The Fantastic Four’s 10 Strangest Storylines, Ranked

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While the Fantastic Four are one of the most famous superhero teams in Marvel Comics, they have always been scientists first, trying to uncover the answers to the universe. Gaining their powers from trying to create a new form of space travel, the Fantastic Four’s roles as heroes are always rooted in their quest for knowledge. Throughout the team’s many adventures, they have traveled across the multiverse and the cosmos and found themselves in some pretty weird situations.

Embracing the weird and fantastical aspects of science fiction made the Fantastic Four unlike anything else on comic stands. During those early days, The Fantastic Four introduced some of the weirdest and wildest concepts that would later shape the foundation of the Marvel Universe, such as time travel, shape-shifting aliens, alternate dimensions, and cosmic villains who eat planets with an alien who rides a surfboard. These strange and innovative adventures would later become serious aspects of Marvel, but there are plenty more Fantastic Four stories that are just plain weird.

10

The Fantastic Four Turned The Skrulls Into Cows

The Skrulls’ first defeat was hilarious

One of the Fantastic Four’s first adventures was with the shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls, who had come to take over the Earth in Fantastic Four #2 (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Klein, Stan Goldberg, and John Duffy). After disguising themselves as Marvel’s First Family, the Skrulls began causing mayhem across the world to ruin the FF’s reputation. The team captured the Skrulls and posed as them to convince their captain that Earth was too dangerous for an invasion. After the Skrulls retreat, Reed takes the Skrulls they captured to the Government to clear their name and Reed forces them to change into cows and then hypnotizes them to make them believe they are cows.

While the Skrulls would become a serious and dangerous threat in Marvel Comics, their first introduction was more than strange. Despite the Skrulls being strange in themselves, the first iteration of the aliens were depicted as little green goblins, which only made them weirder. Their defeat is one of the strangest in comics, but it perfectly captures the willingness of Jack Kirby to embrace the weirder directions of science fiction.

The Impossible Man brings Marvel and DC together

Another one of the team’s early adventures, Fantastic Four #11 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg, and Artie Simek), saw them encounter the strange creature known as the Impossible Man. An alien from the planet Poppup who came to Earth in search of entertainment, Impossible Man became a menace to the people of New York through various pranks and highjinks. Realizing that Impossible Man craved attention, the Fantastic Four beat the prankster by having everyone in the city ignore him, and he left Earth. The Impossible Man is one of the weirdest characters in Marvel Comics and his first encounter with the Fantastic Four remains one of the silliest adventures for the team.

While a comical prankster, the Impossible Man is a powerful threat who can rearrange his molecules to take any form he chooses and can travel through dimensions, such as when he infiltrated the Marvel office and confronted Stan Lee about having his own comic in Fantastic Four #157 (by Roy Thomas, George Peres, Joe Sinnott, Michele Wolfman, and Joe Rosen). This strange villain also inspired one of the comics’ other weirdest villains, DC’s Mr. Mxyzptlk. 1990’s Superman #50 (by Jerry Ordway, Curt Swan, John Byrne, Kerry Gammill, Dan Jurgens, Dennis Janke, Brett Breeding, Glenn Whitmore, and John Costanza) even alluded to the two being the same person, with the issue featuring Mr. Mxyzptlk coming into the Marvel Universe and turning into the Impossible Man, saying that sometimes it’s impossible to remember what he looks like from world to world.

8

A Baby Threatens The World

The Fantastic Four fight a child to save the world

During a photoshoot at the Baxter Building, the famous superhero team was called into action when mysterious things began appearing in the city. The group then encountered an alien who could create objects with its mind. After destroying its illusions, the alien seemed harmless and Reed deduced that its seemingly random actions were consistent with an infant. After the alien is later taken captive by mobsters, he is saved by the FF and its parents come and bring him back to space.

With the opening tag line of the issue promising an adventure that is just as strange as it is super, Fantastic Four #24 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Roussos, and Sam Rosen) did not disappoint. During the aliens’ initial rampage in the city, the FF are trapped in a giant milk bottle, a giant spinning top, and an army of giant toy soldiers. Along with its already strange powers, the alien being only a child makes for an interesting dilemma for the team, as its power could be enough to destroy the universe, as Reed theorizes. The opening page of the issue also features one of Reed’s weirdest transformations as he flattens his entire body across the room and the ceiling of the Baxter Building, which is unsettling to say the least.

7

Doctor Doom Made His Strongest and Strangest Alliance

The most random cameo in Fantastic Four’s history

In 1976’s Super-Villain Team-Up #6 (by Steve Englehart, Herb Trimpe, Jack Abel, Tom Orzechowski, and Janice Cohen), Namor is taken prisoner by Doctor Doom and the Fantastic Four come to Latveria to save him. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom meets with a mysterious visitor and shows him around Castle Doom and all of his weapons. After the team defeated Namor and saved him, they faced Doom and discovered the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. He orders them to stand down as America and Latveria have entered an alliance.

While the entire issue isn’t weird in itself, Henry Kissinger making a cameo is one of the weirdest and most random things to happen in the pages of Fantastic Four. While unexpected and random, Kissinger’s guest role in the Fantastic Four was a subtle way of Lee and Kirby inserting their own political commentary at the time, with Kissinger being more than a controversial figure and touching on the government’s willingness to make deals to further their interests. It’s a clever way to bring a conversation about real issues to readers, but it doesn’t make it any less strange.

