All 8 Fantastic Four Movie Villains, Ranked

I herald this ranking.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is closing in on a week in theaters, so it's time to talk about the villains. As we all know, the Fantastic Four do not have a good cinematic track record, and nowhere is that more apparent than in it's antagonists. Marvel's first family has some of the most iconic villains, but for some reason, they have not been given justice on the big screen. There are a few stars, however, so find out who they are in the ranking down below.

8. Doctor Doom

Fant4stic

I'm not going to say anything that new about Toby Kebbell's Doctor Doom, because this is possibly the worst comic book movie villain of all time. Like, up there with Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze. This character bares almost no resemblance to the Doom from the comics. He doesn't even appear as Doctor Doom until the last fifteen minutes, where he becomes this horrible, mannequin-looking abomination that is incredibly overpowered...until he's fighting the Fantastic Four. Also, his whole motivation is to just get back to Planet Zero, but getting back there is going to create a black hole that destroys Earth? What? Man, this movie sucks. And this is an absolutely embarrassing adaptation of one of Marvel's greatest antagonists.

7. Galactus

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

You all know Galactus, the gigantic, purple, world-eating man that looks awesome and is actually a physical being? Well, the writers of Rise of the Silver Surfer thought it'd be better to turn him into a giant fart cloud that isn't really a character. Sure, he (do I even call this version "he" or do I say "it"?) has the looming presence of Galactus, but the payoff in the third act is basically just a giant storm that comes to destroy Earth. I don't know who thought this was a good idea. You took the Fantastic Four's second most popular villain and made him an evil cloud. That is just stupid.

6. Harvey Allen

Fant4stic

I didn't know this until doing research for this ranking, but apparently this guy was supposed to be Mole Man? I didn't catch that at all when watching Fant4stic. Tim Blake Nelson plays your very stereotypical evil government agent who wants to take the heroes's good-natured plan and turn it into something that can benefit them. He's about as generic as these villains get. I genuinely almost forgot to put him on this list, because he's such a forgettable and weak character. All I remember is that he wants to send NASA agents to Planet Zero instead of sending the Fantastic Four...which makes sense, so his "villainous" actions aren't even really wrong. Whatever. I'm never watching this movie again.

5. Doctor Doom

Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I don't think this is a particularly good version of Doctor Doom, but there are shades of what could've made for a compelling villain. I think he looks great. I mean, they basically translated the costume from the comics perfectly. But besides that, he's really missing a lot of what makes Doctor Doom such a great villain. In the first movie, he basically isn't involved in the main story until the third act, so he just feels like an underdeveloped, generic villain who is jealous of Reed Richards. He's incredibly cheesy and is not intimidating in the slightest. And his usage in Rise of the Silver Surfer is pointless and abysmal. I think what they should've done is split that film into two parts and had the first part be the Silver Surfer's arrival and focus on Doom trying to use his board for his own means. I think that could've made for an interesting and different take on the character. Instead, he is shoehorned into this already crowded third act where Galactus is coming, so he just feels like another forced in conflict. I hope to God that Robert Downey Jr.'s version of Doom is good, because it is unforgivable how much they've botched him in live-action up to this point.

4. Mole Man

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I was debating including Mole Man on this list, but I figured why not? Paul Walter Hauser's goofy villain serves a really fun purpose in First Steps. He's not really a villain, because he does help our heroes in the end, but Mole Man is a classic F4 antagonist, so that's why I'm including him. He isn't in a ton of the movie, but I just thought he added a nice, fun element to the story. Subterranea is just another interesting piece of this world of the Fantastic Four that I thought made the movie have more personality, and Mole Man is the representative of that. I liked his dynamic with the group - his hatred of Reed but respect for Sue just made for some fun interactions. He's obviously not a huge character or anything game-changing, but a nice, fun addition to a great movie.

3. Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I think Norrin Radd is the best part of Rise of the Silver Surfer. There's a somberness that Laurence Fishburne carries in his voice that just make him feel very grounded and compelling within a very goofy movie. I think he looks awesome. I love how you can tell that he does not want to do Galactus's bidding but is basically forced to. I do wish we spent a little bit more time with him and were able to develop his backstory and his relationship with Galactus more, because I think that would've made for a truly great, fleshed-out character. As it stands, he is a good, slightly underdeveloped character.

2. Silver Surfer

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I feel like Shalla-Bal had everything that Norrin Radd was missing in Rise of the Silver Surfer. Since Galactus is an actual sentient being in this movie, we actually see her interact with him and begin to understand their dynamic more. Much like the original Silver Surfer, she carries this somberness as you can see that she does not want to do Galactus's bidding, but it hits even harder because we see her backstory and understand why she's doing what she's doing. I loved her dynamic with Human Torch. I thought it underscored Johnny's personality while also giving them a powerful relationship that pays off nicely with her final sacrifice. She was one of the most surprising and awesome parts of First Steps. If she's not dead, I hope to see her again in the future.

1. Galactus

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

When they first announced that Galactus was going to be the villain of First Steps, I was nervous. He's one of my favorite villains from the comics, but I wasn't sure if they could pull him off in live-action because my only reference point was Rise of the Silver Surfer. But they did. And he was awesome. As soon as Silver Surfer shows up and warns the Fantastic Four of his arrival, you feel this looming sense of dread, and it only increases once you meet him. The first time you see him, he's literally just sitting down...but he's so scary because he's so big and intimidating and Ralph Ineson's voice is just bone-chilling. Once you get into the third act, I love how the Fantastic Four has to find a way to battle him that isn't really traditional because he's so huge. He's not super complex. He's not this sympathetic, deeply compelling character. He's a truly menacing force to be reckoned with, and that's exactly what I wanted out of Galactus. I am so glad that they pulled him off, because he made for both an incredible visual spectacle and a really fun villain.