The Fantastic Four’s Best Evil Versions, Ranked

The Fantastic Four are one of Marvel’s greatest superhero teams, as their recent Marvel Cinematic Universe debut showed to fans who didn’t already know. They’re Marvel’s First Family, the group that proved the concept of superhero teams can succeed and even thrive, and these characters have saved the world more times than anyone can count. However, much like all superheroes, there eventually comes the question of what they would be like if they were evil. Being so popular and having been around for so long, it’s only natural that the Fantastic Four would have had evil interpretations of them show up at some point, either in alternate universes or being possessed in some way. So let’s take a look at the best evil version of each of them, and rank them to see which Fantastic Four member would make the best villain.

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6) Captain Johnny Storm

Despite what I said about every hero getting an evil self at some point and Johnny Storm being so popular, he really hasn’t had an evil copy like the rest of his family. There are alternate takes on the Fantastic Four that they’ve come to blows with and villains who went by the Inhuman Torch, but that felt like cheating. The closest thing we have to an evil Johnny was introduced in Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #2, when Reed was using his Bridge to gaze into other universes, accidentally transporting the rest of the team into their counterparts’ selves. Pirate Captain Johnny Storm was one of these counterparts, a ruthless ruffian who haunted the skies in his flying galleon, who put his normal pirate duties on hold to act as a privateer and muscle to dissuade the invading Skrull army. We never see him actually commit any crimes, but he tore through his enemies without remorse and abandoned the Thing to die without hesitation, and was also just kind of a pig. Definitely far from the charismatic, self-sacrificing Torch we know and love, but also not nearly evil enough to earn a higher spot on this list.

5) Angrir, Breaker of Souls

The Fear Itself event saw the ancient Asgardian God of Fear and self-proclaimed true All-Father escape his prison and invade the Earth, spreading fear to increase his power. He transformed numerous heroes into monstrous versions of themselves to further his goals, including turning the gentle-hearted, ever loving Thing into Angrir, Breaker of Souls. He used the hammer gifted to him and enhanced strength to absolutely level everything around him, intent on razing all of New York to the ground. Angrir went toe-to-toe with Spider-Man and Red Hulk, and left them both beaten and bloodied. The only way the monstrous machine of torment could be stopped was Serpent’s eventual defeat, freeing the Thing from his control. Beyond how terrifying this version of Ben Grimm was, his design was absolutely spectacular, and is easily one of Thing’s best looks. He may have been a villain, but dang if he didn’t style on everyone he beat half to death.

4) Galactus Franklin

Franklin Richards has a long, storied history with Galactus. The World Eater fears the bottomless well of power Franklin will grow into, and Franklin will take on the role of Galactus as the sole survivor of this universe as its last survivor, passing into the next as a cosmic being. The entirety of Fantastic Four: First Steps centered around the connection between these two, and there was no scarier showing of said bond than in Fantastic Four (2022) #32. After an attempt to restore Thing’s powers went awry, Valeria and Franklin were sent back in time into a world where the FF never existed. Valeria arrived in her modern-day body, but Franklin was sent all the way back to when he was still in the womb. The unborn Franklin wasn’t able to support his memories, but his fully matured powers did. This Franklin was born with all his powers, and no superpowered parents to raise him how to use them. With no Fantastic Four to save the world, it was up to baby Franklin, who turned Galactus to dust when still a newborn. Unfortunately, solving every problem immediately doesn’t make for a good environment to grow up in. Franklin became the ultimate authority in the world, policing it and forcibly lobotomizing anyone who went out of line, forcing them to be happy and content forever. He took on the form of the biggest thing he’d ever seen, Galactus, and ruled with an iron fist and the mentality of a child. This version of Franklin wasn’t even evil, just horribly misguided and a brat, and nobody could teach him how to live properly. He was the world’s most terrifying and saddest child, carrying the entire world with nobody to show him how, and no restraints.

