Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps includes a total of eight Marvel villains, and here is each one ranked by their threat level. By the time of The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ ending, several of these eight villains played a central part in the story. Others were reduced to being Fantastic Four: First Steps Easter eggs.

Regardless of how they were included, the film does a good job of making sure the audience knows that the тιтular team has fought off many Marvel antagonists in their time. Fantastic Four: First Steps’ post-credit scene even goes as far as introducing a future villain, who promises to be more threatening than any.

With that in mind, here is every villain in the MCU’s latest movie, whether they appear by way of a Fantastic Four: First Steps cameo or otherwise, ranked by how threatening they are to Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing.

8

Diablo, The Wizard, & Puppet Master

A Trio Of Classic Fantastic Four Villains

The villains Diablo, the Wizard, and Puppet Master have all been grouped in this list due to the nature of their roles in the movie. This appearance also explains why the trio is ranked as the least threatening villains in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, despite being some of the team’s most iconic villains from early Marvel comic books.

In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Diablo, Wizard, and Puppet Master are only mentioned in one scene. Reed Richards explains that he has been keeping tabs on the villains and their groups since Sue’s pregnancy, proving they are not much of a threat at all to the team.

After all, the villains exist in First Steps’ world unchecked, meaning the Four does not see them as an overt threat. Moreover, if Reed is content to let the law enforcement of Earth-828 contain them, it is clear these villains are the least threatening in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

7

Mole Man

A Villain-Turned-Ally

Mole Man appears in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, played by Paul Walter Hauser. Although Mole Man is initially shown as a villain, the film takes him on somewhat of an arc by showing him as an eventual ally of The Fantastic Four thanks to Sue Storm’s diplomacy.

For this reason, Mole Man is not overly threatening in the film. That said, the early montage at the beginning of The Fantastic Four: First Steps shows Mole Man’s competency as a once-active villain of the team, which is more than can be said for Diablo, Wizard, and Puppet Master.

6

Mad Thinker

Another Iconic Comic Book Antagonist

As alluded to, the montage in the first act of The Fantastic Four: First Steps highlights several villains the team has thwarted over the years. One such villain is the Mad Thinker, another classic F4 baddie from Marvel Comics. Like Mole Man and the aforementioned trio of villains, the Mad Thinker is not overly threatening in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The reason for this is that he is merely mentioned in pᴀssing as a villain whom the team once defeated. Nonetheless, he is still someone the team handled directly – unlike Diablo, Wizard, and Puppet Master – and did not have a change of heart like Mole Man, rendering him a more threatening villain than these antagonists in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

5

Giganto

A Giant Monster

Another of the villains shown in the opening montage is Giganto. Giganto was first teased for the film in a Little Caesars ad that Marvel Studios was undoubtedly hoping would boost The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ box office numbers. His appearance in the film, though, looks considerably better.

Giganto’s appearance is brief, but it shows the Four actively facing off with him. This already ranks him as more threatening than Mole Man, Diablo, Wizard, and Puppet Master. In terms of why he ranks about Mad Thinker, Giganto is much more of a physical threat to the Four and civilian life than the intellectually wired villain.

4

Red Ghost & The Super-Apes

John Malkovich’s Cut Villain & His Minions

Somewhat ironically, this villain is more threatening because he was not in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The villain in question is Red Ghost, a classic antagonist from the source material who has an army of Super-Apes. One moment in the montage shows the team, specifically Reed, fighting one of these apes.

While this is not an overly tense scene with a great deal of threat, Red Ghost was actually supposed to be in the film, played by John Malkovich. Given that Malkovich was planned to have a fairly extensive role in the film’s first act, Red Ghost was primed to be one of the more threatening secondary antagonists of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

This reason alone is enough to rank Red Ghost and the Super-Apes above the others in this list, regardless of whether Malkovich was removed from the final cut.

3

Silver Surfer

The Film’s Main Secondary Villain

Moving into the main villains of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Silver Surfer is the third-most threatening in the film. Silver Surfer immediately makes her threat-level clear, with her speed outmatching Johnny Storm’s as she shakes him from her surfboard. Later, once the Four visit Galactus, the Surfer’s threat is shown again.

Silver Surfer is shown to be faster than The Fantastic Four’s ship, even when going faster than light. She is also incredibly agile and tanked a few direct hits from the guns on the F4’s ship. Later, Silver Surfer single-handedly destroyed all but one of the F4’s portals that they intended to use to transport Galactus away from Earth.

Finally, Silvery Surfer was instrumental in Galactus’ defeat. It was Silver Surfer who crashed into Galactus with enough force to push him back through the portal that the F4 created, proving just how threatening and powerful she truly is. Still, she cannot match up to her master without this slice of luck.

2

Galactus

The Cosmic Devourer

For this reason, Galactus ranks as a more threatening Fantastic Four: First Steps villain than Silver Surfer. After all, Galactus is one of the oldest, most powerful beings in the entire Marvel universe. First Steps manages to nerf him well by focusing on his obsession with Franklin Richards, yet this just proves how threatening he is.

Without several moments of luck, The Fantastic Four would not have defeated Galactus, who almost killed Reed and required enough power from Sue to be defeated that it killed her from exertion. Even at just a fraction of his power, Galactus proved incredibly threatening.

1

Doctor Doom

The Fantastic Four’s Biggest Enemy

All that being said, the most threatening villain in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is Doctor Doom. Doom only appears in one brief sH๏τ in the film’s post-credit scene, which is not overly threatening. However, external knowledge of Doom and what his future holds in upcoming Marvel movies ranks him above Galactus.

Galactus was defeated by the Four and Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, yet Doom will take much more than that. Doom is going to be the main villain of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. This already makes him more threatening than Galactus, as he will threaten the entire multiverse.

The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, The New Avengers, and the X-Men will all team up to defeat Doom, proving his power level. Of course, none of this was shown in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but the teases in the mid-credits scene alone make Doctor Doom the most threatening villain in the film.