Marvel Comics chairman Ike Perlmutter is one of the largest donors to President Donald Trump's campaigns and charities, part of the Trump administration, working on Veteran Affairs, and he is a personal friend of the man, a member of Trump's Mar-A-Lago club and was on Trump's table for dinner over Thanksgiving weekend.

Permutter also personally intervened during a clash between Marvel and Fox several years ago over the movie licensing of the Fantastic Four. And in an exercise of thumbing his nose at Fox, specifically stopping Marvel from publishing any more Fantastic Four comics, licensing the Fantastic Four, doing anything with the characters that names them as the Fantastic Four.

It is fair to say that most of Marvel's employees do not share his views.

Of course, that was before Disney bought Fox and the whole paradigm changed. Marvel Two-In-One #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Jim Cheung, John Dell, Walden Wong, and Frank Martin, published today, may help that paradigm shift. It is a peek-a-boo attempt for Marvel to potentially resurrect the Fantastic Four in comics, if called something else, but when published that was just a pipe dream. Now it's a reality. So they may need to help smooth that along.

Previews sent to Marvel Two-In-One #1 retailers earlier in the year contained this line:

A clear reference to President Donald Trump as the world's most well-known orange monster. And just the kind of wise-cracking jibe that New Yorker Peter Parker would spin out. But on publication today?

That jibe has been removed…

It looks like someone wants to keep their boss sweet. Keep the Fantastic Four in the game. And maybe, just maybe, find a way to bring them back…

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #1 LEG

(W) Chip Zdarsky (A/CA) Jim Cheung

The Fate of the Four Part 1

THE FOUR ARE NO MORE, SO TWO MUST DO! Something is very wrong with THE HUMAN TORCH and only THE THING can help him! It's the Marvel Universe reunion you've all been waiting for (well, HALF of it, at least!). Plus: What monumental secret has DOOM been hiding since the end of SECRET WARS, and how will it completely change the lives of Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm? PLUS: Includes 3 bonus MARVEL PRIMER PAGES!

Rated TIn Shops: Dec 20, 2017

SRP: $3.99