6

Galactus Becomes Human

The World Devourer explores New York

When Galactus tried to once again devour the Earth in Fantastic Four #519 (by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, Karl Kesel, Paul Mounts, and Randy Gentile), Reed made a device to swap the powers of Sue and Johnny, which resulted in Johnny being taken by Galactus. After realizing the similarities between Galactus’s origin and the FF, a cosmic-powered Johnny Storm helped Reed rebuild the device, which stripped Galactus of the Power Cosmic and turned him back into a regular human.

Fantastic Four #523 follows the team as they try and show Galan the beauty of humanity. Being a cosmic being for 5 billion years, navigating New York City leads to some fun and strange encounters, such as he and The Thing hanging out in a bar and Galan trying to eat an 8-ball. While a strange and weird adventure for the FF, Mark Waid is also able to weave in a beautiful story about humanity and the universal ambition we all share to improve, which brings a beautiful conclusion to this odd tale.

5

The Fantastic Four vs. the Super Apes

The Team fought super-powered gorillas on the moon

When Reed Richards took the team to the moon to investigate a strange meteor, they encountered Russian scientist Ivan Kragoff, who was exposed alongside a group of apes to the same cosmic rays as the Fantastic Four. After battling with the super-powered apes in Fantastic Four #13 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Stan Goldberg, and Artie Simek), Sue Storm was taken prisoner by Kragoff and left in the care of his ape soldiers. However, Sue showed them kindness and fed them, which led the apes to revolt against Kragoff and the team escaped.

The team’s adventure on the moon was more than weird, and saw the team in one of their most fantastical battles yet. The issue also served as an important moment in Marvel history as it was the first appearance of Uatu the Watcher, now a staple of the Marvel Universe. Fantastic Four #13 perfectly captures the weird and outlandish aspects of science fiction, merged with a thrilling adventure that would introduce major concepts to be used in later Marvel Comics.

4

Agatha’s House of Horrors

The First Family encounters Marvel’s most famous witch

After Franklin was born, the First Family traveled to New England to bring him to a child expert named Agatha Harkness in Fantastic Four #94 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, and Sam Rosen). Once the team arrives at the mansion, they encounter the supervillain team, the Fightful Four. The villains are actually successful in their attack on the team but are stopped by Agatha, who reveals herself to be a witch and unleashes her magic on the group. The team eventually escaped to find Agatha rocking Franklin to sleep, none the wiser of the events that just transpired.

The Fantastic Four’s adventure through Agatha’s mansion was just as exciting as it was weird. As the FF fight the villains throughout the mansion, each villain tests them in unique ways that highlight the team’s skills. This strange adventure would also be another iconic piece of Marvel history, as it was the first appearance of the infamous Agatha Harkness.

3

Reed and Sue Travel To Hell

The Richards’ weird and strange adventure

While living undercover in Connecticut, the Richards family is attacked by a cult who believes they are witches and Franklin is injured, which releases the demon Mephisto. Mephisto captures the family in an attempt to steal Franklin’s mutant powers for himself and subjects Sue and Reed to torture. However, Doctor Strange sensed Mephisto’s arrival and rescued the family from the demon’s realm.

Richard’s family time in hell was one of their darker adventures, but also one of the strangest. While in Mephisto’s realm, Sue and Reed were faced with multiple deceptions by the demon to break their spirits and navigate the strange underworld. The issue also highlighted Franklin’s immense powers with him being able to mortally wound Mephisto while still just a baby.

2

The Thing Becomes A Historical Figure

The team’s first time travel adventure changed history

In Doctor Doom’s first appearance in Fantastic Four #5 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Stan Goldberg, and Artie Simek), Doom took Susan Storm hostage and forced the rest of the team to use his time travel machine to steal Blackbeards’ treasure. Once the team arrives in the past, The Thing disguises himself as a pirate to infiltrate the pirate’s ship and steal the treasure. The three heroes steal the treasure and Ben inadvertently becomes the legendary Blackbeard after rallying the pirates behind him.

Fantastic Four #5 may be one of the most important issues in Marvel Comics, but it doesn’t take away from how absurd it is. Being Marvel’s first introduction to time travel, the team’s first adventure through history was the perfect blend of ridiculous and time travel shenanigans that leaned into the fun elements of being able to change history. The Issue also introduced Marvel’s most iconic villain, Doctor Doom, who has become one of the most popular villains in all of pop culture.

1

Ryan North Takes Readers On A Wild Ride

The Fantastic Four reach the pinnacle of strange

Ryan North’s 2023 Fantastic Fourseries put the team in many strange situations, but none reach the heights of Fantastic Four #10 (by Ryan North, Leandro Fernández, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna). After an alien ship escaped their dying planet thousands of years in the past, the ship’s newest caretaker discovers the dead bodies of the past caretakers and images depicting the Fantastic Four members as monsters. Throughout the weird and horrifying journey of the last caretaker, it’s revealed that the Fantastic Four had come to save their ship, which had been caught in a collapsed area of space-time that caused the caretakers to perceive the team at multiple and separate points in time.

Fantastic Four #10 is one of the strangest and most creatively ambitious issues in the team’s history. Dealing with the weird and complicated concepts of time dilation and perception, the issue is just as smart as it is terrifying. While most of the issue is presented as a horror movie, it also exemplifies the best of the Fantastic Four as they fix the ships’ engines and set them on their way. Leaving readers with a satisfying and semi-happy conclusion to this strange space story.

“}]] Among the Fantastic Four’s many adventures, Marvel’s team of cosmic explorers has found themselves in some truly strange situations over the years.  Read More