Psycho-Man

This article is about the Marvel Comics character. For the Black Sabbath song, see Psycho Man (song).

Psycho-Man is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Psycho-Man
Psycho-Man as depicted in Fantastic Four #283 (October 1985). Art by John Byrne.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Fantastic Four Annual #5 (November 1967)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Place of origin	Traan
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Use of powered armor Possesses a futuristic space vessel Emotion manipulation via emotion-controlling device

Publication history

Psycho-Man first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (Nov. 1967) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.^[1]

Fictional character biography

Psycho-Man is the leader of a technocracy and governs a microscopic system of worlds in Sub-Atomica.^[2] Due to overpopulation on these worlds, he decides that the macroscopic world will be an ideal new base. Psycho-Man builds human-sized armor and emotion-manipulating technology to invade Earth, only to be thwarted by the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans, and Black Panther.^[3]

The character reappears in the title Fantastic Four when Mister Fantastic, the Human Torch and the Thing travel to Psycho-Man's realm to find the Silver Surfer. Becoming aware of the threat of Galactus, Psycho-Man allows the heroes and the Surfer to leave unopposed.^[4] In the title Micronauts the diminutive heroes are joined by the Fantastic Four and battle Psycho-Man, who claims to be in forced exile.^[5] Psycho-Man reappears in the title Fantastic Four and uses an android based on the Hate-Monger to incite hatred amongst the population of New York City.^[6] Psycho-Man succeeds in transforming the Invisible Girl into Malice and sends her to destroy the remainder of the Fantastic Four. Mister Fantastic frees his wife from the conditioning and they pursue Psycho-Man to the Microverse, where he is forced to experience a number of negative emotions simultaneously by the Invisible Girl after she turns his equipment against him. Psycho-Man is rendered comatose and Susan changes her name to the Invisible Woman in recognition of her growth.^[7]

During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Psycho-Man takes advantage of the fear and chaos caused by the Serpent and his Worthy by plotting to use Man-Thing as the ultimate fear bomb for Earth and other worlds. Psycho-Man has to deal with the Fearsome Four (consisting of Howard the Duck, She-Hulk, Nighthawk, and Frankenstein's Monster). Psycho-Man brings forth an alternate version of the Fantastic Four (consisting of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Grey Hulk, and Ghost Rider) from another dimension and brainwashes them into fighting the Fearsome Four. Howard the Duck uses his secret weapon - a device called the "No Thing" - which defeats Psycho-Man and the alternate Fantastic Four.^[8]

Powers and abilities

Psycho-Man possesses advanced intelligence and can manipulate the emotions of others using his Control-Box. Being a microscopic being, Psycho-Man uses and remotely controls an advanced body armor outside the Microverse.

Other versions

• An alternate universe variant of Psycho-Man from Earth-12101 appears in Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #1. He attempts to brainwash Deadpool, only to drive him insane and be killed by him.^[9]
• An alternate universe variant of Psycho-Man from Earth-1610 appears in Ultimate Fantastic Four #44.^[10] This version is Revka Temerlune Edifex Scyros III, the leader of Zenn-La, and is served by the Silver Surfer.

In other media

Psycho-Man appears in the Fantastic Four episode "Worlds Within Worlds", voiced by Jamie Horton.^[11]