Superhero Secrets: The Fantastic Four

Secrets too Fantastic to Believe

Every family has secrets and the Fantastic Four are no exception. From the distant past to the depths of the Negative Zone, they’ve hidden skeletons in countless closets. Each member has at least one big secret that we’re gonna drag into the light.

So what are the Fantastic Four Secrets? Let’s find out.

Meet Your Maker

Writers can’t agree on Mr. Fantastic’s personality. Sometimes he’s Atticus Finch as a two-fisted science adventurer. Others write him as a good person hyper-focused on science over his family. But a few portray him as a mad scientist waiting for one bad day. This Fantastic Four Secret features an evil Reed who’s only missing a goatee.

In the Ultimate universe, Reed Richards was a teenage genius who discovered a way to teleport to another dimension. He and Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm ran into trouble when an experiment went awry and gave them powers that they used to fight crime as The Fantastic Four.

Early in their career, Magneto tried to wipe out humanity. Millions died, including half of the hero community. Reed lost his faith in humanity as the world devolved into cruelty, cannibalism, and incest. Reed became a supervillain, The Maker, because he believed that people needed to be controlled if they were going to be safe.

The Maker committed many atrocities in the Ultimate universe until it was destroyed, then kicked around the main Marvel Universe. He created his own Ultimate universe and used foreknowledge to prevent origin stories that empowered his former colleagues. The Maker rules that world as a despot, with only rebels including Spider-Man, Green Goblin, and The Ultimates opposing him.

Fantastic Four Secret: Malice Unbound

The Invisible Girl has always been the Fantastic Four’s heart. She’s the one who pulls Reed’s head out of the clouds, douses Johnny when he’s too heated, and lifts Ben up when he’s down. But Sue rarely gets support. This Fantastic Four Secret is about the time she was pushed too far.

Reed and Sue tried to have a second child, but cosmic radiation made that dangerous. Their child was stillborn and Sue nearly died. The incident traumatized the Invisible Girl, leaving her vulnerable to an old enemy called The Psycho Man who magnified her negative emotions to create an evil personality dubbed Malice.

Malice attacked the Fantastic Four, trauma-dumping between death threats and sadistic displays. She used her powers far more effectively than the Invisible Girl ever had. Mr. Fantastic realized the only way to free her was to make Sue hate him more than Malice did, so he insulted her, belittled her emotions, and slapped her face. How… heroic. 

Rage freed Sue, who had the perfect way to vent. She beat the crap out of Psycho Man for mind-raping her and turned his equipment against him to damage his brain. Sue decided that the Invisible Girl had died. From then on, she would be The Invisible Woman.

One Torch Lights Another

The Fantastic Four heralded Marvel’s Silver Age of Comics and an in-universe Age of Heroes. They were the bedrock on which most later heroes were built, but they weren’t the first. Several WWII characters led that charge. This Fantastic Four Secret is Johnny Storm’s inspiration and Marvel’s first superhero.

Professor Phineas Horton created a biological android with a bizarre glitch: its skin burst into flames when exposed to air. He sealed his Human Torch in cement and searched for a fix. A small crack in the cement ignited the Human Torch, freeing him.

The Human Torch rampaged through New York until he learned how to control his flames. He named himself Jim Hammond and joined the police. The Torch stopped criminals, fought the first battle between superheroes against Namor, and incinerated Adolf Hitler. 

Johnny Storm met his predecessor when Jim was reprogrammed to kill him. He defeated the android, and Reed fixed the hack. Jim gave Johnny his blessing to use the Human Torch identity. Ironically, Johnny also inherited a rivalry with Namor because of the Atlantean’s lust for his sister, The Invisible Woman.

Fantastic Four Secret: Beauty and The Thing

Ben Grimm has a rocky life. Everyone’s favorite golem copes with depression, body dysphoria, and a fear that he’ll always be alone. How bittersweet and strange to find that things can change and learn that he was wrong. This Fantastic Four secret is the Belle to his Beast. 

Alicia Masters was the blind daughter of The Puppet Master. He convinced her to help him defeat the Fantastic Four by infiltrating them while disguised as The Invisible Girl. Alicia reluctantly agreed, but faltered when she met The Thing. Unable to see his monstrous appearance, she instead perceived his gentleness and sorrow. Alicia betrayed Puppet Master and saved the Fantastic Four.

She became The Thing’s girlfriend, often using impressions of his face to inspire her sculptures. Alicia was the unofficial fifth member of the team who helped in emergencies before being endangered so The Thing could protect her.

The Thing worried that Alicia wouldn’t love him if she ever learned what he looked like, despite her having felt his face many times. He kept trying to regain his human form, but he eventually got the idea that she loved him for him. Alicia and Ben received the Puppet Master’s blessing and were married.

Fantastic Four: The Next Generation

The Four are called Marvel’s First Family for a reason. Reed and Sue are married, Johnny is her brother, and all three wholeheartedly consider Ben and Alicia part of the family. But while they’re the most famous Fantastic Four, a new family is on the rise. The final Fantastic Four secret is their children.

Franklin Richards is the firstborn son. He is a Mutant reality warper strong enough that a future incarnation made Galactus into his servant. Franklin can’t control his powers and sealed most of them away so he can experience a normalish childhood. He often goes on adventures with younger heroes using the codename Powerhouse.

Valeria Richards died at birth. The Fantastic Four later discovered an alternate timeline where she survived and became Dr. Doom’s daughter. That Valeria died helping save the universe, but Franklin used his reality warping powers so his mother became pregnant with her again. Doctor Doom delivered Valeria in exchange for naming her after a former lover. Valeria became a bond between the Fantastic Four and her Uncle Doom. She is one of the smartest people on Earth and has latent supervillain traits.

Ben and Alicia Grimm have the last two kids. Jo-Venn: Chronicle of the Kree and N’Kalla: the Requiem of the Skrulls were child soldiers implanted with the millennia-long history of the Kree-Skrull War. They were forced to recreate famous battles for audiences by fighting each other. The Thing freed the young gladiators, taught them to get along, and ultimately adopted them.

Didya Get All That?

Fantastic as they are, these secrets are true.

Image: (L-R): Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2025 MARVEL.

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.