History Main / TheFantasticFaux

* The original iteration of the ComicBook/DoomPatrol was a rather obvious homage to the Fantastic Four, with Robot Man having super-strength and a freakish appearance, Elasti-Girl having stretching abilities, the Negative Man having energy powers, and the Chief having super-intelligence, and with the exception of the Chief, all their powers came from freak accidents (later retconned as having been caused by the Chief himself.) They also wear shared uniforms, and the Negative Man's origin (he went into space in an experimental machine and was bombarded by radiation) is highly reminiscent of the Fantastic Four.

* The Council Of Ricks, an [[AllianceOfAlternates Alliance Of Alternate]] Rick's from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' are a parody of Interdimensional Council of Reeds from Jonathan Hickman's run on the ''Fantastic Four'' comics.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': Professor Impossible is almost a note-for-note parody of Reed Richards, down to being a scientist with rubber abilities. The rest of his group include his wife Sally, who can only turn her ''skin'' invisible, Sally's cousin Ned, who became a strong, mentally-impaired monster, and Sally's brother Cody, who can set himself on fire (but without [[RequiredSecondaryPowers the immunity to burning]]). The parody plays up the darker aspects of the FF and turns them UpToEleven, with the team eventually falling apart and Impossible becoming an antagonist in later seasons.

->''"And don't tell me there's no way to make a good ''Fantastic Four'' movie! It's called ''The Incredibles'', and it's perfect."''

** Near the end of the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E1TreehouseOfHorrorXIV Treehouse Of HorrorXIV]]" short "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off", Lisa fiddles with a cosmic stopwatch and turns her family into different versions of themselves, including the Fantastic Four, with Homer as The Thing, Marge as the Human Torch, Bart as Mr. Fantastic, and Maggie as The Invisible Woman.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants'': While the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances (first seen in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V" when [=SpongeBob=]'s friends borrow their outfits to get superpowers, then seen in their original incarnations in "The Bad Guy Club for Villains") has an aesthetic and name more reminiscent of the Justice League, the powers fit the Fantastic Four archetypes much better. The Elastic Waistband has stretchy powers a la Mister Fantastic, Miss Appear is an ActionGirl with invisibility powers a la the Invisible Woman, and Captain Magma shoots hot lava similar to the Human Torch's fire ability (and activates his powers with a CatchPhrase like the Torch does). The Quickster and Mermaid Man don't fit a particular mold, however, as they're parodies of ComicBook/TheFlash and ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} respectively.

* An ImagineSpot in an episode of {{WesternAnimation/Arthur}} has Buster return from outer space with one arm on fire, another stretchy, a foot invisible, and the other foot living stone, in a parody of the FF’s origin. (Of course, having all of their powers together could be said to make him more of an Expy of the Super-Skrull.)

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys:'' The archetype shows up as Fantastico, whose known members are Reacher Dick, Invisi-lass, and the Doofer (the Human Torch's expy isn't named). First introduced during a huge supers-only orgy, Invisi-lass is permanently invisible but keeps her lingerie on, Doofer (who is either covered in bricks or a moving sentient pile of bricks) dies of a heroin overdose, and Reacher is mentioned to have helped an old lady across the street so he could pickpocket her (his personality is closer to Plastic Man than Reed Richards).

* The original iteration of the ComicBook/DoomPatrol was a rather obvious homage to the Fantastic Four, with Robot Man having super-strength and a freakish appearance, Elasti-Girl having stretching abilities, Mr. Negative having energy powers, and the Chief having super-intelligence, and with the exception of the Chief, all their powers came from freak accidents (later retconned as having been caused by the Chief himself.)

[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]
* The Human Torch makes an unlicensed appearance in ''Film/SuperheroMovie'' where he demonstrates his powers and starts rolling on the floor, screaming. The Dragonfly tries hitting him with various things to put him out before dousing him with a bucket of what turns out to be gasoline. The Torch then dives off the side of the building, presumably to his death.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', as a direct reference to The Fantastic Four, Jimmy and his friends get superpowers while flying through a radiation belt in space, becoming the N-Men. Cindy gets super strength, Sheen gets super speed, Carl has super burps, Libby has invisibility, and Jimmy [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers turned orange]], though it turns out that he can turn into a raging monster when upset.

