Richards, Reed (person)

Dr. Reed Richards is a scientist and inventor, better known as Mister Fantastic, who has been considered the smartest man on Earth. He is a polymath with mastery of all the sciences including, electrical, mechanical, aerospace engineering, electronics, chemistry, physics, biology and beyond. Richards was exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation along with his best friend Ben Grimm, then girlfriend Sue Storm and her younger brother Johnny Storm, during a trip to space in the stolen rocket, the Marvel-1. The radiation mutated him and his friends, allowing him to stretch and mold his body at will. Together they became the Fantastic Four, a team of adventurers who explored space, time and alternate dimensions and saved the world along the way from science-based threats.
== History ==
=== Early Years ===
Reed Richards, the only son of wealthy physicist Nathaniel Richards and his wife Evelyn. He was a child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics. As a child, Reed became close to his uncle Ted, Nathaniel's older brother who was an eccentric writer. However, this was during a period of political witch hunts for political dissidents. Ted was brought before a Senate commission, but Ted refused to speak about his activities or name those who might be involved in anti-government activities. This ruined Ted's entire life, and Nathaniel soon barred Ted from visiting Reed anymore. This social and economic ruin drove Ted to suicide, and instilled in Reed a very strong sense that following the rule of law in America was important.
One of Reed's earliest childhood memories of his father was a day when his father told him to jump from a high place. Although Reed was scared his father taught him that it was okay to be afraid, but not trying something because of his fear was unacceptable. Reed also was a member of the boy scouts. Although Reed was popular in school, he knew that he was different from the other students. When he confided this in his father, Nathaniel told his son that he should embrace this and that someday there won't be anything that Reed will not be able to accomplish. One day while reading the fairy tale about Humpty Dumpty, Reed asked his parents how it could be possible to put the fictional character back together again. This started an educational discussion about "time's arrow". Although his parents told him that time runs in one direction, Reed began theorizing that it, in fact, ran both ways. By the age of seven, Reed's mother had passed away. Reed's intelligence was at the college level by the time he was fourteen.
There came a point in Reed's young life that his father said that he had to leave and that he would be gone for a long, long time. Nathaniel told his son that an intelligent mind without heart is useless and told him to be a better friend, husband, and father than he ever was. Reed took this advice to heart and governed his every action from then on. Nathaniel left his son with enough money to continue his education and fund future experiments. He left Reed in the care of the family butler Giles Peacock and his wife.
=== State University ===
It was at State University in Hegeman, New York, that Reed Richards first met two of the most important individuals in his life. He was assigned to room with a foreign student, a scientific genius named Victor von Doom. The imperious Von Doom, taking an immediate dislike to Richards, decided to take other quarters. Instead, Richards ended up rooming with former high school football star Benjamin J. Grimm, who became Richards’ closest friend. Richards was already intending to build a starship for interstellar travel. When he told his ambitions to Grimm, Grimm jokingly said that he would pilot the starship for Richards someday.
Reed and Von Doom became intellectual rivals throughout their time at State University. According to his future wife, during the summer months, Reed rented a room from Marygay Dinkins. It was there that he first met the future love of his live Susan Storm, Mary's young niece who was much younger than he was. The girl developed an instant crush on Richards. However, these events have since been refuted.
At one point, Reed was visited by his father Nathaniel who had become a time traveler, who sought his son's aid in stopping a rogue alternate-reality counterpart known as the Beast as part of the "Great Hunt" that pitted the elder Richards against his counterparts across the multiverse. Nathaniel was able to enlist the aid of Reed, Ben Grimm, and Victor von Doom. Traveling to the timeless realm of Chronopolis, Reed and his friends assisted his father in battling the Beast, however, it was Victor who landed the killing blow. With the hunt over, Nathaniel returned the others to their proper place in history. However, Reed and the others apparently do not remember this encounter.
It was also during this period that Richards theories on a negative universe attracted the attention of Richard Janus, a fellow student. Richards kept his finding secret from Janus for years Later, Von Doom became obsessed with developing a machine that could project the astral form of a being into other dimensions. Reed pointed out a flaw in Doom's calculations, but Doom arrogantly ignored his warning, feeling Reed was trying to upstage him. The machine exploded, scarring Doom's face. He was soon expelled for conducting unethical experiments. As Doctor Doom, von Doom would later become Richards’ greatest rival and enemy.
=== Empire State University ===
Reed and Ben began attending Empire State University and it was during that time that Reed also provided moral support to his friend Ben Grimm.
While earning his Doctorate, Reed was visited by a strange man who claimed to have knowledge of a coming alien invasion. When he showed Reed a communicator that outlined these plans, Reed deduced that the man was really the alien invader as he seemed to understand what the aliens were speaking in their language. Holding the alien at gunpoint, it resumed its natural state and Reed turned the Skrull over to the authorities, who in turn gave it over to the super-hero group known as the First Line.
During his school years he was taught by some of the best, such as Walter Rosen, and Professor Noah Baxter. Richard Janus later returned even more obsessed with harnessing "Negative Energy". When Janus asked for Richards' help, the later refused to assist him, citing potential dangers, and went to his own projects. More of his classmates were Sam Thorne, later a football coach; and Abe Jankovitz, later professor of neurological studies at Seaboard University in Massachussetts.
=== Military Service ===
Reed and Ben later served in the military together. Their time in war increased their trust in each other. During the his military career, he apparently met and fought alongside Sergeant Nick Fury during a military conflict. It was during his time in the military that hair on Reed's temples began turning grey. By his own admission, during combat missions, Reed frequently thought of Susan Storm, his "girl back home."
After finishing his tour of duty, Reed began travelling the globe further expanding his education while also seeking adventure. It was during this period he met and began a relationship with Alyssa Moy, a fellow explorer. Their earliest recorded adventure was a roadtrip from London to Captown, the details of which are not fully detailed.
=== Claw of Bast ===
While in China, Reed and Alyssa earned the ire of General Lao-Tse when they came to the rescue of Prince Bayan, in order to prevent Lao-Tse from gaining access to the mystical Lopnor Gateway. In thanks, Bayan gave Reed the Staff of Bast, one component of the powerful Claw of Bast which could grant great power to one who held it. Incidentally enough, while visiting his colleague Professor Van Nuys he learned that Van Nuys was suffering from Sebert Syndrome and sought to use the Claw to cure himself. He enlisted the aid of Professor Francesca Fisher to locate the remaining portions of the Claw. Also seeking the claw was Reed's old foe Victor Von Doom who sought to claim the Claw of Bast in order to heal his scarred face and rule the world. To this end he enlisted the aid of Romani who were loyal to him to seek out the missing parts of the Claw.
Detained in New York after a clash with one of Doom's minions, Reed and Francesca were liberated thanks to Alyssa Moy, who included herself into the mission. The pair continued on to Romania where they went seeking the Eye of Bast the second portion of the Claw a that they required. However in the process of lifting the eye from the museum, Francesca was captured by Doom's minions along with the map to that gave the location of the Paw of Bast. Reed and Alyssa went after her, but found themselves captured. Reed was then forced to recreate the very experiment that scarred Victor, using both Alyssa and Francesca as test subjects to prove that Victor's calculations were wrong.
Reed managed to save the women and they escaped Doom's Romanian castle with the map. They travelled to Egypt where they located the Paw of Bast at the base of the Sphinx. However when they recovered the Paw from a hidden crypt below, Doom and his followers ambushed them, and Victor claimed it. Assembling the Claw of Bast, Doom did not forsee that it would resurrect the soul of the ancient Pharaoh Khafre, which animated the Sphinx and attacked them. Reed wrestled the Claw of Bast from Doom's hands, and used it's remaining power to put Khafre back at rest again, rendering the Claw powerless. Incidentally, the Claw also cured Professor Van Nuys as well.
Reed and Alyssa then next went to Mexico to try and unlock the maw of Xunanguero, however in the process of doing so they accidentally unleashed a strange tentacled creature that threatened to kill them. Reed was able to use the key to reseal the doorway, unaware that he was secretly assisted by the future Alyssa Moy and Susan Storm who travelled back to this point in time on a mission. After escaping with their lives, Reed asked Alyssa to marry him. However, this romance was not meant to be. Not long after, while attending the University of Vienna together, Alyssas broke off her relationship with Reed.
=== Columbia University ===
Reed took up a teaching job at Columbia University. He worked as physical science teaching assistant. Sue mentions she fell immediately head-over-heels in love with him and followed him around. It was here that he was reunited with Ben Grimm.
Reed also reconnected with Sue Storm when they bumped into each other once on a rainy day, restarting their romance almost instantly. The only rival for Sue's affections, apparently, came from an individual who later became known as the Quiet Man. He claimed that he became obsessed with Sue and stalked her from afar. He also claimed to have been jealous of Reed's relationship with her and secretly stalked the couple for years, apparently manipulating the course of their entire lives from that moment on. During one of their early dates, Reed took Sue out star gazing and told her that she would be with him on his quest for enlightenment from then on.
Richards also worked in a number of projects with several scientific luminaries including Prof. Phillip Zoltan Ranbow.
=== The Richards Rocket Group ===
Three years before Reed Richards tested his starship, his father resurfaced one last time and made sure that his son had the proper funding for his experiments before disappearing again. His research into building his ship revolutionized space travel, gaining Richards some media traction.
Reed Richards spent most of the money on his project to build and launch his starship. This project, based in Central City, California, received further funding from the federal government.
That summer, Reed, Sue (now Reed's fiancée), her younger brother Johnny and Ben all relocated to Central City. One particular night while Reed and Sue were on a date the pair witnessed the landing of an alien creature calling itself Gormuu who sought to conquer the Earth. While the military proved ineffectual, Reed noticed that the monster was growing larger at a rapid rate but was not increasing in mass. Searching the creature's unguarded ship he learned that a power source was causing him to expand. Building a device to duplicate this power source, Reed then used it to overpower Gormuu causing the creature to expand into nothingness.
=== Birth of the Fantastic Four ===
Reed continued his space project, but eventually the federal government then threatened to withdraw its funding from the project. Richards decided to take the starship on a test flight himself before this could shut him down. Grimm was opposed to the idea, warning that the crafts shielding might prove inadequate protection from the intense radiation storms. Nevertheless, Grimm was persuaded to serve as pilot, and Susan Storm and her adolescent brother Johnny insisted on accompanying Richards as passengers. The four friends stole onto the launch facility. While Reed and Sue were preparing, they were once again whisked away to the future to participate in their future wedding anniversary, and once again returned with no memory of the encounter. Soon they were aboard their ship and took off for their experimental space flight. However, unknown to Richards and his crew the area was about to undergo a cosmic ray storm. Since the ship was designed to shield against ordinary levels of radiation, the cabin was subjected to intense cosmic ray bombardment which irradiated the four passengers and wrought havoc on the ship's controls. Pilot Grimm was forced to abort the flight and return to Earth.
Once back on Earth, the four passengers discovered that the cosmic radiation had triggered mutagenic changes in their bodies. Reed Richards discovered that his body had become malleable and that he now had the ability to elongate his body at will. Richards convinced the others that the four of them should use their new-found powers for the good of humanity as members of a team he named the Fantastic Four. Richards, who became the team’s leader, calling himself Mister Fantastic, while Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm named themselves the Thing, the Invisible Girl, and the Human Torch, respectively.
The quartet were quickly picked up by the government and were then contained in a government quarantine facility for those exposed to cosmic rays. The facility was under the command of Reed's colleague General Walter Montgomery. There the team was segregated while they struggled with controlling their new powers. There Reed was contacted telepathically by Professor Franz Stahl, another cosmic ray mutate who saw their transformations as something that evolved them beyond humanity. Stahl caused yet another mutate, Raymond Perry to go on a rampage in the facility to prove his point. While the fledgling Fantastic Four stopped Perry's rampage, Stahl escaped from his cell. Having demonstrated the effectiveness of their new powers, Reed managed to convince General Montgomery into releasing the Fantastic Four and allowing them to operate freely. When a series of nuclear facilities began to vanish, Montgomery convinced his superiors to give the Fantastic Four a chance to prove themselves.
The Fantastic Four originally based themselves in Central City. Reed began investigating the reports of massive earthquakes that were swallowing up atomic plants all over the world. He tracked the source of the earthquakes to Monster Isle in the South Pacific where the Fantastic Four uncovered the Mole Man and his army of Moloids, and various other creatures. The group fought their way to freedom and foiled the Mole Men's plot. Their first mission was a success, but the group faced some publicity issues due to the damages caused when Reed first summoned the Fantastic Four for their inaugural mission. Meanwhile, Franz Stahl continued to contact Reed to try and convince him that they were superior to normal humans.
Not long after this, the alien Skrulls returned to Earth. As part of an early attempt to invade the planet. With four of their operatives, they posed as members of the Fantastic Four with acts of treason making them wanted criminals in the eyes of the government. Reed and the others managed to capture their impostors and learned of their plot to conquer the Earth. Reed then traveled to the Skrull mothership, there posing as his Skrull impostor and convinced the superiors to halt their invasion plans using pictures of monsters cut out from comic books. Reed then used hypnosis to convince their four Skrull captives that they were ordinary cattle and they were left to live their lives out thinking they were cows. Reed then set up temporary operations for the group in a warehouse along the New York City shoreline. He also discovered that the cosmic rays also altered their space suits so that they could meld along with their powers. Reed decided that they should wear them as costumes until he could better examine them and design more practical outfits. The threat from the Mole Man was not yet over however as one of his creatures, Giganto, tracked the Fantastic Four down and attacked New York City. The Fantastic Four quickly defeated the creature which then fled out to sea, revealing themselves to the public and the press for the first time.
Since the building was previously owned by his former professor, Noah Baxter, Noah assisted Reed in the reconstruction of the building to suit his needs. Reed then began to examine Ben's transformation, feeling guilty over transforming his best friend into a monster, in the hopes of curing Ben of his condition. Early on the group began to show signs of falling apart, particularly Reed's relationship with Sue, which Sue believed was taking a back seat to the establishment of the Fantastic Four. After Johnny, Ben and Sue stormed out on Reed, he was contacted once more by Stahl who was going to unleash the cosmic rays within a meteor at the decontamination facility and mutate the entire world.
Reed went after Stahl alone and soon found himself caught in a telepathic conflict with his foe. Meanwhile, the other members of the group reunited and went after Reed, only to have to face an army of soldiers mutated by cosmic rays. During the conflict, the Fantastic Four defeated the cosmic ray-mutated soldiers, and Reed and Sue defeated Stahl in mental combat with the strength of their love for one another. With Stahl seemingly slain, all those affected by his cosmic ray bombardment were restored to normal. The Fantastic Four however only saw a temporary reversal of their powers. In the aftermath of the battle, Reed and Sue reconciled, and Reed vowed to focus on their relationship, fashioning her a ring out of a fragment of the meteor that Stahl attempted to use against the world. During some of their earliest adventures, the Fantastic Four hunted down and relocated various monsters to Monster Isle, including Fin Fang Foom, Gruto, Klagg, and Googam.
=== Costumed Heroes ===
Reed next purchased the top floors of the Baxter Building in New York City as their new headquarters. Later, Reed also developed the stylized costumes for the group and revealed themselves to the public during a press release. This almost led to the end of the Fantastic Four early on in their career when they clashed with the illusionist known as Miracle Man and foiled his crime spree. However, between the hot-headed Johnny and the depressed Ben, the group was fraught with conflict. This conflict ended with Johnny quitting the team and running away from home.
During his time away from the team, Johnny found the long lost Sub-Mariner who was now an amnesiac. However, with his memory restored, the Sub-Mariner only sought to destroy humanity after being led to believe that his home of Atlantis was destroyed. The Sub-Mariner clashed with the Fantastic Four unleashing the giant beast Giganto on New York. The Four managed to defeat Namor, free Sue, and slay Giganto, however, Sue had begun to develop feelings for Namor creating tension between her and Reed.
=== Early Foes ===
Reed's notoriety as a public hero drew his old foe Victor von Doom, out of relative seclusion with a hunger for revenge as he still blamed Reed for the accident that scarred his face. Now calling himself Doctor Doom, Victor kidnapped Sue and then forced Reed, Ben and Johnny to use his Time-Platform to travel back in time to recover Blackbeard's treasure chest as it contained a mystic gems that supposedly belong to the magician Merlin. Recovering the chest, Reed dumped the jewels in the ocean and put chains in their place. Returned to the present, their ruse worked, while Reed and the others managed to defeat Doom and his death traps but Doom managed to escape. Reed confiscated Doom's Time-Platform but was forced to return it to Victor to avoid a diplomatic incident between the nation of Latveria and the United States. Richards did so, but was able to duplicate its design. Doom quickly sought revenge against Richards and sought out an alliance with the Sub-Mariner. Tricking the undersea monarch into installing a magnetic device in the basement of the Baxter Building. Doom ultimately betrayed Namor, pulling the Baxter Building toward the sun. Reed and the others put aside their differences with Namor -- at the behest of Sue -- to save themselves and send Doom hurtling into space while they were returned home safely.
Mister Fantastic and the rest of the Four were later manipulated by Kurrgo the ruler of the planet Xanth (aka Planet X) to help save his people from annihilation by a rogue meteor. Reed developed a shrinking formula to shrink the entire population so they could fit on one of the two spaceships on that world. Reed and the FF were then returned to Earth. By this time to Reed developed what he hoped was a cure for Ben. This came at a time when the Fantastic Four was being attacked by the so-called Puppet Master who attempted to use his radioactive clay in a bid to take over the world. When an enthralled Thing ended up landing on the cure, it temporarily restored him to human form, breaking the connection between Ben and the Puppet Master. While Reed and the others stopped a prison break enacted by the Puppet Master, the villain met his apparent demise after struggling with his stepdaughter Alicia Masters.
=== Financial Woes ===
Unfortunately, despite the fact that they had already saved the world countless times, the Fantastic Four proved to be a costly operation and hit hard financial times. Filing for bankruptcy, Reed was forced to sell off all his assets and the group found themselves evicted from the Baxter Building. Just when things looked their most grim, Reed received a letter from SM Studios offering the Fantastic Four to star in a movie about their lives. When they arrived in Hollywood they were surprised to find that SM Studio was owned and operated by the Sub-Mariner, who was secretly using the studio as a front in an attempt to eliminate the Fantastic Four through a series of on-set "accidents" so he could claim Sue for himself. Reed was tricked into going to the Hidden Isle where he fought the mythical Cyclops of Grecian lore. Reed and the others survived each of their death traps and then faced the Sub-Mariner. In defeat, Namor agreed to continue production of the movie and pay the Fantastic Four before retreating back to the sea. The film proved a massive commercial success, netting the Fantastic Four enough money to resume operations and return to the status quo.
During their financial woes, Reed was forced to sell the Baxter Building to Walter Collins. Collins, in turn, allowed the Fantastic Four to rent out their headquarters thereafter. Reed next encountered the novice super-hero known as the amazing Spider-Man who sought out the Fantastic Four for a job. After a brief battle, Reed informed the youthful hero that being a member of the Fantastic Four was not a paying job, the frustrated Spider-Man left, leaving the Fantastic Four to wonder they Spider-Man might become a menace.
