As Marvel's First Family, the Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic. While the FF have many 'team' villains, some of the names on that list have personal beef with specific , from the Thing's maniacal father-in-law the Puppet Master to Human Torch's onetime fling Victorious. Of course, the deadliest villains of all belong to the team's leader, Reed Richards.

Here are the 10 most powerful Fantastic Four villains who have a specific grudge against Reed Richards. Every foe on this list was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, meaning we had to make some notable exceptions such as Namor the Sub-Mariner and the iconic Council of Reeds. However, what's left are the Fantastic Four villains who have loathed Mister Fantastic from the very beginning.

10 The Mad Thinker, aka Julius

Debuted in Fantastic Four #15 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The Mad Thinker hates Reed Richards perhaps even more than Doctor Doom. A Reed Richards-level genius so smart he can predict the future, the Mad Thinker has even stolen Reed's identity before, becoming the evil Mister Fantastic of 'the New Fantastic Four' when Reed and Sue were presumed dead. The Mad Thinker is a master of all fields of science, from creating some of the most advanced robots in Marvel lore to messing with the family's DNA and causing them to meld together into an unholy amalgam (in Christopher Cantwell and Filipe Andrade's Fantastic Four: Road Trip.)

Sadly, despite his hatred for Mister Fantastic, the Mad Thinker has to appear at number 10 on this list because he has the inherent power levels of a not-particularly-fit human. While the Mad Thinker has commanded incredibly strong servants like the Awesome Android - and has implanted computer tech in his brain so he can control his various inventions wherever he is - he has no superhuman abilities beyond his staggering intellect.

The Thinker hates Reed Richards mostly out of intellectual jealousy, but also because Mister Fantastic's genius acts as a confounding factor in his predictions about the future. Because the Mad Thinker can't anticipate Reed's superior genius, he can't perfectly predict the future.

9 The Wizard, aka Bentley Wittman

From Strange Tales #102 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

Another genius who hates Reed Richards with every fiber of his soul is the Wizard. A near-unparalleled inventor, the Wizard has no superhuman powers, instead relying on gadgets like his energy-blasting Wonder Gloves and flying anti-grav discs. Like the Mad Thinker, the Wizard has been known to use robotic soldiers, most recently the personal army known as the Frightful Four Hundred, who he unleashed in Steve Orlando and Lorenzo Tammetta's Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #1.

However, the Wizard's main helpers are the Frightful Four - a group of villains originally composed of the Wizard, the Inhuman queen Medusa, Spider-Man foe the Sandman, and inventor Paste-Pot Pete (later the Trapster.) The roster has varied over the years, with the Wizard recruiting different to take on the Fantastic Four. Without his gadgets, the Wizard is just a regular human, albeit in better shape than the Mad Thinker.

The Wizard initially hated Reed Richards as an intellectual rival, however today it's all about family. The Wizard cloned himself several times to pilot anti-FF mechs, but also produced the young clone Bentley-23. Bentley ultimately ended up living with the Fantastic Four, with the Wizard believing that Reed Richards has kidnapped and brainwashed his son.

8 The Red Ghost, aka Ivan Kragoff

First Appearance Fantastic Four #13 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The Red Ghost is a Russian scientist who exposed himself (and a trio of trained apes) to the same conditions that created the Fantastic Four, hoping to replicate their powers. The villain essentially succeeded, giving himself the power of intangibility while his apes gained powers of magnetism (Peotor the Orangutan), superstrength (Miklho the Gorilla) and shapeshifting (Igor the baboon.) The Red Ghost can vary his intangibility across his body, allowing him to hold and use weaponry while remaining immune from harm.

The Red Ghost hates Reed Richards for a number of reasons, seeing him as both an intellectual competitor and an ideological rival. His powers have also made his various defeats by the FF particularly traumatic, including being trapped in an intangible, invisible state for months on end. Red Ghost sees himself as the man who perfected Reed's greatest discovery, and seeks to destroy him as proof of his superiority.

There is speculation that John Malkovich will play the Red Ghost in the Fantastic Four: First Steps.

7 Diablo, aka Esteban Corazón de Ablo

First Seen in Fantastic Four #30 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Diablo is one of the Fantastic Four's most underrated villains - an alcehmist from the 9th century who cracked the secret of immortality. Diablo has a unique understanding of alchemy, combining lost science and potion-based magic to give himself endless different abilities. Few of these are inherent and available at all times, but with his full materials, Diablo can transmute matter into different forms, shapeshift, and control the minds of others.