* ''Podcast/TheThrillingAdventureHour'': A group of characters that show up in "The Cross-Time Adventures of Colonel Tick-Tock" and "Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer" are the Algonquin Four, four members of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Round_Table The Algonquin Round Table]], a gathering of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits, that gain truly fantastic powers after being struck by a comet. The Algonquin Four's members are magician Harry Houdini, with the power to stretch his limbs, American president Woodrow Wilson, possessing Invisibility and a laugh like WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker, New Yorker essayist Robert Benchley, who has power over flame, and finally poetess Dorothy Parker, who is best described by the master wordsmith herself:

* The Atom Family in ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'' are loosely based on the Fantastic Four, although the "original" Atoms were a group of non-powered explorer heroes led by Dr Alexander Atom (the Reed Richards counterpart), and the current members are his four superpowered grandchildren: {{Sizeshifter}} Maximus, [[HandBlast radiation blaster]] Tess (who also followed in her grandfather's footsteps as a scientist), RubberWoman Vicky, and {{Telepath}} Chase.

** Writher - GadgeteerGenius who accidentally turned himself into a LivingShadow, granting him an [[RubberMan amorphous body]] and ShadowWalker powers

* An ImagineSpot in an episode of WesternAnimation/Arthur has Buster return from outer space with one arm on fire, another stretchy, a foot invisible, and the other foot living stone, in a parody of the FF’s origin. (Of course, having all of their powers together could be said to make him more of an Expy of the Super-Skrull.)

%%NOTE: The Incredibles DO NOT count as this trope, as the creator has repeatedly denied basing them off of the FF as inspiration. Whether truthful or not, an Expy cannot be unintentional.

%%NOTE: The Incredibles DO NOT count as this trope, as the creator has repeatedly denied basing them off of the FF as inspiration. Whether truthful or not, an Expy cannot be unintentional.

%%NOTE: The Incredibles DO NOT count as this trope, as the creator has repeatedly denied basing them off of the FF as inspiration. Whether truthful or not, an Expy cannot be unintentional.

->''"And don't tell me there's no way to make a good ''Fantastic Four'' movie! It's called ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', and it's perfect."''

->''"And don't tell me there's no way to make a good ''Fantastic Four'' movie! It's called ''The Incredibles'', and it's perfect."''

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' features Telly, Elmo, and Abby dressing as "The Furry Four" based on Telly's comic. Elmo becomes the Furry Flash (who has SuperSpeed), Abby becomes as the Furry Tornado (capable of SpectacularSpinning), Telly becomes Mr. Furry (having the power to turn invisible), and Furry Muscles (SuperStrength) but have a hard time recruiting a fourth person to fill that role, before eventually settling on Chris.

[[folder:Film--Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' apparently did this by accident, as WordOfGod says that the characters' powers are supposed to [[PersonalityPowers fit their roles]] in [[SuperFamilyTeam the family]], not any deliberate reference. Bob, roughly corresponding to Ben, has SuperStrength because dads are expected to be strong; Helen is a [[RubberMan Rubber (Wo)Man]] like Reed because moms have to "stretch" to help everyone else; and Violet, like Sue, has the specific combo of [[BarrierWarrior force fields]] and {{Invisibility}} because teenagers want to wall themselves off and hide from people. Dash, a FragileSpeedster, doesn't really fit this trope, though his personality is somewhat similar to Johnny. An accidental reference to his powers comes when [[spoiler:Jack-Jack]] is briefly WreathedInFlames.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' apparently did this by accident, as WordOfGod says that the characters' powers are supposed to [[PersonalitySuperpowers fit their roles]] in [[SuperFamilyTeam the family]], not any deliberate reference. Bob, roughly corresponding to Ben, has SuperStrength because dads are expected to be strong; Helen is a [[RubberMan Rubber (Wo)Man]] like Reed because moms have to "stretch" to help everyone else; and Violet, like Sue, has the specific combo of [[BarrierWarrior force fields]] and {{Invisibility}} because teenagers want to wall themselves off and hide from people. Dash, a FragileSpeedster, doesn't really fit this trope, though his personality is somewhat similar to Johnny. An accidental reference to his powers comes when [[spoiler:Jack-Jack]] is briefly WreathedInFlames.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' apparently did this by accident, as WordOfGod says that the characters' powers are supposed to [[PersonalitySuperpower fit their roles]] in [[SuperFamilyTeam the family]], not any deliberate reference. Bob, roughly corresponding to Ben, has SuperStrength because dads are expected to be strong; Helen is a [[RubberMan Rubber (Wo)Man]] like Reed because moms have to "stretch" to help everyone else; and Violet, like Sue, has the specific combo of [[BarrierWarrior force fields]] and {{Invisibility}} because teenagers want to wall themselves off and hide from people. Dash, a FragileSpeedster, doesn't really fit this trope, though his personality is somewhat similar to Johnny. An accidental reference to his powers comes when [[spoiler:Jack-Jack]] is briefly WreathedInFlames.

