Mister Fantastic

Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a Marvel Comics superhero, a member of the Fantastic Four. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961).

Possessing a mastery of mechanical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology, Richards is one of the most intelligent human beings in the Marvel universe. He is the inventor of the spacecraft bombarded by cosmic radiation on its maiden voyage, granting the Fantastic Four their powers. Richards gained the ability to stretch his body into any shape he desires.

Mr. Fantastic is the leader of the Fantastic Four, although his methodical manner sometimes makes him seem cold and distant to his teammates, particularly best friend the Thing, who somewhat blames Richards for his transformation into a large, rocky creature. He is, however, the loving husband of the Invisible Woman and mentor of the Human Torch.

Character history

Pre-Fantastic Four

Born in Central City, California, Reed is the son of Nathaniel and Evelyn Richards. Nathaniel was a scientific genius, and Reed inherited the same level of intellect. A child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics, Reed Richards had enrolled in college by the time he was fourteen, attending such prestigious universities as the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, and the fictional Empire State University.

It was at Empire State University that he met and became the roommate of Benjamin J. Grimm. Reed had already begun designing a starship capable of traveling in hyperspace. Sharing his plans with his new roommate, Grimm jokingly volunteered to pilot the craft.

When Reed continued his education by attending Columbia University in Manhattan, he rented a room in a boarding house owned by the aunt of a young girl named Susan Storm. To his embarrassment, the young girl instantly fell in love with him. Even though Reed had to move on, they continued to carry a torch for each other. Also while at Columbia, he met a brilliant fellow student, Victor Von Doom. In Richards, Doom had met the first person who could rival him intellectually; regarding Richards as his ultimate rival, Doom became increasingly jealous of Richards. Determined to prove he was better, Doom conducted reckless experiments which eventually scarred his face and would lead him to become Doctor Doom.

Moving on to Harvard, Reed earned Ph.D.s in both physics and electrical engineering, all this by the age of 22. After spending six years in the military, Reed began using his inheritance, along with government funding, to finance his research. Determined to reach the stars, the fateful project began, based in Central City. Susan Storm, now an adult, moved into the area and within a short time, found herself engaged to Reed. Likewise, Reed’s old college roommate, Ben Grimm, had gone on to become a successful test pilot and astronaut and was indeed slated to pilot the craft.

All seemed well; however, when the government threatened to cut funding and cancel the project, Reed, Ben, Sue and her younger brother Johnny, all decided to sneak aboard the starship and take it up immediately. They knew they had not completed all the testing that had been planned, but Reed was confident they would be safe.

It was on Reed's initiative that the fateful mission which had Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm accompanying him into space took place. However, when their ship passed through the Van Allen belt they found their cockpit bombarded with nearly lethal doses of cosmic radiation. Reed had somehow neglected to account for the abnormal radiation levels in the atmosphere. The cosmic rays wreaked havoc on the starship’s insufficient shielding and they were forced to return to earth immediately. When they crash-landed they found that their bodies were changed dramatically. Reed found that his entire body was elastic and that he could reshape any portion of his body at will. It was at Mister Fantastic's suggestion that they decided to use their new abilities to serve mankind as the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic was chosen to lead the group.

Leadership of the Fantastic Four

As the team leader, Mr. Fantastic created numerous exotic devices and vehicles for the team to use such as clothing made of 'unstable molecules' so that it can be used with their powers safely. Furthermore, he often leads the team into daring expeditions such as into the Negative Zone in addition to opposing evil. In addition, he has felt personally responsible for Ben Grimm's grotesque change and has labored off and on to reverse it permanently.

Under his guidance, the team went on to become Earth’s most celebrated band of heroes. Together, they would save the world countless times. Ever driven by his the quest for knowledge, Reed is believed by most to be the Earth’s foremost intelligence. There is little he cannot create, fix, or understand given time. The patents and royalties on his inventions alone have funded the group over the years.

Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to his association with the team. Chief among them is the team's violent encounters with Doctor Doom, who believes irrationally that Reed was responsible for the accident that scarred him.

Subplots and story arcs

After countless adventures as the Fantastic Four, Reed married Sue, and before they knew it Sue had a child, young Franklin Richards. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Franklin appears to have power that can rival a member of the Celestials, the power of a living god in the body of a small child.

At one point, Reed appeared to have been killed by Doctor Doom. However, unknown to his teammates at the time, he was actually thrown back into the time of barbarians and onto an alien world by a being called Hyperstorm, so far into the past, and with no technology, that even his brilliant mind couldn’t find a way back home. As a result, Reed wandered aimlessly for about a year. A while later, the remaining members of the FF along with the Sub-Mariner, Lyja and Kristoff Vernard found themselves trapped in the same era. With some luck, they found Reed but faced a new problem; during his time alone, Reed had resigned himself to the belief that it was impossible for his old friends to return and attacked them. Upon realizing that these truly were his friends, he sought out Galactus as he was the only being in the Universe who could defeat Hyperstorm. Upon Hyperstorm's defeat at the hands of Galactus, the FF returned to the present day where they continued their lives, not only as a team, but as a family.

Shortly after their return, the FF were encountered by a being called Onslaught. This demon spawn took control of an army of Sentinels and invaded New York city, hunting down every mutant being he could find. Onslaught wished to add the abilities of the godlike Franklin Richards to his own. Only through the apparent sacrifice of the Fantastic Four’s own lives and that of many of the heroes in the Marvel universe was Onslaught finally vanquished. The heroes would have died then and there if not for Franklin, who created an alternate reality for them to reside in. Completely oblivious to what had taken place, Reed and his compatriots relived most of their lives. In their absence the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Four Freedoms Plaza, was annihilated by a super villain group called the Masters of Evil, posing as heroes, The Thunderbolts. One-year later, Franklin returned with his family along with the other heroes from the parallel reality. Reed was overjoyed to see his son again, but he and the rest of the FF found themselves without a home, moving into Reed’s storage warehouse on Pier 4, overlooking the East River. Making this their home, the Fantastic Four continued with their lives.

It has emerged Reed is one of the members of the "Illuminati", unknown to his wife. In Marvel's upcoming Civil War miniseries and crossover event, Reed Richards is one of the leading figures, along with Iron Man, on the side which is in favour of the Super-human Registration Act. He speculates that this will lead to conflict with his wife.

Several alternate versions of Mr. Fantastic have been encountered by the Fantastic Four. The Counter-Earth version of Reed Richards was exposed to cosmic rays that gave him the ability to transform into a purple-skinned behemoth called the Brute. The Brute made his way to Earth, where he trapped Mr. Fantastic in the Negative Zone and replaced him. He managed to trap the Human Torch and the Thing shortly thereafter, but was found out by the Invisible Woman, who rescued her teammates and left the Brute trapped in their place.

Another alternate Reed Richards was driven mad when he failed to save his reality's Earth from Galactus. Taking the identity of the Dark Raider, he traveled from reality to reality on a quest to destroy every possible version of himself. The Fantastic Four first encountered him when they travelled to an alternate past and saw younger versions of themselves die at his hands. When the Dark Raider came to the Fantastic Four's reality, he attempted to activate the Ultimate Nullifier, but was destroyed by Uatu.

