25 Villains Who Could Save Fantastic Four 2

Despite the fact that the new Fantastic Four movie has failed to inspire fans, it doesn’t hurt to remind fans that the Fantastic Four are truly the team that kick started the Marvel Universe. Without Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben; there would be no Avengers, Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, Daredevil, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, or Squirrel Girl.

The Fantastic Four have built up quite the rogues gallery since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby first introduced Marvel’s First Family back in 1961. So they screwed up Doctor Doom this time around…they can fix him next time, right? Or they can just use these guys…

Hyperstorm

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #406 (1995)

Created by Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan, and Dan Bulanadi

It’s still up in the air on whether the X-Men and the Fantastic Four will ever cross over on the big screen, but here is an awesome mutant FF villain in case these two properties ever do meet. There is a familial connection between Hyperstorm and the FF as old Hypie here is the grandson of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.

This future relative of Reed and Sue from the future traveled to the past to use his reality warping powers to conquer alternate timelines. Hyperstom is also the grandson of none other than Scott “Cyclops” Summers. Seriously, the ’90s weren’t the most (how do I put this diplomatically?) fervently creative period (aka, it mostly sucked eel genitals) for the FF, but Hyperstorm and his connection to all things FF and X make him a diamond in the rough candidate for future cinematic villainy.

Diablo

First appearance Fantastic Four #30 (1964)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Diablo is the first villain on our list created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. He won’t be nearly the last.

Diablo was an alchemist in 9th century Spain who made a Faustian deal with Mephisto for immortally. Sadly for Diablo, after the devil worshipping alchemist set up shop in Transylvania (because where else), the villagers turned on him and imprisoned him in his castle where he was accidently freed by the Thing centuries later.

Since then, Diablo has been a persistent foe of the FF and serves a special position in the annals of FF evildoers because his powers are magic based which pretty much makes him a unique foil for Reed Richards. Yeah, we know, Doctor Doom also wields impressive levels of sorcery, but Doom can do anything, let Diablo have his gimmick. Diablo could be a great way for Fox to introduce an element of magic into their super hero universe, a trope that might be very much en vogue when Doctor Strange hits theatres next year.

Devos the Devastator

First appearance Fantastic Four #359 (1991)

Created by Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan, and Danny Bulanadi

The Fantastic Four has always had an indelible connection to the myriad worlds of cosmic Marvel. Many of Marvel’s core cosmic concepts were birthed in the pages of the FF. Devos the Devastator doesn’t have the historical cache like some of the cosmic despots and world eaters on this list, but he is a pretty cool character nonetheless.

Devos is a cosmic vigilante devoted to intergalactic peace. Sounds like a nice guy right? Not so much- because Devos devotes his existence to eradicating any being capable of causing violence.

I can totally see Devos being a badass cosmic adversary as he arrives on Earth seeking to destroy the ultra powerful Fantastic Four. It won’t be long till the new FF films look to the stars and the first salvo from beyond can come from this nutcake cosmic vigilante.

Aron the Rogue Watcher

First appearance Captain Marvel #39 (1975)

Created by Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom

How cool would it be the see the Watcher in a Fantastic Four film? The only problem with the Watcher is that he doesn’t really do anything other than, you know; watch. But what if the cinematic arrival of Uatu is accompanied by the rogue Watcher Aron?

Aron first appeared in the pages of Captain Marvel but Uatu the Watcher has always been a staunch ally of Marvel’s First Family. Where Uatu has always helped humanity, Aron has plotted to harm the Earth to his own ends. He is an underrated part of FF history but Aron has been involved in some huge cosmic sagas including trying to plunge the Earth into a pocket dimension that he controlled.

Listen, every film franchise needs an evildoer with a giant bald head.

Overmind

First appearance Fantastic Four #113 (1971)

Created by Stan Lee and John Buscema

Overmind has the distinction of being the last villain in Stan Lee’s run as writer of the Fantastic Four comic. He’s a pretty cool villain that has been underutilized in the Marvel Universe –but with a little tweaking, perhaps Overmind can find new life on the big screen. 

