Marvel’s First Family is being rebuilt as something far less wholesome. In Midnight Fantastic Four, writer Benjamin Percy and artist Kev Walker are reimagining Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm through cosmic and Lovecraftian horror, turning their familiar origin into the beginning of a stranger, more toxic kind of family. If you want to know when the first issue comes out, you’ll find the complete Midnight Fantastic Four release schedule below.

New issues of Midnight Fantastic Four are scheduled to come out monthly. The first three issues will be released alongside the corresponding issues of Midnight X-Men and Midnight Spider-Man, although the gaps between them won’t always be exactly four weeks. Marvel comics are released on Wednesdays, but the particular Wednesday changes from month to month, which is why our Midnight Fantastic Four release schedule is worth bookmarking.

When is the Midnight Fantastic Four #1 release date?

The Midnight Fantastic Four #1 release date is October 7, 2026. It launches alongside Midnight X-Men #1 and Midnight Spider-Man #1, with Marvel clearing its regular publishing schedule that day to give the three Midnight Universe comics the spotlight.

The upcoming Midnight Fantastic Four release schedule is:

• Midnight Fantastic Four #1 release date: October 7, 2026
• Midnight Fantastic Four #2 release date: November 18, 2026
• Midnight Fantastic Four #3 release date: December 16, 2026
• Midnight Fantastic Four #4 release date: To be announced

Related: If A24 ever made a Fantastic Four movie for Marvel, it might look like Midnight Fantastic Four, says writer Benjamin Percy

How many issues of Midnight Fantastic Four are there?

There aren’t any issues of Midnight Fantastic Four out yet. The series begins on October 7, 2026, and Marvel has announced its first three issues through December.

Marvel hasn’t announced a final issue, but Percy has already outlined approximately 24 issues and says the creative team has years of stories mapped out. In other words, this is being planned as far more than a short horror miniseries.

What is Midnight Fantastic Four about?

Midnight Fantastic Four is a new origin story for Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. An obsessive Reed investigates dimensions that humanity was never meant to discover, leaving himself and three other people horribly transformed by what they encounter.

Unlike the traditional Fantastic Four, these four don’t begin as a close-knit family. Reed doesn’t even know Sue, Johnny, or Ben when the story starts. Their lives instead become entangled through a disastrous encounter with another dimension, creating what Percy described to ComicBook.com's Nicole Drum as a much more “toxic and complicated” version of Marvel’s First Family.

Related: How to read the Marvel Midnight line in order

Is Midnight Fantastic Four part of the main Marvel Universe?

No. Midnight Fantastic Four takes place in Marvel’s new Midnight Universe, an alternate continuity built around horror-inspired versions of its biggest superheroes.

The line begins with Midnight Fantastic Four, Midnight X-Men, and Midnight Spider-Man. Each series explores a different form of horror, with the Fantastic Four occupying the cosmic and eldritch corner of the universe. Marvel publisher Dan Buckley conceived the line by putting horror “in the front seat” and superheroes “in the back”.

How is Midnight Fantastic Four different from the regular Fantastic Four?

The familiar Fantastic Four were transformed by cosmic rays during an experimental journey into space, but Midnight Fantastic Four takes their origin somewhere much darker. Reed’s pursuit of forbidden knowledge draws the four characters through a portal into another dimension, where incomprehensible forces warp their bodies.

Percy has compared the series to a modern A24 horror movie rather than one of Marvel’s traditional monster comics, with influences drawn from cosmic horror, cults, caves, and films such as The Thing. He has also drawn upon his own family’s history with a cult to shape the story’s sense of unease.

Who is creating Midnight Fantastic Four?

Midnight Fantastic Four is written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Kev Walker, who also provides the series’ main covers.

Percy has extensive experience writing horror-inflected superhero stories, including Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and the new Deadpool series. Walker is known for his work on books including Avengers Arena and Thunderbolts. Together, they are rebuilding the Fantastic Four as a team born from obsession, bodily transformation, and, thanks to Percy, things waiting beyond the limits of human understanding.

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you're looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here's everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.