7 Worst Moments From Fantastic Four Comics

The Fantastic Four is the first superhero team that Marvel Comics introduced when the company began making superhero comic books. Fantastic Four #1 was the first title published under the Marvel Comics name and introduced the world to the First Family of Marvel. Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm took an unauthorized trip into space only to pass through cosmic rays and return to Earth with superpowers. This led them to become one of the most respected teams in the Marvel Universe. However, not everything the Fantastic Four has done deserves respect, and there are some moments the team should be embarrassed by.

From how the Fantastic Four treat each other to things they have done that are beyond forgiveness, here are the worst things the members of the FF have done.

7) Reed Richards’ Constant Demeaning of His Wife

If there was one major problem with the early years of Marvel Comics, it was how writers treated female characters. Heroes like Wasp only cared about shopping, fashion, and fawning over the male heroes. Even in Fantastic Four, Susan Storm was almost always treated like a lesser member of the team than her male counterparts. Not only that, but Reed Richards often demeaned her at every step.

Reed ranks among the worst husbands in Marvel Comics and is even a worse teammate when it comes to how he treats his wife. Sue left him more than once, and she should have left him for good with the way that he treats her, even to this day. He rarely shows her respect, and it helps him retain his status as one of Marvel’s most hated heroes.

6) Fantastic Four Pulled The Thing Out of Heaven

No one stays dead in comics, and this includes members of the Fantastic Four. During a battle with Doctor Doom, the villain transformed his consciousness into Ben’s body and was about to kill Johnny when Ben retook control and asked Reed to kill him. He did, but Reed wouldn’t accept it. Instead of letting it go, Reed decided to find a way to get into Heaven and bring Ben back to life.

This was a storyline that had one very cool moment, as God turned out to be Jack Kirby, which was fun. However, the truth is that Reed knew that Ben had gone to Heaven, and he took it upon himself to go into Heaven and bring Ben back to Earth to keep fighting with him in the Fantastic Four. It was a selfish move, especially when the comic showed that Ben couldn’t get into Heaven anyway, thanks to a device Reed had made that wouldn’t let his friend move on.

5) Human Torch’s Cheating Ways

Johnny Storm is one of the most unloyal characters in Marvel Comics. Not only that, but his promiscuous ways have gotten the team into more trouble than they needed. The number of times he has let his libido get in the way of his time as a hero is almost incalculable. One of the worst things he ever did was hook up with Alicia Masters despite knowing that Ben Grimm loved her.

However, there was an even worse moment when Johnny did something that he paid for personally. The Fantastic Four were all invited to Latveria for Doctor Doom’s wedding. He then cheated with Doom’s fiancée, which caused Doom to curse Johnny never to be able to put out his fire. Add in Human Torch becoming the soul mate of Kaila, only to back out of the relationship, and Johnny’s bed hopping has caused more problems than good.

4) Reed Richards Creates Negative Zone Prison

Reed Richards has done a lot of bad things over his tenure in Marvel Comics. One of his worst wasn’t a part of the Fantastic Four, but as part of the government’s side in the Civil War storyline. Reed worked with Hank Pym and Tony Stark to build a superhero prison in the Negative Zone, where he and his allies then locked away any heroes who refused to sign the Superhero Registration Act.

This was terrible for many reasons. The entire Civil War storyline was wrong, as the heroes fought each other, with Iron Man’s side demanding complete loyalty to a government that has never proven to be infallible. The fact that Reed wanted to lock his former friends and allies away in the Negative Zone prison was unconscionable. Reed also created a Thor clone that murdered Bill Foster, which caused Sue to leave him again.

3) Invisible Woman’s Possession by Malice

While Reed Richards deserved for Susan Storm to put him in his place more than once, when she finally did it, the storyline was very controversial. Marvel was smart to finally let her go by the name of the Invisible Woman rather than the Invisible Girl, but then, in this storyline, she began to dress in very revealing clothing and flaunted it around her family with a lack of self-awareness.

She also fought with Reed so much that the entire Fantastic Four comic book line became a burden to read, stripping it of the superhero exploits and making it nothing more than a comic book soap opera story. The fact that Marvel then showed that Sue standing up for herself was because a being named Malice possessed her, stripped her of all her self-agency, once again making her a damsel in distress instead of a powerful female hero.

2) Reed Richards Puts Franklin Into a Coma

Franklin Richards was born in the Negative Zone, and the mixture of this alongside the cosmic rays flowing through his parents’ bodies turned him into one of Marvel’s most powerful characters. However, he was a young child. The Fantastic Four comics showed how Franklin was starting to develop his powers, and he even created entire universes of planets and beings from his own mind in pocket dimensions.

Reed Richards knew that his son was getting too powerful and that Franklin couldn’t control his powers, so he did something about it. Without talking to his wife first, Reed blasted his son with a ray gun, putting the toddler into a coma until Reed could figure out a way to limit his powers. It was a horrific moment, and Susan quickly left Reed after this, refusing to stay with a man who put their child into a coma.

1) The Council of Reeds

Reed Richards created something that almost destroyed his universe. He invented the Bridge, which was an interdimensional portal that could help Reed get anywhere in the multiverse. Of course, this wasn’t a one-time deal, as Reeds from all other Earths also figured it out and created their own versions. This is where he met the Interdimensional Council of Reeds.

Three Infinity-Gauntlet-wielding Reeds created this organization, and they brought together several other Reeds to join them to pull strings to ensure that they always protected the multiverse, since, obviously, they knew better than anyone else what was better. If there is one good thing Reed from Earth-616 did, it was refusing to join the Council, although he also refused to destroy the Bridge, which allowed some of the renegade Reeds to get into his world. It was further proof that Reed’s intelligence made him a dangerous hero.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

7 Marvel Comics Heroes Who Turned Into Villains