Untold Origin -- A Comic Book History Podcast
Untold Origin is a podcast that explores comic books through the lens of American history. Hosted by a historian and lifelong comic book fan, each episode traces how the funny books we read reflect the real world conflicts, triumphs, philosophies, and flavor of the real world we inhabit. From Cold War fears to Civil Rights debates, from psychedelic trips to board room villains, we reveal historical forces that shape the stories, and heroes, that shaped us.
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Untold Origin -- A Comic Book History Podcast
Marvel's First Family: The Fantastic Four
In this episode we take a look at the Fantastic Four, not just as superheroes, but as a time capsule of a specific moment in history. I examine how their timeliness makes them iconic, but also acts as a shackle to the past. How the norms, hopes, and tropes they embodied reflect an age that was grappling with the Space Race, Cold War anxieties, and shifting gender dynamics. Marvel's First Family wasn't created to be political, but their very existence couldn't help but capture the spirit of early 1960's America
Show image: Bagel Boy Arts -- https://bsky.app/profile/bagelboyy.bsky.social
Music sourced:
Track: Moon Landing by Finval
Track: Modern Nostalgia by Squares MP
Track: Laboratory by Finval
Track: Memories by Romanov_Studio
Track: Sunny California by uhanoffski
Media sourced:
Fantastic Four (Film) (2005)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Film) (2007)
Fantastic Four (Film) (2015)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Film) (2025)
The Wild One (Film) (1953)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Myster (Film) (2022)
Fantastic Four Audio Drama (1975)
Fantastic Four (Cartoon) (1967)
Norm Macdonald, Ridiculous (Album) (2006)
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