How the Fantastic Four Created Marvel's First Iconic Villains
The Fantastic Four are some of the most prominent and important superheroes in all of comic books. When they launched in 1961, they modernized the medium overnight: a tight-knit family of very human heroes whose squabbles and struggles reflected the real lives of those reading it. The first massive hit from the revolutionary creative partnership of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Fantastic Four #1 - which you can invest in now through Mythic Markets! - kicked off the history of the Marvel Universe, and helped define superhero comics as we know them today.
By far the most important consequence of this shift was the invention of the super-villain! A shift toward long-term storytelling means introducing long-term antagonists; foes who are more than just a catchy name and a gimmick costume, who would be characters as complex and dynamic as the First Family of Marvel themselves.
4. The Skrulls
The green, elf-like aliens known as Skrulls were one of the very earliest foes of the Fantastic Four. They were introduced in just the second issue of the comic! Being shapeshifters, the Skrulls fit well with popular sci-fi tropes around alien impersonators and body-snatchers which resonated after the Red Scare of the 1950’s. That first conflict was tied up in a single issue and left little indication that these Skrulls would be any different to other one-off threats of the Golden Age comics - but there was so much more to come!
The basic look of the Skrulls has been consistent since the 1960s - another great Kirby design.
The influence of Jack Kirby would soon push the emerging Marvel Universe to expand beyond the boundaries of Planet Earth. The space beyond the stars provided fertile ground from which many strange beings and forces could appear to confront even mighty heroes like the Fantastic Four. The Skrull Empire became one of the most important factors in this new cosmic pantheon, whether directly challenging Earth’s champions or forcing other aliens into action through their relentless warmongering and infiltration.
Most infamous among their agents is Kl’rt - the Super-Skrull - who was enhanced by his emperor to specifically avenge Skrull humiliation at the hands of the Four. Super-Skrull possesses all of the Fantastic Four’s signature abilities in one body, allowing for some impressive battlefield feats and making him one of their most memorable opponents.
3. Namor
OK, we admit it - Namor is not strictly identified as a villain, nor has he always been associated with the Fantastic Four. In fact, he predates them by several decades!
Stan Lee was never one for subtlety, particularly when reminding 1960’s readers of Namor’s pedigree.
As the Sub-Mariner, Namor was a powerful and popular character during the Golden Age, with dominion over the sea as the half-human prince of Atlantis. He appeared in Marvel Comics #1 battling the original Human Torch, where he reveled in the destruction of the land-dwelling world. This capacity for carnage would remain part of the character throughout his history, underscoring his complex “antihero” status.
Years later, the character would be revitalised by appearing alongside different Torch - Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four! Namor’s revival showed the effectiveness of Stan Lee’s new ideas for more nuanced character-driven storytelling. The Golden Age Namor had become blandly heroic and even patriotic in later comics of that era, joining his contemporaries in the fight against the Axis powers. By reintroducing him as an antagonist and brooding antihero, Lee made him instantly more compelling.
He seems… very quick to give up on his people here. Are we sure he was really a good guy before!?
Namor also exemplified another key element in Lee and Kirby’s success: writing stories which reflected current cultural issues. After Johnny Storm helps him recover from amnesia, a resurgent Namor discovers his underwater home has been ravaged by nuclear testing. This becomes the catalyst which renews his fury against the surface world, and something the Four must reckon with morally as well as in physical combat.
While he would go on to prove more of a hero than a villain, it was notable that Namor wouldn’t hesitate to turn against his heroic “allies” if doing so would advance his aquatic agenda. He also contributed to the more subtle, human storylines of Fantastic Four, as Sue Storm was undeniably attracted to the handsome, brooding Atlantean - creating Marvel’s first love triangle!
2. Galactus
Galactus is definitely a being of tremendous, almost surpassing power. The literal “eater of worlds”, even decades later he remains easily one of the largest and most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe!
After 50 issues of building up their characters and world, Galactus was Lee & Kirby’s great dramatic payoff.
