Warning! Contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #14!
The Fantastic Four aren’t strangers to time travel or the devastating effects it can have on the universe. A machine known as the Metamind recently put it on their radar in a new way, by removing free will with prediction and trying to secure a very specific future. Reed Richards comes up with a genius solution to a potentially world-altering problem, however, and the whole thing allows him to stay hands-off.
In Fantastic Four #14 – by Ryan North, Ivan Fiorelli, and Brian Reber – the team encounters something strange happening at the site of the displaced Baxter Building. Civilians are showing up to complete minor construction tasks, which will ultimately create a transmitter, all at the behest of an app called Metamind. Once the group gets to the bottom of it, the whole thing is much more sinister and encompassing than it’s made out to be. It’s revealed that billionaire Dan Passi seeks to use information collected with Metamind to control the future.
Reed takes the ultimate step and creates his own device to ensure no other Metamind is ever created. It predicts and prevents it from ever happening, effectively giving Reed access to time travel without the risk.
The Fantastic Four Thwart the Danger of Metamind
Dan Passi’s Metamind removes free will from the equation, and it does it so subtly that no one realizes what’s happening. Metamind collects mountains of data and dumps it into predictions that show potential future outcomes. Passi picks the future he wants and employs the whole world, little by little, to make it happen. The concept is terrifyingly simple and turns shaping the future into a literal game, rewarding people with in-app gems and prizes when they complete tasks that align with Passi’s vision. It alters the entire course of the world and theoretically puts all that power into the hands of one man, which the Fantastic Four immediately work to shut down.
And while there is a fair bit of destruction, as Human Torch burns down the machine, it’s the concept of time travel that proves to be Metamind’s undoing. Reed takes Passi’s concept and turns it around, saying he should be able to create a “simpler instance” that will only work to predict future iterations of Metamind and allow them to step in and stop it. The simplicity removes any possibility of corruption and doesn’t seem as if it will require constant attention from Reed or the others. It’s a brilliant way to take an overly-controlling idea and use it for good, while eliminating the possibility of it being twisted into something grander. Metamind is the problem and the only target.
Metamind Could Still Be a Danger
Unfortunately, Reed’s solution is still only theoretical. He says he should be able to accomplish it with the return of the Baxter Building, which they expect to occur within the minute. The building has yet to materialize, for unknown reasons, leaving a future Metamind as a real possibility. Until Reed actually puts his idea to work, there’s potential for someone else to take hold of Passi’s idea and throw the whole future off course. An unknown agent already attempted to do so before the team destroyed it, proving that Metamind is too big for one person to safely control. The Fantastic Four have a safe time-travel solution to yet another major threat, as long as they create it before time runs out.
Fantastic Four #14 is available now from Marvel Comics.
FANTASTIC FOUR #14 (2022) | |
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