The Fantastic Four Was Just Dealt an Epic Loss — and a Shocking Villain is Taking Advantage

One World Under Doom has thrown the Fantastic Four for a loop. Doom has taken over the world, and the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are scrambling to stop him. However, Doom has outsmarted them at every turn, and used his new powers as the Sorcerer Supreme to cure the Thing of his powers. This all leads to Fantastic Four #31, as the team tries to figure out what to do next. However, this is the Marvel Universe, so the Fantastic Four has to deal with enemies trying to take advantage of their loss. A surprising villain has decided to fight the weakened Fantastic Three, one that no one has seen — or expected to see — in ages.

Devos the Devastator isn’t one of the better known Fantastic Four villains. In the villainous pantheon of the Fantastic Four, a group which includes villains like Doctor Doom, Galactus, Terrax the Tamer, and more, Devos isn’t exactly an A-lister. He’s not even a C-lister, but as a character, he’s much more interesting and dangerous than his pedigree would leads readers to believe. While Devos doesn’t play a huge role in the story of Fantastic Four #31, his attack does show off how even a weakened Fantastic Four is still dangerous.

Devos the Devastator Takes an Altruistic Mission Too Far

Devos the Devastator first appeared in 1991’s Fantastic Four #359. This was during the Fantastic Four run of Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan. This era doesn’t get a lot of praise, but it’s actually way better than it gets credit for. There’s a lot of cool ideas — and some bad ones, like Sue’s sexy costume — and Devos the Devastator is definitely one of the better fruits of this era. Devos first appeared while the Fantastic Four were rescuing Alicia Masters, who had been replaced by a Skrull named Lyja. Devos’s whole MO is that he has decided that the only way to stop war is to destroy any race that could make war on an interplanetary scale. He even destroyed primitive alien races, taking his mission much too far. When Devos first came across the Fantastic Four, he decided that their level of technology was enough for him to destroy them. This kicked off a rivalry with the Fantastic Four that would see him attack the team multiple times.

RELATED: One of Marvel’s Strangest Fantastic Four Villains Returns

Devos ended up following the Fantastic Four to Earth, and teamed up with Paibok the Power Skrull, Klaw, and Huntara as the Fearsome Foursome. The team was way tougher than they seemed, and it took the help of Spider-Man, Silver Sable, Sandman, Daredevil, and the Avengers to defeat them. The team kept up their attacks, and targeted Four Freedoms Plaza, the ’90s home of the Fantastic Four, but they were ultimately defeated. Devos would disappear for a while after this, eventually showing up again the cosmic Marvel classic Annihilation. He’s showed up again after War of the Kings put the Inhumans in charge of the Shi’Ar and Kree Empires, decreeing that he would destroy the Inhumans, but thanks to the intervention of the Mighty Avengers and Karnak was defeated.

Devos the Devastator Is a Deep Cut Villain That No One Expected to See Again

Right now, isn’t exactly the best time for the Fantastic Four, and Devos showing up was more of a distraction than anything else. However, during the fight, Human Torch realized that his powers were weakening. Reed and Sue were able to make up for his power fritz, but this led to a much more important discovery. Once upon a time in 2017’s Marvel Two-In-One, the Thing and Human Torch learned that if the team doesn’t all have their powers in the same universe, they will lose those powers. Doom curing the Thing of his powers wasn’t an action meant to help Ben feel human again, but to cause the Fantastic Four to lose their powers.

Devos showing up right at this moment is a huge shock for fans. Devos comes from a rather unfairly maligned era of the Fantastic Four. DeFalco and Ryan get a lot of flack, all because Marvel tried to make them incorporate at the time modern ideas about superheroes into a book that didn’t need them. Devos was one of the cooler characters introduced in their run, and seeing him come back, even just to get beat, was a great reminder of Fantastic Four history.

Fantastic Four #31 is on sale now.