Best Fantastic Four villains

Best Fantastic Four villains
Best Fantastic Four villains (Image credit: George Marston / Marvel Comics)

The Reckoning are making a bid to become some of the best Fantastic Four villains of all time.

The Fantastic Four are in the midst of a dire new crisis in the current 'Reckoning War' storyline, which introduces new villains known as, what else, the Reckoning, who have even the Watchers worried about what's in store.

And though it may be a tall order, a serious threat like that has the potential to join the list of the best Fantastic Four villains of all time.

The FF have more than their share of iconic bad guys, from Doctor Doom to Galactus, and more - and that's just scratching the surface. But who makes the cut of the best Fantastic Four villains ever? Read on to find out.

10. Kang the Conqueror

cover of Fantastic Four #19

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Rama-Tut is the first time traveling guise taken on by Nathaniel Richards, the descendant of Doctor Doom and Reed Richards who would later become Kang the Conqueror.

Though Kang himself has had sporadic dealings with the Fantastic Four, Rama-Tut is the Kang variant that has most bedeviled them, since all the way back in Fantastic Four #19

The time-traveling pharaoh, who rules over a hidden, advanced dynasty in ancient Egypt, actually beat Kang himself to the page, with the pair only being connected as two different versions of the same person years later.

In the years since, Kang has bedeviled the FF in a variety of guises - including in the recent Fantastic Four #35, in which Kang, Rama-Tut, Immortus, and more of Kang's many 'Variants' teamed up to take on the team.

9. Molecule Man

image of Molecule Man

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Owen Reese is one of the Fantastic Four's most powerful enemies. In fact, he is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. His gift of manipulating the fundamental building blocks of creation is only hampered by an inability to affect organic matter - a limit he has often overcome.

Though Reese has often tried to reform, his unstable mental state always sends him back to his life of crime as Molecule Man. Molecule Man played a major role in the original Secret Wars - and was secretly the key to Doom's power in the 2015/16 Secret Wars sequel event.

(Learn more about Secret Wars, and Molecule Man's role in both stories, right here).

Reese gave his power to help Reed Richards rebuild the Marvel multiverse - but perished in a fight with the villainous Griever.

8. Psycho-Man

Psycho-Man

(Image credit: DC Comics)

Emerging from the Microverse (AKA the Quantum Realm, in MCU terms) to conquer our world, Psycho-Man wields a device that manipulates the emotions of others, as well as powerful battle armor and size-changing technology. 

In his first attempt at conquering the Marvel Universe, it took the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four, the Black Panther, and the Inhuman royal family to put a stop to his schemes.

Psycho-Man is also often responsible for bringing out Sue Storm's Malice persona. He was most recently fighting the Champions in the aftermath of Secret Empire.

7. Mole Man

Mole Man

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Mole Man is not only the first enemy of the Fantastic Four, but he's also the first villain of the Marvel Universe proper.

Dwelling deep in the underground kingdom of Subterranea, the enigmatic Mole Man commands legions of beings he calls Moloids, as well as hordes of terrible monsters. 

6. Namor

Namor

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Since the Fantastic Four's earliest days, Namor has been one of the team's greatest allies - and one of their staunchest enemies.

One of the very first Marvel characters ever created, Namor's history is long and complicated. His association with the Fantastic Four began when Johnny Storm helped him regain his memories, but he quickly vowed vengeance against the surface world, a conflict that has often set him at odds with the Fantastic Four.

Namor also harbors a not-so-secret love of Sue Storm, which isn't exactly Reed Richards's favorite quality in a person. 

5. Frightful Four

Frightful Four

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Every hero has an opposite number, and the same is true of the Fantastic Four. Led by the evil super-genius known as the Wizard, the Frightful Four is a collective organized to match the FF's power with criminal equivalents.

While the original line-up consisted of Wizard, longtime Spider-Man foe Sandman, Trapster (a.k.a. Paste-Pot Pete), and a brainwashed Medusa, the roster has grown over time to include Hydro-Man, Electro, Thundra, Titania, Klaw, Absorbing Man, and even the entire Wrecking Crew.

4. Super Skrull

Super Skrull

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The Skrull empire spans entire galaxies, encompasses countless worlds, and yet, they are obsessed with conquering Earth. And at the head of this empire, bent on seizing what their religious texts identify as their destined homeworld is Kl'rt, the Super Skrull.

Created by the Skrull Emperor to challenge the Fantastic Four, Kl'rt is blessed with all of the FF's powers, along with the natural shape-shifting power of the Skrulls, and his own gift of hypnosis. While other Super Skrulls have been created, notably in the Skrulls' attempted Secret Invasion of Earth, Kl'rt is still the champion of the Skrull empire. 

He's currently serving in the court of the Kree/Skrull Alliance under Emperor Hulkling.

3. Annihilus

Annihilus

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Hailing from the Negative Zone, the hostile dimension that is home to many of the Fantastic Four's enemies, the most fearsome and vicious denizen of that hateful place is Annihilus.

The insectoid lord of the Annihilation Wave, a sweeping horde of unbridled entropy and destruction, Annihilus's evil is absolute, predicated on hatred of all existence. 

Despite Johnny Storm liberating the Negative Zone from Annihilus's clutches, an attempted democratic election resulted in Annihilus seizing power once again. 

2. Galactus

Galactus

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Galactus. The eater of worlds. The eternal hunger.

It is said that Galactus was created when Jack Kirby decided the Fantastic Four should meet God. And while Galactus is less a God than a force of nature, he is certainly imposing on a cosmic scale.

One of the Fantastic Four's most terrifying and enduring foes, Galactus is also responsible for the creation of Silver Surfer, Terrax, Nova, and many of the Fantastic Four's other prominent allies and enemies. 

On his own, he is a nigh-unstoppable behemoth bent on devouring the Earth's life essence. But as a driving force of some of the most cosmic, mind-bending stories in Marvel Comics history, Galactus transcends his role as a nominal villain.

1. Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Dr. Victor Von Doom is the Fantastic Four's greatest enemy, and one of the greatest villains of the entire Marvel universe.

Possessed of an intellect said to be greater even than that of Reed Richards, Doom is hampered only by his own arrogance. In addition to his scientific prowess and great weaponry, Doom is also one of the most skilled sorcerers in the Marvel universe, and commands the entire nation of Latveria, a country he rules with an iron fist - literally.

Though Doom has occasionally seen cause to ally with the Fantastic Four, even becoming godfather to Reed and Sue's daughter Valeria, his quest for vengeance against Reed Richards, whose success Doom blames for his own shortcomings, always brings him back to his villainous roots.

In Secret Wars, Doom seized omnipotent power and recreated all reality in his image - but he was thwarted by Reed Richards once again in the last adventure of the Fantastic Four.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)

TOPICS