Although I dig the whole Bruce Wayne/Batman thing more than I can say, I am currently leaning more towards Doc Brass. Aside from the many reasons that have already been stated here and elsewhere, I point to the cover art of the Planetary trade paperback and the Planetary-Authoraty crossover ... look closely. Doc Brass's face appears both centrally and prominently on both covers. If you look at the cover of "Ruling The World," you will see the face Jenny Sparks in the background behind the group shot of the Authority. Now look at the group shot of Planetary. Who's face do you see in the background? Granted, Axel Brass and Ambrose Chase both have similar hair styles. So Ah...I guess that mabey it could really be either of them. (just when I thought I was being so clever too!)

Here is the 4th man+ theory I posted on the DC Comics Planetary board as Groovy Jones:Dowling is the 4th Man. Suskind is Jakita. Greene is Drums. All three are feuding with Leather. Chase is the escapee from Planet Ficion, andhe's still at large - Dowling, the mastermind of the operation, can "write" him back in atany time. And the game Dowling is playing on Snow?Dowling was planing to use Snow to find his(Snow's) old mentor, Sherlock Holmes. In addition, I left this off the post: Once you figure out that Chase is the FictionPlanet escapee, you know Dowling is the 4th man. My argument is this: The one image we see of the Fiction Planet escapee behind the decrepit old director looks just like Chase. Later on, we learn that theescapee "violated about five different laws of physics" - so he's got the same abilities asChase, too. It's Chase. Only the old man and the people in the controlroom with him could have seen the escapee, andthey're all dead at the end of the issue. Thatleaves only one man who could possibly know Chases' identity - Dowling, who the directornames as someone in an apparently superior position. But the 4th man clearly indicates that HE knowsChase is fictional when he says: "you're in anew story now, Ambrose" - so, the 4th man isDowling. I admit, it could also be someone in Dowlings confidence, but I think that's a listof zero. As for the raid on the Four Voyagers Building, that was to chase Leather off the property -Dowling probably didn't want to risk a directconfrontation himself. Thats it for now,

Hello,Andy. ELIJAH SNOW IS THE FOURTH MAN!!!!!!!We`ve seen some of his scenes in action like Planetary does today and also there`s this Planetary guide from 1931.We already had a Planetary in 1931 and who`s old enough to be there ? Who was looking for mysteries in `31 ? Drummer? Anna Hark? Elijah! It`s a game and it`s ironic to see his nemesis playing with him erasing his memories.And I have more:We`ll know the Fourth Man`s ID in issue 12.Elijah was the third Planetary operative hired . 12 divided by 3 is four! He`s the four.And who`s on this cover? I know, I kick ass!! What a great book!! Please, forgive my Tarzan english.

The white suit is a red herring used to throw you off. John Stone has been seen in nothing but Black attire where Snow always wears white. They offset each other. I believe that Stone requested that of Chase because he was paying homage to Snow. As for Anna Hark, I believe that she was at City Zero seeking a way to extend her lifespan and dealing with Doctor Dowling was the most expedient way of doing this. As for her being a creature of evil, I think that Jim Wilder is the best example of that not being totally true. This might sound a bit strange, and I did really like the idea of the Drummer (mainly because I never thought about that one) but let's take a look at John Stone. I believe that John Stone became the fourth man when he was put in charge of it by Elijah Snow. Why do I think this? It is related with some of the things that have been mentioned in the 11th issue of Planetary and the Jakita connection that was revealed in issue #10. Follow me along these steps: 1) Planetary the series started in early 1999 and in the first issue we learned that Jakita was a member for the last four years, which would mean that she joined in 1995. Ambrose Chase was made the third man in 1994. Jakita was already a member of the field team. Ambrose Chase also worked for Planetary in some other function before that and if the panels are supposed to represent his life flashing before his eyes in chronological order he was friends with Jakita long before that. This leads me to step 2) "You're the best and only expert on secrets I know, John." this is Elijah's qoute to Stone. John Stone and Elijah Snow have a history that seems to be built on mutual respect at first glance, but after Snow gets back some of his memories his demeanor shifts slightly. "By the way, keep yourself available for interview, John. I want to know why you're working for Anna Hark." He seemed more like a boss wanting some definite answers from an employee. Which would gel if Snow had placed Stone in charge. 3) When Snow was chatting with Doctor Brass on the hill he said, "Ah...You should've been around with us in the thirties, Mr. Snow. I can't begin to tell you what you missed. Glories." Snow's reply "I was busy." Snow's memories are not what they needed to be and I think that he really had no idea what he was doing during the thirties. I believe that he started Planetary in the thirties. I am leaning to the year 1931. I mention that year for two reasons. The first is that Stone mentions that he met someone a couple of months back who had a Planetary guide from 1931, which really triggers Snow's memories. Second, in the Planetary/Authority Snow is seen in 1931 investigating strange phenomenon. 4) Jakita. Chase is seen comforting Jakita "He's coming back, Jakita. He will. You've just got to hang on." I believe that he was referring to Snow. I think that Snow and Jakita were in a very serious relationship until the time when the four got a hold of him and made his memories go away. Stone said about Snow's memories "Someone's running a game on you, Elijah. Same sort of game I ran in the seventies when I left S.T.O.R.M. to head up the Unreal Sanction Force." Chase was able to monkey with Jakita's memories (probably upon her request) to make her forget that she had ever met Elias Snow and to make her believe that she was member for only four years. The twenty two year old woman from Hong Kong was member for six years but Jakita was intrigued to find this out saying "Never met anyone who's admitted to being part of Planetary for longer than four." Ambrose Chase became the third man in 1994 but was member long before that. Also, in the second issue you discover that Snow smokes but only once every couple of years. He, then, throws the pack to Jakita who says "Me, too. How did you know?" The reply was that he would tell her another time maybe. I do not think that he remembered how he knew that. 5) The nature of all the people that we have so far met that were born on January 1, 1900. I have read about three so far. Of those three, two (Doctor Brass and Jenny Sparks) have created teams of heroes to help keep humanity going. I believe that it is a mandate that is encoded in them to do so, to not only help mankind, but to teach them to do it for themselves. I believe that Snow has done the same. (sidenote)- I, actually, only read the books one time until I stumbled upon your website today. I, then, reread them and came up with these thoughts. Tell me what you think.

