Doctor Doom to Galactus, the Fantastic Four Has Great Villains, But You Missed Out On the Best
When it comes to superheroes who have the best rogues galleries, The Fantastic Four surprisingly often gets left out of those conversations. This is most interesting when considering that when critics talk about the best and most powerful supervillains in Marvel history, two of The Fantastic Four's most consistent enemies get name-dropped the most: Galactus and Doctor Doom.
Despite how often he's been beaten in Marvel canon, Galactus remains The Fantastic Four's most imposing cosmic figure in their world. Meanwhile, Marvel has made it a point to remind their readers whenever possible why Doctor Doom might really be the best supervillain of all time.
It is hard to argue that Doom and Galactus set the bar when it comes to villainy, but that doesn't mean they are the only rivals that The Fantastic Four have that are worth talking about; their rogue's gallery is filled with villains who deserve just as much of a spotlight.
10 Diablo
Fantastic Four #30 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Chic Stone, & Artie Simek
Esteban Corazón de Ablo’s lifespan dates back to 9th century era Saragossa, where he quite literally sells his soul to the devil once Mephisto promises an extended life expectancy. He takes his dastardly deeds to Transylvania, where the locals decide the only way to stop him is to imprison him in a tomb, to be revealed when The Thing stumbled upon him years later. Diablo promised The Thing that if he freed him, he’d turn him human again using a personally made potion in exchange for a years' worth of servitude. The Thing begrudgingly complies, but the potion proves bogus.
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In a heartbreaking moment, Johnny Storm has just revealed the truth about why he hasn't found happiness the way his Fantastic Four teammates have.
That is exactly what makes Diablo such a formidable foe. – it's not just what he can do with alchemy, but in how much of a master manipulator he is; he can sweet-talk anyone into giving him what he wants, affording him a legion of followers and worldwide wealth.
9 Immortus
The Avengers #10 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg & Sam Rosen
Immortus is dangerous not only for what he is capable of, but for his ultimate potential; Marvel has painted Immortus as the final form of Kang the Conqueror that is destined to one day take, as well as the endpoint goal that every version of Kang from every universe hopes to achieve. Immortus entrenches himself deep into Fantastic Four lore by being the destiny of not only Kang, but the destiny of Nathaniel Richards of Earth-6311, father of Mister Fantastic, creating a very dark connection to Reed.
It immortalizes Immortus (or Rama-Tut, in another life) as the deadliest Kang variant. Much like Kang the Conqueror and his variants, he has stopped aging through his futuristic time traveling tech, and that time traveling tech only makes the scientist all the more dangerous.
8 Hate-Monger
Fantastic Four #21 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, George Roussos, & Artie Simek
Sometimes, a villain doesn't have to be dastardly and threatening on the basis of having an eccentric plan or an over-the-top motivation for evil. Sometimes, a villain can be despicable just for being a bigot. It's simpler compared to the average mustache twirling villain of the week, but it's also a more realistic form of evil. Just a small hint of realism edging into the cartoony realm of comic books is enough to up the stakes.
This is the case for the Hate-Monger, who is as evil as they come, asthe cloned spawn of Adolf Hitler. Nearing the end of his reign of terror, the Nazi party leader conspires with Arnim Zola to transfer his mind into clone bodies that could carry out his mission well after he's dead. The Fantastic Four can't truly kill him when Hitler's mind continues to transfer to new bodies.
7 The Red Ghost
Fantastic Four#13 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Stan Goldberg, & Artie Simek
Born Ivan Kragoff, the Russian scientist's origins are directly tied to The Fantastic Four, or more fittingly, inspired by them. His studies of Cosmic Rays stem directly from the fateful space mission that gave them their powers. After traveling to the moon, this communist worked effortlessly to duplicate the Cosmic Rays and their side effects not just on himself, but on his trained primates. The experiment worked, creating his Super-Apes, gifting them powers like shapeshifting and super-strength. Kragoff, meanwhile, can pass through solid objects.
While Stan Lee ultimately regretted using the Red Scare as a means to create a supervillain, deeming the anti-communist rhetoric simple and naive in retrospect, Red Ghost has nonetheless become a staple of Fantastic Four'svillains' circle. John Malkovich will be playing him in Fantastic Four: First Steps.
6 The Frightful Four
Fantastic Four #36 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Chic Stone, & Artie Simek
At one point, The Fantastic Four became so efficient at disposing of supervillains that it became impossible for a singular antagonist to one-up on them in a fight. The solution was for their most familiar foes tocome together to defeat them all at once. At the insistence of Paste-Pot Pete, he recruits The Sandman and The Wizard to go after a rival they share in The Human Torch. Soon enough, a debuting Medusa would join them, and The Frightful Four would come to pass.