That is by design - Lee and Kirby created Galactus to inspire dramatic tension on a different level to other villains. They wanted a character who could not simply be out-muscled, and who would force the Four to come up with solutions beyond combat. Galactus was too big to be fought, too alien to be reasoned with, and far too destructive to be left alone.
Overwhelming challenges - and even failure - are part of everybody’s human experience, and Lee wanted the Four to reflect that despite their superhuman nature. In the legendary multi-issue storyline “The Galactus Trilogy”, Lee and Kirby successfully raised the stakes on comic villainy, bringing in inspiration from biblical sources to create a sense of godhood. With his exaggerated design and supreme power level, Galactus is also a clear precursor to Kirby’s later work on the New Gods mythos at DC Comics.
Cryptic technology, high-minded musing, and the “Kirby Crackle” energy effects - hallmarks of “The King”!
Kirby originally intended Galactus to be a one-off test for the Four, to avoid having to water down his impact and power level. But the character proved too popular with writers and fans, and became a recurring threat and plot device used to further explore themes of power, morality and inevitability across many different comic books. There is no doubt that this iconic foe will play a major role in Marvel’s future movie storylines too, now that the Fantastic Four license is back in their hands - he’s just too good to waste!
So, which villain is more iconic, more resonant than the Giant Purple People Eater? More fearsome than a planet-killing god? And perhaps more influential than even the Fantastic Four themselves?
1. Doctor Doom
Why, it’s DOOM.
Within just a few appearances, Doom was already getting top billing as the ultimate threat to the Four.
Doctor Doom is one of the most impressive and successful characters in comic book history, and frequently celebrated as “Marvel’s greatest villain”. Since supervillains are generally imagined as foils to their heroes, it’s difficult to separate their “popularity” and cultural impact from that of their nemesis. But Doom has achieved a level of notoriety and cultural presence matched only by The Joker - inspiring rappers, wrestlers and countless creatives in and out of comics!
Just as Jack Kirby so effectively modelled his costume on traditional depictions of Death and the trappings of royalty, and Lee decided his name based on “magnificent implied menace”, Doom has become associated with power and the capacity for evil, with almost no limits beyond that. He has been an inventor, a sorcerer, a dictator, a businessman, an intergalactic warlord, and even an unlikely ally to many heroes - including the Four themselves!
A notoriously risky partner-in-crime, Doom started his betrayal habit early by trying to trick Namor.
While Lee and Kirby went to great lengths to humanize the Fantastic Four, Doom’s characterization remained more mythic or operatic. His ambition for world domination, immense pride, and willingness to hold his petty grudge against Mr. Fantastic set him well apart from the monsters and tyrants of real world history.
Instead, Doctor Doom is the perfect example of a super-villain - all the elements of power, authority, intelligence, ruthlessness and ambition which create an ideal nemesis for the heroes of Marvel comics to dash themselves against again and again. Doom is such an effective, compelling face for evil that he became the most prolific presence in the Marvel universe, appearing in a higher number of different issues than any other character!
Despite this, Victor Von Doom is undoubtedly a Fantastic Four villain. Not only because of how his rivalry with Reed Richards is cemented into his backstory and core motivations, but because Lee and Kirby’s original run on Fantastic Four was as essential in redefining the identity of the supervillain as it was in redefining superheroes - and Doom was their vehicle for that.
Doom’s debut established him as a long-term threat, with this chilling panel showing his evil resolve.
It’s hard to truly appreciate the impact of these first few issues of Fantastic Four - the Skrulls, Namor, and Doctor Doom had all been introduced by just issue 5! But as time goes on, we only become more aware of the debt the industry owes Kirby and Lee for this incredible cast of characters - villainous and heroic - who have formed the tapestry of this modern mythos.
You can own a piece of that tapestry yourself - shares in our CGC 6.0 Fantastic Four #1 are still available to buy on MythicMarkets.com, at just $32 per share.