Also during this period Reed met the extremely powerful hero known as the Sentry, who fought along the side the Fantastic Four against such foes as Dr. Doom, and the Android Pirates of Dimension Nine. Reed and the Sentry formed a fast friendship finding a common connection between their love of science. Sometime after this, Reed began experimenting with the Cosmic Cube with the Sentry. When the Cube took possession of Cloc, the Sentry's computer system, the group fought various threats created by the computer until the Cube was ultimately stopped.
=== Growing Fame ===
By this time, Reed had licensed out the adventures of the Fantastic Four to Marvel Comics who adapted these stories comic books. Through this connection to the group Dr. Doom forced writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby to lure Reed into a trap. Having survived space thanks to the Ovoids, Doom use the ability to switch bodies with Reed, a technique that Doom learned from the aliens. In Reed's body, Doom tricked the Fantastic Four into defeating Reed and prepared to develop a shrink ray to reduce Richards to nothingness.
However, Reed managed to break free and convince his comrades he was trapped in the body of his greatest enemy. With the truth revealed, the switch was reversed and Doom was felled by his own shrink ray.
After another failed attempt to reverse Ben's mutation, Reed and the others clashed with the troublesome Impossible Man who had come to Earth on vacation and was causing a general nuisance. During their attempts to stop the Impossible Man, Reed and the others met Turbo, a time-displaced hero from the future who was briefly stuck in their time. Realizing that the Impossible Man craved attention, Reed convinced everyone in New York to simply ignore the pesky alien until he grew bored and left the planet.
Shortly thereafter, the Human Torch quit the team again, this time over money, and joined up with the Acrobat to form the Torrid Twosome. When the Acrobat turned out to be a criminal who tricked the Torch into robbing a bank, Reed and the others came to Johnny's aid to capture the Acrobat and clear Johnny's name.
=== Rivaling the Gods ===
Reed next brought his team to New Mexico to help the military investigate a string of sabotage that was being blamed on the gamma-powered brute known as the Hulk. The group arrived at Gamma Base and under the order of General Ross hunted for the Hulk. While the group clashed with the gamma-spawned monster, they uncovered that the sabotage was really caused by a Russian spy calling himself the Wrecker. Returning to New York, Reed completed a new fuel for use in space travel and plotted a manned mission to the fabled Blue Area of the Moon. When they landed they found that the Blue Area had the ruins of an ancient civilization and had an atmosphere. They were soon attacked by the Russian agent known as the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes who gained superpowers by exposing themselves with cosmic rays.
Their clash was interrupted by the Uatu the Watcher an alien tasked with watching the Earth and recording its history. The Watcher issued a challenge to both groups to determine whose nation was superior. The Fantastic Four ultimately won by turning the Red Ghost's apes against him and returned home.
Upon their return to Earth, Reed and the others were targeted by the Puppet Master again, who survived their previous encounter. Their foe used his clay to force the Sub-Mariner to kidnap Sue and take her to his kingdom of Atlantis. Reed and the others went after her clashing with the Sub-Mariner. The battle was abruptly ended when the Puppet Master's seeming demise when his sub was crushed by a giant octopus, freeing Namor who let the Fantastic Four leave without further incident.
Reed later met with industrialist Tony Stark and the Asgardian thunder god Thor. During this meeting, Reed warned Thor that his activities in the United States were threatening to start a superhuman arms race with other countries.
Without any further threats to deal with, the Fantastic Four decided to part ways temporarily. Reed took a job working for General Electronics in New England, unaware that the group was being subtly manipulated by the so-called Mad Thinker. Finding that he has no taste for working for a company, Reed decided to quit and return home to find the other members of the team had also found their time away lackluster as well. They were surprised to find that the Mad Thinker had taken over their headquarters. The Thinker then tried to use Reed's various inventions to keep the FF out of their headquarters, including his newly built Awesome Android. However, Reed's forethought to install a failsafe to thwart anyone who took over their base resulted in the Mad Thinker's defeat. Shortly after this Thor was convinced to go to war against humanity by his step-brother Loki. During their attack on New York City the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man attempted to stop their rampage and were slain in the process. However, when Thor regained his humanity and fought back against Loki, Odin restored all the damage and returned all the dead back to life.
=== New Worlds ===
Since his last defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom had taken over the world of Sub-Atomica in the so-called Microverse. Doom shrunk Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four down to size and took them prisoner. However the Four defeated Doom once again with the assistance of the size-changing hero known as Ant Man, but Doom still managed to escape. Returning to their world, Reed sent the others to hunt down Dr. Doom in New York. Doom meanwhile captured the group and told them of his plans to take over the world before releasing them to rely his message to the governments of the world. Reed led the others on a strike on Doom's airship, fighting past his traps and sending Doom falling out of his ship. Doom survived and kidnapped who he thought was Spider-Man, issuing a challenge to the Fantastic Four to a rematch or he would kill the arachnid hero. But Doom made a mistake he had really kidnapped Flash Thompson an avid Spider-Man fan dressed as the hero instead. The Fantastic Four arrived on the scene to find that the real Spider-Man had defeated Doom, who escaped again, leaving Thompson behind to tell the tale. Shortly after this the Human Torch used his powers to contain the blast of a nuclear explosion set off by the Eel but was severely injured in the blast. Johnny was rescued by his teammates and Reed administered his scientific skill to return Johnny to full health.
Namor took this declaration of war to begin his invasion of the surface starting with New York City. Taking a vacation cruise, Reed and the rest of the team were kidnapped by Namor once more. The Sub-Mariner had just rediscovered his people and retook the Atlantean throne, and sought to have the Fantastic Four to address the United Nations with his claim over the oceans of Earth. Instead, Reed stood before the United Nations and pleaded with them to unite against possible Atlantean invasion. In disguise at the meeting, Although Namor succeeded in invading Manhattan, Reed forced his invasion forces back by creating a device that evaporated the water in the Atlantean soldiers helmets forcing a sudden retreat. Furious, Namor attacked the Baxter Building and kidnapped Sue again, prompting Reed and the others to go after him. The team clashed with Namor until Sue was left to drown in the ocean by Namor's allies Lady Dorma and Warlord Krang. When Namor brought Sue to a hospital on the surface he was driven back to Atlantis where he found his people had abandoned him. After this, Reed and Sue were once again taken to the future to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
When the Asgardian trickster god Loki attempted to manipulate the Hulk as a pawn against Thor, the Hulk's ally Rick Jones attempted to contact Reed for assistance. The transmission was intercepted by Loki the results of which led to the formation of the Avengers. During the manhunt for Loki, Reed was contacted by and assisted Iron Man in trying to locate the Hulk. Soon after the Skrulls attempted to invade Earth again, creating the Super-Skrull, a Skrull warrior who could mimic the powers of the Fantastic Four. During their battle, Reed deduced that the Super-Skrull was being fed energy from the Skrull home world and built a jamming device to block the Super-Skrull's access to that energy. Rendered powerless, the Super-Skrull was easily defeated by the Fantastic Four and buried in an inert volcano.
=== Rama-Tut ===
While studying Egyptology, Reed came across hieroglyphics that told of a Pharaoh named Rama-Tut who cured his blindness with a special radioactive herb. Deciding to investigate further in order to cure Alicia -- now Ben's girlfriend -- Reed and the Fantastic Four used Dr. Doom's abandoned time machine to travel back to the year 2954 BC. There they were captured by Rama-Tut and were startled to learn that he was a traveler from the 30th Century who had come to this time seeking adventure. He enslaved Reed and the others and took Sue as his bride.
Reed and the others managed to break free, which unknown to them through assistance from Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange, who also travelled from that era from a point a few years ahead of the Fantastic Four's time. Freed from Rama-Tut's control, Reed and the others staged a revolt and crushed his empire, forcing Rama-Tut to escape in his time machine. However, their mission proved to be a failure as Dr. Doom's time machine neutralized the radioactivity of the herb needed to cure Alicia.
Back in their own era, Reed and the team were contacted by the Watcher who warned them of the threat of the Molecule Man a being of immense power that threatened to destroy the Earth. Reed correctly deduced the Molecule Man's weakness being his inability to effect organic matter with his transmutation power. The group exploited it long enough for the Watcher to contain the threat. Learning that the villain known as the Sandman was on the loose, Reed assigned the Human Torch to capture the villain with the aid of Spider-Man. Iron Man later reached out to Reed for assistance in tracking down the Hulk once again, however, Reed was in the middle of an experiment at the time and was unable to assist.
=== SHIELD ===
Reed then began providing his technical expertise to the United States government, working with Tony Stark and Nick Fury to develop technology for the new spy agency SHIELD. He was present in time to stop an attempt of sabotage carried out by agents of Hydra
=== Hate-Monger ===
Shortly thereafter, Reed and his team investigated the bigoted rabble rouser calling himself the Hate-Monger, who was using a Hate Ray to incite racial hatred. The Fantastic Four were also exposed to this ray, making them split up. Reed ultimately went to the nation of San Gusto to fight the Hate-Monger alone and ultimately cured himself of the Hate-Ray's effects. When his teammates followed, Reed cured them and they clashed with the Hate-Monger again. The Hate-Monger died in battle and was unmade. While he was believed to be the former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, it was later revealed he was merely a clone.
=== More Turbulence ===
Later, The Mole Man resurfaced and tricked the Fantastic Four to seek to purchase an island to store some of Reed's equipment, leading themselves into a trap. Reed and the others managed to stop the Mole Man from lowering Manhattan and Moscow into the Earth in order to trick the two nations into starting a nuclear war.
Soon the rest of the team became discontent with Reed's leadership and fought over who would be the new leader of the team. Dr. Doom resurfaced around this time and empowered Bull Brogin, "Handsome" Harry Phillips and Yogi Dakor as his Terrible Trio to fight with the Fantastic Four. Doom went after Reed himself using a robot based on the Thing to capture him. The group was captured and Doom intended to trap them in a room that would transport them into deep space via the passage of a solar wave. Reed and the others managed to escape and left Doom to fall through the solar wave. Realizing that Reed was indeed the only person fit to lead, the Fantastic Four stopped seeking a new leader among the group.
When the original Captain America resurfaced after spending decades in suspended animation, he immediately wanted to return back to his home era of 1945. The President of the United States contacted Reed Richards about the possibility but Reed cautioned the dangers involved with sending Captain America back to his own time due to the fact that he knew too much about the future that he could possibly cause damage to history. Reed and his teammates next defended New York from the so-called Infant Terrible, an infant alien with reality altering powers. While the others were sent to stop mobster Big Joe from manipulating the creature, Reed contacted the alien's parents who came and rescued the infant before it could destroy the Earth. Later, while experimenting on various bacteria, Reed fell seriously ill and required immediate medical attention. This happened at a time when the Hulk returned to New York seeking to destroy his former teammates the Avengers. Hospitalized, Reed was eventually cured by doctors working around the clock and he later joined the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in defeating the Hulk who fell into the Hudson River and was swept away in the currents.
=== Finding the Nerve ===
Reed finally began mustering up the nerve to ask Sue to marry him. However, when he went out to buy a ring, the Sub-Mariner broke into the Baxter Building and kidnapped her. Reed ran after her alone seeking to face Namor one-on-one and end their rivalry, but Johnny and Ben soon followed him and Namor was defeated with the help of Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange. On the way back, Sue expressed her conflicted feelings over both Reed and Namor, discouraging Reed from proposing to her at the time. Seeking a lawyer to represent the Fantastic Four, Reed hired blind lawyer Matt Murdock, unaware that he was really the costumed hero known as Daredevil. The Puppet Master and Mad Thinker soon joined forces and used a puppet to take control of the X-Men's leader Professor X in order to use the X-Men to battle the Fantastic Four. Reed clashed with the group until Professor X was able to fight off the Puppet Master's control and the two teams defeated their foes, who then fled. Not long after this an ancient mummy named Gomdulla was re-awoken and went on a rampage. Reed and his teammates stopped the creature with the help of Spider-Man. Shortly thereafter they got into an altercation with the wall-crawler when he accidentally knocked out Sue while trying to stop Electro from robbing a bank. The five heroes eventually ceased fighting when Sue turned out okay and told them it was an accident and they stopped Electro together. Reed later invented a new device called the Fantastic Cube, but the invention blew up in his face and he mothballed the project.
The Red Ghost later resurfaced and attempted to kill the Fantastic Four by stranding them on the moon. The heroes managed to seek refuge in the Watcher's citadel, defending it from Red Ghost. When the Red Ghost was defeated the Watcher returned the group to Earth.
Reed took his teammates on a vacation to Transylvania where the Thing was tricked into freeing the ancient alchemist known as Diablo who offered him the false promise of a cure for his mutation. When Diablo tried to take over the world, the others stopped him with the assistance of Ben who quickly realized that Diablo couldn't cure him, as his potions only produced temporary results. At this point in time, Reed and Sue began working on a means of making peace with the Sub-Mariner. At that same time, they were also working with the press on a surprise news story about Ben and Johnny. Jealous over Reed and Sue getting more publicity than they were Johnny and Ben went out to earn fame clashing with the Sub-Mariner and souring the peace process. After the criminal Dr. Octopus was captured and sentenced to 20 years in prison, Reed Richards was called in along with the Avenger members Giant-Man and Iron Man to remove the mechanical arms from his body, unaware that Octavius could still control them with his mind.
=== Villains Revenge ===
The Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker resurfaced again, enthralling the Thing to use as a pawn against the Torch. However one of the Thing's unstable and temporary reversions to human form eventually freed Ben from their control. Suspecting the Puppet Master's machinations, Reed developed a special helmet that caused feedback that knocked out the Puppet Master when he tried to take control of Ben a second time. Later when Captain America found himself trapped in 1945 by time-traveling warlord Kang the Conqueror, he quickly realized that he no longer fit into this era and sought a means to return back to the present. Using his Avengers membership card/communicator he set and alarm and planted it in a picture frame of himself that would eventually end up in his possession in the modern age. The alarm went off at present day Avengers Mansion and was found by Rick Jones, finding a message from Cap asking for his rescue. Rick got in touch with Reed, who used Doom's Time-Platform to travel back to 1945 and bring Cap back to the present.
When Ben and Johnny once again began resenting Reed's leadership over the group, Reed disguised himself as the "Mystery Villain". He lured Ben and Johnny into a trap and beating them in a fight teaching the pair that he was the best suited as leader of the Fantastic Four.
Unaware that their foe Dr. Doom had returned from space, nor that he was the secret ruler of the nation of Latveria, Reed and the others agreed to an invitation to the Latverian Embassy. There Doom tricked the Fantastic Four into drinking a drugged beverage that made them see the worst of each other forcing the team to fight each other. Sue had a hallucination that made it appear that Reed was romancing another woman causing a fight between the couple. However Reed properly deduced that Doom was responsible and in the final fight with his foe, Reed challenged him to a match of the minds using a device that would destroy the one with the weaker brain power. However, this was all a ruse by Reed, who turned Doom's trick around by fooling him into drinking a drugged beverage that made Doom believe he had won. Thinking Richards was destroyed Dr. Doom left without further incident.
The Mole Man then resurfaced and sank a city block in Manhattan taking Sue hostage in the process. Reed and the others freed her and defeated the Mole Man, but Sue was injured. Johnny and Sue's father Franklin, who had just broken out of prison, treated Sue, saving her life before being apprehended again. Later it appeared that Franklin Storm gained all the powers of the Fantastic Four and broke out of jail, reinventing himself as a costumed criminal called the Invincible Man. However Reed correctly deduced that Franklin had been captured by the Skrulls and that their agent the Super-Skrull was posing as Franklin. Reed built a weapon that threatened to destroy the Skrull home world and forced the Skrulls to return Franklin to Earth, but they rigged him with a bomb in an attempt to kill the Fantastic Four. Unwilling to harm his children, Franklin Storm sacrificed his life to blunt the blow. Dying his final words to his children were how proud he was of them.
=== The Proposal ===
Later, Oscorp employee David Lowell experimented on himself turning into the super-powered Sundown and began terrorizing the city. Reed joined Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Avengers, Dr. Strange and the X-Men in defeating the foe. Reed next joined his teammates in accompanying Lady Dorma back to Atlantis to assist Namor in repelling the invasion forces of the warlord Attuma. The Fantastic Four were next targeted by millionaire Gregory Gideon who sought to eliminate the Fantastic Four in a bid to rule the world. As part of this plot, he fabricated evidence that convinced the authorities and the Thing that Reed was really a Skrull spy. However the Four realized the deception and Gideon was stopped when his son was almost harmed in his schemes.
Reed later found himself pulled into one of Johnny's regular feuds with Spider-Man, but the fight was ultimately stopped by Sue. Shortly after this Reed became so engrossed in an experiment that Sue felt neglected and agreed to go on a date with Spider-Man to try and make him jealous. This ploy had no apparent effect on Reed who was typically quite possessive of Sue in similar situations.
Reed was later invited to a speaking engagement at his former alma mater State University. There the FF's old foe Diablo resurfaced and brought to life Professor Gregson Gilbert's Dragon Man android. Reed fought the creature along side his teammates until it and Diablo were seemingly drowned in underwater whirlpools beneath Dead Man's Lake. Following this adventure, Reed finally mustered up the nerve to ask Sue to marry him, a proposal she accepted. As Reed proposed to Sue, they were unaware that the occasion was being witnessed by his past and future counterparts celebrating their wedding anniversary on Earth-60166.
=== Frightful Four ===
Not long after this, some of the Human Torch's old foes soon came back to haunt him when the Wizard organized his counter group called the Frightful Four which consisted of Paste-Pot Pete, the Sandman and the mysterious woman known only as Medusa. Reed, Sue, and Ben were attacked after celebrating Reed's proposal and captured. However, Alicia managed to signal Johnny who was away from the Baxter Building at the time. Johnny helped free his teammates and they defeated the Frightful Four, who managed to escape capture. Reed and the others later discovered that the Mole Man was responsible for the theft of various classic works of art and put a stop to this scheme.
Before she would allow herself to get married, Sue insisted that they bring the Skrull responsible for murdering their father to justice. Reed was convinced and soon the Fantastic Four flew to the Skrull home world where they found that their powers were weakening. Rendered powerless the group were soon captured by Warlord Morrat the man responsible for killing Franklin Storm. Unknown to the Four at the time Morrat was attempting to usurp the throne from Skrull ruler Emperor Dorrek and force his daughter Princess Anelle to be his queen. The Four freed themselves and restored their powers using Reed's power-booster weapon. When Morrat's schemes were revealed he died under the orders of Dorrek VII who allowed the Fantastic Four to return home to Earth. A grateful Dorrek vowed to never threaten the Earth again, but this proved to be a lie. On their way home, Reed and Sue stopped on the planet Vesuvius to admire the flowers that grew there.
The Frightful Four then struck at Reed and his teammates again. This time the villains were successful in capturing the entire group and leaving them stranded on an island with a Q-Bomb. Although the bomb went off, Sue saved their lives with an invisible force field at the last minute.
=== Battle of the Baxter Building ===
Although they survived the blast, their exposure to Q-Bomb radiation stripped the Fantastic Four of their super-human powers. With no immediate means of restoring their powers, Reed quickly devised crude mechanical imitations of each members abilities, including mechanical limb extenders. These mechanical substitutes were cumbersome and barely functional. At this time, Doom had shaken off the hypnosis he was under and launched an attack on the Fantastic Four The group were helped to cover by Daredevil who had been by to work on legal paperwork with Reed in his alter ego of Matt Murdock. Doom had taken over the Baxter Building, prompting Daredevil to lead the powerless Fantastic Four into their headquarters. There Reed discovered that his power booster was fully recharged and used it to restore their powers, and Ben easily defeated Doom, but Ben was furious at Reed for changing him back into the Thing and quit the group.
