Frightful Four
The Frightful Four are a supervillain team that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Frightful Four were a team of supervillains brought together under the leadership of the Wizard.
Requiring a fourth member, the Wizard had heard of a strange woman hiding out on a remote island on the Mediterranean who had complete control of her hair. Travelling there, the Wizard came to convince Madame Medusa to join their ranks. Her past a mystery, Medusa agreed to join them and the Frightful Four were born. (Fantastic Four v1 #36)
After forming, they came to learn that Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl had announced that they were engaged to be married. After an engagement party, the Frightful Four attacked the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters. Although they incapacitated the Thing, Mister Fantastic, and the Invisible Girl they were too late to stop the Thing's girlfriend Alicia Masters from sending out a signal flare to the Human Torch who was away from the building at the time. Although the Frightful Four used anti-gravity disks to end the Fantastic Four in the same way the Wizard almost perished, the Torch came to their rescue. Outclassed by the veteran heroes, the Frightful Four decided to retreat in the ensuing battle, setting their anti-gravity craft to self-destruct providing cover for the group to escape. (Fantastic Four v1 #36)
Wizard later used a hypnosis device on the Thing in order to make him their obedient slave by Medusa's request. When the Fantastic Four found a lead on where Ben was, they traveled to New Jersey and were soon attacked by the Frightful Four. During the fight, Thing arrived and attacked his former comrades. Thing's added strength was what the Frightful Four needed to defeat the Fantastic Four, while all the members were bound by different booby-trapped restraints. While Mister Fantastic was glued to a wall with the Trapster's paste, Wizard convinced Thing that Mister Fantastic was responsible for his monstrous nature and convinced him to kill Reed. (Fantastic Four v1 #41) Human Torch and Invisible Woman managed to free themselves from their respective traps and counterattacked the Frightful Four giving Mister Fantastic enough time to free himself from Trapster's paste. However, while fighting Thing one on one, Ben managed to catch Reed and smash him into an urn. During the fight, Human Torch was captured and Invisible Woman chases after the urn with Reed inside. While the Frightful Four brainwashed Human Torch, Invisible Woman freed Mister Fantastic. They got a hold of a number of the Wizard's anti-gravity discs. Using them to disorientate the other Frightful Four members, they used one to make taking Thing back to base easier. Although the other members were caught up, Wizard and Human Torch were still free and chase after Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Thing. (Fantastic Four v1 #42) While being chased by Wizard and a mind-controlled Human Torch, Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman managed to escape from them. The Frightful Four incapacitated the Human Torch when they found out that he was pretending to be mind-controlled. Meanwhile, Mister Fantastic tried to use a device to reverse the brainwashing on Thing. However, Thing tried to destroy the machine in order to get free causing an explosion that exposes him to a near-lethal dose of radiation. Although it worked and Thing was changed back to normal: he was put in a bed to see if he would live or die. The Frightful Four then returned to the Baxter Building and attacked Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, showing them that they had Human Torch as a hostage. However, Thing revived just long enough to crush Wizard's body armor, giving Human Torch the chance to free himself from the gigantic anti-gravity disc he was tied to. The Fantastic Four then easily defeated their opponents and captured Wizard, Trapster, and Sandman while Medusa got away. After the three remaining members of the Frightful Four were turned over to the police, Thing decided 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 could be normal again. (Fantastic Four v1 #43)
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. (Journey into Mystery v1 #116)
Having recruited Thundra into their ranks, the Wizard led the Frightful Four in a new attack against the Fantastic Four. This involved ambushing the Thing but their plan face an obstacle in the form of Medusa who looked to defend Ben Grimm. (Fantastic Four v1 #129) The two were ultimately defeated through the skill and strength of Thundra though she stopped her teammates from killing their helpless captives as she was against cold-blooded murder. The Frightful Four then took over Reed Richard's laboratory after Mr. Fantastic was similarly incapacitated though once again Thundra stopped her comrades from killing the man and his son Franklin Richards. During this time, the Thing broke free from his restraints and with desperation he looked to save his family that were the Fantastic Four. Thundra engaged him in battle but saw no entertainment in their fight as Grimm was driven by paternal instinct to save his loved ones whereas she wanted to defeat him in a contest. After knocking him to the side, she decided to abandon the fight and her teammates but ended up making an escape path for the Frightful Four as she believed that they were still of use to her. (Fantastic Four v1 #130)
Another incarnation of the Frightful Four was formed by the Wizard alongside the Trapster. This version came to include the Wizard's estranged ex-wife Salamandra. To this end, the Wizard wanted to exploit his daughter Cole to lure the Fantastic Four into a trap. (Fantastic Four v1 #514)
Whilst as a member of the Intelligencia, the Wizard began to assemble a new incarnation of the Frightful Four to aid him in his operations. The team consisted of himself, Trapster and Klaw with Thundra's place being offered to Lyra. She was the time-displaced daughter of Thundra with the Wizard unsure about her being on the team but she was allowed on their mission to strike the Baxter Building. The Frightful Four managed to defeat the Fantastic Four with the Wizard stealing a piece of technology whilst overloading the Negative Zone portal to destroy the entire structure but this was thwarted by the intervention of the Red Hulk. (Hulk v2 #19)
Overview
In appearance, the Frightful Four were a team of supervillains who either possessed superpowers or used advanced equipment. (Fantastic Four v1 #36)
Members
- Wizard :
- Sandman :
- Paste-Pot Pete :
- Medusa :
- Hydro-Man :
- Klaw :
- Thundra :
- Titania :
- Dragon Man :
- Red Ghost :
- She-Thing :
- Salamandra :
- Karl Malus :
Notes
- The Frightful Four was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where they made their first appearance in Fantastic Four v1 #36 (March, 1965).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, the Frightful Four made a number of appearances in the animated television series starting in the pilot episode "Great Power".
Appearances
- Fantastic Four v1: (1965)
- Incredible Hulk:
- Hulk v2:
- Superior Carnage v1:
- Fantastic Four v5:
External Links
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