Diablo hates Reed out of intellectual jealousy and because the FF keep ruining his plans, and is one of Mister Fantastic's most dedicated foes. When Reed Richards gathered a group of villains to figure out how to defeat his variants in the Council of Reeds (in Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting's FF #3), he made sure to invite Diablo, the Mad Thinker and the Wizard, knowing those villains had spent longer than anyone else considering how to kill him (apart from Doctor Doom, who was also in attendance.)

6 The Mole Man, aka Harvey Elder

Debuted in Fantastic Four #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The Fantastic Four's first villain, Mole Man hates Reed Richards because the beloved family man is everything he longs to be. A scientist and adventurer, Harvey Elder became obsessed with myths of the Hollow Earth. Ultimately, this obsession led him to stumble across the hidden city of Subterranea, which he conquered using the lost technology of the Deviants. Subterranea is home to the underground species known as the Moloids along with a host of gigantic monsters - including Giganto, who appears on the cover of Lee and Kirby's Fantastic Four #1.

Despite his seemingly harmless appearance, the Mole Man is a physical threat. His genius extends to tactical thinking, and he has mutated to suit life underground, including enhanced senses which make him an effective combatant. While not a superhuman by any stretch, Mole Man is physically skilled enough to hold his own against Daredevil, which he did in Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera's Daredevil #10.

5 Zankor

First Appeared in Amazing Adult Fantasy #7... Kind of

Amazing Adult Fantasy #7's 'Why Won't They Believe Me?' tells a fun, Twilight Zone-esque story where a man discovers a crashed spaceship containing plans for what appears to be an alien invasion of Earth. The man tries to tell Earth's authority figures about the threat, with a lone scientist finally believing him... and pulling a gun on the poor man. Revealing that the alien attack plan is written in an otherworldly alphabet, the scientist deduces that only an alien could have read it, revealing that the 'innocent' man is actually the alien in disguise. The would-be invader was injured in the crash, losing its memory and tragically foiling its own mission.

As originally published, this story had nothing to do with the Fantastic Four, but later comics rectonned the story, turning the alien into a Skrull warrior named Zankor and the young scientist into a pre-superpowers Reed Richards. While the retcon unjustly erased the heroic Professor Crater in favor of Reed, it's ultimately a good thing that this self-contained story lives on as part of larger Marvel canon.

4 The Skrulls

Introduced in Fantastic Four #2 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The Skrulls are a species of shape-shifting aliens who control numerous planets across the galaxy and consider Earth their ultimate prize. The villains first appeared in Fantastic Four #2, where Reed Richards - seeking a peaceful way to dispose of an alien raiding party - forced the Skrulls to turn into cows and froze them in that form, allowing them to live out a peaceful life. This has since gone down as one of the biggest mistakes in Marvel history.

Not only were the cows mistakenly turned into hamburgers - infecting some innocent teenagers with an alien disease that also gave them superpowers - but the Skrull empire took major offense at the disrespectful treatment of its soldiers. Things got worse after Galactus destroyed the Skrull Empire's throneworld, Tarnax IV. Reed Richards had previously turned down a chance to destroy Galactus, declaring him an essential part of the galactic balance, leading the empire to blame Mister Fantastic for its downfall.

The Skrulls have had their revenge several times over, invading the Earth multiple times and creating powerful Super-Skrulls with enhanced abilities. However, their most horrifying revenge on Reed Richards came in New Avengers #44, by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan. In that comic, it's revealed that the Skrulls have repeatedly cloned Mister Fantastic, endlessly torturing his duplicates to extract a way to hide their shapeshifting from the original Reed's tech. Their eventual success led to the Secret Invasion of Earth.

The Skrulls also hate Reed for his involvement with the Illuminati, who invaded the Skrull homeworld in a misguided attempt to scare them away from invading Earth. Instead, they barely escaped alive, leaving behind the DNA that the aliens used to clone Reed.

3 Doctor Doom, aka Victor von Doom

First Seen in Fantastic Four #5 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Doctor Doom hates Reed Richards so much that his catchphrase is yelling Mister Fantastic's name as loudly as possible - "RICHAAAAAARDS!!!" The true, deep-down reason that Doctor Doom hates Reed Richards varies slightly by writer, as the dictator is one of Marvel's most complex characters. Most stories accept that Doctor Doom is the smartest man to ever walk the Earth... apart from Reed Richards. Doctor Doom either knows this and can't stand it, or disagrees and is desperately trying to show the world that only he can truly save it, depending on the creative team.

