The Unfab Four

Since they've apparently decided to go elemental on Freedom City again, I figured I'd better give a quick refresher on the Factor Four, one of the dumbest super-villain teams known to mankind, who'd be completely laughable if it weren't for the genius of their leader, Professor Fathom.

So who are they? Well, exactly who they were isn't really known, but who they are now is. You've got Granite, who's as big as a mountain and about as dumb. There's Sylph, a woman who assumes a gasous wraith form and appears to only be good for suffocating her opponents. Apparently, she was quite the hottie before achieving her superpowers, but frankly I don't want to date any woman I can see through. Pyre is the fire elemental of the group (you knew there had to be one, right?) who can shoot burning rays from his hands, fly at something like Mach 3 and is stupid enough to try and drive a car while still in flame form, with the results you'd expect.

This anti-brain trust is led by Professor Fathom, who apparently gave them their powers and who has led them on a nationwide (and on one memorable occasion in London, worldwide) crime spree. Based on what they've tried to steal, and the fact that no one's ever seen them transform to or from non-elemental forms, I'm guessing they're permanently stuck in their Fire & Ice knockoff forms.

They've done some amazing things -- animating the Statue of Liberty to attack New York, causing a magma eruption in Los Angeles (who'd have thought a lame Hollywood movie could actually happen?) and even stealing a chunk of the Titanic from some salvagers. But however brilliant's plans, inevitably one of the rest of the Factor does something boneheaded (like say, attacking a superhero in broad daylight in the Wharf District), gets caught by the authorities and gets thrown into jail until Fathom can break them out again.