They soon establish that there is truly strength in numbers, as even in defeat, they were able to evade capture, re-group, and re-plan. The Frightful Four would evolve and enjoy multiple iterations in the coming years, often led by The Fantastic Four's most underrated villain, The Wizard.
5 The Mad Thinker
Fantastic Four #15 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg, & Artie Simek
Sometimes, Julius is referred to simply as The Thinker; understandably so, considering that there isalways a method to his madness. Take his first appearance as a prime example, where he took over the Baxter Building, trapping The Fantastic Four below it. He is eventually caught, but the goal wasn't to take over The Fantastic Four's home base, but to understand the technology of the smartest man on the planet (back when Reed still was). He was happy to go to prison as long as he had that knowledge for himself.
Furthermore, he found ways to manipulate The Fantastic Four behind the scenes in hopes of getting them to disband, knowing that they were the only opponents capable of defeating him. Miraculously, his methods worked for a time. He may be mad, but The Thinker is still a genius at the end of the day.
4 Psycho-Man
Fantastic Four Annual #5, Story "Divide – And Conquer!" – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia, Stan Goldberg, & Sam Rosen
For a man calling himself Psycho-Man, he's as meticulous as they come, not to mention thorough. Much like The Mad Thinker, villainy may make him unhinged, but Psycho-Man is no moron. That's why he leads his own technocracy within a microuniverse of worlds in Sub-Atomica. His genius-level intellect has compelled him to conceive of a device that allows him to manipulate the emotions of others, specifically by instantly evoking negative emotions into whoever he targets.
He's proven to instill doubt, fear, anger, etc., into even Cosmic wielders like the Silver Surfer. No one is immune to his gaze and wielding such a unique power has allowed him to domineer entire societies as a dictator. He sports one of the best villain debuts in Fantastic Four history, and remains a common foil for them.
3 Annihilus
Fantastic Four Annual #6, Story "Let There Be ... Life!" – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott & Sam Rosen
Annihilus is a villain who seems to only get more powerful with every appearance he makes for Marvel. Upon his debut, he's a permanent resident of the Negative Zone who stands in the way of Reed Richards getting what he needs to find the element that will help Sue Storm give birth to their son. The foursome narrowly escape Annihilus' clutches, but every time after that, Annihilus seems to get stronger.
The height of the cosmic villain's power comes in Marvel's best crossover series, Annihilation, where the king of the Negative Zone nearly destroys the entire Earth-616 with his army. Despite typically being constrained by the Negative Zone (until he escapes), Annihilus proves to be a cancerous force that spreads himself across the entirety of the Marvel Universe, powerful enough to combat any hero within it.
2 The Super-Skrull
Fantastic Four #18 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg & Artie Simek
Kl'rt - or simply the Super-Skrull - is immortalized in Marvel lore as one of the most skilled soldiers in the Skrulls' army. The Super-Skrull was created by The Skrulls to assist them with one simple goal: world domination. The best way to achieve that was to imbue Super-Skrull with the powers of The Fantastic Four; by the logic of fighting fire with fire, The Fantastic Four struggle to fend off the Super-Skrull when he is able to dish their hardest attacks right back at them, literally.
The Super-Skrull's first outing against The Fantastic Four proves successful enough to warrant to creation of multiple Super-Skrulls across Marvel's history. Still, though, none of the follow-ups can hold a candle to the original. Not a hero as powerful as Captain Marvel can handle the ultimate Super-Skrull.
1 The Molecule Man
Fantastic Four #20 – Written By Stan Lee; Art By Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg & Artie Simek
The Molecule Man is one of those villains who might be underestimated on people just for having a silly name. In reality, not only is he immensely powerful, he is one of Marvel's most important villains in its lore. As established in the Secret Wars prelude, Molecule Man's role is basically that of an anchor being before Deadpool & Wolverine coined the term for the MCU. Owen Reece becomes essential when Marvel's multiverse is experiencing galaxy-threatening incursions.
Doctor Doom - as a man who is seldom willing to admit he needs anything from anyone - determines he needs Molecule Man to stop the incursions. Even before Secret Wars, Molecule Man was always deemed a threat as one of the few foes to actually defeat Marvel's first family. The Fantastic Fourhas an endless array of enemies, but Molecule Man might be the biggest enemy who isn't named Galactus or Doctor Doom.
- Created by
- Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
- First Film
- The Fantastic Four
- Latest Film
- Fantastic Four
- Upcoming Films
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- First TV Show
- The Fantastic Four
- First Episode Air Date
- September 9, 1967