Overmind was once known as Grom, a conqueror and a gladiator. He was chosen as the receptacle of his entire race, so basically, Overmind is an entire world’s population synthesized into the body of one already badass being. Overmind was placed in a capsule where he could distill his entire race’s prowess and eventually found his way to the Milky Way where he defeated the FF and Doctor Doom. He was eventually reduced to the size of a dust moat but has returned a number of times to bedevil the Marvel Universe.

The high concept of the Overmind is way too cool to just stay a piece an esoteric piece of FF trivia so hopefully, Fox is aware that there is a badass villain like this buried in the lore of the Fantastic Four.

20. Nicholas Scratch and the Salem’s Seven

(Nicholas Scratch) First appearance Fantastic Four #185 (1977) Created by Len Wein and George Pérez (artist)

(Salem’s Seven) First appearance Fantastic Four #186 (1977) Created by Len Wein and George Pérez

Other than Doom and Mephisto, Nicholas Scratch and the Salem’s Seven are probably the FF’s most horrific foes. The whole thing sounds worthy of a season’s worth of kick ass Sleepy Hollow episodes, but follow us here.

New Salem, Colorado was a town hidden in the Rocky Mountains. Generations of witches and sorcerers lived their secluded from the rest of the world. Their leader was an evil warlock named Nicholas Scratch who fathered seven horrific and powerful children with seven different women (one daughter, Reptila, had snakes for arms and is arguably one of the most disturbing designs the great George Perez ever created) and each of these children had powers of their own. When the powerful witch Agatha Harkness left new Salem to become the nanny of Reed and Sue’s son Franklin Richards, Scratch sent his Seven to retrieve Harkness, kidnapping Franklin in the process.

Now, if Fox wants its FF to stand out from the rest of the ever growing super hero pack, they might want to explore some other genres. If they go horror, Scratch and the Seven could be the way to go as each Perez designed monster is big screen ready.

Dragon Man

First appearance Fantastic Four #35 (1965)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Not as a lead villain, but as a mindless minion of one of the FF”s more cerebral adversaries, the Kirby designed Dragon Man would make an impressive on screen foe. Dragon Man is an experiment in artificial life and has fought the Fantastic Four many times.

These days, Dragon Man has gained sentience and intelligence and currently resides with the FF as part of the Future Foundation so there is some character progression the films can mine. And who can really resist a puffy, purple synthetic dragon person?

Brute

First appearance Marvel Premiere #2 (1972)

Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane

Adam Warlock first appeared in the pages of the Fantastic Four as the artificially created man known as Him. Judging from the copious amounts of cosmic cocoons that have popped up around the cinematic Marvel Universe, it would seem that Marvel still has the film rights for Adam Warlock.

But Warlock’s stomping grounds, Counter-Earth, has been a part of FF lore for a long time. Counter-Earth is an artificial Earth created by the High Evolutionary and is populated by humanoid animals. Brute here is the Counter Earth version of Reed Richards, he has all of Richards’ genius but is unapologetically evil and can transform into an eight foot…well, Brute.

Terminus

First appearance Fantastic Four #269 (1984)

Created by John Byrne

The Fantastic Four fighting giant kaiju like monsters…it just feels right, and Terminus is one of the biggest, city stompingest monsters in the Marvel Universe.

Terminus was built by an ancient alien race to destroy worlds and it almost does just that to Earth before being defeated by the FF. This monstrous alien was designed by the second greatest FF artist to ever live, John Byrne, and would bring a cool Pacific Rim like vibe to any future FF movie. Plus, removed from its armor, Terminus is basically a giant alien baby head stuffed into a robotic exo-skeleton and who doesn’t want to see something that bugnuts in IMAX 3D?

Rama-Tut

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #19 (1963)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Rama-Tut is one of the many incarnations of Kang the Conqueror, a villain who you can rest assured will also be on this list. Now, at some point in his existence, Kang traveled to ancient Egypt and conquered the region with advanced technology from the future. On one of their earliest time travel adventures, the FF ran afoul of Rama-Tut.

