This is a thing now. After looking at who was the most recurring Spider-Man villain, let’s do the same with Marvel’s first family.
The cutoff point is way easier this time: the Lee & Kirby run, meaning I am including Fantastic Four 1-102 and its first six Annuals.
(for those in the know: I have not forgotten issue 108, but given its complicated history it would be hard to decide whether including it means dropping 103-107).
And without even trying, this one ALSO almost neatly fits a Top Ten.
#10-ish: the misunderstanding fight (1 appearance)
Unsurprisingly, unlike Spider-Man the Fantastic Four don’t often fight other heroes.
In fact I am counting in this category Daredevil, Thor and Spider-Man from FF #73, plus Black Panther from his first appearance: they all fight the Fantastic Four once.
#10: the one-issue wonders
A whopping TWENTY characters are the adversary just ONCE.
This is quite impressive: since I’m including 108 issues in this analysis, it means that 9% of the run has a non-recurring villain.
This includes several familiar faces: Annihilus, Attuma, Hate Monger, Impossible Man, Miracle Man, Molecule Man, Rama-Tut and Ronan don’t return until AFTER the Lee & Kirby run.
A couple come from absolute classics and are forever tied to a specific story: Gideon, the Infant Terrible, Kurrgo, Prester John and Ricardo Jones (the name is a later addition, but that’s the guy from “This Man, This Monster”).
Less remembered are the times the Fantastic Four dealt with the Maggia and Magneto, while Tomazooma is remembered when we would all prefer to forget.
But we also have a couple of one-off monsters, the Yeti and the Monster From The Lost Lagoon…
…and the two most forgettable ones of the entire list: the Monocle and Android Man.
Go ahead and tell me you remember Android Man; even if you remember Fantastic Four #79, chances are you forgot he was in this.
#9: the two-issue crowd
Eight characters are the adversary twice. Not a lot of surprises here, although I would have expected the Super-Skrull to be higher.
The crowd consists of him, Blastaar, Diablo, the Enclave, Klaw, the Kree Sentry, Psycho-Man and Red Ghost.
#8: the non-trilogy guys (3 appearances)
Both the Inhuman Royal Family and Maximus fight the Fantastic Four three times each, and they’re not overlapping… in fact Maximus makes his first appearance AFTER the FF have already fought the rest of the Inhumans.
Silver Surfer is the enemy three times as well, but weirdly only 1 issue of the Galactus Trilogy is among those.
The first surprise of this analysis is that the Fantastic Four fought the Hulk three times… which is also the amount of times they have to fight a brainwashed Thing.
Wotta Revoltin’ Development!
#7: the Thing’s future father-in-law (four appearances)
The Puppet Master shows up 4 times, but only ONCE on his own.
He also allies himself with the Mad Thinker TWICE, and once he mind controls Namor to help.
#6: nobody loves the Mole Man (five appearances)
The Mole Man is the last character in this list who never has a team-up or an alliance with anyone during the run.
#5: I don’t have a joke title for this one (six appearances)
Galactus will be the subject of the upcoming Character Chronology, and the Skrulls are boosted by a lengthy storyline at the end of the run.
But we also have Medusa and Trapster here, considering them both as members of the Frightful Four and standalone villains.
In fact, overall the Frightful Four as a team ALSO show up six times.
#4: the Golden Age team-up guy (7 appearances)
Namor is the adversary seven times, but he’s also the master of team-ups in this category.
Excluding the Frightful Four, he teams up the most times: once with Doctor Doom, once with Magneto and once (unwillingly) with the aforementioned Puppet Master.
#3: the Frightful Eight (8 appearances)
Both Wizard and surprisingly Sandman reach the podium, being the main villain even outside of the Frightful Four. Sandman even teams up with Blastaar once, something I totally forgot.
It’s amazing (pun intended) how much Sandman is a Fantastic Four villain in this period.
During the Lee&Kirby run, he shows up in only FOUR Spider-Man issues… and they are ALL prior to Sandman showing up on Fantastic Four!!!
Adding that one time he fought the Human Torch, Sandman was BARELY a Spider-Man villain in the Silver Age. Weird, isn’t it?
#2: he’s mad he’s not number one (9 appearances)
This was a surprise, although not really a shocking one. I expected the Mad Thinker to be high on the list, but not THIS high.
#1: hail to the King (18 appearances)
Come on, was there ever ANY doubt who would be on top of a list like this?
Most Fantastic Four runs tend to use Doctor Doom more sparingly, giving him one or two big storylines at most with some additional appearances sprinkled throughout.
But in the Lee&Kirby run, Doctor Doom shows up a mind-boggling 16.7% of the time!!!
That is literally TWICE the amount of appearances of the runner-up.
He’s ALSO the first recurring villain, as well as the first one to do a team-up (with Namor, in his second appearance).
Despite the duo being given a whole series in the 70s, in the original run that is also the ONLY time they team up.
I wonder why.