3) Doctor Valeria Doom

Valeria Richards is a character that always seems like she’s on the edge of becoming a villain in the future. She is even smarter than her father, and has always been very close with Doctor Doom, whom she considers her uncle. This version of Valeria, who debuted in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #10, is terrifying because she is that relationship taken to its extreme. She is the Doctor Doom of her reality and rules over Hell, having taken it over with her own mix of magic and unparalleled intelligence. The idea of taking all of the petty evil of Doom and mixing it with Valeria, who is quite possibly the smartest person in the Marvel Multiverse, rivaled only by Moon Girl, is knee-shaking scary. Victor von Doom is a source of pure petulant vitriol who lives on pure spite and is only held back by his adamant refusal to admit that he isn’t the smartest person to ever exist. Taking all of that smack and giving it to the one person who can back up every prideful claim she makes is the recipe for the ultimate, unstoppable monster. She literally took over Hell, which at the very least proves she was smart and strong enough to dethrone Mephisto, and that alone should tell you everything you need to know about this version of Valeria. The original character works so well because she always seems to want to give in to the uncaring logic that comes so easily to her, but she is guided by the morality her parents instilled in her. This version is just straight up scary, because she doesn’t care about any of that.

2) Malice

Malice is the name Sue Storm took when horrible Fantastic Four villains Psycho-Man and Hate-Monger inverted her morality, turning all of the love and care she felt into violent hate, unleashing all of the pent up, repressed rage Sue had tucked away. She debuted in Fantastic Four #280, and immediately established herself as one of the most dangerous threats the team had ever faced. She easily overpowered the rest of the Four, with them only being saved when Reed discovered how to reverse the process and shock Sue free from the villains’ control. What makes Malice so important is that the impact she left on Sue is still felt to this day. Up until her unwilling rebellion, Sue went by the Invisible Girl, and was typically portrayed as a passive, emotional, and occasionally immature character. Then this happened, and it was a massive wake up call for Sue. She said having all of the hate inside her heart unleashed forced her to confront feelings she refused to let herself feel, and doing so scarred her in a way. Sue rechristened herself the Invisible Woman, saying that she had fully grown and would be a little girl no longer. This was the massive shift that had been coming for such a long time, where Sue stepped up and was respected as the insanely powerful and important character that she is. Malice forced Sue to grow up in a sense, and for that she is incredibly important, and showed that a Sue Storm with no limits or morality, fully unleashed on the world, is far more dangerous than anyone ever thought.

1) The Maker

Who could the greatest evil version of Reed Richards be except for the Maker, who is one of the best villains that Marvel has ever produced? The Maker is one of the only survivors of the original Ultimate Universe, where he initially served as Mister Fantastic alongside the Ultimate Fantastic Four. Unlike the endlessly compassionate 616 Reed, however, Ultimate Reed was far more disconnected from his humanity and thought far, far less of himself. His life was steepled in tragedy and poor choices, and after being exposed to betrayal and trauma over and over again, he finally snapped and went full supervillain. The Maker is a monster like few others, wrecking havoc across his home universe, and when it was lost in the Secret Wars event, he dedicated himself to remaking it. He did just that in Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe, except he made it in his own twisted image. He removed the inciting incident for almost all of Earth’s heroes, and manipulated the rest into forming a hidden cabal to rule the world from the shadows, dividing it up between his compatriots and presiding over it like a god running a science project. The new Ultimate Earth is a fascist hellscape where people have lost all hope, and that is by the Maker’s horrific design. He even took this world’s version of himself and tortured him beyond repair, forcing him to become Doctor Doom in some self-hating revenge. The Maker is insane, maniacal, deeply disturbed, and near incomparably smart. He’s a Reed Richards who has thrown away all of his morals, and instead uses cold logic to do whatever he wants. And what he wants is never good for anyone else. He is easily the most evil variant of anyone in the Four, maybe the most evil variant of any hero ever.

So there we have the most evil versions of every member of the Fantastic Four, ranked from least to most vile. Who do you think is the most evil version of the Four, and why should they stand as the worst reflection of some of the best? Let us know in the comments below!