Spider-Man Fact — October 25, 2026

Today's Fact

Verified against multiple independent sources. Issues cited below.

SPIDER-MAN WAS A FANTASTIC FOUR MEMBER — ON A TEAM WITH WOLVERINE, THE HULK, AND GHOST RIDER!

The Featured Fact

For three issues in 1990, Marvel's First Family was not the Richards family at all. In Fantastic Four #347 (December 1990), by Walter Simonson and Arthur Adams, a rogue Skrull named De'Lila captures the real Fantastic Four, disguises herself as Sue Storm, and tells four very surprised heroes that the originals are dead. Her hand-picked replacements: Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk, and Ghost Rider.

Peter Parker was the closest thing this line-up had to a team player, which says everything about the line-up. De'Lila sent the quartet to Monster Island hunting a prize she wanted for herself, and the four spent as much energy alarming each other as fighting the Mole Man's monsters. Spider-Man's contribution, as usual, was doing the actual superheroing while the other three competed to be the most terrifying person in any given panel.

The genuine Fantastic Four escaped, the Skrull's con collapsed, and the substitute squad quietly disbanded after Fantastic Four #349, having lasted exactly one short storyline. Marvel never forgot the stunt, though: in 2022 the publisher reunited the same four in a New Fantastic Four miniseries by Peter David, set in the aftermath of that first brief tenure.

Why It's Obscure

1990

Fantastic Four #347 — the Skrull De'Lila, posing as the Invisible Woman, recruits Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, and Ghost Rider as the new Fantastic Four.

1991

Fantastic Four #348–#349 — the substitutes rampage through Monster Island and the Mole Man's domain before the real team returns and the experiment ends.

2022

New Fantastic Four miniseries — Marvel reunites the 1990 line-up under Peter David for a Las Vegas case set just after their original outing.

Gallery

Comic art — no AI imagery, nothing mislabeled.

Fantastic Four 347 cover with the New Fantastic Four — **The Recruitment Poster**The graded cover of Fantastic Four #347 — look along the bottom and the whole replacement roster is there: Spider-Man's mask, Wolverine, the Hulk, and Ghost Rider's flaming skull.

Spider-Man swinging through New York — **The Responsible One, Relatively**Spider-Man mid-swing over Manhattan — on a roster with Wolverine, the Hulk, and Ghost Rider, the wisecracking photographer was somehow the safe pair of hands.

Sources

Every claim above is verified against at least two of these independent sources.

Bullpen Bulletins

Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Hulk Return as the New Fantastic Four — Marvel.comVerifies: in 1991's Fantastic Four #347, Simonson and Adams teamed Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Hulk as the new Fantastic Four, a stint Marvel revisited in the 2022 miniseries.
The New Fantastic Four: How Hulk and Wolverine Replaced Marvel's First Family — CBRVerifies: the Skrull De'Lila captured the Fantastic Four, posed as Sue Richards, and assembled Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider, sending them to Monster Island.
Marvel Brings Back Short-Lived 1991 Team as New Fantastic Four — ICv2Verifies: the 1991 team of Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Hulk formed in Fantastic Four #347 and was revived for a limited series set after that run.