Fantastic Four #23
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #23 marks the debut of the Terrible Trio — Bull Brogin, Yogi Dakor, and 'Handsome' Harry Phillips — three street-level criminals whom Doctor Doom transforms into a bespoke counter-team, each enhanced to neutralize one specific member of the FF. The concept of a villain personally engineering rivals to match the hero team's individual powers was a formative Silver Age storytelling idea that would echo through decades of Marvel plotting. The issue also closes a tight narrative loop: Doom's apparent death by his own space-portal trap feeds directly into Fantastic Four Annual #2, where Rama-Tut rescues him and his full origin is finally told, making this chapter a crucial hinge in the early Doom mythology. Taken together with the internal leadership-election subplot — where Ben, Sue, and Johnny each vote for themselves and Reed ultimately reasserts authority — the issue also shows Lee and Kirby actively shaping the FF's group dynamics rather than simply stringing villain-of-the-month plots together.
In "The Master Plan of Doctor Doom!", the brilliant and ruthless Doctor Doom assembles the Terrible Trio—a trio of notorious criminals—to execute his grand scheme against the Fantastic Four. With Jack Kirby's dynamic art and Stan Lee's sharp storytelling, this 1964 classic sees the team facing their most cunning foe yet, backed by a dangerous new alliance. Cover by Jack Kirby and George Roussos captures the menace of Doom’s rising threat.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was produced during the height of the Stan Lee–Jack Kirby creative partnership, released on newsstands November 12, 1963 with a February 1964 cover date. George Roussos served as inker under his contemporary pseudonym 'George Bell,' a credit he used across Fantastic Four issues #21–27 during this period; Sam Rosen lettered and Stan Goldberg colored the cover. No specific editorial correspondence or production documents for this individual issue appear to have surfaced in the public record, so detailed behind-the-scenes context beyond the standard Marvel bullpen workflow remains undocumented.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance of the Terrible Trio: Bull Brogin (enhanced strength), 'Handsome' Harry Phillips (superhuman hearing, engineered to track the Invisible Girl), and Yogi Dakor (complete fireproofing, engineered to counter the Human Torch) — all created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
- Story title: 'The Master Plan of Doctor Doom!' Written by Stan Lee, pencilled by Jack Kirby, inked by George Roussos (credited in the indicia as 'George Bell'), lettered by Sam Rosen, cover-colored by Stan Goldberg.
- Doctor Doom empowers the trio using his XZ-12 machine and recruits them via a robot decoy — then, after they succeed in capturing the FF, he banishes them to another dimension as 'payment,' planning to summon them again as needed.
- The issue ends with Doom falling through his own space portal and being lost in space — a plot thread picked up immediately in Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964), where Rama-Tut rescues him and his origin is told for the first time.
- Although the three criminals are grouped together in this issue, the name 'Terrible Trio' is not used in the story itself; that designation does not appear in print until Strange Tales #129 (February 1965).
- The story has been reprinted multiple times: Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #17 (October 1968), Marvel Treasury Edition #11 (1976), and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #3 — 'It Started on Yancy Street' (2023), among others.
- The issue features a secondary subplot in which the FF hold an internal vote for a new team leader; each member votes for themselves, the vote fails, and Reed Richards reasserts leadership — an early example of Lee and Kirby using soap-opera character tension to drive plot.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #17 (1968), The Fantastic Four Comic Annual #[nn] (1969), Marvel #3 (1970), I Fantastici Quattro #18 (1971), The Mighty World of Marvel #51 (1973), The Mighty World of Marvel #52 (1973), Marvel Treasury Edition #11 (1976), De Fantastiske Fire [Fantastiske Fire superseriepocket] #1 (1979), Fantastiska fyran pocket (Fantastiska Fyran Superseriepocket) #1 (1979), Los Cuatro Fantásticos #21 (1980), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #30 (1983), The Marvel Saga the Official History of the Marvel Universe #12 (1986), Marvel Masterworks #13 (1990), Essential Fantastic Four #2 (1999), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #3 (2003), Fantastic Four Omnibus #1 (2005), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #3 (2010), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #2 (2017), Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #3 (2023), Fantastic Four Omnibus #1 [Fourth Edition] (2024), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #3 [Third Edition] (2024), Marvel Origins #12 (2024), Doctor Doom Epic Collection #1 (2025), Die Fantastischen Vier #2 + 3 more
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