Written by Stan Lee – Art by Jack Kirby – Inks by George Bell – Letters by Artie Simek

Marvel gets political.

The Fantastic Four have already dealt with Cold War paranoia, communism, and the threat of foreign enemies. But this issue feels like something different. Lee and Kirby take on hatred, prejudice, and the way political figures can turn fear of people who are different into a source of power.

The Hate-Monger is about as subtle as his name suggests. He’s preaching hatred of foreigners, people who look different, and anyone who doesn’t share his beliefs. He manages to whip a crowd of people in an American city into a frenzy, turning them against one another. There’s no mistaking what Lee and Kirby are getting at here.

There is a bit of a comic-book shortcut involved. The Hate-Monger has a ray that can literally make people hate one another, and even the Fantastic Four fall victim to it, turning against their own teammates. It gives the story a conventional supervillain weapon to fight, rather than having to deal entirely with the more complicated ways people are manipulated by fear and prejudice. But the underlying idea is pretty clear. The Hate-Monger isn’t simply trying to defeat the Fantastic Four. He’s trying to turn people against each other.

Things get even more interesting when we discover that the Hate-Monger’s activities extend to South America. Enter Nick Fury, now a contemporary character working for the CIA. He recruits the Fantastic Four to help stop the Hate-Monger and get involved in a political conflict in the fictional South American country of San Gusto.

The Fantastic Four eventually overcome the effects of the Hate-Ray and confront the Hate-Monger. He’s defeated by his own weapon, and when his identity is revealed, we discover that he’s apparently Adolf Hitler, or possibly one of Hitler’s doubles. It’s a pretty wild reveal, but it makes the point about the kind of hatred he’s spreading impossible to miss.

Lee and Kirby even add a final speech from Reed, explaining that as long as people can’t love one another regardless of race, creed, religion, or color, the Hate-Monger will continue to exist. They’re not leaving much room for interpretation. This is a comic book making a statement about prejudice, and Marvel is putting that statement front and center.

What’s particularly interesting is the timing. The issue went on sale in September 1963, during an important period in the civil rights movement. The March on Washington had taken place just weeks earlier, and the country was wrestling with questions of racial equality, discrimination, and the meaning of American ideals.

Lee and Kirby were also creators whose generation had lived through World War II and the fight against fascism. We can’t know exactly which events or experiences shaped this particular story, but the concerns it addresses were very much part of the world around them.

Marvel has been political from the beginning, but this feels like a significant step. It’s one thing to have superheroes fighting communists or foreign threats. It’s another to make hatred and bigotry themselves the enemy. And the story doesn’t present this as something happening somewhere far away. The Hate-Monger is stirring up trouble right here in America.

It’s also a reminder that comics didn’t suddenly become political recently. Marvel was already using its superhero stories to explore questions about prejudice, intolerance, and the kind of society people want to live in. The costumes and ray guns might change, but some of these fights never really go away.

Marvel in the 60s – Entry #101