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The FourThe Four are a group of fictional supervillains from the comic book Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. They are roughly analogous to the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics, especially in terms of powers. Dr. Randall Dowling corresponds to Mister Fantastic, Kim Suskind to the Invisible Woman, Jacob Greene to the Thing and William Leather to the Human Torch. They gained their powers when their rocket-ship intersected the Bleed and the Snowflake. They are enemies of Elijah Snow and the other members of Planetary. Much like Planetary, they love to explore the strangeness of the universe, but they exploit it and keep it to themselves. Their headquarters in New York is reminiscent of the Baxter Building, full of their treasures and technology. The Members of the Four - Dr. Randall Dowling was also involved with a American concentration camp called Science City Zero built in the 1950s that experimented on political dissidents. Through Science City Zero, he has connections to the Hark Corporation. He is distantly related to the Dowling Gang, enemies of the Dead Ranger, a Lone Ranger analogue who was the father of William Leather's adoptive father.
- Kim Sskind is the daughter of a Nazi rocket scientist, and Dowling's lover.
- William Leather is a daredevil who apparently killed someone close to Elijah Snow onboard the Nautilus. He has also apparently met John Stone. He seems to be the most active member of the Four, often venturing along with their clean-up crews to take care of any problems.William Leather's mother Miriam was the wife of a Green Hornet analogue and one of the Century Babies named Bret Leather (the son of the Dead Ranger). However, Miriam cheated on Bret with a loanshark, the real father of William. Cheated of the awesome powers Bret Leather would have passed on to his son, William joined Dowling. Leather was recently captured and placed in Planetary custody. Snow blinded him as revenge for his friend.
- Jacob Greene was a fighter pilot during World War II who flew secret missions for the Allies. As of this writing, he had been stranded in space due to Elijah Snow's plotting.
Analysis of the Four Ellis is presumably commenting on the selfishness of the Fantastic Four in withholding their technology and research from the people of Earth. Ellis also seems to be criticizing the military-industrial complex responsible for the Fantastic Four by playing up the role of Nazis in the scientific planning and Dowling's involvement with Science City Zero. In a Planetary/JLA cross-over, Planetary actually took the role of the Four, displaying the same selfishness and thirst for power. Snow has repeatedly been warned that his desire to destroy the Four could drive him to be more like them. Ironically, starting in 2004, Warren Ellis began writing Ultimate Fantastic Four, where such commentary is muted, if present at all.
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