Now, with the coming of En Sabah Nur to the world of X-Men, how perfect would it be to introduce another villain to the Fox super hero universe from the mists of ancient Egypt? Doctor Doom is also an ancestor of Kang and Rama Tut (and he might be much more) so right there you have a potential for a pretty awesome supervillain team up.

The rest of these great Fantastic Four villains can be found on page two…

Blastaar

First appearance: Fantastic Four #62 (1967)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The Negative Zone has long represented the mysteries of the unexplored cosmos, a realm of universal madness filled with unimaginable terrors, and it appears to be the source of the team’s powers in the new movie. One of the greatest terrors of them all is Blastaar the Living Bomb Burst.

Blastaar is basically the Negative Zones version of Hitler, a despotic conqueror that, instead of a Chaplin mustache, rocks the power of a nuclear blast in his hands. Blastaar has long been one of the FF’s greatest foes and his bestial aggression has tested the team for years. The Fantastic Four have been explorers into the unknown and their greatest unknown has been the Negative Zone.

If this is a realm the film FF finds themselves in, Blastaar better be along for the ride and if he’s voiced by Brian Blessed-so much the better.

Impossible Man

First appearance: Fantastic Four #11 (1963)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

It will probably never happen but it damn well should. The FF’s most humorous and chaotic adversary is the reality warping, shape shifting Impossible Man from the planet Poppup. Now, we doubt that Fox will ever get this wacky with a super hero franchise that they seem to want to keep pretty gritty and grounded, but man; Impossible Man deserves some film love. Maybe in a future installment of Deadpool? 

Fun fact: to save the Earth, Impossible Man once tricked Galactus into eating Poppup because his race had grown so humorless and so stagnant; he wanted to put them out of their misery. Because of Impy’s actions, Galactus got indigestion and left Earth alone. Yeah, I really need to see that bit of FF history come alive on film.

Red Ghost

First appearance: Fantastic Four #13 (1963)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

There is always room for an intangible communist spy and a legion of super apes. Always.

The Red Ghost received his power to turn intangible the same way the FF received their amazing powers, through exposure to cosmic radiation. Instead of bringing along brave and capable companions like Reed Richards did, the Red Ghost brought along his loyal apes.

Mikhlo the Gorilla, Igor the Baboon, and Peotr the Orangutan gained the powers of super strength, shape shifting, and the ability to control gravity and magnetism respectively. So wait a minute, Igor the Baboon has the powers of Graviton AND Magneto? That’s abjectly terrifying. Look, Marvel Studios made a bundle on a tree and a raccoon so we rule nothing out.

Immortus

First appearance: Avengers  #10 (1964)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Somewhere in his personal timeline, the time traveling villain Kang (and be patient true believers, we’ll get to him) changed his identity to Immortus. Immortus is a Machiavellian manipulator of the highest order. Sometimes hero, sometimes villain, Immortus has been the igniter of many classic Marvel stories, many which involved the Fantastic Four.

Immortus is more subtle than his past self and like Kang and Rama-Tut, has some kind of familial tie to Victor Von Doom. If these new movies eventually fix Doctor Doom (and they damn well should), the Kang triumvirate would also make great additions.

Fantastic Four (Earth-2149)

First appearance: Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 (2005)

Created by Mark Millar and Greg Land

Hey, zombies are pretty popular. How about a film where the FF go up against an alternate reality zombie version of Marvel’s First Family? Fox may not have access to every Marvel character, but it does have the entire catalogue of X characters so that’s almost the same thing. 

Imagine Halle Barry as zombie Storm…it would be like X2: X-Men United all over again. Seriously though, when Mark Millar and Greg Land introduced this malevolent, undead version of the FF in the pages of Ultimate Fantastic Four, it was the most heart stopping and intense Fantastic Four stories of the 21st century. Allowing the cast of the new FF to pull double duty as super heroes and evil zombies bent on devouring world could be a very unique film experience indeed.