Ben was then captured by the Frightful Four and exposed to their ID Machine, making him evil. Reed and the rest of the team went after Ben, but found themselves captured. The FF broke free but Johnny was captured by the Frightful Four and also exposed to the ID Machine. Unknown to the foes at the time, Sue had sabotaged the machine during the fight, and Johnny was only pretending to be loyal to the Wizard, while Reed and Sue managed to knock out Ben and flee the scene with him. Eventually, the Frightful Four saw through this ruse and took Johnny prisoner. While at the Baxter Building, Reed developed a device that reversed the effects of the ID Machine. When both he and Sue were fighting a losing battle against the Frightful Four, Ben revived and helped defeat the villains, although Medusa managed to escape.
=== Secrets ===
Later, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four worked with Spider-Man to defeat a new incarnation of the Frightful Four which included the Beetle among their ranks. Not long after this, the Fantastic Four were forced to work as security for a special UN meeting being held at Empire State University where Doctor Doom was to sign a peace agreement with Latveria's neighboring countries. The meeting was crashed by the Sub-Mariner who sought revenge against Doom over his previous betrayal. Reed and the others joined Spider-Man in trying to stop Namor's rampage. During the fight, Doom used the Ovoid mind-swapping technique on the Human Torch. Reed and the others were forced to try and stop the Doom in Torch's body, however, hostilities quickly ended when Johnny, in Doom's body, went on live television to sign absurd trade deals forcing Doom to reverse the mind swap to stop the youth. With Doom's honor seriously damaged, Namor ceased his attack. Although Doom allowed the Fantastic Four this victory, he vowed to get revenge over this indignity and the damaged caused to his hands by the Thing in their previous conflict.
Not long after this, Reed had developed yet another means that could restore the Thing's humanity. The device was a one-shot deal, and the Thing agreed to undergo the experiment. However, the Human Torch sat in the device earlier, ruining its fine calibration. Unaware of this, Johnny omitted this fact as Reed began the experiment. Instead of curing the Thing, it turned him into a painful amalgam of his human and Thing forms. Cutting the power to the experiment, Ben Grimm was reverted back to his Thing form. Upset at yet another failure, the Thing stormed out of the room. It was then that Johnny admitted that he inadvertedly tampered with the experiment. Reed was furious at Johnny for being so irresponsible, but eventually understood that there was no way Johnny could have known. The two promised never to mention the truth behind the failure. A secret that kept for more than fourteen years.
=== The Wedding ===
Doom was true to his threat not long after. Soon it was Reed and Sue's wedding day and among the guests in attendance were the Avengers, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury and his agents of SHIELD, and Spider-Man. Dr. Doom, seeking revenge for his previous defeat used an Emotion Charger to make various villains feel compelled to attack the wedding. These criminals included regular Fantastic Four foes such as the Puppet Master, Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, Mole Man and his Moloids, the Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android, Super-Skrull, the Beetle, Attuma; as well as Iron Man's foe the Mandarin, Black Knight, the Unicorn, the Melter; Thor's foes such as the Grey Gargoyle, the Cobra, Mr. Hyde, the Enchantress, the Executioner; Avengers' foe the future warlord Kang the Conqueror; Spider-Man and Daredevil's nemesis Electro, Giant-Man's foe the Human Top, and members of the terrorist organization known as Hydra. While the wedding attendees fought the army of super-villains, Reed was visited by the Watcher who offered Reed any of his scientific devices at his disposal. Reed chose a Time Displacer that returned all the villains to where they came from with no memory of their battle. The device also apparently effected Dr. Doom as Reed and Sue were able to finally be married without any further interruption.
When Reed and Sue left to consummate their marriage they briefly found themselves transported to a gathering of future and alternate reality incarnations of themselves who were gathered to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of versions of themselves from a possible future. After this encounter, they were returned to their proper era where they honeymooned at the Watcher's citadel on the Blue Area of the Moon, seemingly no longer remembering their encounter with their multiple selves. Later the Mad Thinker went on a rampage through Manhattan with his Awesome Android again soon after. This led to yet another clash with the Fantastic Four. The Thinker is defeated, this time, thanks to the assistance of Marvel Girl of the X-Men, who was under evaluation by the Invisible Girl for Professor X at the time. After the Thinker was apprehended, the Fantastic Four and X-Men dismantled his secret headquarters hidden in a rock quarry outside of New York.
=== Inhumans ===
Reed and the others later worked alongside Spider-Man once again on a mission to neutralize the energy monster known as Krakatoom. Easily defeating their foe, the five heroes decided to take make the outing an impromptu camping trip. Following this, Medusa approached Johnny to seek the Fantastic Four's assistance in evading capture by a being named Gorgon, a member of her race of Inhumans. While the others fought Gorgon, Johnny took Medusa to Dead Man's Lake near State University. Their presence there revived the Dragon Man who also attacked. In the three-way battle, Dragon Man absconded with Sue, leaving Reed and the others to be buried alive fighting Gorgon, who escaped with Medusa. Pulling themselves out of the rubble, they were quickly reunited with Sue who managed to tame the Dragon Man. Reed then placed the Dragon Man at the Baxter Building for later examination. Johnny eventually found the Inhumans when he discovered and instantly fell in love with the youthful Crystal who mistook Johnny for one of her people and brought him to the secret location where she was hiding out. There he met with her leader Black Bolt, Karnak, Triton, her sister Medusa, Gorgon and her teleporting dog Lockjaw. Recognized by Gorgon and Medusa, the Inhumans tried to stop Johnny before someone called the Seeker found them. Johnny, in turn, summoned his teammates who came to his aid.
During the course of the battle, the Inhumans decided to flee before they were captured. When Reed and his teammates returned to headquarters they learned that the Seeker captured Dragon Man, as the android was mistaken for an Inhuman. The team went after Dragon Man and learned that the Seeker sought to capture the rogue Inhuman Royal Family to bring them back to his ruler, Maximus the Mad. In the ensuing battle the Dragon Man managed to escape. Easily subduing Dragon Man, the Four followed the Seeker back to the Attilan, home of the Inhumans located in the Himalayan Mountains. They had arrived just as Black Bolt had retaken the throne from Maximus. However Maximus was not ready to admit defeat, seeking to conquer the Earth for his fellow Inhumans, Maximus activated his Atmo-Gun in the hopes of wiping out the human race. However, Inhumans and humans proved to be much similar and the weapon had only a mild effect. Furious, Maximus then attempted to seal off the Great Refuge in an impenetrable Negative Barrier. Johnny refused to leave Crystal and was forced to leave by his teammates. Trapped outside the Great Refuge, Johnny vowed to find a way back to Crystal no matter what, and Reed offered to do anything he could to aid him. However, the group found themselves going from one crisis to an even larger one when the Watcher attempted to obscure the Earth from the Silver Surfer, herald of the planet-eating Galactus. While Reed tried to study Galactus and his herald, Johnny and Ben tried to clash with the Surfer, but were too late to stop him from summoning his master to Earth.
=== Galactus ===
During this crisis, Reed and Sue were once again abducted by their future selves to participate in their wedding anniversary, and brought back as usual. Further attacks directly at Galactus also were met with failure. The Watcher then approached Johnny giving him the power to travel great distances via space-time distortion. Johnny was then led to Galactus' Worldship to obtain the one weapon that could stop Galactus, while Reed and the others faced off against Galactus and his robot guardian the Punisher.
Johnny returned to Earth just as the Silver Surfer joined the Fantastic Four in trying to stop his master. Johnny then turned over the Ultimate Nullifier to Reed who then used it to bluff Galactus into surrendering. Galactus agreed to not consume the Earth, and left but not before exiling the Surfer to Earth.
=== The Negative Zone ===
With Galactus defeated, Reed began focusing his time on developing devices to deal with cosmic level threats. He also began working on a portal to an anti-matter dimension he originally called Sub-Space (later referred to as the Negative Zone). It was around this time that Ben went through one of his depressions over his mutation and was manipulated by a scientist named Ricardo Jones into transferring his powers to Ricardo. Posing as the Thing, Ricardo sought to kill Reed to steal his scientific achievements. When the now human Ben Grimm tried to warn Reed and Sue of the impostor in their midst, Reed did not believe Ben and kicked him out of his lab. However, Ricardo realized how brave and selfless a man Reed Richards was when he went into the Negative Zone alone.
When Reed was at risk of being destroyed in the anti-mater barrier in the center of the Negative Zone, Ricardo selflessly sacrificed his life to save Reed and get him home. With Ricardo's death, Ben reverted to his mutated state and returned to the group.
Around this time, the cosmic being known as the Collector had gathered a collection of many of Earth's monsters including Grottu, Tragg, Taboo, Vandoom, Gargantus and Droom among others. This led to a clash between the Collector and the Mole Man that saw all the monsters in the Collector's collection released upon New York. Reed enlisted the aid of the Thing, the Hulk, Giant-Man and the X-Men's Beast to round up the creatures. Meanwhile, Reed built a portable Negative Zone generator which he then used to banish the monsters into the Negative Zone.
=== The Black Panther ===
Reed later accepted an invitation for the Fantastic Four to visit the reclusive nation of Wakanda by the Black Panther, the group also brought with them Johnny's new college roommate Wyatt Wingfoot. The Panther combated with the Fantastic Four to test their abilities and the Four ultimately won, winning the friendship of the Panther. Reed and the others next helped the Black Panther defend his nation's supply of rare Vibranium metal from Ulysses Klaw who was responsible for murdering the Black Panther's father. While the FF fought against Klaw's solid sound constructs, the Black Panther fought Klaw to the seeming death. Following the battle, Reed was too engrossed in his work to pay attention to his wife. In turn, Sue almost had a romantic tryst with the Black Panther, but the two were able to control each other. Sue and T'Challa have kept this a secret from Reed to this day.
After a baseball game and receiving gifts from the Black Panther, Reed, Sue and Ben returned to New York while Johnny and Wyatt went off to find a way to free Crystal and the Inhumans from the Great Refuge. Back in New York, the Thing got into a fight with the Silver Surfer, whom Ben assumed was trying to steal Alicia away from him. Reed and Sue eventually intervened, convincing Ben that the Surfer posted no threat to his relationship. Soon Reed and the others were reunited with Johnny and Wyatt who were teleported back to New York by Lockjaw on their quest to free the Inhumans. During this time the Mad Thinker and his sentient computer Quasimodo recovered the body of the original android Human Torch, a hero from the 1940s and revived him. The Thinker then sent the original Human Torch after his successor. Reed and the others came to Johnny's aid and convinced the android Torch to join them in stopping the Thinker. However in the final battle, Quasimodo seemingly slew the android and the Mad Thinker successfully escaped. Wyatt and Johnny then left to resume their quest, leaving Reed and Sue to intern the original Torch's body in the Thinker's lab.
The Baxter Building was later attacked by Ulysses Klaw, who had survived his last battle by converting himself into a being of solid sound. He trapped Ben and Reed in the Negative Zone chamber and then terrorized Sue. However, Reed ultimately defeated Klaw when the Black Panther sent him Vibranium knuckles which he used to beat Klaw into submission.
=== Cosmic Doom ===
Reed, Sue, and Ben were next called to State Prison where they found the Sandman trying to break the Wizard out of prison. While they thwarted the prison break, the Sandman managed to escape. They then returned to base where the Sandman ambushed them, and before they could stop him escaped with a bunch of equipment stolen from Reed's lab. Also at that time, unknown to them, Dr. Doom tricked the Silver Surfer into visiting his kingdom then used his scientific equipment to steal the Surfer's Power Cosmic for himself.
Dr. Doom then attacked the Fantastic Four, and even the return of the Human Torch did little to stand against the cosmic powered Dr. Doom. Ultimately Reed had to admit defeat, and Doom decided to spare their lives for a while longer. After warning the world governments about Doom, Reed was granted permission from the United Nations to deal with Doom first. Recalling how the Surfer was exiled on Earth, Richards began working on a prototype of an Anti-Cosmic Flying Wing to defeat Doom.
Reed led the Fantastic Four into battle while the U.S. Army and Stark Industries worked on a larger version of the Flying Wing. Reed distracted Doom long enough for the Flying Wing to be completed. The device then lured Doom out of Earth's atmosphere and into the barrier that Galactus put in place to keep the Surfer on Earth. The resulting impact seemingly slew Doom and the Power Cosmic was reverted back to the Silver Surfer.
=== Blastaar ===
When returning home the FF were attacked by the Sandman once again, who used the devices stolen from Reed to construct a new high-tech costume. During the fight, Reed's portal to the Negative Zone was accidentally opened and while the Sandman managed to escape, Reed was sucked into it and was at the risk of death as he drifted uncontrollably into a nullification zone. It was during this tragic turn of events that Crystal revealed that she and her people escaped the Great Refuge. Understanding the Fantastic Four's plight, Crystal obtain the aid of Triton, who used his swimming prowess to rescue Reed from the Negative Zone. However they were followed back to Earth by an exiled warlord named Blastaar. Blastaar came across the Sandman and the two teamed up to attack New York City. While most of the team were busy fighting the pair, Reed developed a helmet that would subdue Blastaar. While the Sandman managed to escape capture once again, Blastaar faired worse when Reed succeeded in placing the helmet on his head knocking him out.
Back at the Baxter Building Reed and his team encountered future mercenary Deadpool and his sidekick Hydra Bob who had been travelling through history trying to get back to their own era time. Reed put in his scientific know-how to try and help Deadpool and Bob return to their own time, a task made harder due to temporal flashes that erased their short-term memory in order to maintain histories proper order. Reed and his teammates succeed in returning Deadpool to his own time with assistance of his a future incarnation of the Fantastic Four who was under the leadership of the Black Panther during that future time. Reed's memory of this encounter was erased thanks to the temporal flashes that preserved the timeline.
=== The Kree ===
When Reed and Sue decided to take a vacation with Ben on a remote island where they were attacked by the Kree Sentry left on Earth millions of years ago, Johnny rushed to their aid and helped destroy the robot. Later, while Reed was working in his lab, he noted a news report about Spider-Man and warned Ben not to taunt Johnny with it.
This earned the ire the Kree's leader the Supreme Intelligence who sent his agent Ronan the Accuser to punish the Fantastic Four. Reed and Sue were teleported away while on a date, but they and their teammates succeeded in defeating Ronan who fled back to the Kree galaxy.
=== The Enclave ===
It was soon discovered that Alicia had gone missing during their battle with Ronan and Reed went right to work to find clues to her whereabouts. Developing a heat image scanner, Reed was able to reconstruct a scene in Alicia's apartment where she was lured away by a Jerome Hamilton a scientist who worked for the secret Enclave organization.
Reed duplicated a bracelet that Hamilton wore to teleport Alicia to the Enclave's scientific laboratories called the Beehive. There they learned the scientists in the Enclave were attempting to create new life and kidnapped Ben's girlfriend Alicia so she could sculpt their creation, known only as Him, as any attempts to look at it was repelled by Himself. With the Enclave seeking to destroy Him, the Fantastic Four defended the creature and Alicia until Him could emerge from his cocoon. When Him succeeded, Reed and the others returned home, and Him destroyed the Beehive and left for the stars.
=== Sue's Pregnancy ===
Not long after their return from the Enclave, Sue collapsed and Reed's examinations found that Sue was pregnant with his child, much to everyone's delight. Soon after this announcement, Johnny and Ben were dispatched to Panther Island to assist the Inhuman Royal Family and the Black Panther in trying to stop the Psycho-Man a villain from the Microverse attempting to take control of Earth. 
With Ben once more depressed over his mutation, Reed enlisted the aid of famous chemist Dr. Santini to try and cure Ben. However unknown to them at the time, Santini was replaced by the Mad Thinker who altered the experiment so that it turned Ben evil instead of curing him. While Reed and the others fought Ben, the Mad Thinker had free reign of all of Reed's experiments. Unwilling to destroy their teammate, the Fantastic Four were easily defeated by the Thing in the first bout. When Reed deduced that the Mad Thinker was involved, the team in stormed the Thinker's secret lab rescuing Santini and apprehending the Thinker. Returning to base they were attacked by the Thing once again, but Reed managed to blast him with Menta-Wave Unit restoring Ben to normal just as the Mad Thinker's newest android arrived to finish them off.
Johnny, Ben, and Reed battled the android, ultimately dumping it into the Negative Zone, however, the experienced proved to Reed that he and his pregnant wife could not be safe at the Baxter Building and he resolved to leave the group. After this moment Reed and Sue were taken to the future once again for the anniversary party.
=== Return of the Silver Surfer ===
While Reed and Sue headed off to California, Johnny, Ben and Crystal were left to determine the fate of the group when they were suddenly approached by the Watcher. The Watcher warned that the Silver Surfer was going to menace the world in a misguided attempt to unify humanity. Johnny and Ben were joined by Reed who was teleported back to New York by the Watcher in order to help stop the Surfer. They managed to convince the alien the folly of his plans. After this episode Reed and Sue decided to remain at the Baxter building. Having survived his last encounter with the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom tricked the Fantastic Four into thinking that the heroic Daredevil had been possessed by Doom himself, putting the team on alert. Thinking that their headquarters was under attack the Fantastic Four attacked Daredevil. Daredevil then enlisted the aid of Spider-Man and Thor to try to convince the Fantastic Four that they had been duped. Reed fought with Daredevil thinking him to be Dr. Doom in Daredevil's body until Sue arrived at headquarters and confirmed Daredevil's claims that they were tricked by Doom.
Soon the Surfer sought out the Fantastic Four for help when Galactus was on his way to force the Surfer to be his herald once more. Reed and the others stood up against Galactus' Punisher robot while the Silver Surfer -- unknown to them -- fled into the Microverse. Galactus soon called off his enforcer and demanded that the Fantastic Four find the Surfer or he would have no choice but to consume Earth. The Fantastic Four initially refused and so Galactus created cosmic powered duplicates of Reed, Ben, and Johnny to attack the heroes. They ultimately defeated these constructs but had no choice but to find the Surfer. Reed deduced that the Surfer fled to the Microverse and they followed after him in Reed's newly constructed Reducta-Craft. There they clashed with the Surfer and convinced him to help Galactus. The Surfer did help Galactus in finding the energy he needed in an uninhabited solar system but found himself exiled on Earth to be used by Galactus again in the future. Meanwhile, Reed and the others were attacked by the Psycho-Man, whom they defeated in battle and convinced to let them go to defend the Earth from Galactus. However when they returned to Earth they were surprised to find that Galactus had been defeated in their absence.
=== Complications ===
Back on Earth, Reed devised a means of restoring Ben back to his human form, however, he cautioned that should Ben change back into the Thing the transformation would be permanent. Soon after they were attacked by the recently escaped Wizard, who nearly defeated the team with his new "Wonder Gloves", but was defeated, making Ben question his decision to renounce his powers. With Sue in the hospital expecting to give birth Reed was called in by the doctors who showed him troubling charts: the cosmic rays that gave Sue her powers were a risk to her and their unborn child and could prove to be fatal to them during childbirth. Reed decided to hide this fact from his wife but she sensed there was something wrong. Meanwhile, Ben was forced to change back into the Thing using the Wizard's Wonder Gloves when he and Alicia were attacked by the Mad Thinker's Android Man and glumly rejoined the team.
