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As Marvel Comics neared the 50th anniversary of the Fantastic Four, the company wanted to create a definitive ending to bookend the definitive beginning by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In the early 2000s, Marvel approached co-creator Stan Lee to write this story, and he was all for it. Jack Kirby had passed years before, and the artist who succeeded him was John Romita Sr, who by the early '00s had retired. So in came someone fitting enough to succeed them, Romita's son, John Romita Jr.

"Stan is an interesting character. He’s Felix Unger on drugs,” John Romita Jr. says during a panel at Toronto Fan Expo 2007, owing not only to his time working with Lee but also no doubt his father's stories of their relationship that goes back to the late '60s.“Stan just sent me a loose plot [for the final Fantastic Four story], which was added to by [Marvel editor] Tom Brevoort, who brought it up to date for continuity sake.”

Work on it was halted, however, when Lee sued Marvel in 2002 over what he felt was being underpaid for his part in creating the characters that the ultra-successful X-Men and Spider-Man movies were making at the time. He argued that while he created them as an employee, a '90s era contract promised him 10% of any profits from movies, TV, games, and other things using his characters - including comics. 

“There was an interruption because of legal wranglings between Stan and Marvel over the Spider-Man movie," Romita Jr. said diplomatically.

The lawsuit was settled three years later out of court for a reported $1-million+ to Lee, and then the last Fantastic Four comic went back on track... with one problem.

"So there was a three-year gap between the first half of the book and the second half of the book. And when the second half of the book was penciled, Stan had nearly forgotten," Romita says.

Romita's father, John Romita Senior, who was also at this 2007 panel, chimed in, saying "He did, [Stan] said at a panel, ‘You and I have got to work together.'"

Romita, who as stated described Lee as "Felix Unger on drugs," said that Lee has forgotten his plans for the last Fantastic Four comic completely.

"He had forgotten because it was three years and a million things had happened to him between then. But once he got it and his memory was refreshed, he claims to have written it within one day,” John Romita Jr. continues.

During the production delay Marvel commissioned a separate Fantastic Four: The End story from Alan Davis. And thus, Lee and Romita Jr.’s story became The Last Fantastic Four Story. The one-shot was published in August 2007.

“I can’t believe I finally got a chance to work with him, and I’ve been in the business now 30 years, and when he’s always telling me, ‘We’ve got to work together, kid. We’ve got to do something. I worked with your father, I’ll work with you, I’ll work with your son.’ It was a great plot, and all I could think of was his run with Jack Kirby on the Fantastic Four.”

Want more? Make sure you've read our list of all the best Marvel Comics stories of all time, and get ready for all the free Marvel comics coming as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day 2026 / Comics Giveaway Day  2026 events.