

[Shallot]

You are bound to find contradictions. Yes, Byrne had Reed meeting Sue for the first time when he was entering college and she was anywhere between 6 to 8 years younger. I don't have a scan handy right now but in Fantastic Four #11, the same issue where the ages come from, Reed mentions living next door to Sue and knowing her since they were kids.

As far as the age gap between Sue and Johnny I don't think it's too large. I'd guess about 5 years or so.

[taylor51]

You are bound to find contradictions. Yes, Byrne had Reed meeting Sue for the first time when he was entering college and she was anywhere between 6 to 8 years younger. I don't have a scan handy right now but in Fantastic Four #11, the same issue where the ages come from, Reed mentions living next door to Sue and knowing her since they were kids.

As far as the age gap between Sue and Johnny I don't think it's too large. I'd guess about 5 years or so.

It's not so much an issue of finding contradictions as it is just being able to keep things straight in my head when I'm reading. If it came off as though I was nitpicking you, I apologize :). I didn't realize until after I posted that what I had written could be taken to mean I was challenging Stan's answer based on the age gap established later in the series lol.

[SuperCooper]

Reed - 40
Ben - 40
Sue - 32
Johnny - 25

That's what I would peg them at, roughly.

[StoneGold]

Plain and simple, Reed and Ben stopped aging, while Sue and Johnny didn't. Because they're basically the same age they were in the first issue, while Sue and Johnny got older.

[Shallot]

It's not so much an issue of finding contradictions as it is just being able to keep things straight in my head when I'm reading. If it came off as though I was nitpicking you, I apologize :). I didn't realize until after I posted that what I had written could be taken to mean I was challenging Stan's answer based on the age gap established later in the series lol.

No need to apologize, I didn't consider your response nitpicking.

As far as I'm concerned challenging Stan's original statements is perfectly valid. Stan was often known to just make it up on the fly and what he might have written one issue would change the next.

[taylor51]

Plain and simple, Reed and Ben stopped aging, while Sue and Johnny didn't. Because they're basically the same age they were in the first issue, while Sue and Johnny got older.

Exactly. I guess I'm just having issues reconciling him feeling "not-quite-40," maybe 39-ish, when he's playing Magic cards with Franklin and seeming like he should be older when he's doing stuff in the Marvel Universe at large like consulting with the President about the SHRA. You know?

[taylor51]

No need to apologize, I didn't consider your response nitpicking.

As far as I'm concerned challenging Stan's original statements is perfectly valid. Stan was often known to just make it up on the fly and what he might have written one issue would change the next.

Oh yeah, definitely. That's one of those things that's super endearing about the early days of Marvel: they'd make continuity errors or even tell stupid stories, and then apologize for/correct their errors later in the fan pages, typically with Stan's characteristic goofiness :).

I wasn't apologizing for challenging Stan, so much as the implication that I was chopping your helpful response off at the knees because of a nitpick ;). No harm, no foul.

[Iron Maiden]

I love that letters page scan. I always found them to be just as entertaining as the stories themselves.

IIRC, that is the same issue, FF#11, that talks about Ben and Reed both being in WWII. You'd have to think that Ben, who Jack Kirby identified with, had to be someone of his generation. So under the old time scale, in 1961 it would put them in their mid to late 30's had they gone to college, graduated and enlisted sometime before the war ended. Of course, we can't use any of those RW event tie ins anymore.

I always wondered why Bendis was so specific about the passage of time in Dark Avengers #2. With Victor being Ben and Reed's contemporary, this would seem to put them in the early to late 40's range.