Reed returned to the Baxter building where he learned that Johnny got a letter asking for Johnny's help on the land owned by his people the Keewazi tribe. There Reed and his teammates learned that the Red Star Oil Company had constructed a massive robot based on the Keewazi god Tomazooma in an effort to try to force the Keewazi off their oil-rich land. The Fantastic Four helped Keewazi leader Silent Fox driving away the communist-backed corporation.
Returning home, Reed revealed to Ben and Johnny that the cosmic rays that powered Sue were complicating her pregnancy threatening to kill both Sue and her unborn child. Having discovered that a power source in the Negative Zone could save his wife Reed was determined to go alone but Johnny and Ben refused to let do so and accompanied him. Traveling into the Negative Zone together they were captured by the ruler of the Negative Zone, a brutal Darwinist known as Annihilus. Learning that Annihilus' Cosmic Control Rod was the energy source Reed needed the trio stole it and attempted to flee the Negative Zone. However, caught between Annihilus and the Annihilation Zone Reed compromised with the strange creature: he siphoned the energy he needed and returned the Rod to Annihilus in exchange for safe passage back to Earth. Rushing to the hospital, Reed succeeded in saving Sue's life, who gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
=== Fantastic Five ===
With Sue unable to play an active role on the team while recovering from her pregnancy, Crystal petitioned to join the team. Both Johnny and Reed were both apprehensive about the idea but she proved herself during a rematch with the Wizard who attacked them with new and improved Wonder Gloves. Although the Wizard managed to escape, Crystal had convinced both Reed and Johnny that she was the perfect replacement for Sue while she was away from the group. Shortly thereafter, Reed and his teammates were invited to a wedding party being thrown at Avengers Mansion for Yellowjacket and the Wasp. Needing royal approval from the Inhumans, Crystal insisted on returning to the Great Refuge, but upon summoning Lockjaw she was captured by the Alpha Primitives a slave class that carried out menial tasks for the Inhumans. Reed and the rest of the team traveled to the Hidden Land where they were captured and learned that Maximus had once again taken over the Inhuman throne and sought to take over the world with a Hypno-Gun. Black Bolt managed to free himself and the Royal Family and they, in turn, freed the Fantastic Four. Working together, the two groups destroyed Maximus' Hypno-Gun, but Maximus and his minions managed to flee into space.
=== Trapped in Latveria ===
On their way back to America, Reed and the others were stopped by Nick Fury and his agents of SHIELD who requested the Fantastic Four's help investigating reports that Dr. Doom was supplying robots to a communist nation in Eastern Europe. Traveling there the group was easily captured and made prisoner in Dr. Doom's homeland of Latveria, unable to leave due to defenses around the nation. Doom intended the Fantastic Four to live there until the day they died.
With the people of Latveria revolting against Doom's rule, Doom had the Fantastic Four knocked out and brainwashed into thinking they had lost their powers before ordering all the dissidents and his hated foes eliminated. Overcoming their brainwashing in the ensuing battle, Reed, and the others succeeded in destroying Doom's robots. Before taking the fight to Doom the group was joined by Sue who had come searching for them. Splitting up, Johnny, Reed and Ben fought with Doom's minion Gustav Hauptmann, a Nazi war criminal. However when Hauptmann almost destroyed some of Doom's priceless artwork the monarch grew tired of the match and slew Hauptmann. Then, much to everyone's surprise, he allowed the Fantastic Four to leave his nation unscathed.
Not long after returning to the Baxter Building, their headquarters was broken into and Reed's Space Scrambler device was stolen. Unknown to anyone at the time the thief was the Silver Surfer who was attempting to use the device in yet another failed attempt to breach the barrier trapping him on Earth.
=== Kral IV ===
Reed and Sue soon began seeking out a suitable home where they could raise their child. They went out of their way to purchase bizarre metallic home that just appeared one day, unaware that this was a trap laid out by the Mole Man to blind the entire team and defeat them in battle before turning this device on the entire world. Without their sense of sight, Reed and the others were outmatched by the Mole Man. During the battle, a stray shot seriously wounded Reed and destroyed the device making them blind. Furious, Johnny savagely went after the Mole Man and subdued him before he could activate the master device that would blind the entire planet. The Mole Man then managed to escape then set the house to self-destruct forcing the Fantastic Four to abandon the home. When Reed arrived back at the Baxter Building, he learned that Ben, who left prior to the house blowing up, had gone missing. After fruitless hours scouring the city searching for him Reed found evidence that Ben had been captured by the Skrulls. Reed tracked Ben to the planet Kral IV, he then traveled there with Johnny and Crystal.
On Kral IV, Reed and the others found that the planet was run by the Slave-Master and a series of Skrulls who were inspired by American gangster culture of the 1930s. The "mobsters" who ruled this planet captured aliens from all over the universe to pit them in gladiatorial battles. Reed and the others rescued Ben. They then assisted an alien named Torgo in staging an uprising among the slaves, topping the Slave-Master's empire. With the Skrull mobs defeated, Johnny and his teammates returned to Earth.
During this period Reed also developed what he hoped was a cure for the Hulk and sent out a bulletin to the media. As Reed had hoped, Bruce Banner came to New York seeking the cure. However, a transformation into the Hulk led to a battle between the Fantastic Four and the Hulk. Incapacitating the Hulk Reed subjected the Hulk to his invention but instead of curing Banner it made it so Banner could change into the Hulk at will while still retaining his intelligence. Although this proved to be short-lived. Later, Reed was one of the many altruistic humans that were mind linked by the X-Men's Professor X to fight off an invasion from the Z'nox.
=== His Name is Franklin ===
Finally, Reed and Sue had decided upon a name for their son. They named him Franklin after Sue's late father. The couple also decided that if Sue was to become active with the Fantastic Four again they needed to employ a nanny. They agreed to see Agatha Harkness an elderly witch that lived on Whisper Hill in New Jersey. There their visit was interrupted by the Frightful Four. Even though Medusa infiltrated their ranks to foil their plans the Fantastic Four were incapacitated in the surprise attack. However, they were saved thanks to the intervention of Harkness who used her powers of witchcraft to drive out their foes. Due to her ability to defend herself, Harkness was hired as Franklin's new nanny.
When Spider-Man and the Human Torch made a bet that they could switch roles with ease, Reed and the rest of the team reluctantly agreed to allow Spider-Man to join them on an exploration mission of another dimension. Spider-Man's attempts to try and impress the Fantastic Four led to Reed's experiment ending in failure, much to Reed's chagrin. Later, Manhattan was trapped under an impenetrable dome by the Zodiac crime cartel trapping the Fantastic Four and others outside the city. New York was eventually liberated by the Avengers. The Fantastic Four later defended a UN delegation from the assassin known as the Monocle. During this mission the Inhumans came back for Crystal and forced her to return home to Attilan. When Johnny wanted to go after them Reed forced the youth to remain with the team and resolve the current crisis.
=== Attack of the Androids ===
The group was later attacked by the Mad Thinker. This time, their foe used android duplicates of the group to try and defeat them. Thanks to Reed's superior intellect and ingenuity the Fantastic Four were able to foil this most recent plot. Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were later called in by the military to provide a risk assessment on the Silver Surfer. When this was overheard by the Surfer it led to a brief one-sided battle between the Torch and Surfer.
Reed and his family next took a vacation to Florida and soon investigated reports of the so-called Monster from the Lost Lagoon. The Fantastic Four soon discovered the creature was merely an alien trapped on Earth seeking to repair his ship and return to the stars. Reed and the Fantastic Four next uncovered a Kree plot to sabotage a manned mission to the Moon. They clashed with Kree Sentry 9168 leading to its destruction, allowing the mission to land successfully. Richards later provided information regarding the Silver Surfer to SHIELD during a time the alien was being forced by the demon Mephisto to attack the spy agency.
When Johnny became impatient over Crystal's absence, he went to Attilan to get her back. Reed and the others followed after him and arrived just as the battle had ended. As it turned out Crystal's abilities were needed to help heal Black Bolt after an injury and she was free to return to the Fantastic Four. On their way back home the group were attacked by an army of androids based upon their various foes created by the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master. The group were able to fend off all their android attackers and the two villains met their defeat when an android of the Hulk proved too powerful to control.
=== Ultimate Doom ===
On their way home to the Baxter Building the Fantastic Four were too late to stop an attack by the Enclave who were secretly employed by Doctor Doom to steal Reed's inventions and destroy their headquarters. By the time they arrived the group had to battle a rebuild Android-Man but had no clue who was responsible for the attack. Reed and the others next came to the aid of the Sub-Mariner when he was battling a revived Sentry Vol 1 9168. While they were distracted in battle Doom stole the Horn of Proteus from Atlantis. Realizing that someone was working against them Reed took the Fantastic Four to the home of the X-Men to utilize two deactivated Sentinels for added security. However, Doom was a step ahead of them activating the mutant-hunting robots and sending them on a rampage. The Fantastic Four stopped the Sentinels with the help of Spider-Man, Daredevil, the X-Men, and Doctor Strange.
On their way back home, Reed and the others stopped in Harlem to assist Captain America and the Falcon battle MODOK and his division of AIM. After the battle Reed became determined to find out who was plotting against them and why. Running some experiments in his lab Reed determined that Doctor Doom was the one responsible. Soon after this, Doom sent the Hulk on a rampage to keep them distracted for the next phase of his plan. Later, they discovered Doom's plans to collect artifacts of great power. Learning that Doom sought to obtain the Ultimate Machine from the Watcher's citadel on the Moon, the Fantastic Four went there with the aid of SHIELD, the Silver Surfer and the Black Panther. They failed to stop Doom from obtaining the Ultimate Weapon. Doom responded to their interference by blowing up their ship with the Cosmic Cube leaving the team for dead in the void of space.
The group survived thanks to Sue's invisible force fields and they were soon recovered by the Inhumans. By the time they returned to Earth they discovered that the Sub-Mariner—now enthralled by Doom—was about to attack New York City. The Fantastic Four assisted the Avengers in fighting off Namor's invasion and freeing him from Doom's control. Meanwhile Doom himself used this as a distraction to access the Negative Zone. Discovering this breach, Reed, Ben and Johnny followed him into the Negative Zone where they were too late to stop Doom from stealing the Cosmic Control Rod. They were then held back in a battle with Annihilus, but defeated him with the assistance of Captain Marvel. They were detained further when the Frightful Four attacked the Baxter Building. Learning that Doom was going after the power of Galactus himself Reed convinced Thor to allow him an audience with Odin in Asgard. Learning the threat Doom posed Odin offered the warriors of Asgard to Reed's cause.
As Reed gathered his army to face Doom when returned with the power of Galactus. When Doom began attacking New York City he slayed many who opposed him. While Reed sent Johnny and Balder the Brave to recover the now powerless Galactus, Reed went to work on distracting Doom to buy them time. Reed and the other members of the Fantastic Four attacked Doom using constructs of giant monsters until they were able to knock the Cosmic Cube loose from Doom's body. Recovering the device Reed used it to strip Doom of his powers. He then restored Galactus to normal and reversed all the damage Doom had done. In order to prevent Doom from trying such a scheme again Reed also erased everyone's memories of these events.
=== Mobsters and Mutants ===
Back home, the Fantastic Four faced a more mundane threat when the Maggia crime family purchased the Baxter Building in order to get access to Reed's inventions. They failed to evict and murder the Fantastic Four and Reed exposed their leader the Top Man's scheme. The courts found the purchase of the Baxter Building illegal and later reverted ownership back to Walter Collins. After having time to analyze the strange global telepathic link he experienced earlier, Reed managed to trace it back to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four went to pay them a visit. Learning of the X-Men's battle with the Z'Nox Reed pointed out to Professor X that the Z'Nox was still a threat to other worlds and needed to be stopped permanently. The two X-Men and the Fantastic Four then ventured out into space to do just that. The two groups then traced the Z'Nox war world across space and attacked it. During the battle Reed attached a device that then shunted it into the Negative Zone where the Z'Nox could no longer be a threat to the known universe.
While Reed and the others got to know Crystal's culture better, they were suddenly attacked by the Inhuman royal family who were tricked by Maximus into thinking the Fantastic Four were launching missile attacks on Attilan. Reed and the others defended themselves from Black Bolt and his family until Triton uncovered the truth and hostilities were quickly ended. Soon New York city was terrorized by Janus the Nega-Man, who used his Nega-Power to rob banks. While Ben and Johnny tried to contain their foe, Reed and Sue discovered that he had a connection to one of Reed's old classmates, Richard Janus. As it turned out, the Nega-Man was a negative-energy duplicate of Janus who dissolved when Richard shot his doppelganger dead.
Not long after this Atlantis and the surface world faced increasing tension thanks to the manipulations of the mutant terrorist known as Magneto. During the escalating conflict Magneto used his magnetic powers to attack the Fantastic Four at their Baxter Building headquarters. Reed convinced the President of the United States to allow his group to try and resolve the conflict. This led to a clash with Namor and his forces until Magneto pulled his double cross by kidnapping both Sue and Lady Dorma in order to force Reed and Namor to stand down.
Reed returned in-land as Magneto and the forces of Atlantis took over Manhattan. Convincing the President to give him more time Reed began constructing a weapon that would defeat Magneto. He was assisted by the mental projection of the X-Men's Charles Xavier who was monitoring events telepathically. Attacking Magneto in Central Park, Reed was able to incapacitate him with the device that turned Magneto's own powers against him. With the crisis over Namor returned his armies to the deep and Magneto was turned over to the authorities. Not long after this the military tapped the expertise of both Mister Fantastic and Professor X to try and contain the Hulk. Their plan saw the brute incapacitated at Hoover Dam but the Hulk was absconded to the Microverse by Psyklop before he could be contained.
=== Science Run Amok ===
Not long after Sue began her regular duties with the team again, Crystal began to fall ill. After some examination, Reed had deduced that the pollution in the outside world was having an ill effect on her health that could be fatal. With no other choice, Crystal was forced to return to Attilan much to Johnny's protests. Reed then began working on a new method of curing the Thing. After Reed got Ben strapped into the delicate machinery and begun his experiment Johnny came back asking for Reed's help to stop the energy creature called the Monster in the Streets, but Reed dared not leave the experiment less Ben die in the process. Reed then ordered Johnny to draw all the heat from the room freezing Ben alive and placing him in a state of suspended animation. This gave Reed time to cure the so-called "monster". As it turned the "monster" was Lawrence Rambow, the son of his colleague Phillip Rambow. Lawrence was accidentally transformed when one of Phillip's experiments went horribly wrong.
Meanwhile, the experiment to cure Ben, however, turned out to be an apparent success. Emerging from the device, Ben demonstrated the ability to change back and forth between human and Thing forms at will. However, none suspected that it had an adverse affect on his personality. Reed as soon visited by Richard Janus, who had since become obsessed with traveling into the Negative Zone. Although Reed refused to allow him passage, Janus managed to force his way through the Negative Zone portal. Calling back the team Reed refreshed them on who Janus was. As they went to the Negative Zone chamber they witnessed as Janus plunged into the Negative Zone and come face-to-face with Annihilus. Reed, Johnny and Ben entered the Negative Zone to stop a battle between Janus and Annihilus. The conflict ended when Janus fell into the distortion field of the Negative Zone and as seemingly destroyed. Although Johnny and Ben managed to get back to their universe, Reed found himself forced to stay behind in order to keep Annihilus from discovering the location of the portal back to Earth. With the mystical powers of Agatha Harkness the Fantastic Four were able to create a distraction that allowed Reed to escape. However, while Reed was fleeing Annihilus for his life, Ben's change in personality came to the fore and after a confrontation over leadership he stormed out on the group. Reed realized that with the secrets that Ben knows about their organization he had to be stopped.
As Ben rampaged through Manhattan, Reed went to work on trying to find a way to cure his friend. Although the rest of the team went to try and contain the Thing, the general public began turning against the Fantastic Four. Reed also faced pressure from his landlord Walter Collins who was suddenly determined to have the Fantastic Four evicted from his building. Reed soon realized that the only way of containing the Thing was getting the help of the Hulk. As Reed continued his work he faced continued pressure from the public, the press and his landlord who were becoming more and more aggressive towards the Fantastic Four. Completing his device, Reed arrived on the scene of the battle between the Thing and the Hulk. He appeared to have arrived too late as it seemed as though the Hulk had pummeled the Thing to death.
=== Overmind ===
However, Ben was hanging on within an inch of his life. With the police moving in to arrest the Fantastic Four, Reed managed to revive the Thing. Retreating back to headquarters Reed offered to run the cure again but Ben smashed the machine telling the group that he had grown accustomed to being the Thing. Shortly thereafter, Reed and the rest of the team was visited by the Watcher who warned them of the coming threat of a being calling itself the Overmind. Soon enough the mayor of New York ordered the Fantastic Four to surrender to the authorities. Reed convinced his team to follow the mayor's wishes unaware that he was already under the thrall of the Overmind.
Arranged in court the Fantastic Four were allowed to return to their headquarters until trial. Outside the courthouse, they were attacked by the Overmind who wished to test their abilities. After he was satisfied with this test, the Overmind erased their memories of the battle and sent them on their way. Reed then began focusing on how to locate their mysterious foe. Contacting the Watcher the Fantastic Four learned that the Overmind was the last survivor of the Eternals of Eyung who sought to conquer the universe. After learning this origin the Fantastic Four were shocked when Reed was suddenly possessed by the Overmind himself and attacked them. His teammates were no match for Reed's fighting prowess and he escaped the Baxter Building with ease.
However when faced with the Overmind Reed resisted his foe and fighting back by trying to hold on to memories of his wife and son. Despite his efforts, Reed was fighting a losing battle and succumbed completely to the Overmind. Without their leader, the Fantastic Four had no other choice but to seek an unlikely alliance with Doctor Doom, who agreed to help them stop the Overmind. Under Doom's leadership, the team held both the Overmind and Reed at bay long enough for the enigmatic Stranger to arrive on Earth. As it turned out the Stranger was and agent of the Gigantans, ancient enemies of the Eternals, and used his power to banish the Overmind to the Microverse. With the Overmind defeated all those under his thrall, including Reed, were freed from his control.
=== The Illuminati ===
It was about this time that the Avengers were heavily involved in the most recent iteration of the centuries-long Kree-Skrull War. At the same time, a Skrull posing as US Senator H. Warren Craddock used his position to start the Alien Activities Commission to spread xenophobia upon the United States. When the Avengers were called forward to testify about the presence of the Kree hero Captain Marvel on Earth Richards was asked to appear before the Commission to give information on the Kree. When the Avengers later began exposing the Skrulls plans to discredit them on Earth they contacted Reed about three Skrulls in particular that posed as members of the Fantastic Four. Reed recognized them as the three Skrulls he previously hypnotized into thinking they were cows early in his career with the Fantastic Four. Ultimately the Avengers were able to stop the Kree-Skrull War with the help of the hidden powers belonging to their associate Rick Jones.
