F4: New Beginnings

Chapter 4: Backstories

In this world, the Fearsome Four never became evil. They weren't heroes either, until they were blackmailed by a mysterious person who calls themself The Boss. But they're only heroes on Weekend nights. Sometimes Fridays.

Jacob 'Jack' Gooney's toy company managed to survive Whiffleboy, mostly because of a lack of lawsuits. Quackie still makes his dangerous toys, but he knows they aren't safe for children, plus his childhood friend Elmo Sputterspark helped him hide them. Which is mostly how he's being blackmailed into taking on the persona of his mascot, Quackerjack, in order to fight crime.

Elmo Sputterspark attacked prom when he was fifteen (having skipped a few grades), but chickened out before he actually hurt anyone, mostly because of the influence of Jackie. He ran back home and never donned the identity of Megavolt again, until he was blackmailed into doing so, this time as a hero. He still thinks anything with electricity is alive and can speak, but he doesn't think they're enslaved.

Doctor Reginald Bushroot went to extreme measures when his funding was cut, experimenting on himself. Unfortunately, his colleagues found out and tried to threaten him into paying them off, but after years of their abuse, Bushy refused. He defended himself when they attacked him, and successfully framed them for stealing equipment and horribly disfiguring him. Living as a hermit in his greenhouse, no one knows he's a mutant, or about the petty theft he's had his plants pull off (fertilizer isn't cheap, you know!). Until, that is, The Boss finds out and blackmails him into becoming the superhero Nightshade.

Bud Flud poisoned his own company's water supply in order to frame his competitors, feeling it was the only way to save the failing Crystal Pure Sparking Flud Water. He managed to frame them, but fell into the random chemical soup. The world thinks that Bud Flud is dead, with only his family knowing the truth. Letting his brother run the company, Bud spent his days just being water, thinking about what he did. When the blackmailing note came, he accepted it as karma, vowing to use this whole superhero thing to make up for what he did, becoming The Liquidator. If he manages to make a few bucks on the side, well…

(He also has a stutter, but it goes away when he uses his salesman persona.)

Paddywhack's Jack-in-the-box was put in a museum much sooner than in canon, and he was fed enough to escape thanks to a prank pulled by a young Jack. He possessed the boy's doll and stayed with him through the years, growing fond of him and protecting him against bullies, eventually revealing himself to both Jack and Elmo. Though he still feeds off misery and fear, Paddywhack tries his best to be a good person, having a protective streak (especially around children) and being somewhat pacifistic. He isn't nice, he can't be, but he isn't evil. Though he can move and talk when possessing the doll, he can also possess Quackerjack in order to take on the persona of the clown's 'split personality', Mr Banana Brain.

Negaduck, Darkwing, Gosalyn, and Launchpad may or may not exist. Any one of them may or may not be villains, heroes, or otherwise. I don't really know yet. But now you know the main differences of the world, and can read these short moments from the lives of the Fearsome Four, (reluctant) protectors of St Canard….