The Fantastic (and now up-to-date) Four

'Season One' will feature mobile phones and Twitter

In a bid to keep up with the times, Marvel Comics is updating the origins of the Fantastic Four.

The original story, rooted in the early 1960s, told how a science genius, a smart girlfriend, her hotshot brother and a football-player-turned-accomplished-pilot travelled to space, got bombarded by cosmic rays and came back a foursome with fantastic powers. Now it has had a sleek makeover.

The new tale, dubbed Season One will feature mobile phones and the Twitter social networking site, for example. And it is not only the Fantastic Four who are getting a modern re-telling.

Similar Season One editions are planned for other characters, including Daredevil, Spider-Man and the X-Men. "The aim is definitely to continue to keep these characters relevant in an ever-changing world, but also to tell a new story set within this time frame," said Tom Breevort, who edits the Fantastic Four comics. "We tweaked elements where it made sense... but we tried to maintain the spirit of the seminal stories that these tales are built upon."