With the current Kree-Skrull conflict over a group of prominent members of the super-hero community were gathered for a secret meeting in Wakanda. Reed joined the ranks of the Black Panther, Namor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and Professor X. Their primary discussion regarding the threat posed by two alien races, the exchange of information, as well as forming a secret think-tank to deal with global threats. With the exception of the Black Panther they all agreed to form a secret group that would share information and form this secret society. This clandestine group eventually became known as the Illuminati. Their first mission as a group was to travel to the Skrull throne-world where they warned Dorrek VII against attacking Earth again in the future. Dorrek called their bluff and took the Illuminati prisoner. Reed and the others were tortured for days as the Skrulls experimented on them to learn the secrets of their powers. Eventually, the six heroes managed to break free and flee back to Earth. Little did the Illuminati know that the Skrulls had unlocked the secrets to their abilities a ramification they would not feel until many years later.
Back on Earth Reed tried to take some time away from adventuring by taking his family to Whisper Hill to relax. This proved short lived when the Human Torch decided to leave the group and be reunited with his girlfriend Crystal who had gone missing after departing from New York. Reed and the others tracked Johnny to the nation of Terra Verde where they discovered that their old foe Diablo had enslaved Crystal and brainwashed her into believing she was the Ahau goddess Ixchel. The group helped defeat Diablo who was seemingly slain in the battle but Crystal still had to return home due to the affects of outside pollution could still prove fatal to her. Back home, Reed sent the Thing and Torch to the segregated nation of Rudyarda where they assisted the Black Panther in recovering a stolen Vibrotron from Klaw.
=== Air-Walker ===
After stopping thieves from trying to rob his lab, and fending off Walter Collins who was still trying to evict them, the Fantastic Four received a warning from Agatha Harkness that some new threat was coming. This came in the form of a powerful being calling himself Gabriel the Air-Walker who announced that the Earth was doomed. The Fantastic Four tried to match their powers against Gabriel, but they were unable to stop him before he could summon his master.
Reed and the others continued to battle Gabriel to no avail, but their battle also drew the attention of the Silver Surfer who came to the aid of his friends. They destroyed Gabriel, who turned out to be nothing more than a robot. As it happened Gabriel's mission was to force the Surfer to appear so his former master Galactus to claim the Surfer as his herald once again. Refusing to be enslaved once again the Surfer fought against his former master who threatened to consume the Earth if he did not come willingly. While the Surfer, Ben and Johnny fought Galactus, Reed and Sue flew into space. There Reed took control of the ship piloted by Galactus and threatened to strand him on Earth if he did not surrender.
Reed then made a new deal with Galactus to leave the Earth alone in exchange for the Surfer agreeing to follow him off Earth. This was all a ruse on the part of Reed who had secretly altered the controls of the ship causing Galactus to be transported into the Negative Zone instead. When the Surfer fought back against Reed he was nearly killed by the Power Cosmic. But when Richards explained what he had done and the crisis was over the Surfer parted ways as a friend once more.
=== Exhaustion ===
Exhausted after his recent run of adventures, Reed collapsed and was taken to East Side Hospital where he was diagnosed with severe exhaustion. His admittance into the hospital coincided with the return of the Monster from the Black Lagoon who had broken into the hospital to steal medical supplies and kidnapped Sue in the process. Learning that his wife was in danger Reed tried to rush to her aid but was still too weak do anything about it. Reed eventually regained his strength and fought his way out to the hospital, tracking Johnny and Ben to Central Park where they found the Monster in an underwater cave. They soon learned that the alien had kidnapped Sue to assist in administering medicine to his mate who had became ill following their last visit to Earth. Sue was released and the Monster returned to the stars with his mate.
Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four later attended an anniversary party being thrown for the Howling Commandos, the military unit that Nick Fury fought with during World War II. Soon thereafter Reed met with Martine Bancroft who explained how her former lover Michael Morbius turned himself into a pseudo-vampire. Reed sent Johnny out to try and capture Morbius. Alough Johnny failed, Spider-Man was able to capture Morbius with the help of the X-Men.
Shortly thereafter, the Hulk was finally captured and was to be put on trial. Learning this Reed intended to be a witness to testify on the behalf of Bruce Banner. The Fantastic Four were on hand in Washington when the plane carrying Banner on board landed but Banner had since transformed back into the Hulk and went on another rampage. As the Hulk attacked Reed tried his new experimental Nega-Gamma weapon to try and cure Banner. All it succeeded in doing was knocking the Hulk out and allowed the military to subdue him again. Working on the device further Reed interrupted the Hulk's trial to once more try the device again. Although the Hulk agreed to be exposed to the Nega-Gamma, he quickly changed his mind and broke free escaping the authorities once again.
=== Martial Problems ===
Reed continued to work on his Mento-Projector device after breaking up a squabble between Ben and Johnny, Reed left it on Ben's care. Reliving the early days of the Fantastic Four with the helmet convinced Ben to go after the Mole Man in the hopes that their oldest foe could provide a cure for Alicia's blindness. When the group learned where Ben had gone they went after him. Along the way, Reed continued to try and get Sue to stay behind but she became increasingly defiant wanting an equal part on the team. She and Reed soon began to argue with each other on the mission. As they searched for Ben they were unaware that the Mole Man had formed an alliance with Kala, another rival subterranean ruler, and used a device to make Ben appear as a monstrous creature to anyone who saw him. Although they were tricked into fighting Ben, the Fantastic Four broke the illusion and took their battle to the Mole Man, whose plans to marry Kala were dashed when she revealed that she was in league with his rival Tyrannus. With Tyrannus seemingly slain and Kala having fled a brokenhearted Mole Man ceased his hostilities allowing the Fantastic Four to return home all be it empty handed.
Back at home, Reed collapsed of exhaustion once again although this episode was not as worse as the last. When Johnny decided to leave the group to reunite with Crystal in Attilan Reed tried to stop him, but was opposed by his wife. When Agatha later asked that they pick up their son Franklin Reed ordered Sue to go pick up their son alone, much to her continued aggravation. At that very moment, both Ben and Medusa were ambushed and taken prisoner by a new incarnation of the Frightful Four which included the amazon woman known as Thundra.
=== Separation ===
Reed was also ambushed by the Frightful Four who broke into their headquarters. During the fight, Sue returned with young Franklin. When Reed ordered her to take their son to safety, she refused to leave the battle. Unknown to all around at the time Franklin's budding mutant powers allowed the Fantastic Four to gain the edge they needed to defeat their foes. But, in the aftermath of the battle Reed and Sue got into a heated argument about Sue's part on the team and her role as a mother and a wife. Fed up with her constant defiance of his wishes Reed told Sue that if she wanted to leave she should do so. Although Reed instantly regretted his words he did nothing to stop his wife from taking him up on this suggestion and left with Franklin. Even though his wife had just quit the group Reed was convinced the Fantastic Four would continue on.
While this was happening Johnny had arrived in Attilan to discover that Crystal was now in a relationship with the Avenger known as Quicksliver. This revelation followed with a new attack on the Inhumans by Maximus, who had his android Omega incite an Alpha Primitive uprising in the Hidden Land. When the Reed, Ben and Medusa came looking for Johnny in Attilan they joined the fight against Omega. Ultimately the android was defeated when the Inhumans came to terms with their guilt over enslaving the Alpha Primitives rendering the android inert. With Crystal choosing Quicksilver over Johnny, the Torch agreed to return with the Fantastic Four. Prior to their departure, Reed accepted Medusa into their ranks to fill the void left by Sue's departure.
=== Medusa ===
While celebrating the new calendar year Reed was still reeling from the departure of his wife, Reed was present when Thundra, challenged the Thing to a one-on-one battle. The pair clashed in a stadium in Queens for the life of Alicia who was a hostage of the Frightful Four. Knowing that Ben was no match for Thundra, Reed devised a device that briefly reverted Ben back to human form. Unable to fight Ben as an equal, Thundra fled the scene and forced the Frightful Four to release Alicia. When Luke Cage, the hero for hire, sought to collect money owed to him by Doctor Doom he sought the assistance of the Fantastic Four. After a brief clash Reed loaned Cage one of his ships to fly to Latveria and collect the money owed to him. Reed and his new incarnation of the Fantastic Four also defended New York from demons unleashed upon the Earth by Dormammu and Loki until the two sorcerers were defeated by the Avengers and Defenders.
Answering a distress call from Agatha Harkness Reed and the others soon found that her home had been seemingly demolished and that the witch missing. Learning that Sue was also kidnapped from the farm she was staying at Reed went after her. The Fantastic Four were soon captured by Gregory Gideon and his minion the Dragon Man while searching for Sue. Gideon had rescinded on his past promise to go straight after being caught in a nuclear explosion that gave him and his son Thomas with terminal cancer. Having captured Reed, Sue, and Franklin he intended to siphon off the cosmic energies from their bodies to cure himself and Thomas. While Reed was unconscious the rest of the Fantastic Four broke free. Gideon died trying to accomplish his goals and the Dragon Man was seemingly deactivated. When Sue woke up she begged her former teammates not to tell Reed that she was there and fled the scene with Franklin.
=== Shaper of Worlds ===
Reed was revived shortly thereafter but before they could leave Gideon's hideout they were caught up in a reality warp created by the Shaper of Worlds who was providing wish fulfillment of 50s aficionado Andrew "Slugger" Johnson. The group found themselves in a 1950s themed world. There Johnny and Medusa joined sides with the Wild Ones while Reed and Ben joined with the Patriots. Both sides fought for control of the Warhead, a massive weapon created by "the Brain"—who was secretly Slugger Johnson. The FF broke free of the mental conditioning of both groups and destroyed the Warhead, forcing Johnson to come to terms with the passage of time and ending the reality warp.
When Wyatt Wingfoot returned to New York to seek the Fantastic Four's help saving his people from the Miracle Man Reed remained behind to focus on his work and brood over his separation. Reed was so distracted by his personal problems he was unaware that there was a breach in the Negative Zone portal. Reed's next attempt to try and cure the Thing was late rejected by Ben who had no interest in being cured at the time.
=== The Team Breaks Up ===
Reed soon got a panicked call from Sue regarding Franklin's increasingly strange behavior. Before she could explain what was going on their transmission was cut short. Reed was about to rush to her rescue when Triton arrived with the Sub-Mariner who had just been exposed to a deadly nerve gas. After fighting to subdue Namor, Reed created a new costume that would regulate moisture in Namor's body and keep him alive. Rushing to Sue's aid the Fantastic Four were already too late and she had been kidnapped by an unseen foe. Returning to base Reed and the others found Annihilus waiting for them. The alien quickly trounced the group and took them with him into the Negative Zone.
Recovering from the attack Reed and the others quickly discovered that Annihilus was holding Sue, Franklin and Agatha Harkness prisoner. Annihilus explained his plans to steal the energies coursing inside of Franklin's body that were taken from his Cosmic Control Rod when the boy was born. Reed and the others eventually managed to break free and rescue Sue, Franklin and Agatha and flee back to Earth. There Franklin's powers began flaring out of control threatening to destroy everything. With no other choice, Reed had to use an untested device to power down his son. The result had the unfortunate side effect of shutting down Franklin's mind in the process. Not only did Reed's actions push his wife further away from him but both Johnny and Ben were so horrified by what had happened they instantly quit the Fantastic Four.
=== Reformation ===
While Reed chastised himself for what happened, but Medusa remained behind to keep Reed together and be a friend to him during his hard time. Shortly after the group broke up Spider-Man sought Reed's help to rescue Captain Marvel who was trapped inside the combined Alpha and Omega Stones. The pair tracked Mar-Vell down to the realm of the Mole Man and rescued the hero, also foiling the Mole Man's latest plot to destroy the surface world.
Reed was later convinced by Medusa to attend a State University reunion. Going to the festivities Reed was surprised that the only other classmate invited was Sam Thorne and his wife. However, they quickly discovered that this was all a trap laid out by Doctor Doom. Reed and Medusa were quickly captured as well as Ben and Johnny. The group was later freed by Doom's minion, the demonic looking mutate known as Darkoth. The group went after Doom who was seeking to use the FF's headquarters to launch a satellite that would allow him to enslave the population of the Earth. While Reed and the others failed to stop the launch Darkoth seemingly sacrificed his life to destroy the satellite. Fighting together alongside Reed again, Ben and Johnny decided to put aside their differences with Reed and reform the Fantastic Four.
=== Operation: Revival ===
Reed later relayed orders to Medusa to return to Attilan for a project they Inhumans called Operation: Revival. When Medusa and the Torch went missing in the Himalayan Mountains, Reed sent Ben to rescue them. While Reed was away on other business Bruce Banner came seeking his aid. He and the Thing soon attempted to use Reed's new Psi-Amplifier to cure Ben of being the Thing once more. Instead of curing Ben the device triggered Banner's transformation into the Hulk and caused a mind-swap between the Thing and Hulk. Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four then tried to contain a battle between the two titans. When the fight reached Madison Square Gardens Reed injected the Hulk with a massive dose of sedatives triggering a transformation back into Banner. This caused a reversal to the mind transfer process. Reed and Sue were later transported to their future 40th wedding anniversary once again. Despite seeing their future-selves still happily married the couple were still argumentative. As usual, when they were returned to their own era, their minds were wiped of all memory of these events.
Things became more grim for Reed when Sue began filing paperwork for a divorce. Later it appeared that Sue had been captured by the Sub-Mariner. Using the unique energy signature from the costume he built, Reed and the rest of the group traced Namor to the coasts of Africa. There the group battled fiercely against the Sub-Mariner until they discovered that Sue was not kidnapped but went with Namor willingly and that she was in love with him. This revelation crushed an her already grieving husband. Returning home in defeat Reed collapsed a third time in flight. Narrowly avoiding a crash the group returned to the Baxter Building only to be attacked by the Wizard, Sandman and Trapster of the Frightful Four. Although caught off guard the Fantastic Four succeeded in defeating their foes with the help of Thundra who had turned against her former teammates. Just as they finished containing the Frightful Four, Namor and Sue began an attack on New York City.
As the Fantastic Four and Thundra battled Namor and his hordes, Sue came to realize that Reed still loved her and that she loved him. Calling off the attack Sue ran to her husband and the two reconciled. In the aftermath of the battle, it was revealed that Namor was working in league with the Inhumans the whole time and that Operation: Revival was a plan to get Reed and Sue to reconcile their differences.
=== Adventures Through Time ===
With his wife and son back Reed's life more or less went back to normal. He provided his Unstable Molecules to Professor X to fashion into costumes for two new teams of X-Men.
Later the Fantastic Four—with Medusa still taking Sue's place on the team—were asked to test out a new space shuttle for NASA. While they were in space, the Earth was caught in a reality warp replacing Earth-616 with Earth-74082, a primitive jungle world. Crash landing on that planet they were visited by the Watcher who told them that reality had been altered to change the present. The FF were broken up into two teams and sent into two different time periods to prevent the catastrophic events from happening that changed the present. Reed and Johnny were transported back to the year 1777 where they rescued General George Washington from the British. While the Thing and Medusa where sent to Chicago during the late 20s to prevent the mob from gaining advanced knowledge about the coming stock market crash. They discovered the man responsible was none other than long time Fantastic Four mailman Willie Lumpkin. When they made this discovery they also found out that Willie was nothing more than a pawn manipulated by the temporal being known as Tempus. Tempus sought to cause as many disruptive changes to the timeline in order to cause it to unravel and ultimately end his eternal life. The Fantastic Four fought back against Tempus seemingly slaying him and returned home to their restored reality.
Later Reed briefly took on Peter Parker and Russian student Nina Pushnikov as lab assistants. These assistants proved short-lived as Pushnikov was working with the Red Ghost to steal Reed's new Gravity Localizer device and Peter was fired for giving the lab's password to Spider-Man when he and the Torch briefly used the Localizer in Spider-Man's newly built Spider-Mobile. Reed also began examining the powers of Wundarr a super-strong alien with the mind of a child that was under the Thing's care at the time. Reed developed a costume to Wundarr to wear to better regulate his powers.
Later, when the Time-Platform brought a refugee from the 30th Century where the Earth was enslaved by the Badoon, Reed used the device to send the Thing, Captain America and Sharon Carter into the future to help liberate the people there. With the assistance of the Guardians of the Galaxy the heroes succeeded and returned home.
=== Sue Returns ===
With Sue back on the team, the Fantastic Four were invited to the wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal in Attilan. There they attended alongside the Avengers when Maximus launched his latest attack on the Inhumans. At first appeared that he had revived his Omega android the two groups of heroes and the Inhumans were surprised when "Omega" revealed himself to be the robot known as Ultron in disguise.
When Ultron unleashed a mental attack on the heroes the weapon stimulated Franklin's mind enough to snap him out of his coma. The youth then used his powers to seemingly destroy Ultron saving the life of his family and with that his powers seemingly became dormant. With the danger passed Reed and the others were witness to the wedding without further interruption. When the Fantastic Four returned to New York with the Avengers Reed and Sue bid farewell to their longtime nanny Agatha Harkness who decided to leave their employ so she could train the Scarlet Witch in the ways of witchcraft.
=== Gender War ===
Although Reed and Sue had reconciled their differences, she wasn't sure if she still wanted to be part of the team and as such Medusa remained among their ranks. Returning to the Baxter Building, Reed found himself in the middle of his team's battle with Mahkizmo a warrior from the male dominated future of Earth-74101 who came seeking to capture their old foe Thundra. As it turned out Thundra's female-dominated future and Mahkizmo's male dominated world were merging and the Femazons of Thundra's home were at risk of being enslaved. Facing the warrior man Reed was no match for Mahkizmo who easily defeated him.
Thundra was later captured and taken back to Mahkizmo's future. Reed then adapted his time machine to travel sideways in time so that he and the Fantastic Four could travel to Mahkizmo's realm. There, the male members of the Fantastic Four were prone to a will sapping ray created by Mahkizmo and the team was captured. Medusa was able to free herself as her unique Inhuman physiology made her immune to Mahkizmo's ray. She seemingly abandoned Reed, Ben and Johnny in their cell, leaving them to wonder if she had betrayed them. Reed and the others were forced to join Thundra in an arena where they were forced to fight to the death. Before there could be any casualties Medusa returned with warrior women from Thundra's reality. Freed from his control the Fantastic Four and Thundra fought back against Mahkizmo. In the end Mahkizmo was seemingly slain by the twin blows of both Thundra and the Thing. The resulting clash caused Mahkizmo's realm of Machus to merge with Thundra's Femizonia into a new future where both men and women lived as equals. Reed and the others, including Thundra, quickly found themselves shunted back to the modern era of Earth.
Reed, Johnny and Ben were later attacked by Nick Fury, who had adopted Reed's old guise of the "Mystery Villain" in order to test new SHIELD ordinance. When the three male members of the Fantastic Four bested Fury, he revealed his identity before he teleported away.
=== Four Horsemen ===
Reed and his team next faced members of the Axi-Tun race who stylized themselves after the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. After the team battled Pestilence they split up into two teams to stop the three remaining Horsemen across the globe. Reed and Ben traveled to Cambodia where they stopped Famine while Medusa and the Torch battled War in Africa. The team then reunited in the Himalayan Mountains where they put a stop to Death, saving the Earth from global catastrophe once again.
