How Do the Fantastic Four Solve the Trolley Problem?; Psychology Today, July 28, 2025

Mark D. White Ph.D., Psychology Today ; How Do the Fantastic Four Solve the Trolley Problem?

The Fantastic Four refuse to accept Galactus's terms and instead claim their agency.

"Superhero stories are well known for their high stakes, which in the best cases have interesting moral dimensions as well. Such is the case when heroes confront a tragic dilemma, one from which they cannot emerge “with clean hands.” This usually takes the form of having two missions from which they must choose: For example, save this person or that person, but not both. (These are often known as “Sophie’s Choice” situations, after the popular book and movie in which a mother must choose which of her two children to save.)

The Fantastic Four are no exceptions to this—and given the galactic size of their typical adventures, the stakes are much higher than they would be for Spider-Man or Daredevil. In the comics, Marvel’s first family regularly has to choose between worlds or entire universes to save.¹

^{In the comics, the responsibility for this choice usually falls to Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, the genius of the group. In the new movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it is Susan Storm-Richards, the Invisible Woman, who declares that they will overcome the tragic dilemma that emerges when Galactus the Devourer comes to Earth to consume the planet and all life on it. Through her example, we see another common feature of superhero stories: refusing to accept the tragic dilemma itself."}