Manic FF Monday--So, How Old Are The Fantastic Four?

Let's just get this out of the way:

Reed and Ben fought in World War II. Frak any "sliding timelines." Just say the cosmic rays gave them much longer lifespans.

See how easy that was? Let us never speak of that again.

Yeah, OK, but how old are they compared to each other?

See--Reed and Sue were "kids living next door to each other." They should be relatively close to the same age.

Except, in the very same issue, Stan screws it all up in on the letters page:

D'oh!

Granted, making Reed and Ben in their "late thirties" in 1963 fits well enough with their being in WWII.

But having Sue "in her twenties" suggests that she's at least a decade younger than Reed, which is pretty inconsistent with Reed describing them as "kids together." I mean, if I were 17 and had a neighbor who was 8, I wouldn't describe us as having been "kids together."

Famously, John Byrne did away with the "next door neighbors" bit, but kept the age gap:

A lot of people were creeped out by that, but let's note that: a) Reed, being a super-genius, almost certainly was a younger freshman than most people--16? Younger? b) Byrne doesn't do too good a job of artistically portraying a 12 year old--a Raggedy Ann doll? Really?--and makes Sue look younger than the script says she is. And honestly, a 12 year old having a crush on a 16 year old--and the 16 year old looking pretty uncomfortable about it--doesn't seem too creepy or abnormal to me.

A few years ago, Matt Fraction retconned things again, again dumpling the "grew up together" angle, but making Reed and Sue much closer to each other age-wise:

So, who knows what Slott et. al. will do now.

In summary, I guess the answer is, the Fantastic Four are as old as you want them to be.

Except Ben and Reed fought in WWII. That's non-negotiable.

From Fantastic Four #11 (1963), Fantastic Four #291 (1986), and Fantastic Four #4 ( 2013)