|
home comics |
|
The FF's friends and foes |
|
The fantastic Four have met a lot of interesting characters down the years. You can read about them all in Wikipedia - just seach for "Fantastic Four" and follow any links that interest you. This page is just about my personal favorites. Lockjaw, of course, has his own pages. The best "villains" are not villains at all. They are just interesting, cool characters who just have a different point of view. Special thanks to the Pier Four website (no longer maintained) for graphics and inspiration. |
|
| The Watcher |
|
Why he is cool: This guy is just so different from anyone else. He has godlike powers (he can move planets and stars if he wants) yet chooses to just watch. He comes from an ancient race that devotes their time to recording what goes on in the universe. They know more than just about anyone about anything. Some later writers treat them as if they were fallible humans, but the best writers just treat the Watchers with awe and wonder. |
| Dragon Man |
|
|
Why he is cool: Dragon Man: another character who is neither hero nor villain: simply a wild animal, trying to find his place in the world after being created by a geneticist and an alchemist. He's a tragic figure, often captured and experimented upon by other groups and individuals for their own use. All he wants is to live in peace in the wild, and Ben Grimm (The Thing) feels special sympathy, as he knows what it's like to be different. How can anyone not love him? |
|
| Super Skrull |
|
Why he is cool: Why is Super Skrull one of the coolest characters ever? First, I first saw him in one of the greatest single comic issues ever, the British reprint Mighty World of Marvel 39. Amongst other classic strips it showed the first half of his first story, in large format… years later I saw the whole story in its American format, and the way I first saw it was better. Second, he's realistic. His ridiculous-level powers only work because he's enhanced by a power beam from elsewhere. And he does not suffer from power inflation. Although his power beam has been upgraded, it is still the same Achilles' heel it was in the beginning. So his stories have to be more creative. Third, he's political. He's involved in attempts to change nations and worlds, and they still provide the power beam even when they don't like him. That really intrigues me, it's realistic politics. Fourth, he loses. Despite his immense powers, he usually fails. Yet he keeps trying. And sometimes he succeeds. And he's often betrayed and alone,. He has a hard life but he keeps trying. Fifth, he's complex. He isn't a two-dimensional hero or villain, he's just trying to do what he thinks is right. To some sides (usually human) he's a villain. To others (some factions of the skrulls) he's a hero. He's complex, he's struggling, he is the perfect dramatic hero, with extreme power, operating in extreme political events, with extreme setbacks and extreme emotions. Great dramatic heroes experience complex emotions at a higher level. This guy has universe level conflicts, universe level drama - he makes all other characters look two dimensional and pathetic in comparison. What a guy! |
|
| Mole Man |
|
Why he's cool: He's complex - a sympathetic character. You can see things from his point of view. He is responsible for an entire world, yet he's lonely and hated, shunned because he's ugly. And he's fat. And lacks social skills. And has poor eyesight. And no superpowers. And no silly costume. He's just so realistic, unlike most of the folk you meet in superhero comics. He lives in Real Time, thanks to his anti-ageing discoveries he has no need for Marvel Time. He was a real time birth day and real time history. I like Real Time. Did I mention that I like Real Time? He provides access to the coolest part of the Marvel Universe - the caverns within the earth. Given the many miles of the earth's crust, the combined surface area of his realm may be more than that of the surface world, and certainly larger than most surface nations. He is our link to a whole alien world of adventure, less than a mile away beneath our feet. One with its own rules and mysteries and our link with amazing alien worlds. One that does not rely on the same old costumed villains endlessly fighting. How cool is that! He also provides links with the Deviants and Eternals, the great cosmic back story of the Marvel Universe. With the Mole man, the remote ethereal gods come down to earth (literally!) and become tangible and believable. He ties up loose ends, and answers questions like "where does the fantastic technology come from? Where are the monsters from? What happened when the gods left?" He is the gateway to all the really good stuff. He is the Fantastic Four's first opponent, and the link with the previous generation of comics, the monster stories. His early activities may have influenced various subterranean monster incursions that plagued the U.S. and other nations during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The mole man is paranoid, but he has every right to be. He was driven underground by the hatred and scorn of the surface world. The surface world tests atomic bombs under ground. They bury atomic waste and pollution underground (the pollution affected him directly). Would-be Messiah Alden Maas, in his mad attempt to expand the Earth, unleashed magma flows in Subterranea, killing many of its inhabitants. The surface world has a record of attacking when they feel threatened, and the Mole Man's vast empire will definitely be seen as a threat since it can burst in on the surface world at any time and any place. And Moley has been directly attacked by Tyrannus and Kala and the High Evolutionary. His occasional preemptive strikes to neutralise his enemies are understandable. He has a compassionate side. He was driven underground because he was shunned by the surface world. He welcomes surface society's rejects into Subterranea as his Outcasts. He took Tyrannus's abandoned Tyrannoids under his wing as well. Recently the Mole Man decided it was time for peace with the surface world, only to be attacked by FF clones created by Aron the Rogue Watcher, renewing his desire for war. Since then he has again established an uneasy neutrality with the FF and other surface heroes, providing occasional aid when it suited his interests and fighting them only out of misunderstanding or manipulation. Yet the FF ambushed and captured the Mole Man, placing him in stasis aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier as part of their efforts to preemptively imprison all of their foes. Again and again the Mole Man is attacked. Can we blame him for wanting to protect his millions (billions?) of child-like subjects who look to him for protection? What a guy! |
|