Marvel’s First Family wasn’t only responsible for launching the Silver Age of comics—they also attracted some of the most outlandish, omnipotent foes the Marvel Universe had to offer. From subterranean rulers to galaxy-gobbling entities, the Fantastic Four paved the way for the sort of outsize threats Marvel would come to be famous for. Let’s take a step back and consider their worst enemies from back in the day—the old-school villains that caused chaos for Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben.
10. Annihilus
Creepy crawlies are bad news, but Annihilus is in a whole other league. This insectoid despot dominates the Negative Zone with his Cosmic Control Rod, granting him a horrific power boost. His “Annihilation Wave” once ravaged the universe, destroying civilizations and even killing Johnny Storm (he recovered—comics, of course). He’s not interested in mere conquests; Annihilus plays cosmic-level games, and whenever he returns, catastrophe trails behind him.
9. Super-Skrull
Why send a single alien warrior when you can create one with all the Fantastic Four’s abilities condensed into one? Meet Kl’rt, the Super-Skrull, who can stretch, burn on, vanish, and bludgeon like Thing. His initial appearance shook the game, making the team use their own powers against each other. Though he’s occasionally ventured into anti-hero turf, whenever Super-Skrull meets the Four, mayhem ensues.
8. Psycho-Man
Not every battle is fought with guns. Psycho-Man, from the Microverse, has his Control Box, capable of controlling your emotions. Fear, doubt, hate—these are the things he can turn against you. He even transformed Sue Richards into the evil “Malice” for a time, and came close to shattering the team from the inside out. He’s evidence that sometimes villains don’t hit with fists, but with emotions.
7. Red Ghost
Meet Soviet scientist Ivan Kragoff, who fantasized, “If cosmic rays turned the Fantastic Four into heroes, why not me?” The outcome: the Red Ghost and his strange group of super-powered monkeys. With intangibility at his disposal and his faithful primates by his side, he emerged as a recurring weird menace. Ridiculous? Yes. Threatening? Definitely.
6. Puppet Master
Few bad guys cut as close to the bone as the Puppet Master. With radioactive clay, he creates puppets that allow him to control minds—yes, including, on occasion, heroes themselves. His relationship with Alicia Masters, the Thing’s love interest, makes it hurt all the more for the team. He’s not a conqueror of worlds, but his manipulation makes him one of their most disturbing enemies.
5. Wizard
Bentley Whitman, better known as the Wizard, is a master inventor with an ego problem. His crowning achievement as a bad guy is creating the Frightful Four, Marvel’s First Family of evil. Equipped with anti-gravity technology and limitless plots, Wizard has long been a thorn in their side—at least if his ego doesn’t get the better of him. Either way, underestimating him is never wise.
4. Diablo
Half alchemist, half sorcerer, Diablo is an old man of centuries with an unending desire to become immortal. His experiments stand on the border of science and magic and can create chaos wherever he goes. He tried to tempt Ben Grimm with the offer of healing his rock-like body, demonstrating that he can hit where it hurts the most. Diablo does not always receive the headlines, but where he appears, there is trouble.
3. Mole Man
The Fantastic Four’s first villain is still worthy of respect. Shunned and ridiculed in the surface world as Harvey Elder, he was able to find asylum beneath it as the Mole Man. With legions of Moloids and giant monsters such as Giganto at his disposal, he made a push against the surface world that brought the team into the spotlight. Tragic and formidable in equal measure, Mole Man is a memory that they would not forget.
2. Galactus
Not all villains don’t arrive with dastardly plans—some are simply powers of nature. Galactus, the World-Devourer, first appeared as a menace so colossal that the very planet Earth shook in fear. With Heralds such as the Silver Surfer clearing the way, his coming heralded apocalypse was imminent. The Fantastic Four managed to pull a miracle to thwart his coming, making Galactus one of the all-time great cosmic menaces in Marvel history.
1. Doctor Doom
Was there ever a doubt? Victor Von Doom isn’t merely the Fantastic Four’s arch-nemesis—he’s the Marvel villain. Geniuses, both science and sorcery at his command, Doom has remade reality, appropriated godlike ability, and dominated nations by sheer force of will. His conflicts with the Fantastic Four are as much intimate scores as planet-shaking confrontations. Plainly put, Doom is the standard to which all other Marvel villains must be held.
From underground tyrants to galaxy-devouring deities, the rogues’ gallery of the Fantastic Four cast the Marvel Universe into an epic and unpredictable form. These pioneering villains were not only nemeses of Marvel’s First Family—pathbreakers, they paved the way for the type of storytelling that continues to define comics today.