2025 is going to look a little more like 1961 and 1980, as Marvel has announced they’ll be publishing facsimile editions of Fantastic Four #1-12 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and X-Men #131-142 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne next year.
If you haven’t checked these out before, the Facsimile Editions are direct reprints of the original issues, ads and all, so you know where to write to order your sea monkeys and x-ray specs. The release of the Fantastic Four issues is timed to the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters in July, though the first Facsimile issue will hit in January. Meanwhile, the X-Men issues cover the Dark Phoenix Saga, which hopefully isn’t being adapted for a movie a third time, but I guess we’ll see what happens.
You can check out the covers to the first two below, as well as official synopses per Marvel. Fantastic Four #1 Facsimile Edition hits stores on January 8, 2025. X-Men #131 Facsimile Edition hits stores on January 29, 2025.
In FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby changed super-hero storytelling forever when they introduced Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Susan and Johnny Storm. Together, the adventurous quartet blast off on an experimental rocket flight – only to be bombarded by life-altering cosmic rays! Reed becomes the elastic Mister Fantastic! Ben transforms into the rocky Thing! Sue turns into an Invisible Girl! And Johnny flames on as the Human Torch! They’ll use their incredible powers to help humankind – starting by fending off the menace of the Mole Man! It’s the next best thing to buying FANTASTIC FOUR #1 off the stands back in 1961!
In X-MEN #131, Kitty Pryde meets more of the X-Men in a vital chapter of the Dark Phoenix Saga! When Cyclops, Phoenix, Nightcrawler and the mutant pop star Dazzler save a young girl as she flees her pursuers from the Hellfire Club, little do they know she’s destined to become one of the most iconic X-Men of all! But with Storm, Colossus and Wolverine still prisoners of the White Queen, the young Kitty Pryde must lead her new allies back into the lion’s den to come to their rescue. Can Emma Frost withstand a psychic battle with an increasingly ruthless Jean Grey? And will Dazzler accept an offer to join the X-Men? Following the Dark Phoenix Saga, next year’s X-Men Facsimile Editions will also cover another pivotal X-Men saga: Days of Future Past!
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