[3] The villains were originally fairly successful, almost defeating the Fantastic Four during Susan Storm and Reed Richards's engagement party in their first appearance.

[5] When the Fantastic Four disappeared, the Frightful Four attempted to break into the Baxter Building, but were accidentally scared off by Norse God Balder believing him to be the Human Torch.

Thing's added strength was what the Frightful Four needed to defeat the Fantastic Four, while all the members were bound by different booby-trapped restraints.

Although the other members were caught up, Wizard and Human Torch were still free and chase after Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Thing.

However, Thing tried to destroy the machine in order to get free causing an explosion that exposes him to a near-lethal dose of radiation.

The Frightful Four then returned to the Baxter Building and attacked Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, showing them that they had Human Torch as a hostage.

However, Thing revived just long enough to crush Wizard's body armor, giving Human Torch the chance to free himself from the gigantic anti-gravity disc he was tied to.

That time, they planned to kidnap Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman's newborn son Franklin Richards.

[15] They then attacked Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman as Franklin unleashed energy that ended up awakening Thing.

They subsequently held an audition for a fourth member much to the disappointment of the Baxter Building's landlord Walter Collins.

The device that was on the mechanical spider enabled Wizard and his ally to track down Spider-Man's spider-senses to his apartment building where they end up rounding up the tenants.

[24] Wizard later assembled Hydro-Man, Titania, and Klaw as the Frightful Four when attacking the Four Freedoms Plaza following Sandman's reform.

[31] At the time when Doctor Doom switched minds with Mister Fantastic, Wizard led the Frightful Four (consisting of himself, She-Thing, Trapster, and a Punisher robot) in an attack on the Baxter Building.

[32] When the Fantastic Four's reputation was damaged by their attempted coup of Latveria to destroy Doctor Doom's arsenal, the Wizard assembled a new team consisting of himself, the Trapster, Hydro-Man (who now wears a costume made from the same material has Human Torch's costume), and his ex-wife Salamandra, seeking to take advantage of the team's current poor standing by defeating them on a live broadcast.

[34] Another version of the Frightful Four (consisting of Wizard, Hydro-Man, Titania, and Trapster) appears to challenge the Fantastic Four again only to find themselves dealing with the additional presence of the Black Panther and Storm, who had temporarily joined the Fantastic Four while Reed and Sue were on a second honeymoon to work on their marriage after their separation during the "Civil War".

[38] At the time when Thing was fighting Red Hulk, a new line-up of the Frightful Four (consisting of Wizard, Klaw, Lyra, and Trapster) attacked the Baxter Building.

[40] Under the orders of a mysterious benefactor, Wizard formed another incarnation of the Frightful Four consisting of Wrecker, Thunderball, and a female Bulldozer.

[41] During the fight to which the rest of the Fantastic Four joined, the members of the Frightful Four demonstrated increased powers with which they almost defeated the heroes until the Future Foundation replacement team led by Ant-Man arrived to help them and finally capture the villains in one of Invisible Woman's force fields until S.H.I.E.L.D.

[42] Wizard's mind began to shows signs of dementia due to punishment inflicted by Black Bolt,[43] so he decided to create a new Frightful Four with Klaw, Karl Malus, and Carnage.

[19] An alternate universe iteration of the Frightful Four from Earth-98 appears in Fantastic Four Annual (1998), consisting of the Wizard, Blastaar, Quicksand, and the Hooded Haunt.

This version of the group are evil, paranoid variants of the Fantastic Four who blame non-existent enemies for the accident that transformed them, seek revenge on the world, and are opposed by Victor von Doom / Doc Iron.

[volume & issue needed] They travel from their native universe to Earth-1610 to spread their zombie virus to it, only to be captured by its version of Mister Fantastic.

[volume & issue needed] Throughout Ultimate Fantastic Four #31-32, the Frightful Four escape in an attempt to bring more zombies from their universe to Earth-1610.

[volume & issue needed] However, Fantastic uses Doctor Doom's body and magic to kill them and send their remains back to their native dimension.

[volume & issue needed] An alternate universe iteration of the Frightful Four appear in What If This was the Fantastic Four?, consisting of the Sandman, Venom, Sabretooth, and the Abomination.