[[folder:Film]]

->''"And don't tell me there's no way to make a good ''Fantastic Four'' movie! It's called ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', and it's perfect."''

->''"And don't tell me there's no way to make a good ''Fantastic Four'' movie; it's called ''The Incredibles'', and it's perfect."''

** Common {{Archenem|y}}ies include send-ups to Reed Richards' [[TheRival rival genius]] and megalomaniac ComicBook/DoctorDoom, the futuristic Kang the Conqueror, the bug-like alien Annihilus, the CosmicEntity ComicBook/{{Galactus}} or less-popular ones like the Mole Man, the Skrulls or the Impossible Man. The team may also have [[TeethClenchedTeamwork uneasy alliances]] with characters mirroring Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner or the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk.

** They are usually led by a ScienceHero {{Expy}} of ComicBook/MisterFantastic, with whatever IncitingIncident that caused them to become heroes or misfits being [[MyGreatestFailure entirely his fault]]. For this reason, he may act as [[TeamDad a father figure]] to the group -- although again, this can be portrayed both [[TeamDad positively and negatively]]. Often has RubberMan powers to complete the allusion.
** Opposite of the leader will be TheChick that substitutes for the ComicBook/InvisibleWoman, the TeamMom. Depending on the era that the copy wishes to homage/parody, she will either be a near-useless DamselInDistress with powers based on {{Invisibility}}, {{Intangibility}} or some other form of incorporeality, or she will be an extremely strong-willed ActionGirl with arguably the strongest powerset of the entire group, although they tend to be [[GuysSmashGirlsShoot based on non-physical]] traits like [[BarrierWarrior forcefields]], [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] and/or PsychicPowers.
** One of the members is the typical [[TheBigGuy Big Guy]], akin to ComicBook/TheThing. Tough and strong, and possibly a BruiserWithASoftCenter. He may also be some sort of [[WasOnceAMan human-turned-monster]] and thus become TheWoobie due to this fate. As TheLancer, he also has shades of TheGadfly and JerkassWoobie due to his tendency to butt heads with the leader or tease his teammates. The Thing was directly the inspiration for the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk, so the character might [[HulkMashUp copy him as well]].
** The fourth member is often the [[HotBlooded hot-head]] of the team (echoing the ComicBook/HumanTorch). Their only interest is [[GloryHound fame, glory]], [[OnlyInItForTheMoney money]] or [[TheCasanova the opposite sex]]. They may also be one of the more powerful members, with an emphasis on ElementalPowers or SuperSpeed ([[ElementalSpeed or both]]).
** The final (optional) archetype can be [[SixthRanger practically anyone]], as there are a lot of possible dynamics to work on. Sometimes, they will be the child of two of the members (ala Franklin Richards), or merely a friend of the team (ala Franchise/SpiderMan or ComicBook/SheHulk), or even a [[DefeatMeansFriendship former villain]] that pulled a HeelFaceTurn (mirroring the occasional times ComicBook/DoctorDoom has joined the team). It's also not uncommon for a character to possess a blend of several recognizable traits.

Do not confuse with WesternAnimation/FantasticMrFox.

For more {{superhero}} expies, SupermanSubstitute, BatmanParody, SpiderManSendUp, HulkMashUp, WolverineWannabe, WonderWomanWannabe and CaptainPatriotic.

-->--'''WebVideo/HonestTrailers''' on Tim Story's ''Film/{{Fantastic Four|2005}}'' duology

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': The First Family are analogous to the Four ("First Family" is even a moniker occasionally used for the team within the Marvel universe), being a SuperFamilyTeam of space-age-inspired explorers and adventurers. Reportedly, Kurt Busiek didn't want to give them that name, as it made the homage a little ''too'' blatant, but found that he couldn't come up with a better one.