At least be consistent. Previously you said only Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was canon. Here you say Iron Man's original writer's are not canon. So, some original versions work for you and some don't? Sherlock Holmes fighting Nazis does not count but Iron Man getting his armor first time in Afghanistan does? Explain your rules please

I would be ok with them not mentioning which war it was, like in last week's Black Widow issue, but if you say it was another war, you're changing the dates. If all the stories we read happening in the 60's, no longer belong in that time period, then we're talking about different characters with an almost identical biography, but not the same ones.

No, we are talking about the exact same characters, but existing on a sliding timescale.

"Modified" it is putting it kindly.

The original origin was intact until 1989. In FF 326 (the issue where Englehart is forced to reverse his story and bring Sue and Reed back) they talk about their origin. Sue specifically refers to beating the commies.

Earlier in Englehart's run (FF 309) Ben referred to being a fighter pilot in WWII. But from the moment Englehart left, the origin changed. I detail some of the changes here, but a brief list includes:

The post 1989 team were born in a different era...

...and had different jobs

...with different reasons to fly into space

...from a different spaceport...

...on a different spacecraft

...they returned to Earth in a different way

...and landed in a different place

...where they gained slightly different powers

...and a different person starts the team

...and they have a different purpose.

...then their first adventure was in a different place.

...against a different Mole Man

...and so it continues, issue by issue. look closely and almost every detail is changed.  

Do the changes matter?

The sliding timescale has reversed all of their personalities. Take Reed. Reed has opposite values today. Here are two examples:

1. The superhero registration act: the original Reed opposed it, the modern Reed supports it. What has this to do with the 1960s? Everything. In the original story Reed opposed the government (sneaking past guards to steal the spaceship). This was plausible up to the very early 1960s when the entire space program depended heavily on one man (Wernher Von Braun in the USA, Sergey Korolyov in Russia). and back then security was not as advanced as today. But every modern writer knows that one man would never have such power today. So every modern version of Reed has him highly reliant on the government. Sure, modern Reed can oppose the government, but only by being manipulative, devious. The era of the heroic loner is long gone from the space race.

2. Reed's manliness: Reed is naturally a nerd and an introvert. This is how every modern writer has to write him, as it doesn't make sense for a manly fighter to also be an obsessive lab based scientist. But the original Reed was forced into the draft. (As to why he would go overseas and not be based in the US he probably volunteered: he came from a wealthy family so had a reputation to rise to. And it would never occur to this brilliant introvert that he had limits. Reed would never volunteer for the army, but once forced into it his pride takes over) The draft is essential to his rounded character, so that places him in WWII or maybe Vietnam at the very latest.

I could give more examples for Reed, and similar examples for Ben, Sue and Johnny. But time is short. You will be relieved to hear.

I must stress that to most readers the 1960s links do not matter, and the changes are perhaps not noticed. So for most readers the changes are trivial. But long term fans often complain that the team's personalities have changed (though in one case, Sue, they generally approve the changes). These changes are not coincidental, but arise from removing the team from the 1960s. And the bottom line is that without the 1960s links the FF are just not a very interesting team.

The lacklustre movies, and Marvel's inability to make the modern comic work despite throwing their top writers at it, are testament to the team's failure. Take the team out of the 1960s and it is no longer the Fantastic Four, it no longer works. In my view.

Looks like a funny one. Is that from a National Lampoon?

I just can't see the problem. As far as I'm concerned, some details may have been periodically updated but, unlike with DC, there have been no in-story universal reboots so the Marvel Universe and its inhabitants are still the same ones I've been reading about all along. And for the most part, I'm still enjoying them, as I pretty much always have.