The 4th man is William Leather, go back re-read the issues, i'm sure you'll agree.

I enjoy your site as I have just recently picked up all the issues. I have thought for weeks that the fourth man is the "Ben Grimm" of the four becuase he is the only guy that we haven't seen or heard about. The "Invisible Woman" of the four has at least been talked about. The other two have been seen alot. I also think the Drummer has alot more to him than meets the eye. I hope we get to seewhat happens with him and how much he really knows. And I hope he doesn't wait too long to show us the Fictional Man.

Howdy, I wanted to drop you a line and than you for the great page, firstly. I justdiscovered Planetary, and I'm groovin' to it bigtime. I have a couple oftheories about the shadowy 4th man's ID. There was much made of thepossibility of Kim Suskind of the Four being the last member of Planetary,but nobody mentions the other missing 4th man. The Four's Jacob Greene.Nobody's seen hide nor hair of this cat recently, have they? Given thetechnological wonders these freaks could pull off, Greene could havereleased a couple of things by himself, and amassed a fortune through apublic partner, and set a team to search for heroes and artifacts that mightbe able to combat the other members of the Four. I'm betting Greene's publicpartner was Ron Popeil. There's no way that guy could have though up thePocket Fisherman, that slicer thing, and Spray-On Hair, all by himself. Anyway, so Greene could bethe 4th Man, unless Ellis is following the Fantastic Four template closely,in which case Greene will probably be some kind of mutated rock creaturewho's gonna hand Jackita's ass to her one day.My other major contender is Elijah Snow. The most recent revelations abouthis missing memories could point to the Four removing Snow by convincing himthat he'd spent the last ten years in hiding, when he'd really been settingup Planetary, and possibly other schemes. Then, a pre-laid plan wasactivated, and Snow was recruited into his own organization. Why? God knows.I've gotta leave Warren some blanks to fill himself, don't I.In the line of one of Doc Brass' team surviving, what about the DarkMillionaire? Y'know, the guy with the scorpion on his coat, based on theShadow? I don't think it's Hark, 'cause there was a pretty clear shit inPlanetary #1 of his taking a hit, from the guy I think was supposed to beJ'Onn J'Onzz, that looked like it was gonna be terminal.Excelsior!

Ruminating on that "I like white suits" comment, andfigured I'd fire some things off to your page, becauseI rather liked it.We've seen that the three people in Ellis books whowear primarily white are all Centennial Babies, orwhatever you want to call them. Assuming the FourthMan isn't Snow (and the bit at the end of #9 makes mereally doubt it - Ellis doesn't strike me as one whoplays with semantics) or Ambrose (who it may well be),this leaves the possibility of another, as yet unseen 1900 birth.And considering that each of the three we have seenseems to at least tangentially relate to one of thefour Elements (Snow/Water, Sparks/Air, Brass/Earth),it's possible that this one could be a representativeof fire. But that could just be me talking out my ass.

Return to 4th Man page.
Return to 4th Man 2 page.