Frightful Four

First appearance: Fantastic Four #36 (1966)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Starting with the Wizard, Trapster, Sandman, and Medusa, the Frightful Four have been trying to take down Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing for decades. Of course, Fox only has the rights to a few of these characters so the studio would have to get creative if the Frightful Four ever arrives on the big screen. But that’s okay because the Frightful Four have had a huge membership over the years.

Even though Medusa is part of Marvel’s Inhumans and Sandman is part of Sony and Marvel’s world of Spider-Man, Fox could always turn to Klaw for membership into the film version of the evil FF. Wait, nope, he’s going to be in the Black Panther.

Well, how about Hydro-Man? Nope, he’s a Spidey villain. Electro? Nope-Spidey.

Llyra-nope, she’s a Sub-Mariner villain so Universal has her.

Hmm, Titania and Thundra? Yeah, they work even though they are pretty much the same character kinda.

Listen as long as Wizard and the villain formerly known as Paste Pot Pete (what a rube!) are on board, it’s a proper Frightful Four. Maybe. Oh, forget it.

Mephisto

First appearance: Silver Surfer #3 (1968)

Created by Stan Lee and John Buscema

Since Marvel’s Prince of Darkness was first introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four spinoff Silver Surfer, we are going to assume Mephisto is part of the Fox deal.

What bigger story could Fox tell than the FF versus the devil?

Imagine a cinematic Mephisto tempting Ben Grimm to sell his soul to regain his humanity or offering the Human Torch a chance at fame or offering Reed Richards a chance to cure his friends. It would be freakin’ epic. Plus, if Fox ever gives us a Silver Surfer film (dare we dream), Mephisto would be the perfect adversary for the eternally pure surfer of the stars.

Molecule Man

First appearance Fantastic Four #20 (1963)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

I could totally see Michael Emerson rock this role of an average, workaday guy suddenly given the powers of a god. Owen Reece here could be a very different sort of cinematic villain because there is a sense of tragedy about this god like figure who can control all forms of matter in the universe.

Molecule Man is an A-list level threat, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, but he is also an unassuming schlep trying to make his way in the world. 

Mole Man

First appearance Fantastic Four #1 (1961)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Mole Man is not only the first comic book villain the Fantastic Four ever faced, he is also the very first villain in the entire Marvel Universe! Appearing in Fantastic Four #1, the Mole Man is like the Roy Rogers of super villains (att. Young Den of Geek readers: Roy Rogers was a very famous Hollywood cowboy known for his horsemanship skills. You know how superheroes are so popular? Before the internet, it was cowboys).

Mole Man could bring along a legion of subterranean monsters to the big screen if Fox gets really old school and brings the FF’s first foe to life. And yeah, a cinematic Mole Man could mean that we finally sort of get the see the Incredibles versus Underminer fight we were teased at the end of The Incredibles. Anyway, Mole Man-Marvel’s first villain, totally deserves to be in a film because he is the squinty eyed creep that started Marvel’s villainous tradition.

Mad Thinker

First appearance: Fantastic Four #15 (1963)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

He’s not just your average every day evil thinker-he’s MAD! The Mad Thinker is one of the few foes of the FF who can actually match wits with Reed Richards and with his square headed Awesome Android; this evil genius has a means to go mano-e-thingo with Ben Grimm as well.

The Mad Thinker has been trying to prove himself smarter than Reed for decades but despite the Thinker’s vast array of evil robots and batshit insane tech, he has always fallen short in proving himself Reed’s better. Any Fantastic Four fan worth his or her salt would love to see the eternal chess match between the Mad Thinker and Mr. Fantastic translated into live action.

Annihilus

First appearance: Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

So many storylines could include Annihilus, quite possibly the most vicious monsters the Fantastic Four has ever faced. From the birth of Franklin Richards to the epic space opera Annihilation (which didn’t actually include the FF but it should on the silver screen), Annihilus has been a persistent and deadly threat to the FF and to the planet they swore to protect.

Hell, Annihilus once killed Johnny Storm (he got better) and was the central villain of writer Jonathan Hickman’s epic run on the FF. We already mentioned Blastaar, but Annihilus has always been the Negative Zone main event and is probably one of Jack Kirby’s most striking visual designs.

