Fantastic Four #20 – Comics Archeology

FANTASTIC FOUR #20 (1963)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

We have already met Molecule Man in Secret Wars, easily his most famous storyline. But it was kind of a surprise to see him play a major role, considering he only had EIGHT appearances before Secret Wars… and nearly all of them suck.
This time we’re only looking at his first story, but be warned: I will eventually review all those eight stories.

We begin with something that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story: Reed Richards analyzing a meteor.

I guess Reed must be off his meds or something because he’s convinced this meteor is supposed to prove that “some form of life must exist in outer space”.
I know it’s extremely early in their career but the Fantastic Four have already met aliens FIVE times (the Skrulls twice, the very forgettable Kurrgo, the Impossible Man and the Watcher).

The plot actually starts when a ball of fire appears in the middle of the street, terrorizing the people and allowing the Fantastic Four to cause a lot of damage.

And of course the Invisible Girl is her usual useless self.

The reason for this ball causing so much trouble is simply hilarious: it was sent by the Watcher to retrieve the Fantastic Four. Hilarious because he’s supposedly doing this to interfere as little as possible. Dude, you could’ve just called!!!

When even the Watcher calls you “ridiculous-looking”, the universe is basically asking you to become a supervillain.

The unnamed scientist gets a much needed new look thanks to an atomic accident.

There’s very little consistency in the Molecule Man’s facial scars, even in this story alone. But he looks scarier than he’ll ever look.

No clue where he got that wand.

Also I know the Human Torch is not exactly a scientific genius, but come on.

The Watcher asks the team to stop Molecule Man before he does too much damage, and once he takes them back to Earth… he’s already stolen their skyscraper.

First Doctor Doom, now Molecule Man… the Baxter Building can’t catch a break!

This is one of the occasions where the modern recoloring screws up, because as you can see in this scan of the original it’s FAR clearer that he’s levitating the building.

We get a good look at the Molecule Man’s costume, and it’s a classic Kirby design that really stands the test of time.

Naturally, with the power to control ALL molecules, the way to defeat his enemies is… magnets.

The Molecule Man proves himself to be a formidable foe…

…and a bit silly.

Will the Invisible Girl be the one to secure the win?

Well it’s 1963, so… nope!

Here’s a thought, Molecule Man. Instead of bothering with shields, can’t you just make their guns disappear!?

The Fantastic Four retreat to come up with a plan, and Molecule Man then takes the entire city hostage. Creating this kind of glass barrier is kind of a specialty for him: we’ll see this use of his powers time and time again.
Also I guess that for ordinary citizens this is still by far his most high profile act, since for most of his future appearances he’ll only be a menace known to the heroes.

The Fantastic Four take refuge at Alicia’s, the Thing’s blind girlfriend. That’s where Mister Fantastic deduces that Molecule Man cannot affect organic molecules… which he only knows because Molecule Man was stupid enough to precisely describe everything he was doing.

They set up a trap for Molecule Man, who shows up in an… unique fashion.

Okay I get how Reed could deduce Molecule Man can’t control organic molecules… but how in the holy name of Professor Potter could he figure out THIS would happen!?!?

With the Molecule Man separated from his wand for a moment, the Watcher finally decides to do something.

So… why exactly DID you need the Fantastic Four, Watcher!?

And so we end with Molecule Man trapped in another dimension, leaving behind only his wand.

Molecule Man would return ten years later in an awful story.

Historical significance: 6/10
Despite the fact that he gets ONE appearance in the Silver Age, Molecule Man is actually incredibly important for Marvel’s in-universe history. Being responsible for the Beyonder’s creation means Secret Wars simply would not happen without him… and that’s true for both the 1984 series and the 2015 sequel. And in the latter he’s nearly single-handedly responsible for all of reality surviving! That being said… you can basically ignore everything from this issue save by the fact that Molecule Man EXISTS.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
It rarely gets higher on the Marvel scale.

Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Even as a huge fan of Molecule Man… this one is pretty rough. He gets to be creative with his powers, but personality wise he’s unbelievably generic and kind of an idiot. Neither Stan Lee or Jack Kirby are at their best here, and the Fantastic Four don’t really come up as great heroes.

How close is this to the modern character? 3/10
The classic costume is there, but other than that… meh. He sure sounds like any other world-conquering supervillain. The wand comes out of nowhere (no wonder it was discarded with little fanfare shortly before Secret Wars), as does the limitation about organic molecules.

My first exposure to Molecule Man was during Secret Wars II. And while he was pretty unremarkable in most of the miniseries, my fascination with the character started with his awesome appearance in the Stern & Buscema run on Avengers.
Unlike other cosmic beings, Molecule Man is typically very human. Despite treating superheroes as little more than nuisances most of the time.

Molecule Man did manage to get back at the Watcher in one of the extremely few bits of Secret Wars II that I genuinely enjoyed.

Being linked to the Beyonder, his powers have been targeted by a couple of retcons. In the 2000s he returned to his post-Secret Wars near omnipotence; he’s also lost a bit of his grasp of reality.
My headcanon is that his power is inversely proportional to his sanity, which is quite a scary thought when you realize how absolutely broken his power level is.

As of 2022 he’s supposed to be dead, but… by this point he’s probably the most powerful Marvel character, so don’t count him out just yet.