When the Thing learned that the Floridian muck monster known as the Man-Thing had been captured and was to be put on display in New York, he convinced Reed and Johnny to accompany him to see the captive creature. During the event the Man-Thing managed to break free and while Reed and the others tried to handle the panicked crowds, the Man-Thing managed to escape back to Florida.
=== Failing Powers ===
While out on a stroll in Central Park, Reed, Johnny, Ben and Medusa were suddenly attacked by their old ally the Silver Surfer. When fighting back, they learned that the Surfer's lover Shalla-Bal had apparently been brainwashed into thinking she was a mere peasant of Doctor Doom. In exchange for Shalla-Bal's freedom Doom ordered the Surfer to kill his old foes. With no apparent choice, the Surfer sought to kill his onetime allies. However unwilling to become a murderer the Surfer instead incapacitated Reed and the others and turned them over to Doctor Doom for disposal. Although the Fantastic Four were placed in what Doom believed to be inescapable traps they eventually broke out and began fighting for their freedom. However by this time, Doom had managed to steal some of the Surfer's Power Cosmic and infuse it in his latest android creation, the Doomsman II. The Fantastic Four destroyed the Doomsman with the aid of the Surfer but were forced to depart when they could not bring themselves to destroy all the priceless artwork in Doom's castle. They also left when they were led to believe Shalla-Bal was not the Surfer's lover but really a Latverian peasant manipulated by Doom. The Fantastic Four and the Surfer departed unaware that the woman really was Shalla-Bal, and the entire episode was part of a larger manipulation created by the demon known as Mephisto. During the course of the ensuing battle, Reed began to suspect that he was losing his powers but said nothing.
Back home, Reed and his team next faced the threat of the mutant known as Madrox the Multiple Man, whose malfunctioning power-regulating costume was threatening to black out all of New York City. The Fantastic Four kept Madrox at bay long enough for the arrival Professor X who knocked the boy out with his telepathic powers and took him into custody. Not long after that Reed celebrated the holidays with his family and their friends. The Fantastic Four were later targeted by the Puppet Master again, this time using his clay to enthrall Thor and attack the group. While Reed and the others were knocked out in the initial attack, Thor was abated by the Thing who later defeated the Puppet Master with the help of his ward Wundarr.
=== Medusa's Departure ===
Not long after the Fantastic Four were approached by Quicksilver who warned them that Attilan had been invaded by Xemu and his armies from the Fifth Dimension. This coming at a time when Sue was still unsure if she wanted to return to the Fantastic Four full time. After hearing Pietro's story, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four went off to Attilan leaving Sue behind. When the group arrived in Attilan they were quickly captured by Xemu and his minions. As prisoners they learned that the invaders sought to force Black Bolt to power their weapon, the Thunder Horn, and trigger a world war they hoped would wipe out all life on Earth so it could be taken over. Although the Fantastic Four were freed by Triton they were too late to stop Xemu from testing the weapon. But they later stopped the invader and destroyed the Thunder Horn. With the help of Sue—who had stowed away aboard the Pogo-Plane—Attilan was kept invisible from approaching Chinese fighter jets that were drawn to the area after the Thunder Horn test. With Xemu returned to the authorities in the Fifth Dimension Medusa informed her teammates that she was returning to the Inhumans. With this news Sue decided that she was going to rejoin the team full time. This happy reunion proved short lived as the Fantastic Four faced more trials and tribulations ahead.
=== Interlocking Technologies Inc. ===
With money growing tight, Reed was forced to sell Fantastic Four Inc. to Interlocking Technologies, Inc. Reed signed everything over to owner Albert DeVoor unaware that Interlocking Technologies was a multidimensional corporation plotting to start a war between three different realities. Later, Reed confirmed his suspicions that his powers were starting to wane and decided to keep this a secret from his teammates for the time being. His attentions were soon turned to threats of war when he became aware that technology from the Fifth Dimension was being used to cause a new ice age on Earth. He was also unaware of the fact they were about to be invaded by forced from Earth-A who believed Reed's time travel technology was being used to cause chaos in their dimension.
Before Reed could launch an attack on the Fifth Dimension he was contacted by Ben and the Reed Richards of Earth-A (a Thing himself) who warned him that Interlocking Technologies was responsible for escalating conflict between their three dimensions. Tracking down DeVoor, Reed learned that he was employed by the warrior king known as Arkon who sought the nuclear annihilation of these three worlds so the energies could be filtered through a dimensional nexus and revitalizes the energy rings that keep his home world alive. Reed then developed devices that allowed Ben to travel into the Nexus and shut it down. Within the Nexus, Ben was opposed by Arkon's defender, the hockey inspired warrior called Gaard. While Reed monitored from his lab, Johnny and his Earth-721 counterpart destroyed Arkon's machines on Polemachus, while Ben defeated Gaard and used Reed's device to shut the Nexus portal, saving all three worlds in the process.
=== Crusader ===
Things appeared to go back to normal until banks owned by Calvin McClary were attacked by the Crusader, who claimed to be the former 1950s super-hero known as Marvel Boy. The Fantastic Four tried to stop his attacks but were always a step behind. With the rest of his team exhausted from the constant work Reed sent them away to rest while he searched for the Crusader alone.
Reed later discovered that the Crusader blamed McClary for the fate of Matthew Grayson, the father of Marvel Boy. The Fantastic Four later caught up with the Crusader. During the battle Reed discovered that Crusader's Light Bands were powered by the sun and tricked him into overloading them. This backfired in a way causing the Crusader to incinerate his body by overpowering his weapons. Reed sent Ben on a series of solo missions to investigate strange readings. The first led Ben to Arizona where he teamed up with the Son of Satan against the unresting spirit of Ravenstorm.
=== Powerless Thing ===
Then Reed sent Ben to the Savage Land where he and Ka-Zar stopped Volcanus from harnessing the power of the Savage Land's volcanoes for his own evil ends. When the were-cat known as Tigra trapped the Super-Skrull in a Native American Soul Catcher, she later turned it over to Reed Richards for safe-keeping.
Reed was later hired again by the military to deal with the ever-constant problem of the Hulk. Reed hoped to utilize his Psi-Amplifier again in order to cure Banner of his transformations. Although the Fantastic Four succeeded in capturing the Hulk, Ben—once more depressed over his condition—reacted poorly to how the Hulk was being treated and helped free the gamma-spawned monster before the experiment could be completed. The two monsters went on a rampage with the Fantastic Four and the military in pursuit. The chase let to St. Louis where the Thing realized the errors of his ways and helped defeat the Hulk. A surprise side-effect of the Thing's being prolonged proximity to the gamma rays emanating from the Hulk's body caused Ben to revert back to his human form curing him. While the Fantastic Four celebrated the Hulk escaped capture once again.
With Ben powerless, Reed hired Power Man to temporarily take his place on the team. Initially Ben was okay with this because of his hope for fame but when this fizzled, Grimm protested against Luke Cage being a member of the Fantastic Four. These protests all but dissolved when Cage helped the Fantastic Four take down the Wrecker. While Reed and Johnny tried to console Ben Grimm, Power Man seemingly turned on his new teammates and attacked Sue. When the male members of the Fantastic Four returned home Cage fled in the Fantasti-Car. Reed then revealed to Ben that he only hired Power Man temporarily until he completed his latest invention: an exo-skeleton fashioned after Ben's Thing form. Learning that Power Man was enthralled by the Puppet Master who sought a pawn to break out of prison, Reed and Ben ventured out and stopped the breakout attempt.
=== World War II ===
Reed soon discovered that history was being altered thanks to events in the past leading to the Nazis winning World War II. Investigating, he discovered that during their battle with Power Man, a cylinder of Vibranium was knocked onto the Time-Platform and sent into the past. Utilizing the time platform, the Fantastic Four traveled to early 1942 where they teamed up with the Invaders and stopped the Nazis from using the Vibranium to enhance their V-2 rockets. The Fantastic Four only managed to recover half of the cylinder before they returned to their own era creating two divergent realities in their wake. Reed and the others were left behind when Ben ventured back into their own past of 1941 where he teamed up with the Liberty Legion to recover the second half of the cylinder from the Nazis.
=== Counter-Earth ===
While Reed's own powers were fading Ben was making strides with his exoskeleton and Sue's powers continued to grow. The group were quickly mobilized when a massive golden ape began attacking New York City. During the battle Reed discovered that he could no longer stretch his right arm. Shrinking the ape down to normal size they were surprised to learn it could talk. The ape, named Gorr, explained that it came to Earth to seek help in stopping Galactus. Breaking free, Gorr tricked the Fantastic Four into following him to his ship and absconded with the group into space. There Gorr explained he came from Counter-Earth a duplicate of Earth created by the High Evolutionary that orbited the sun opposite of Earth. When they arrived near Counter-Earth it was just as the newest herald of Galactus, the Asgardian Destroyer, was attacking the Evolutionary's asteroid base. The Fantastic Four's counter-attack attracted the attention of Galactus himself.
Although they were no match for Galactus, Reed was able to appeal to Galactus to spare Counter-Earth. Even though he was growing dangerously weak Galactus agreed to spare Counter-Earth in exchange for a suitable replacement to be consumed. Using the High Evolutionary's computers they discovered three worlds that may suit the needs of Galactus without killing innocent lives. Reed and Ben were transported to the mechanical world of Mekka which they discovered was populated by sentient machines ruled by Ben's old ally Torgo. When Torgo learned of their mission he captured the pair thinking they would betray him to Galactus. Wanting no such thing, Reed and Ben broke free in order to return to the Evolutionary. In the process of freeing themselves Reed was forced to tell Ben that he was losing his powers. When Reed and Ben were able to shut down the power on Mekka, Torgo was forced to accept their promise not to reveal the location of his world to Galactus and let them go in peace.
Returning to the High Evolutionary's base Reed and Ben learned that Johnny and Gorr's mission to another world was also a failure. To make matters worse, Sue was missing and their time was up. The three male members of the Fantastic Four then ventured to Counter-Earth to assist the High Evolutionary in his battle against Galactus. During the ensuing battle Sue returned with an apparent suitable world for Galactus to consume. Finding it satisfactory Galactus consumed the world and was seemingly destroyed when he was attacked by a fatal case of "indigestion" from consuming that world. As it turned out Sue had enlisted the aid of the Impossible Man who gladly sacrificed his home world of Poppup to sate the hunger of Galactus. With Galactus defeated the Fantastic Four had no choice but to accept the Impossible Man's request to return with them to Earth. En route Ben suddenly reverted back into his Thing form, a side effect of being blasted by Galactus earlier in the battle. As the Fantastic Four returned to Earth they were unaware that their ship had been secretly boarded by Counter-Earth's own Reed Richards. The Fantastic Four soon splashed down in Central Park and even though they were now stuck with the Impossible Man tried to continue on with the relative normalcy of their everyday lives.
=== Diplomatic Problems ===
Not long after their return to Earth Reed is visited by the Sub-Mariner who—after a failed alliance with Doctor Doom—had Reed's specially made suit rendered inoperative. Reed tried in vain to cure Namor of his condition before he would suffocate as a result of his condition. But Namor later grew impatient and fled only to be captured by Doom. The Fantastic Four then stormed Latveria to save Namor only to have their ally attack them when Doom threatened to withhold the antidote from him. However, the battle was quickly ended when the US Secretary of State ordered the Fantastic Four to stand down and return home in order to avoid an international incident. With no other choice Reed ordered his team to return to the United States. Back in the United States, Reed investigated the appearance of the super-powered rock band known as Kiss. Later, the Fantastic Four celebrated the season by engaging in a snowball fight with the Avengers. Not long after that the group was hired by General Ross to hunt the Hulk again. Reed and the others tracked the Hulk to Utah where a battle broke out. Reed's attempt to attach a device to incapacitate the Hulk failed and the brute managed to slip away from them again.
=== Deathlok ===
Reed and the Fantastic Four were later hired to protect the President of the United States from an assassination attempt being plotted by Mentallo and the Fixer. When the pair manipulated the cyborg known as Deathlok to kill the President, Mister Fantastic had the Impossible Man pose as the Commander-in-Chief allowing the plan to fail.
With Deathlok in terminal condition thanks to a brain probe implanted in his mind by the Fixer, Reed sent Ben to England to bring the cyborg to Professor Louis Kort, a noted expert in the field of cybernetics. Later, Ben went to Florida to test out a new experimental plane into the Bermuda Triangle, and ended up rescuing disgraced soldier James Scully and a band of refugees out of a time warp that sent them millions of years into the past. They also brought with them the deadly Jaguar Priest and his army of pterodactyls. Reed showed up on the scene to assist Ben. Despite his failing powers he was able to assist in stopping the threat and rescuing Scully and his friends.
=== Power Failure ===
Having grown bored, the Impossible Man later went to the offices of Marvel Comics to demand a comic book to be made about him. When editor Stan Lee refused to comply the Impossible Man ran amok around the office. Mister Fantastic and his team soon arrived and quelled the Impossible Man and convinced Lee to publish the a book about the impish alien. Their time at the Marvel officers were later cut short when they discovered that the Frightful Four were auditioning for a new fourth member to add to their team at the Baxter Building. When Reed and the others tried to crash the recruitment drive they were incapacitated and captured by the Frightful Four, partially because the Impossible Man left the battle to watch television. The group were rescued by both Thundra and Tigra who had come to the aid of the team. Although the Frightful Four were outnumbered the heroes were all defeated by the Brute, Reed's counterpart from Counter-Earth.
The Frightful Four then tried to hold the Fantastic Four for ransom, but none of the politicians contacted were willing to pay the demands. The group later managed to break free once again when the Impossible Man caused a black-out while trying to boost the television signal. During the ensuing battle Reed discovered, much to his horror, discovered that his powers were now completely gone. Capitalizing on this situation the Counter-Earth Richards was able to toss Reed into the Negative Zone and take his place as the rest of the Fantastic Four and their allies defeated the remaining members of the Frightful Four. Using his counter-part's loss of powers as a cover, the Counter-Earth Richards was able to easily fool his foes into thinking that the "Brute" was lost in the Negative Zone.
=== Powerless ===
Reed awoke to find himself lost in the Negative Zone fighting the various creatures there for his very survival. Soon Richards attracted the attention of Annihilus but the ruler of the Negative Zone sought Reed as an ally not as a foe. Following Annihilus to a nearby city, he was surprised to see that the long lost Monster Android—long since transformed by Annihilus—was now back in the control of the Mad Thinker who was seeking to use his creation and the Cosmic Control Rod to take over the Negative Zone and the Earth. Meanwhile on Earth, the Counter-Earth Reed Richards was getting dangerously close to being discovered and tricked Ben and Johnny into venturing into the Negative Zone and trapped them there. They soon caught up with Reed and Annihilus and joined their battle against the Monster Android. When the Monster Android fought its way to Earth through the Negative Zone portal the three members of the Fantastic Four agreed to recover the Cosmic Control Rod for Annihilus. They returned to Earth in the middle of a battle between the Brute, Sue, Thundra, Tigra, and the Monster Android. The group quickly deactivated the Monster Android, prompting the arriving Mad Thinker to flee the scene. Before Reed could return the Cosmic Control Rod, his Counter-Earth double—regaining his lucidity—decided to risk his life instead, taking the Rod and diving into the Negative Zone portal where he seemingly perished.
Learning that Agatha Harkness had kidnapped Franklin and disappeared in his absence, Reed—regardless of his lack of powers—joined his teammates in a trip to Whisper Hill. There they were attacked by the Eliminator, a minion of those who captured Franklin and Agatha. Although the group was caught off guard by the Eliminator, they were able to overpower him sufficiently enough for the warrior to concede defeat and self-destruct.
Returning to headquarters Reed re-designed his long disused mechanical arms and used fragments to compensate for his lack of powers. Scanning pieces of the Eliminator's armor, Reed was able to track Agatha and Franklin to the Colorado Rockies. There they discovered the reclusive village of New Salem home to a coven of witches led by Nicholas Scratch. When the Fantastic Four arrived Scratch and his minions overpowered them and took them prisoner along with Harkness and Reed's son. Breaking out of their cells the Fantastic Four clashed with the mystically powered Salem's Seven. During the course of the battle, the Seven's Brutacus grabbed Reed's mechanical arms and shattered them. Their steel construction proved to be the Salem's Seven's undoing, as steel was the anathema to their spell that granted them their powers, rendering the Seven powerless. Confronting Scratch during a mystical ceremony the FF and Agatha Harkness convinced the other witches to turn against Scratch and he was banished to another dimension.
=== Possessed by the Molecule Man ===
The Fantastic Four returned home to find that the Baxter Building had been invaded by Klaw and the Molecule Man who were trying to seize control of the Psi-Magnifier so the Molecule Man could obtain a permanent body. The Fantastic Four succeeded in defeating their foes, freeing former boxer Aaron Stankey from the Molecule Man's control. In the aftermath of the battle Reed foolishly grabbed the wand containing the Molecule Man's essence. This allowed the villain to take control of his body.
The Molecule Man then went on a rampage of New York City in Reed's body while Reed fought in vain to regain control. After a prolonged battle against the Fantastic Four, the Molecule Man tried to use his powers against them directly. However, the Unstable Molecules that their costumes were comprised of proved too difficult for the Molecule Man to control and the feedback caused him to release Reed from his control. In the aftermath of the battle, Reed realized that without powers he was a liability to the Fantastic Four and decided to disband the team for good. With nobody offering protests it seemed as though the world's greatest heroes had finally met their end.
=== Disbanding the Team ===
Even though he had called an end to the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards briefly helped scientist Peter Corbeau examine strange blinks in reality. Unknown them at the time they were caused by the M'kraan Crystal, until the threat was secretly ended by the X-Men.
With the group officially disbanding, Reed contacted SHIELD so that they could gather up all his scientific equipment and safely store it. Saying his goodbyes to the rest of the team, Reed stayed behind to oversee what he though was the SHIELD recovery job. As it turned out, the villain known as Plunderer and his minions were posing as SHIELD agents to steal Reed's inventions. Reed managed to call his team back together and the Fantastic Four worked together one more time to stop this theft. Although they worked well together to defeat the Plunderer and his minions, Reed still insisted that the team was done and they still broke up. This news was a delight to Walter Collins who was finally getting rid of his problematic tenants.
=== Cynthian Associates ===
While Johnny and Ben went their own ways, Reed and Sue moved temporarily into a hotel room in New York. There Reed began looking to put his skills to work in a real job. His search proved short lived when he was approached by Cynthian Associates who were seeking to hire him. While Reed took the job with and relocated to their labs in upstate New York, while Sue decided to restart her career in acting and took Franklin with her to Hollywood. When Sue tried to keep in touch with her husband she found it impossible to contact him. Reed himself tried to contact his wife, but his mysterious employer ensured that phone calls did not leave the research facility forcing Reed to focus on his work.
As it turned out, Reed's employer was a man who claimed to be the son of Victor von Doom. Victor von Doom the 2nd then brainwashed Reed to act as his pawn. Forced to wear the Invincible Man costume, Reed was sent to Hollywood where he captured his wife and teammates. Taken back to the Cynthian Associates headquarters, Doom the 2nd showed Reed his creation: a solar power generator, which can drive those who peer into its reflective surfaces completely insane. While Reed was being shown this device Sue and the others broke free only to be incapacitated by the real Doctor Doom.
