Re-New Fantastic Four?

In the ongoing saga of Marvel teasing the FF’s new lineup, there’s been a couple new hints this week. For starters, you might want to catch up on the previous teaser image we showed you, featuring Storm and Black Panther with the Human Torch and the Thing. Rich Johnston’s Lying In The Gutters reports that this pic originally slipped through the cracks as “a ‘Civil War’ variant cover”. Makes sense – That’s about all Michael Turner does for Marvel. So what about the new space-themed image that Marvel sent out today? Read on after the jump for answers.

Well, Marvel just dropped this NEW image suggesting it’s a different New Fantastic Four – this one starring Stardust (former Galactus herald) and the Silver Surfer (once and current Galactus herald) alongside the Thing and the Human Torch. (And hey, look, it’s Ego, The Living Planet!) Interestingly, once again art is done by Turner.

So how real is this new image? Well, ignoring the conveniently marketable timing – having the Surfer in the FF book right now helps pimp for the upcoming movie, reinforcing the image’s validity – this image definitely ties into issue #544. Why am I so sure? Because editor Tom Brevoort just posted some of Paul Pelletier’s pencils on his blog. Paul Pelletier is the new penciler as of #544, coming onboard with Dwayne McDuffie as the new post-Civil War creative team. The page (on the right) is clearly labled as issue #544 (page 2, it seems), and it features Stardust.

In the end, while I doubt they’re adding Stardust and the Surfer to the lineup, I also wouldn’t put my money on Storm and Black Panther going on a space-faring adventure with Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. Especially not in issue #544. Looks like that Storm/Black Panther/FF pic may just be from Civil War after all.