Kristoff Vernard

First appearance Fantastic Four #247 (1982)

Created by John Byrne

What’s better than Doctor Doom as a villain? How about two Doctor Dooms?

When Doctor Doom was believed killed, his Doombots took his young ward Kristoff Vernard and implanted Doom’s memories in the boy’s mind. Kristoff ruled Latveria in Doom’s stead and became just as dangerous as ol’ Vic himself. Doom returned and battled for the throne of Latveria in a tense struggle that almost tore the country and the world apart.

If Fox wants to build a superhero universe, it will have to find future storylines for not only the FF but for Doom as well. Imagine a Doom versus Doom battle taking place in a future FF film. It really doesn’t get more epic than that.

The Marquis of Death

First appearance Fantastic Four #566 (1982)

Created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

Speaking of epic Doom storylines, we come to the greatest evil created in the pages of the FF in the 21st century…the Marquis of Death.

The Marquis (despite sounding like he should be the bassist of a Norwegian death metal band) was Doctor Doom’s mentor. Imagine how vile a creature the Marquis must be if he trained Doom in the ways of evil.

The Marquis was once a young mutant boy named Clyde Wyncham. Wyncham was from a reality very much like our own but was the only mutant in that reality. Wyncham was a lonely boy who had the mutant power to control all of time and space. He used that power to open a portal to and brought all the super villains from the Marvel Universe into his realm to punish those that rejected him. When the heroes of the Marvel Universe arrived and defeated the heroes, Wyncham further spiraled into madness and, for billions of years, trained himself to use his powers.

He used his might to destroy every dimension he came across until he stumbled on ours. There, he met a young man named Victor Von Doom and was impressed with Doom’s capacity for evil. So yeah, Doctor Doom is so evil he impressed a being of pure galactic destruction named the Marquis of Death. In his first appearance, the Marquis tore out the heart of Reed Richards (he got better). When Marquis saw what kind of villain Doom became, that his enemies still lived, the Marquis grew displeased and rejected Doom causing Doom, the FF, and the Marquis to engage in a battle for the ages.

Listen, the dude’s name is the Marquis of Death. Potentially, The Marquis could be to the Fox superhero universe what Thanos is to Marvel’s.

Kang the Conqueror

First appearance Avengers #8

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

We promised the Conqueror and here he is. At times, Marvel has strongly suggested that Kang is in fact Doctor Doom from some alternate future. The timeline of Kang is literally impossible to understand unless your name is Kurt Busiek so the Kang/Doom connection has gotten a bit amorphous over the years, but even the hint that one day Doctor Doom will become Kang, who is basically an evil version of Doctor Who, is just too awesome for words.

Kang is traditionally thought of as an Avengers villain but in recent interviews with Marvel’s film bigwigs; it has been revealed that Fox has the rights to the chronal conqueror. So Marvel’s loss is Fox’s gain as big bads don’t come bigger or badder than Kang. Fox has the potential to use Rama-Tut, Immortus, Kang, and Doom in an insane time travel adventure worthy of the name Fantastic Four and it had better happen. 

It took four movies before Fox had to use time-travel to fix the X-Men franchise, but only one with the FF, so let’s get Kang in there to clean up the mess, shall we?

Galactus

First appearance Fantastic Four #48 (1966)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Well, of course Galactus is number one. We got totally screwed out of a Galactus appearance in the flaccid Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Galactus Cloud has become just about as reviled as Bat nipples and Jar Jar Binks in the annals of fandom and it’s about time Kirby’s Big G makes a proper film appearance.

The Galactus Saga that appeared in Fantastic Four #48-50 is considered the greatest cosmic saga ever told in comics and Fox can make up for the cloudy dreck it inflicted on fandom last decade by introducing the proper Galactus in all his world devouring glory. Just imagine the hand of Galactus reaching from the sky, the Silver Surfer, the Ultimate Nullifier, and the final struggle to save Earth from being eaten by a god from space. That is why IMAX was invented.