=== Restoration of Powers and Team ===
Claiming that he was retiring as ruler of Latveria, Doom sought ultimate revenge against the Fantastic Four before stepping down and relinquishing his throne to his "son". Having constructed a spacecraft, they sent Reed into space in a ship that would recreate the very accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. Doom's motivation was to destroy his long-time foe at the height of his powers. Sure enough, Reed was bombarded with cosmic rays in just the same way as before and his powers were not only restored to their peak but, made stronger than ever before. The cosmic ray bath also caused the Red Ghost—who had been disintegrated in a battle with Iron Man earlier—to reform aboard the ship. The two battled it out until the Ghost fled. Reed narrowly avoided a deadly crash landing and was recovered by SHIELD. Freed, Reed was determined to rescue his family and stop Doom once and for all.
Infiltrating the nation of Latveria Reed crossed paths with Zorba Fortunov, the last surviving member of Latveria's former monarchy. Zorba was leading a rebellion to overthrow Doom. Reed learned that "Victor von Doom the Second" was actually a clone of Doom, which Victor was going to use as a puppet ruler to take his place. When Reed stormed the castle he was captured and placed in a device along with his teammates. The device then began transferring the powers of the Fantastic Four to the Doom clone. Doom's plans began to fall apart as Zorba began his rebellion and his clone had a change of heart and turned on his master. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four broke free and arrived to just in time to watch Doom kill his clone in battle. When Doom fled to the United States Reed sent his team to stop a mind control device hidden in a statue of Doom from being delivered to the United Nations. Reed then followed Doom to his American castle in the Adirondack Mountains. The ensuing battle took them into the chamber where the solar collector was located. There Reed forcibly removed Doom's mask and forced him to stare into the reflective surfaces the device driving Victor insane. Slumped into a catatonic state Von Doom was turned over to Zorba who had seized control of Latveria promising to turn the country into a democracy.
=== Return to the Baxter Building ===
After the Fantastic Four returned to the United States, Reed and the rest of the team soon got involved in a disastrous low budget Hollywood film based on their adventures. They were soon called to aid the Inhumans once again by Crystal whose people were a prisoner of the Sphinx. With the aid of the Fantastic Four, Crystal freed her people and prevented the Sphinx from utilizing their bodies for ultimate power. Returning to New York to look for a new headquarters, the Fantastic Four soon began investigating a series of disappearance involving the blind and the deformed, but only after Alicia was kidnapped. They discovered that they were all being held by the Mole Man who—in his own misguided way—was trying to create a home for outcasts like himself. After a brief battle, the Fantastic Four discovered that some of the people wanted to stay in Subterranea with the Mole Man. Agreeing to return sculptures that he had also stolen, the Mole Man released those he kept in Subterranea against their will.
Eventually, the Fantastic Four were able to rent out the Baxter Building again. This was due to the fact that Walter Collins could not find new tenants and grudgingly allowed the group to renew their lease. After restoring all his equipment Reed and the others were attacked by the building's various automated defenses but were able to quell them. Later the Fantastic Four were attacked by the Avenger known as the Vision, who had been manipulated into attacking the group by the Mad Thinker and Klaw. Although the two villains seemingly succeeded the Vision turned on them and they were defeated. Soon the upper half of the Baxter Building containing the Fantastic Four's headquarters was stolen by Quasimodo who used a replica of Iron Man abscond with the building. The Fantastic Four and the real Iron Man then tracked the headquarters to a remote location. While they failed to stop Quasimodo from using Reed's computer to restore his lost mobility and flee into space, they recovered the FF's stolen headquarters.
=== Godzilla ===
The Fantastic Four were later asked by the SHIELD Godzilla Squad to assist in the apprehension of the massive lizard known as Godzilla. At the time Godzilla had been shrunken down in size and was running amok in New York City. Reed and the others chased Godzilla into the Museum of Natural History. Incapacitating the monster, Reed had Godzilla taken to his lab where he used his Time-Platform to send the creature sideways in time to the distant past of Earth-78411 where the monster fought alongside Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur. Reed later calmed Ben down when he was throwing a tantrum after it was discovered a television show based on the Hulk was recently released. Eventually, Godzilla's radioactive body was causing disruptions with Reed's Time-Platform and he was forced to return Godzilla to the modern age. Moving the platform to Time's Square they were all prepared when Godzilla returned at his full size.
As Godzilla went on a rampage through New York, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four joined forces with SHIELD and the Avengers in trying to contain the beast. Despite the efforts of the two teams of superheroes Godzilla's rampage was not stopped until the creature seemingly listened to the appeals of the Robert Takiguchi, a youth whose grandfather was a member of the Godzilla squad. Robert convinced Godzilla to return to the sea and much to everyone's surprise, the monster left New York without further incident.
=== Elusive Cures ===
Following these events, Reed and the rest of the team were amused by the pilot episode of the "Thing in the Family", a sitcom based on Ben's that was created after Ben petitioned some television producers to create a show about him. Not long after this, Reed and the family later put on a surprise party for Ben on his birthday. Later, Reed began examining the Thing and charted the course of his constant mutation over the years. After pointing out that when Ben was first transformed he had a dinosaur-like hide Reed explained that Ben eventually evolved into his current stone-like form. The current cure devised by Reed, unfortunately, could only work on Ben's earlier mutation. Seeking to cure himself Ben then attempted to change his destiny by going back in time to just after the Fantastic Four first gained their powers and administer the cure to himself. But when he returned to the present he found that nothing had changed. When talking to Reed about the experience Richards pointed out that in traveling into the past, Ben only succeeded in creating a divergent reality where the Thing was cured.
Not long thereafter, Reed was stricken with the flu but it did not prevent him from providing Spider-Man with information that led to the rescue of scientist Daniel Ironwood from Russian operative Nikolai Kutzov, who was attempting to create an anti-matter bomb. Reed had fully recovered by the time he, the Torch and Thing had a brief encounter with Machine Man. Reed and the rest of the team later came to the aid of Willie Evans, Jr. a young boy whose mutant powers were flaring out of control. After stopping twisted versions of themselves created by Evans subconscious, Reed recommended that William's father take him to see Charles Xavier for help.
=== Xandarian War ===
While trying to find traces of Quasimodo in space, Reed connected with an Ion beam that transferred Xandarian queen Adora to Earth along with the mechanical Skrull-X. After incapacitating Skrull-X, the Fantastic Four learned that Adora's home world of Xandar was under invasion by the Skrulls. The Fantastic Four agreed to go, with the exception of Johnny, who wished to remain behind and try to go back to school. Reed, Sue and Ben were then transported to the planet Xandar where they assisted the Xandarian Nova Corps defend their world from the Skrull invaders. Meeting the Prime Thoran, Reed and the others discovered that the Skrulls were after the power of the Xandarian Worldmind computer. During the ensuing battle, the trio were captured by the Skrulls.
Brought to Dorrek VII, the Fantastic Four were put on a mock trial and found guilty of their crimes against the Skrull empire. They were then sentenced to death. This execution came in the form of an aging ray that would cause them to rapidly age and eventually die of old age within 72 hours. The Fantastic Four managed to break free and escape in a Skrull ship and head back to Xandar. En route they were attacked by a ship carrying Earth's Nova, the Sphinx, Doctor Sun, Powerhouse, the Comet, and Crime-Buster. Mistaking the Fantastic Four for more Skrulls Nova blasted their ship.
The group survived and were spotted by Nova in the void of space and brought aboard where introductions were made all around, although things were tense between the Fantastic Four and the Sphinx. Unseen by all during the conflict, Doctor Sun managed to slip away and was forgotten. The Fantastic Four and the heroes who eventually became known as the Champions of Xandar soon agreed to work together to stop the Skrulls. When they returned to Xandar they found that the Human Torch had come to Earth to join them. Things made a turn for the worse when the Sphinx managed to use the power of the Worldmind to achieve the power he so craved and left to conquer Earth.
=== Search for Galactus ===
Seeking to stop the Sphinx, Reed constructed a robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. with the assistance of the Worldmind computer. The robot was designed to assist them on their quest to find Galactus, the only person Reed believed to could defeat the Sphinx. Unknown to anyone at the time HERBIE's programming was tainted with the mind of Doctor Sun. Their search took them out into a graveyard of discarded alien ships where they were engaged in a brief battle with criminals of the Slig race before continuing on their journey. Even though Reed, Sue and Ben were getting older by the minute, they still continued on their mission. Along the way Reed explaining how Galactus survived their last encounter. When they found the Worldship of Galactus, they were beneath the notice until of the world devourer. In order to gain the attention of Galactus, the group caused enough of a disturbance warrant his action. Reed petitioned Galactus to help them stop the Sphinx. Galactus only agreed to help on two conditions: First, Reed had to relinquish Galactus from his vow to never threaten the Earth, and secondly, find him a new herald. With no other choice, Reed agreed to these terms and the Fantastic Four were soon teleported to collect the candidate that Galactus had selected.
On the planet Birj they found the being in question, Tyros the Tamer, the tyrannical ruler of Birji. After a brief battle the Fantastic Four and Tyros were teleported back aboard the Worldship of Galactus. There Galactus transformed Tyros into his newest herald, Terrax, who could control earth. With his new herald in tow Galactus then took the Fantastic Four with him on a course back to Earth. With their time almost up the elderly members of the Fantastic Four returned to the Baxter Building to wait out the battle between Galactus and the Sphinx. When Sue collapsed and was about to die, Reed placed her in a cryogenic chamber in the hopes to preserve her long enough to find a cure for their condition. But before he could get to work on one the Fantastic Four were attacked by Terrax.
The remaining members of the Fantastic Four were able to fight off Terrax, but not before Ben also had to be placed in cryogenic suspension. Reed and Johnny then went to Egypt where Galactus succeeded in defeating the Sphinx by stripping him of his Ka Stone and banishing him into the past. When Galactus then threatened to consume the Earth Reed bluffed him with a fake Ultimate Nullifier. Galactus left Earth, but warned Reed that he could come back and feed on their world at any time. After Galactus left Reed collapsed due to his advanced age. Johnny frantically tried to find someone who could reverse the effects of the Skrull aging ray but found nobody who could. Salvation came when the Torch was attacked by the still active Skrull-X robot. During the fight, Johnny recovered the robot's aging ray before destroying the machine. He then revived Reed long enough to reverse the function. When Johnny activated the device it not only restored his three teammates but it also de-aged them to the prime of their lives and the peak of their powers.
=== Evil HERBIE ===
After defeating the Sandman during a bank robbery, the Fantastic Four agreed to accompany Agatha Harkness on another trip to New Salem. There Reed and the others were captured by the restored Salem's Seven who took them to New York to be part of a spell to return Nicholas Scratch to the Earth dimension. With his powers slowly coming back Franklin combined his mutant abilities with Agatha's sorcery to defeat the Salem's Seven and free his family. After Reed took Sue for a dinner date, he returned to the Baxter Building where he analyzed strange energy readings that were, unknown to him, being sent out by the Dark Pheonix.
Reed was later called to oversee an experimental new device created by his colleague Randolph James. When the device exploded Reed warned him against using it again. Later he was called back to the Baxter Building when somehow Blastaar was freed from the Negative Zone. Unaware that HERBIE was responsible the Fantastic Four fought Blastaar until he escaped. In the meantime, James was beaten by some local thugs and used his device to try and heal himself but ended up hyper-evolving himself into the self-described Futurist. Discovering this transformation, Reed tried to keep the Futurist under control but his enhanced powers and infant-like mentality the Futurist sped off and ended up being tricked into joining forces with Blastaar. When Blastaar tried to access the Negative Zone portal again he was banished back there and the portal sealed by Franklin whose powers were slowly returning. With the battle over the Futurist realized his place was not among the people of Earth and left for the stars to find his destiny among them.
=== Sphinx War ===
Reed was later pulled forward in time about seven years into the future by the a six-thousand-year-old version of the Sphinx who was gathering warriors in the Fault to do battle with his younger self. Reed found himself fighting alongside the future version of Nova, his ally Darkhawk, as well as past versions of Black Bolt and Namorita. As the group of heroes discovered the purpose of the Sphinx gathering them they were briefly tempted with the possibility of altering history so various tragedies could be avoided. They fought this temptation and were then brought before both versions of the Sphinx where they learned that both versions were evenly matched due to the power of their Ka Stones and that one sought to usurp the power from the other. In order to battle his older version's champions, the younger Sphinx then summoned his own warriors.
Reed found himself transported to the Asgardian realm of Vanaheim where he was forced to do battle against Ulysses Bloodstone. Reed and most of his allies were the victors of the contest. The elder Sphinx then enthralled Darkhawk and forced him to remove the Ka Stone from his younger self and turn it over to him. The Sphinx gained god-like power from the combined Ka Stones and was quickly gaining control of their power. When it was realized that two Ka Stones could not exist in the same moment the heroes realized that the Fault had negated the laws of the universe to allow this impossibility to happen. In order to defeat the Sphinx, Reed calculated the equation needed for Nova to open a stargate that pushed the Sphinx back out into the universe. With the laws of reality reapplied the Sphinx was seemingly destroyed. The time-displaced heroes, including Reed, were all returned to their proper times. When Reed returned to his own era he had no memory of what had happened.
=== Changing Destiny ===
Reed was enlisted to help Doctor Henry Croft and the other amphibians of Hydrobase regain their long lost humanity. His discoveries led him to believe that what mutated the Hydrobase amphibians was a derivative of the Inhumans Terrigen Mists and summoned Triton of the Inhumans for a sample. During his research Reed took his time to give advice to Ben about his current relationship woes.
Reed and the Fantastic Four later joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in searching for their wayward leader Vance Astro and prevent him from interacting with his younger self. They were too late to stop Vance from awakening the latent mutant powers inherent in his younger self in the hopes of preventing his future where he ended up trapped in the 31st Century from coming to pass.
When an absorber device created by Wakandan science was on the loose in New York City, Reed and Sue went out to try and recover it. By the time they had caught up with the device their old ally the Black Panther and his colleagues in the Defenders had already neutralized the threat. Later, when Ben asked if he could Alicia to move into the Baxter Building to live with him, Reed consented to the idea.
After months of hiding incognito within the body of HERBIE the robot, Doctor Sun finally made his move, trying to take control of Reed's computers and eliminate the Fantastic Four. Reed and the others were all incapacitated by the Baxter Building's defenses. Ultimately, HERBIE's original programming overrode Doctor Sun's personality and instead of killing his creators, HERBIE sacrificed its artificial life to save them.
=== Microverse ===
Reed was soon approached by agents of SHIELD who wanted to know what he could tell them about the Microverse heroes known as the Micronauts. This coincided with an attack on the Baxter Building by the Psycho-Man who had come to recover a suit of armor that the Fantastic Four had in storage since they first defeated him. Reed then took Sue and Ben with him in their Reducto-Craft to follow after their foe. In order to try and determine how the Psycho-Man got to Earth, Reed sent Johnny to investigate HELL Laboratories to determine if the Prometheus Pit was still functional.
The Fantastic Four managed to track down the Psycho-Man and joined sides with the Micronauts who were fighting him at the time. The battle turned when Johnny—using the Prometheus Pit to access the Microverse—arrived in that universe at a massive size. The Psycho-Man gained the upper hand defeating both teams and taking them prisoner, although they eventually broke free and defeated the Psycho-Man. With their foe vanquished the Fantastic Four returned to their native universe.
=== Maelstrom ===
Reed finally made a breakthrough in curing the amphibians of Hydrobase. Taking Dr. Croft to Attilan, Richards and a team of Inhuman scientists created an Anti-Terrigen Mist that could cure the amphibians. This discovery was sought by Maelstrom the son of an Inhuman exile who sent his minions to recover the Anti-Terrigen Mists as part of a revenge scheme against the Inhumans. Although most of these minions were captured, one escaped with the mists. When Reed tried to examine Maelstrom's minions his executioner Deathurge assassinated them. Later, Ben and the Inhumans recovered the Anti-Terrigen and Maelstrom was seemingly slain.
=== Infiltration ===
Not long thereafter, the Frightful Four attacked the Baxter Building again by having the Trapster pose as Spider-Man in order to infiltrate the building. The Fantastic Four were almost defeated thanks to the Frightful Four's newest edition, Electro but they managed to stop their foes with the aid of the real Spider-Man. Later, when Captain Barracuda stole the Horn of Proteus and used it to unleash an army of Atlantean beasts upon New York the Fantastic Four and Namor stopped his plan. When a worldwide power drain threatened the Earth, Reed investigated its source and traced it to the North Pole. The Fantastic Four went to investigate and they found a strange alien construct buried in the ice.
After battling the crafts security systems, the Fantastic Four discovered members of the Flb'Dbi race. Learning that they meant no harm and only sought to escape Earth, the group helped them return to the stars without causing further harm. Mister Fantastic and his teammates later visited Daredevil while he was recovering in the hospital from injuries sustained in battle.
=== Shogun Warriors ===
The Fantastic Four later assisted the Shogun Warriors in stopping an attack on Earth by the alien invader known as Cymell, and later helped the Warriors in their last battle against their longtime foe Maur-Kon. With the holidays around the corner, the Fantastic Four were briefly confronted by a rebuilt Air-Walker, who came seeking the Silver Surfer. He was later destroyed by Thor. Reed and Sue later threw their regular Christmas party at the Baxter Building shortly thereafter. Reed and the rest of the team later briefly encountered the Silver Surfer who was hunting down the Hulk at the time.
=== The Possession of Franklin Richards ===
Reed and Sue continued to strive to give Franklin a normal life, but that all came apart when the boy was targeted by Nicholas Scratch who used his powers in conjunction with the Negative Zone portal to possess Franklin. After containing the child, the Fantastic Four got in touch with Agatha Harkness but failed to reach Doctor Strange for further assistance. Learning of their plight, Gabriel the Devil-Hunter sought out the Fantastic Four and offered his occult expertise to their cause.
They all traveled to New Salem where they were attacked by a revitalized Salem's Seven who incapacitated the heroes and their allies and took them prisoner. Scratch then put on a mystic ceremony to free himself from his exile. During the ceremony, Gabriel used his abilities to force the Fantastic Four into the mind of their child, where the power of their love broke Scratch's hold over their son. Although Nicholas was returned to Earth he was stripped of his arcane powers.
=== Strange Happenings ===
When a strange red mist began traveling the world, causing their powers to malfunction, Reed and the rest of his team traced it back to a hidden society of vikings under the leadership of the near-immortal Harek Korgon who found himself dying after centuries of life. Korgon gave them an ultimatum: save his life or die. Reed succeeded and saved Korgon's life so that he could revitalize his people's hidden realm. But soon after Harek begged Reed to cure him of his condition and restore him to a normal human being. But one of Harek's followers sabotaged Reed's device causing Harek to go mad. The god-like being went on a rampage and was only stopped thanks to the intervention of both Odin and his son Thor. Thor convinced Harek to embrace his god-like stature. With the danger over, the Fantastic Four returned home.