Powers and abilities

Reed Richards’ powers are those of elasticity itself. He has complete mental control of seemingly every molecule in his body. He has been observed as being able to utilize his stretching form in a variety of offensive and defensive manners, such as compressing himself into a ball and ricocheting into enemies or flattening himself into a trampoline or a parachute to rescue a teammate. He can twist or reshape his body or stretch roughly three miles, and as thin as a single molecule. He can flatten himself to the thickness of a sheet of vellum. He also can expand his lungs, allowing him to hold his breath longer. Because of his elastic nature, Mr. Fantastic cannot be harmed by bullets or other projectile weapons, including knives, missiles, darts, etc, and all projectiles rebound to the attacker. Despite this, Reed is not invulnerable to harm. Though rare and extremely difficult to do, Reed's skin has been cut at least once, by an evolved form of a Brood queen (or possibly an as of yet unnamed alien race). He has also occasionally demonstrated other applications of this molecular control. While imprisoned by Psycho-Man, he willfully reduced his body to a nearly liquid state in order to flow out of a glass encasement specially prepared by the villain to have only the most infinitesimal of openings.

Reed can neither be grasped nor held, as his body can become slippery as an eel. However Reed is vulnerable to types of energy weapons, as well as taffy-puller-style machines that forcibly stretch him far enough and fast enough to cause Reed to suffer incredible pain, as well as the temporary loss of his elastic body's natural tendency to snap back to its original shape and proportions.

Reed can alter his physical makeup; he can, for instance, disguise his appearance to mimic another person or even an inanimate object, or extend spikes from his body. He can also concentrate his mass into a single body part, such as when he enlarges a fist into a fifty-pound hammer. All of these feats can be performed within milliseconds. Another ability Reed has (though it has only been exhibited once) is that he can increase his size and mass density, in effect bulking his malleable body to "Thing"-like proportions while increasing his strength to greater than normal human dimensions as well.

Despite this, Richards' strength comes more from the powers of his mind than the powers of his body. He is the unquestioned supreme scientific intellect on the earth, his closest rival being the mind of Doctor Doom. Not only has Reed proven himself to be a genius in virtually every science native to Earth, he has shown himself to be more knowledgable than even some of the most highly advanced alien civilizations in the known universe as well. He has been known to turn scraps of machinery into deadly weaponry within seconds. Reed also appears to have a degree of immunity to psychic attacks; his mind is as pliable and resilient as his body. (Some comic writers have shown that Reed's intelligence was increased by the Cosmic Rays that gave him his elastic powers, and that, when his powers are nullified, he is not as hyper-intellgent still a genius by most standards.) Mind control is rarely effective on him; when it does work, it wears off sooner than it would a normal person.

Mr. Fantastic is, however, not without flaws. He has admitted, on more than one occasion, to being incapable of understanding magic, as he cannot begin to fathom an aspect of science (as he calls it) that is not based in quantifiable laws and rules.

Equipment and Technology

Although the Fantastic Four have numerous devices, crafts, and weapons, there are some items that Reed Richards carries with him at all times.

Fantastiflare: Launches a fiery "4" into the sky that is used during combat situations to let other members of the group know their location.

Uniform Computer:' Like all the FF’s costumes and the rest of Reed’s wardrobe, his suit is made of "unstable molecules". This means that the suit is attuned to his powers, which is why Johnny’s costume doesn’t burn when he "flames on", Sue’s costume turns invisible when she does, and Reed’s costume stretches with him. The costume also insulates them from electrical assaults. In addition, the team's uniforms are also, in essence, wearable computers. Their costumes have a complete data processing and telemetry system woven into the material of the uniform on a molecular level. This forms a network with the entire team, providing a constant, real-time uplink of everyone’s physical condition as well as their location and current situation. The suit is capable of displaying data and touch-pad controls on the gauntlets. Its sensors can track all of the team’s uniforms and provide a picture of their immediate vicinity. The suit has an intricate scanner system which can detect things around the wearer, from how many people are in the next room to what dimension or planet they are on. Reed can also up-link the bodysuit to any computer by stretching his fingertips to filament size and plugging them in to an I/O data-port. With this, Reed can establish a fairly comprehensive database of any computer’s cybernetic protocols and encryption algorithms.

