Find out how HERBIE It’s much more important than I thought.

As we mentioned at the time, the robot HERBIEfaithful assistant of Marvel’s First Familyowes its existence to the fact that it was used as a substitute for Human torch in the cartoon series, created by Stan Lee Yes Jack Kirbywhich is titled The New Adventures of the Fantastic Four (1978).

However, HERBIE ended up jumping between the pages of comics in the adventure called Trapped in the Sargasso of Spacepublished in Fantastic Four nº 209 (1979), with a screenplay by Marv Wolfmann and drawings by John Byrnealthough he didn’t replace any team members here. Finally, it has also been seen in live-action films on the big screen, both in extended versions The Fantastic Four (2005), which featured a small cameo, as in Fantastic Four: Getting Started (released in the same year), where he has a more important role.

However, the fact that he is not a permanent member of the team does not mean that his role in the comics is relegated to the comic role, as some might think due to his comic appearance and small size, since HERBIE saved the life of The Fantastic Fourat his expense, on a couple of occasions, as you will see if you continue reading this article to the end.

Fantastic Four #217 (1980)

The first time HERBIE saved his life The Fantastic Fourlosing his in the process, he was in the titled comic Masquerade!with a script Bill Mantolo Yes Marv Wolfmann and drawings by John Byrne.

In this adventure, HERBIE he was attacking The Fantastic Four inside the Baxter Buildingalthough he did not do so of his own free will, as he was possessed by the doctor Sola Chinese man whose powerful brain had been removed from his body, although he remained dangerous even before acquiring a robotic body, as he could transfer his consciousness through computer systems, which helped him control the robot. The Fantastic Four.

Luckily, Reed Richards He managed to save the day by accessing the building’s computer circuits and bypassing the villain’s control. However, to prevent something like this from happening again, HERBIE he made the decision to sacrifice himself, destroying the system in the process, thus ending the Doctor Sol. Taking this into account Marv Wolfmann He was forced to use the robot in his screenplays, it’s no surprise that it was a story he wrote that took him out of circulation, although at least it did so by portraying him as a hero.

Obviously, Reed Richards is done rebuild the robot, as seen in the adventure The more things change…which is the third comic strip published in comics Fantastic Four nº 238 (1982), with screenplay and art by John Byrne. For this reason, HERBIE He had the opportunity to sacrifice himself for the team a second time, as you will see in the next section of this article.

Fantastic Four nº 33 (2025)

The other case where HERBIE He sacrificed himself to save The Fantastic Four we find it in the adventure, belonging to the event A world under deathwhich is titled The fantastic four hundred and thirty-six quadrillionwith a script Ryan North and drawings by Cory Smith.

To give background to those who are not up to date, we must remember that the Doctor Death deceived Stefano Strano to give him the role of Sorcerer Supremethanks to which he managed to stop an invasion of vampires, which helped him position himself as the supreme ruler of the world. One of the things he did with his new powers was to deprive BenGrimm all his own, which also affected the special abilities of the rest of the team.

To try to reverse the situation, the quartet and HERBIE., to which some improvements particularly suitable for this situation have been applied, has traveled in time until big Bangfrom the exhibition of BenGrimm to the cosmic rays generated there seemed to be the only solution to recover his powers. However, this situation would have to last less than a second for it not to be fatal. When things started to get complicated and, according to the calculations of HERBIEthere was no way to save the five, he decided to sacrifice himself so that the rest of the team could survive.

At the end of this adventure, Reed Richards He clarified that he has rebuilt the version of the robot without the aforementioned improvements, which he will have no qualms about sacrificing himself for again The Fantastic Fourespecially if he doesn’t seem to remember anything about his previous lives.