It's been a few months since we saw the death of Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. He made a noble sacrifice but was it really necessary? We haven't seen much of the actually discussion about his death other than the silent mourning in issue #588. Things are moving on for the rest of the family in this week's FF #2 and Amazing Spider-Man #659.

Sue Richards, the Invisible Woman 

Ben Grimm, the Thing 

The Future Foundation, Franklin and Valeria 

Annihilus 

Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic 

It's Reed's fault. Y'know, by default. 

Who's responsible? The writer, silly.

Valid argument and I agree Reed is partially responsible, who keeps a gateway to a dimension filled with monsters in their home! 

" It's Reed's fault. Y'know, by default. 

"Johnny's dead Namor!" cried Sue. 

"Die, Richards!" 

"But. . . he was torn apart by monsters. . . "

"I proclaim that it is still Richard's fault!" 

First!

"

I don't believe Johnny's dead, he's in the Negetive Zone beboppin' around with Lyja!!! ;)    

Joe Quesa....oops.
Sorry~

Carry on.

(also, we can't keep blaming the man for everything)

We should blame whoever convinced both major publishers that "major events" and frequent character deaths increases readership.

...but he's not dead! :)

Until i see Johnny's dead body i aren't believing hes dead but I don't think any ones to blame it just happened but the thing will feel guilt for it thou knowing he was helpless to do anything or well clobber something .

" Who's responsible? The writer, silly. "

I think there is going to be an important "resurrection" in Fantastic Four # 600... and, of course, there will be a Fantastic Four # 600.

I blame us.  If we didn't buy Fantastic Four in the first place, they would never have gotten to the point where they "killed" him off.

I blame Stan Lee He create he DESTROY

I blame alonso & quesada. And believe me, not only for that case.

I blame society.

" I blame society. "

" I blame alonso & quesada. And believe me, not only for that case. "

Reed.  One of the smartest minds in the Marvel Universe does some rather stupid stuff.  Like having that door way in a building with children living in it.

"  Interesting that you interpreted Annihilus as trying to return his costume. I read that panel as him mocking Reed.  "

" Reed.  One of the smartest minds in the Marvel Universe does some rather stupid stuff.  Like having that door way in a building with children living in it. "

I still firmly believe that it's impossible to kill someone MADE OUT OF FIRE. 

Jonathan Hickman's weird desire to alienate the reader from Reed in every way.

We could find out soon enough that Johnny might have not died, but is being controlled as a puppet of Annihlus. However, I think it is Sue Storm and Ben Grimm's fault that Johnny died. 

  So I say, shame on you Reed Richards. Hopefully things are better locked up now. If Johnny does ever come back     

" @DoctorTrips said:

" Who's responsible? The writer, silly. "

QFT.  "

I'll be honest, I've never been a fan of the Fantastic Four, especially not Reed, so I could find it easy to place the blame on him, but in the end none of the characters can be blamed.  If anyone can be everyone else has already covered them in their comments. (Writers, readers, and editors.)

Everyone's guilty!!! they should all go in treatment!

Um... he's not dead.  He probably went supernova and torched their faces off.  He will end up building an army and fighting Blastaar for controll of the negative zone after he knocks somebody up there and becomes king.  His wife and unborn child will be killed by Annihulus, but he will blame his old family, mostly reed for his short sightedness, and come back with a group of warbound and declare war on the ....positive zone.

Positive and negative will cancel out, and the whole thing will be a piece about net neutrality.

I BLAME MARVEL!!!

i think the death of reed would have been a bigger impact and tragedy

I don't know. The gateway was not that big. Johny could have stayed on the Earth side burning the monsters one by one as they tried to pass through it. So it's his own fault.

Reeds could be to blame and you make a valid arguement but Reed is considered by 98% of the world the smartest man alive, i would be suprised if he didnt have life threatening devices and portals in his common vacinity and with a kid as smart as or smarter than himself, it would be hard to keep everything secure.

My question would be why were they playing with the portal to begin with? I would guess it  was turned off in a secure room, so if Valeria could make the room unsecure the machine should still have been off. This actually first confused me because i thought they went in to the place of all the Reeds.

Also i know they are just kids but a kid that can do just about anything and a sister who is smarter than just about anyone, they should be able to take on a universal size army. The only thing i could think of is that their fear made them hesitate and forget any training and experience they previously had.

He did try to do the right thing by returning the remains of Johnny's suit to Reed. (But what if Annihilus is actually keeping Johnny alive and locked away in a prison?)

My thoughts exactly. Just because he showed remains of Johnny's uniform doesn't mean he's dead.

But really, if I had to choose who's at fault, I'm blaming the kids. Those meddling kids lol J/k.

i think that jonny knew what the danger was in the negative zone portal

overall its jonny fault

and im not trying to make fun of the dead guy here

Fantastic Four readers was declining so writers had to take drastic measures to gain more audience for the series by any means necessary, so who do I blame? Well honestly I blame the damn comic book fans that's who, if they didn't lose interest in the series in the first place, none of this would have happened. You people should all be ashamed of yourselves!    

Johnny is going to come across Lyja in the Negative Zone, make Skrull babies, then help out Namor, Cyclops, Hope, and Nemesis. Afterwards, Lyja will betray him...again, she will die this time because Mr. Storm just ain't having it anymore. Then he is going into space, with the help of Blaastar, and joining the Nova Corps, helping revive Richard Rider...because Richard Rider being dead was a shameless cop out....

I blame Reed Richards and his crazy projects. Keeping portal to Negative Zone in your home? You don't have to be world's smartest man to understand why it's bad decision.

Does anyone really believe that Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, is really dead?  I think it is utterly preposterous to assume anything.  The alleged death was off-panel.  Personally, I think it would be utterly bad-ass if Johnny managed to survive and had to develop some survival skills.  Basically, he has always been a pretty-boy hedonist, devoted uncle and team player.  How about Johnny find a creative way to destroy Annihilus' minions?  Or maybe have Johnny become the new ruler of the Negative Zone, seeking revenge for having been left there to die?  With Johnny's knowledge of the Fantastic Four's security and ability to create and control fire, he could become a very dangerous villain.

Joe Quesada, for apparently thinking that the definition of a "Heroic Age" is to have characters start dying left and right.

the only person responsible for the human torch's death is himself, because he stayed to fight off the negative zone onslaught, it was a true heroe's death, he fought till the bitter end

I think you have Annihilus pegged all wrong. He wasn't returning the suit, he was boasting. It was Annihilus who was invading in the first place. It's his nature. 

reed richards, man that guy is such a jerk

I blame J. Storm himself for getting becoming a stale character, but mostly the writers for letting him get stale. Its what let him die.

I have always thought that Reed was a bit of a moron to have all those experiments right around his family. Sure he's a scientist but... there's a limit and rule about bringing your work home with you. But, the death of the Human Torch was just a case of Johnny being the hero we all knew he was. He made a choice. Sure, Reed had his hand in the tragedy but Torch made the decision. I'm sure he blames no one and was proud to go down fighting.

Flame on.

Just read FF #2, doom really knows how to give someone a guilt trip :p

" Who's responsible? The writer, silly. "

Reed is to blame, yes. We even got a hint from Valeria about how the safe measures Reed has been using aren't enough, when she said something like "seriously dad? I won't be able to sleep at night" while sneaking through the air ducts.