Frightful Four
| Frightful Four | |
|---|---|
The Frightful Four, victorious over Human Torch, The Thing, and Storm.
Art by Michael Turner. |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Fantastic Four #36 (1966) |
| Created by |
Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Various |
| Member(s) |
Hydro-Man Klaw Medusa Sandman Thundra Titania Trapster Wizard Dragon Man |
The Frightful Four are a group of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They serve as the antithesis to the Fantastic Four.
The Frightful Four first appeared in Fantastic Four #36 (March 1965), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
The team subsequently appears in Fantastic Four #129 (December 1972), #177 (December 1976), Spectacular Spider-Man #42 (May 1980), The Amazing Spider-Man #214-215 (March–April 1981), Fantastic Four #326-328 (May–July 1989), Fantastic Four Unlimited #5 (March 1994), Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #418 (June 1994), Deadpool (vol. 3) #35 (December 1999), Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #29 (May 2000), and Fantastic Four #514 (August 2004), and #547-549.
The Frightful Four received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #3.
The Frightful Four first appeared in Fantastic Four #36, consisting of the Wizard, the Sandman, Paste-Pot Pete (the latter two who freed the Wizard), and Medusa (who had amnesia at the time). The villains were originally fairly successful, almost defeating the Fantastic Four during Sue and Reed's engagement party in their first appearance. They captured all the members except the Torch, who was able to free the others. The Frightful Four even stole the Fantastic Four's powers which later almost killed them in their second appearance.
When the Fantastic Four disappeared, the Frightful Four attempted to break into the Baxter Building, but were accidentally scared off by Norse God Balder believing him to be the Human Torch.
The Wizard later uses a hypnosis device on the Thing in order to make him their obedient slave. When the Fantastic Four find a lead on where Ben is, they travel to New Jersey and are soon attacked by the Frightful Four. During the fight, Thing arrives and attacks his former comrades. The Thing's added strength is what the Frightful Four needed to defeat the Fantastic Four, while all the members are bound by different booby-trapped restraints. While Mister Fantastic is glued to a wall with the Trapster's paste, the Wizard convinces the Thing that it's Reed's fault that he's a monster and convinces him to kill Reed.Human Torch and Invisible Woman managed to free themselves from their respective traps and counterattack the Frightful Four giving Mister Fantastic enough time to free himself from Trapster's paste. However, while fighting the Thing one on one, Ben manages to catch Reed and smash him into an urn. During the fight, Johnny is captured and Sue chases after the urn with Reed inside. While the Frightful Four brainwash Johnny, Sue frees Reed and they get a hold of a number of the Wizard's anti-gravity discs. Using them to disorientate the other Frightful Four members, they use one to make taking Ben back to base easier. However, although the other members are caught up, the Wizard and Johnny are still free and chase after Reed, Sue and Ben. While being chased by Wizard and a mind-controlled Human Torch, Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman manage to escape from them. The Frightful Four incapacitate Human Torch when they find out that he was pretending to be mind-controlled. Meanwhile, Reed tries to use a device to reverse the brainwashing on Ben. Ben, however, tries to destroy the machine in order to get free, causing an explosion that exposes him to a near lethal dose of radiation. Although it works and Ben is changed back to normal, he's put in a bed to see if he will live or die. The Frightful Four then return to the Baxter Building and attack Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, showing them that they have Human Torch hostage. However, the Thing revives just long enough to crush the Wizard's body armor, giving Human Torch the chance to free himself from the gigantic anti-gravity disc he is tied too. The Fantastic Four then easily defeat their opponents, and capture Wizard, Trapster, and Sandman. Medusa, however, manages to escape. After the three remaining members of the Frightful Four are turned over to the police, Thing decides to rejoin the Fantastic Four with hopes that if Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman can endure this sort of daily danger and be married, then maybe someday he can be normal again.
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