Alternate versions

Ultimate Mr. Fantastic

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Reed Richards is brought closer to the stereotypical scientist; he is as brilliant as his original counterpart, but he is somewhat awkward, younger, and wears glasses. As in the normal universe, Ultimate Reed Richards is romantically involved with Sue Storm. Ben Grimm was his only friend and protector, but there was one bully not even Ben could help him with, Reed's own father. Reed's father hated the fact he had a weakling for a son, if he wasn't the first to put Reed's head it the toilet, he'd have done something worse. In a way, he hated his father.

In issues 21 through 23 of Ultimate Fantastic Four, Reed Richards was able to establish a link to what readers believed was the normal Marvel Universe, communicating with a projection of the original Reed Richards via a special device. When he attempted to travel to the alternate universe, however, he arrived in a world infested by zombies, including a zombified Fantastic Four. Ultimate Reed Richard's conversations with the false projection of his regular counterpart suggest that in the Ultimate universe, Mr. Fantastic is less skilled and has much less experience than the Zombie Mr. Fantastic, if the false projection is to be believed.

This version of Mister Fantastic definitely experienced an increase in his intellect from the accident that empowered him (making his "mind as flexible as his body," and "getting smarter every day", and has shown a reduced need for sleep due to the hyper-efficient workings of his brain (as revealed in UFF #25).

According to Ultimate FF #7, Ultimate Reed's body has been radically transformed, and is now composed of a mass of bacteria-like cells without internal organs, and a reduced need for food or air. This would obviate the need to explain, for example, how his circulatory system could pump his blood when his body is stretched the length of a football field; he simply has none.

MC2

In the MC2 continuity, Reed Richards was badly scarred and he designed a small robot into which he claims to have transferred his brain when his body was damaged; in reality, Richards' injuries are minor, and he controls the robot remotely from an outpost in the Negative Zone. This robot, called Big Brain, is a member of the Fantastic Five, and is capable of projecting force fields and can hover or fly. When Reed solves the problem keeping Susan in stasis in the Negative Zone, the mental block preventing his scars from healing dissolves, and his appearance returns to normal.

Mr. Fantastic in cinema

Most recently, Mr. Fantastic was played by actor Ioan Gruffudd in the 2005 film Fantastic Four alongside Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman, Michael Chiklis as the Thing, and Chris Evans as the Human Torch. It was directed by Tim Story. Many fans thought the characterization of Reed Richards to be a weak potrayal by Gruffudd, saying the character lacked the confidence and personality of its comic book counterpart. Others, including Stan Lee, thought Gruffudd was an excellent choice of casting and pulled the character off quite well. Prior to 2005, however, Alex Hyde-White played Mr. Fantastic in the 1994 unreleased film produced by Roger Corman. As the film was never officially released, allegedly due to poor quality, only illegal copies of the film are available.

Notes

Reed is an intellectual who prefers to examine foes and if possible negotiate with them before actually fighting them.
He is often intrigued by the scientific implications of a problem, so much so that he almost forgets there is a problem in the first place. As Ben once put it, if an alien accidentally stubbed his toe, Reed would want to spend ten years studying it. Reed is an extremely likeable fellow who keeps a pleasant smile on his face, however, he does occasionally lapse into depression over long-standing unsolved problems, most notably Ben’s inability to return to human form and Franklin’s mysterious potential.
Reed is a humanitarian who will try to prevent any intelligent being from suffering. This can lead him to do controversial things that fly in the face of all apparent logic, such as when he once revived Galactus.
Reed has a long-standing rivalry with Doctor Doom, because the latter regards him as responsible for his deformities. They have thus battled many times, but Reed has almost always emerged triumphant.
Along with his penchant for inventing, Dr. Richards is often known to rewrite works of Stephen Hawking and decode alien languages.
In Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602, his power is associated with the classical element of water. The association to the element of water was also brought up in Heroes Reborn Fantastic Four, Ultimate Fantastic Four and in the Marvel Boy mini-series by Grant Morrison.

References

Mister Fantastic - Marvel Database Project
Official Marvel Picture site
Official Fantastic Four movie webpage

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