The MCU May Not Admit It, But the Fantastic Four Is Marvel's Most Horrifying Team
The Fantastic Four's powers can get disturbing.
When most think of the Fantastic Four, they tend to associate the heroes with wholesome vibes and a heartwarming familial dynamic. However, despite the team's loving reputation, there's an element of horror to them that's gone unexplored for far too long. The MCU may not be ready to admit that the Fantastic Four are the most terrifying heroes in Marvel lore, but the comics prove that this is indeed the case.
The first trailer for the MCU's Fantastic Four: First Steps has arrived, yet there's one element of the classic super-team that isn't present in this latest depiction of them. In the comics, although the Fantastic Four certainly are heroic figures in Marvel lore, they can also strike fear in onlookers' hearts thanks to their superpowers.
The Fantastic Four have more darkness lying beneath their unassuming surface than most would wager, and it's about time their horror potential was properly fleshed out. The MCU may be pushing the Fantastic Four as a happy-go-lucky family, but in reality, there's something more sinister afoot with these iconic heroes.
The Fantastic Fourâs Powers Prove They Arenât As Wholesome As the MCU SuggestsMarvel's First Family Has A Dark Side, Contrary to Popular BeliefThe Fantastic Four, on the surface, don't evoke a sense of dread. In fact, their closeness has granted them a less threatening perception than other heroes across the Marvel Universe. Still, the key to their more chilling can be found in the powers they possess after their initial run-in with cosmic rays. Reed Richards can stretch himself to gory degrees, Invisible Woman's organs can become visible if her skin turns translucent, the Human Torch can burn anyone or anything if he doesn't control his flames, and the Thing's monstrous form can be threatening just as easily as it can be endearing.
When their powers are removed from the context of their benevolent characterizations, the Fantastic Four's horror potential becomes apparent.
The reason that most don't typically recognize the disturbing elements of the Fantastic Four's powers is because the audience tends to perceive them as heroes. To offer a new point-of-view, Ryan North and Leandro FernĂĄndez's Fantastic Four #10 flips the script to show how others might view the heroes' abilities. Aliens on a ship where time flows differently view the Fantastic Four as monsters as they periodically appear, their powers more unnerving from an outsider's perspective than they are to the initiated. When their powers are removed from the context of their benevolent characterizations, the Fantastic Four's horror potential becomes apparent.
The Fantastic Four Take a Nightmare-Fuel Turn When Their Powers BackfireIn One Disturbing Comic, The Fantastic Four Face Body Horror TransformationsWhen discussing the Fantastic Four's capacity to become horror icons, there's one story that actually explores that idea by pushing the heroes' powers to their gruesome limits. Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Filipe Andrade sends the team on a harmless vacation that takes a seriously haunting turn. When Reed can't help but bring his work with him and conduct experiments on the presolar grains of a meteor crash site, the particles turn out to be infected with cosmic radiation, which causes the Fantastic Four to lose control of their powers in frightening fashion.
RelatedThe Fantastic Four Is Powerful, But Sue Storm's Son Makes Most Marvel Heroes Look WeakAudiences have seen what the Fantastic Four will look like in their next movie, but audiences may not be ready for a hero Marvel has yet to unveil.
As the soil particles poison the Fantastic Four, the effects derail their powers and send them into states that would give any reader nightmares. Invisible Woman's skin grows more and more transparent until her muscles and skeleton are fully visible, while Mister Fantastic's elastic body starts melting away to the point where he has to pour his liquefied limbs into buckets. Meanwhile, the Thing's rocky skin falls off in chunks, whereas the Human Torch is left in unimaginable pain as his flames burn relentlessly. The Fantastic Four become downright monstrous in this story, demonstrating the grotesque downsides of their abilities.
Reed Richards Has the Most Terrifying Powers of Any Fantastic Four HeroMister Fantastic's Stretchy Powers Lend Themselves to Disturbing FormsEvery member of the Fantastic Four has the capacity to terrify readers, but the scariest of all has to be Reed Richards. Though Mister Fantastic's stretchy abilities aren't too creepy on a surface level, he's found increasingly unsettling ways to test the boundaries of his elasticity. Ryan North's Fantastic Four run in particular has a habit of showcasing the unappealing side of Reed's ability, as seen in the series' second issue, wherein he unleashes a disgusting new power by turning his finger into a tentacle with an eyeball on the end. In the blink of an eye, the Fantastic Four's leader can shapeshift into an abomination.
Want to see more of Reed Richards and his fellow Fantastic Four heroes using their off-putting powers? Check out the first four volumes of Fantastic Four by Ryan North, available now in paperback from Marvel Comics!
Altering his existing limbs isn't all that Reed Richards is able to pull off with his skill-set. In Fantastic Four #14, he spawns extra arms, emulating Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus as he attacks an opponent using his elongated tendrils. There doesn't seem to be any feasible limit to the forms he can take by stretching his body in various ways, and that prospect is as exciting as it is horrifying. If he wanted to, Reed could turn himself into a full-fledged monster beyond comprehension. Reed Richards' revolting powers should be explored to their fullest capacity, and the horror genre is the ideal vehicle for that purpose.
MCU, Take Note: The Fantastic Four Deserve More Horror StoriesThe Fantastic Four Should Explore Darker Territory With Their PowersDespite the Fantastic Four's vast potential for scarier narratives, Marvel Comics doesn't tend to depict them in such a manner. Their recent slice-of-life shenanigans are charming, but Marvel shouldn't shy away from mixing up the team's formula every so often to keep things fresh. The Fantastic Four need to embark on more forays into horror as a means of navigating their powers without the constraints of keeping things appropriate for all audiences. Going all-out with gore could propel the Fantastic Four's heroes to new heights and expand their powers beyond normal applications, in addition to introducing horror audiences to Marvel's First Family.
Fantastic FourSummaryThe 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 astronautsâReed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimmâwho 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.
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