Doom has considered Reed Richards his rival since they attended university together, where Reed tried to help fix an experiment that ended up blowing up - scarring Doom's face and getting him expelled. Doom blamed Reed, and has continued to see Mister Fantastic as someone who foils plans which would otherwise improve the world. When Doom gained control over reality in Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić's Secret Wars, he both erased Reed Richards from existence and stole his family, suggesting he's also harboring some major jealousy over the love in Reed's life.

While most stories treat Reed as essentially blameless in this rivalry, others have shown that Reed isn't at his best around the villain, subconsciously goading him in ways that cause Doom to act out. Doctor Doom's hatred of Richards has taken some extreme forms - when Doom discovered a universe where his variant had become a hero after forgiving Reed Richards, he promptly destroyed it out of principle.

Doctor Doom is a master of science and magic, with mystic talent on par with the Sorcerer Supreme. He also seldom leaves his advanced armor, and has a genius talent for harnessing exotic energy, having stolen the powers of both the Beyonder and Galactus in his time.

2 Annihilus

First Appearance Fantastic Four Annual #6 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Annihilus is the insectoid overlord of the Negative Zone - a dying universe that is gradually shrinking as it loses energy. In this case, the hatred is notable on Reed's part. While Annihilus' plans have failed many times thanks to Reed Richards' genius, the bug really got under Mister Fantastic's skin by killing his brother-in-law Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. Reed was so angry with Annihilus that he threated to destroy the Negative Zone, with Annihilus' only response being to hold up Johnny's torn costume in malicious glee.

Annihilus is one of the most powerful villains in Fantastic Four history. Possessing superstrength and immense durability on a biological level, Annihilus also wields the Cosmic Control Rod, which gives him total control over cosmic energy. Annihilus is also immortal, resurrecting in a younger body whenever he's killed. As the ruler of an entire universe, Annihilus almost rose to become a godlike Universal Constant, and was only foiled because Thanos and Adam Warlock stepped in to stop his evolution, with neither wanting the competition.

1 Galactus, aka Galan of Taa

From Fantastic Four #48 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Galactus is a cosmic force of destruction - a World-Eater who consumes living planets, storing energy to kickstart the next cycle of the multiverse. Reed and Galactus have one of the most complex relationships in Marvel lore, with Galactus even considering Reed a friend at times. Reed is one of the only mortals in existence who understands Galactus, having taken his powers (and endless hunger) in Mark Waid and Neal Adams' Fantastic Four: Antithesis.

However, this understanding doesn't mean Reed and Galactus are on the same side. Few superhumans can even touch Galactus, so Reed's unique genius makes him Earth's only true protection. There have been many occasions where the two have clashed, and Reed has defeated Galactus multiple times while putting the universe itself on the line to do it. Their 'friendship' is really more professional courtesy, as Reed has stepped in against other forces that want to destroy Galactus, while Galactus has allowed Reed leeway to save those whose planets he consumes, so long as Mister Fantastic doesn't get in the way of his feeding process.

To the rest of the Fantastic Four, Galactus is an unfathomable, godlike force of destruction who shows no flicker of humanity. To Reed Richards, Galactus is a fellow scientist whose curiosity led him into a horrifying but vital purpose in the universe. Arguably, Galactus is an even more personal villain for Reed than Doctor Doom, specifically because their reciprocal respect does nothing to prevent the fact that Galactus must feed and Reed Richards must stop him wherever possible.

Those are the 10 most powerful Fantastic Four villains with a specific tie to Reed Richards - let us know in the comments who else should appear on this list, as well as who should be higher or lower in our power ranking.

• 

  Fantastic Four

  The Fantastic Four is a superhero franchise centered on Marvel Comics' first family of superheroes. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the team made its comic book debut in 1961 and quickly became a cornerstone of Marvel's success. The franchise follows four astronauts—Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm—who gain superpowers after being exposed to cosmic radiation. Over the years, Fantastic Four has been adapted into several live-action films, animated series, and video games. The films have seen multiple reboots, with varying levels of success, and are now set to be integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with a new film slated for release in 2025.

• Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
• 

  Stan Lee

  Discover the latest news and filmography for Stan Lee, known for Spider-Man and The Avengers.