Shortly thereafter Reed and the Fantastic Four assisted Spider-Man in taking down the criminal operations Nguyen Ngoc Coy who was using his twin mutant niece and nephew Xi'an and Tran as part of his criminal enterprises. Reed and the others later helped the Shogun Warriors one last time when their giant robots were destroyed by William McLaughlin and his Samurai Destroyer robot. Although the Warrior's robots were damaged beyond repair during the battle, McLaughlin's robot was taken down in Japan and William was taken into custody. The group next took a vacation to Lost Lake, Pennsylvania. There they encountered an alien breed of Brain Parasites who used their hosts to consume fossil fuels. Reed and Sue were disturbed when Franklin used his powers to defend his family from animals possessed by the brain parasites, as he slew the hosts in the process. Although Sue was briefly possessed herself, Reed managed to cure her and the Brain Parasites were seemingly destroyed before they could reproduce and spread.
=== Ego-Spawn ===
Reed later scrambled to try and find a cure when everyone on Earth was stricken by the Leader's "Green Plague". But ultimately a cure was found by Bruce Banner. Reed, Sue and Johnny were later incapacitated and kept in death-like state by the Stranger as part of a plot to stop Olympian death god Pluto. The Thing and the Hulk were forced to work together so stop Pluto in order for the Stranger to restore their allies. Reed later sent Johnny to southern Virginia to obtain a gyroscope device from Dr. Taylor Linnik. This led to a clash with the Hulk and the Wizard.
Concerned over Franklin's growing powers and his lack of control, Reed and Sue took the boy to Seaside University in Massachusetts where he could be tested by Reed's colleague Abe Jankovitz. During the experiment, Franklin's powers left his body and possessed the body of Franco Berardi, a local bully, turning him into the powerful Ego-Spawn. While Reed and the others went out to try and contain Ego-Spawn, Sue was left to try and reach the machines keeping Franklin's mind disassociated with his body. When Sue finally got past Franklin's subconscious defenses and shut down the machine Franklin's powers were returned to his body.
After spending some time with his family, Reed helped restore Spider-Man's spider-sense to him after it was accidentally transferred to Namor during a battle with the Frightful Four. Not long after that, Reed began conducting new strength experiments with Ben.
=== Ebon Seeker ===
Soon the Earth was threatened by an anti-matter being called the Ebon Seeker whose very composition threatened to destroy the planet Earth. Because the Seeker was drawn to Earth thanks to a probe made by Reed, the Fantastic Four were obligated to stop him. During their initial battle they were trapped in a pocket of darkness but were freed by Firefrost, the Ebon Seeker's former lover. She explained that she and the Ebon Seeker were from a distant future and were turned into their current states and brought into the past by a freak accident involving a black hole. Firefrost provided Reed with the solution he needed to defeat the Seeker. While the rest of the team battle against the Ebon Seeker, Reed and Sue worked in his lab on the solution. They created a device that wrapped the entire block around the Baxter Building with a protective barrier and then shunted it into the Negative Zone. There the Ebon Seeker's sanity was restored and he and Firefrost ventured off to find a new life within the Zone. While the danger was over, Reed quickly discovered that they were now trapped.
=== Stygorr ===
Seeking to get home Reed piloted the block of New York City toward the distortion field between the Negative Zone and Earth. They had opposition from two sources: Lew Shiner, a construction boss who distrusted the Fantastic Four, and Stygorr a Negative Zone warlord seeking to destroy all the invaders within his domain. Needing a matter/anti-matter explosion to propel them safely through the Distortion Field, Reed detonated part of the city block causing the apparent demise of Shiner and Stygorr in the process. Reed's gambit worked and the entire block was returned to New York City.
Reed later met the mutant singer known as Dazzler and tested the limits of her powers. Reed later send Johnny out to rescue the singer when she was later captured by Doctor Doom. By the time Johnny found her, Dazzler had already defeated Doom by herself. Later when Ben was involved in a new flight test his ship crashed in the Florida Everglades. Reed and the others rescued him from the swamps after a brief encounter with the Man-Thing. When Vera Cantor, former girlfriend of the Avengers' Beast, was poisoned by a Skrull the Avengers took her to Reed Richards who believed that he could eventually cure her. Reed was present for Ben's latest issue with entertainment after Hollywood began producing a new show titled "Monster Man" which featured characters that slightly resembled him. The Thing later exposed it as a front for the alien known as Xemnu halting the production.
=== Back to Basics ===
The Fantastic Four began easing into a routine life when they were once again targeted by Diablo who unleashed Elementals to fight them. Reed quickly deduced if they switched the Elementals they were attacked by they could defeat them. Then with the help of Doctor Strange, Reed was able to track down and capture Diablo before he could flee the country. When Reed and the others were bringing Diablo to the authorities they were shocked when their foe suddenly disappeared, unaware that Doctor Strange had decided an alternate form of punishment for their foe. Reed and Sue later went after the Thing to calm him down after the Torch played his usual set of pranks. After Alicia had moved into the Baxter Building, Reed and Sue helped her repair her smashed sculptures that were shattered from the force of one of Ben's training sessions.
Reed and Sue later went out for a walk when they came to the aid of a young girl trapped on the upper floor of a building set to be demolished. They were unknowingly assisted by Skip Collins, a mutant with reality altering powers that even he had no awareness of. Soon after the Earth was rattled by a massive earthquake caused by the gravity of an approaching celestial body. Reed quickly mobilized the team to face the threat. This menace turned out to be Ego the Living Planet who was seeking revenge against Galactus for banishing him to the deepest regions of space. The group worked together to force Ego into the Earth's sun seemingly destroying the menace before it could reach Earth.
=== Liddleville ===
Back on Earth, the members of the Fantastic Four were visited by a member of the Shi'ar who was seeking out the X-Men for assistance after being pursued to Earth by the Badoon. Reed, Johnny, and Ben were quickly captured and made prisoners of the Badoon on the planet of Polemachus where the Badoon's Brother Royal sought to experiment on them and learn how to eliminate super-beings as part of an invasion of Earth. Reed and the others were rescued thanks to Sue and the X-Men who forced back the Badoon and destroyed their Stargate on Polemachus.
Reed and his family were later captured by the Puppet Master and Doctor Doom and had their minds transferred into miniature clone bodies. They then had their memories tampered and placed in a miniature village called Liddleville constructed for them to live out an "idealistic" life. While the Puppet Master intended this to give his step-daughter Alicia the ideal life he felt she deserved, Doom used this as a means of torturing Reed Richards. Put in the role of an absent minded professor Reed struggled with dreams of their real lives and the constant torments of "Professor Vaughn", a construct created by Doom to torment Reed at his phony job. Eventually Reed discovered the truth and used a miniature Le-Salle-Devaney Particle Accelerator to empower himself and the others. In their tiny bodies they broke free of Liddleville and fought for their freedom. Ultimately the Fantastic Four were restored to their normal bodies while the Puppet Master and Doom were left trapped in miniatures within Liddleville. The Fantastic Four then took Doom's body and put it in stasis at the Baxter Building intending to eventually turn it over to the Latverian Embassy.
Back home Reed and Sue discovered a vertigo causing alien dubbed Spinnerette was being exploited by a group of homeless men to commit robberies. Realizing that the alien was intoxicated by Earth's atmosphere Reed helped cure the alien of her condition and return her to her exploration ship.
=== The New Torch ===
Not long after Johnny returned home with the revelation that his girlfriend Frankie Raye had flame powers similar to his own. After a careful examination of her abilities Reed agreed to have Frankie on the team on a provisional basis. Later, the Fantastic Four returned home to find that their headquarters had been broken into by Rom the Spaceknight, Power Man and his partner Iron Fist. Learning that Rom was seeking to return to space to battle the Dire Wraiths, Reed allowed Rom to take their working spaceship to do so.
The Fantastic Four later attended the funeral for Captain Marvel after he succumbed to cancer. When the Molecule Man resurfaced and took over a New Jersey town, the Fantastic Four were called into try and penetrate a dome surrounding the area. While they failed the Avengers ultimately stopped the Molecule Man by convincing him to surrender and seek professional help. Because his attempts at curing Vera Cantor were a failure, Reed agreed to help the Defenders in their attempt to cure her. When known science couldn't succeed Reed the Beast, and Doctor Strange mystically transported themselves into the realm within the Resurrection Stone. There they battled the Giver of Life and succeeded in forcing her to resurrect the Cantor woman.
=== Virus X ===
Later when Ben was infected with Virus X and began mutating further Reed attempted to cure him but to no avail. Ben was eventually cured thanks to the aid of his allies Captain America and Goliath who recovered the cure from AIM. With Goliath dying of terminal cancer, Reed worked on trying to cure him by sending the Thing to enlist the aid of radiation expert Walter Langkowski, who was also known as the Canadian super-hero Sasquatch.
While Ben was away Reed ensured that Goliath remained comfortable regardless the outcome. While Reed was unable to determine a means of curing Goliath the Thing found a solution -- a blood transfusion from Spider-Woman cured his longtime friend. Not long after this Reed had Ben help out around the lab and later went out on a date with his wife leaving the Thing to babysit Franklin. Soon, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four assisted the other-dimensional Dragon Rider known as Ral Dorn tame the Dragon Man and use it to liberate his home dimension of Rammatpolen from the tyrannical Skagerackrakor.
=== Regressions ===
Wanting to keep a closer eye on Franklin's re-emerging mutant powers Reed built a new robot named HUBERT to monitor the boy. Also tackling the issue of Ben's mutation Reed hoped to have finally found a cure. However the device used to transform Ben back to his human form didn't work as planned as it reverted Ben back to an earlier stage of his mutation. Reed believed that the transformation was permanent and felt even more guilty than ever before.
Although Reed was devastated by this outcome the Thing appeared to be acclimatizing to it pretty well. The group later answered a call from Ben's Aunt Petunia to help investigate strange disappearances in her hometown of Benson, Arizona. There they discovered ancient demons dwelling below the Earth that could not be stopped until the majority of the population was driven out.
=== To the Moon ===
Reed fared better finding a solution for the Inhumans who were beginning to fall victim to the pollution of the outside world as it began encroaching into their domain of Attilan. With the Inhumans facing death, Reed devised a drug that would allow them to sustain themselves on Earth while he developed a solution. Learning how the Inhumans moved Attilan from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalayas in the past, Reed and the Fantastic Four and the Inhuman Royal Family all worked on relocating Attilan to the Blue Area of the Moon the only place free from Earth's pollution. Once Attilan had been moved, Reed then assisted Crystal in giving birth to her newborn daughter.
The Fantastic Four were later called to Wakanda to investigate the disappearance of explorers around the mysterious mountain known as the Tower of M'Nuba. There they uncovered an long hidden ancient Roman colony ruled by the seemingly immortal Gaius Tiberius Augustus Agrippa. While Reed and the others were stripped of their powers an imprisoned, Sue was forced to be the consort for Augustus. In this role she learned that Augustus owed his longevity to his armor which was recovered from an alien ship centuries earlier. Forced to watch her husband and allies fight in an arena to the death, Sue ended the battle by removing Augustus' helmet revealing that the armor contained nothing more than his disembodied consciousness. Without the armor to sustain his being Augustus died and his empire crumbled to dust shortly after him.
=== When Calls Galactus ===
With a new calendar year beginning the Fantastic Four found their holiday celebrations come to an abrupt end when Terrax returned to Earth. His battle with the Fantastic Four led Reed and the others tried to fight off their foes at the site of the World Trade Center. Terrax erected an impenetrable barrier around the island of Manhattan and lifted it off the ground. Taking it into space. There Terrax showed his foes that his master, Galactus, was coming. Terrax then revealed his plan: because Galactus was growing weak Terrax demanded the Fantastic Four force his master to release him from his bond as herald. With this plan Galactus would either be destroyed or the Earth vanquished, either way it would be a victory to Terrax.
With no other choice but to seek an audience with Galactus -- Reed, Ben and Johnny ventured out to his ship. There they found a weakened Galactus in dire need of energy. Because he was released from his bond to never threaten the Earth during his last encounter with the Fantastic Four, Galactus had no other choice but to consume the Earth. Galactus teleported Manhattan back to Earth. Believing that he could defeat Galactus, Terrax then tried to attack his former master but was stripped of his power. Galactus then began preparations to consume the Earth. He was then opposed by the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor of the Avengers, as well as Doctor Strange. In the ensuing battle Galactus became so weak that he soon toppled to the groud. Recognizing that Galactus was a required force in the universe Reed informed his fellow heroes that they must work together to save the life of Galactus.
With Galactus on the brink of death Reed quickly got the resources needed to build a device to temporarily revive Galactus. With the help of the others the device -- when combined with the power of Thor's hammer -- was able to restore Galactus enough to find a new world to feast on. Needing energy immediately and requiring a new herald the Fantastic Four were shocked when Frankie offered to become this herald. Despite Johnny's protests Frankie was transformed into a new herald called Nova and departed for the stars. Galactus and the newly created Nova then left for the stars with Galactus being once again indebted to Richards. Distraught by Frankie's abandonment, Johnny ran off and was later found by Reed and Sue at the home of Julie Angle, Frankie's best friend and roommate. Due to the damages caused to the Baxter Building by Terrax, Reed began reconstruction immediately with the aid of Tony Stark. This latest bit of damage was the final straw for the Fantastic Four's landlord Walter Collins who threatened to evict the Fantastic Four immediately. Finally fed up with Collin's constant bullying Reed exercised a clause in their contract that allowed Reed to purchase the Baxter Building outright. After writing a substantial check to Mr. Collins Reed sent him on his way. Although saving Galactus was maintaining the proper order of the universe Reed's actions would later have grave repercussions later on.
=== Avatar ===
Not long after this, Franklin's powers flared out of control again transforming the boy into a child-like adult (later called the Avatar). Confused by his state of being he incapacitated Reed, Ben and Johnny. Eventually Sue managed to talk the boy down and the adult Franklin realized that his powers would eventually burn out his body unless he allowed them to mature in their proper time. Before doing so the Avatar used his powers to try and restore the Thing to human form but succeeded in returning him to his brick like form before regressing back to his natural age and de-powering himself. When considering the circumstances, Reed theorized that Ben was returned to his brick-like form because of his insecurities over his relationship with Alicia Masters at the time. Reed believed that Ban always had the ability to change between his human and Thing forms, but his insecurities prevented him from doing so. Because Ben believed that Alicia only loved him as the Thing, Reed decided to keep this theory to himself instead of telling his best friend. This would also have grave repercussions for the Fantastic Four later on.
When Diablo resurfaced again and terrorized a Stark International facility he was defeated by Iron Man. Diablo was then turned over to Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four for proper incarceration. Reed was later pulled forward in time roughly two years into the future by the students of Professor Sanderson to free their teacher who was incapacitated after being attacked by various super-villains. Unknown to them, Sanderson was secretly the villain Isbisa, who had Richards shunted back to his proper era before he could help that era's She-Hulk expose him. He later enjoyed an evening out with Sue and Johnny, leaving Franklin in the care of the Thing once again. Later when Ben was taken prisoner in the Microverse realm of Sub-Atomica, Reed called in the new Ant-Man to travel to that realm and rescue his old friend.
=== To Free the Surfer ===
Later, the Silver Surfer once more sought to escape the barrier placed around the Earth he sought the aid of Reed Richards in this seemingly endless quest. Reed was able to devise a device that would allow the Surfer to pass the barrier but it was a one shot deal, if the Surfer returned to Earth he would be trapped again. Although the Surfer passed through the barrier this was all part of a grander scheme by Mephisto whose long running scheme to use Shalla-Bal to manipulate the Surfer tricked the Surfer into returning to Earth once again. After botching his wedding anniversary Reed later attempted to obtain a rare crystal from the Negative Zone to cure Ben of his condition. This led to a battle against Annihilus as the Negative Zone ruler tried to cross over to Earth. Reed was forced to sacrifice the crystal he sought in order to send Annihilus back into the Negative Zone.
=== Liberating Latveria ===
The Fantastic Four were later forced to return the body of Doctor Doom to the Latverian Embassy, unaware that his Doombots were in the process of recovering the mind of their master. Put through a series of traps and after battling Doombots the quartet soon discovered that Doom had been restored to his natural body. They had also been exposed to a hypnotic device that forced them to work along side Doom who sought to use his enemies to help him regain the Latverian throne back from Prince Zorba.
Seeing that the European nation had become a police state following Doom's ousting due to social and economic collapse caused by his absence the Fantastic Four grudgingly agreed to assisted Doom. Moreso when Zorba proved even more of a tyrant than Doom ever was after witnessing the mother of a child named Kristoff Vernard being killed in the street for violating a curfew order. Although they were willing to assist Doom in ousting Zorba they could not stop him from seemingly slaying his opponent and were later forced to leave Latveria before the effects of the hypno-ray wore off.
=== Luna ===
Back in New York, Reed examined the Dazzler's mutant powers and developed a specially made music player to assist her in converting sound into the light energy. The Fantastic Four later attended one of Dazzler's live performances shortly thereafter.
The Fantastic Four were later invited back to Attilan for a celebration of the Inhumans new home as well as the naming ceremony for Crystals' child. The newborn was named Luna after the Inhumans new home. The celebrations were briefly marred thanks to a strange Kree nightmare projector buried deep below the Blue Area that was accidentally set off by Triton.
=== Contest of Champions ===
Reed and his teammates were among the many super-heroes who were captured by the Grandmaster and Death as potential contestants in the so-called Contest of Champions. Reed was not one of the chosen combatants and he was returned to Earth when the contest came to its conclusion.
=== Amnesty for the Hulk ===
Reed and the rest of his team were later witness when the U-Foes televised their capture of Bruce Banner. However before the villains could kill Banner he transformed into the Hulk and defeated his foes. Because Banner now had full control of the Hulk he sought out Reed's help to gain amnesty. Although this led to a brief battle at the Baxter Building when the truth was discovered Reed helped Banner out. Shortly thereafter Reed and the Fantastic Four were present at a ceremony at the White House where the Hulk was officially pardoned for his past crimes.
Returning to New York City, Reed joined the super-hero community in throwing a celebration for the Hulk. Reed later sent the Thing out to Egypt to investigate strange new pyramids that appeared on his satellite scans of the Earth. This leaded to a battle between Ben and the Sphinx, who escaped his eternal punishment at the hands of Galactus. When Ben later returned to the United States, Reed was unhappy that the Pogo Plane was wrecked on the mission and sent Ben to the Delmar Insurance Company to file an insurance claim.
=== Dire Warnings ===
When a group of Skrulls were being pursued by the Shi'ar Imperial Guardsman known as the Gladiator they lured him to Earth and tricked him into thinking that the Fantastic Four were Skrull impostors. Initially the group was trounced, prompting Reed to return to his lab to develop a means to defeat Gladiator. While the rest of the Fantastic Four battled him alongside Captain America and Spider-Man against the Gladiator and the Skrulls (who had since disguised themselves as members of the X-Men). Realizing that Gladiator's powers were psionic in nature and were based purely on the faith in his abilities, Reed used a thought projector to fool the Shi'ar warrior into thinking that Reed was invincible. This caused Gladiator to falter long enough for the heroes to knock him out. With the Skrulls defeated and exposed the revived Gladiator took them into custody and left the Fantastic Four to clean up the mess. When Shi'ar Majistrix Lilandra learned that Richards was responsible for saving the life of Galactus she personally contacted him with a warning: should a world of sentient life perish as a result of Reed's decision to save Galactus, he would be held personally accountable.
Later the Thing was captured by the Champion along with other of Earth's super-strong beings to participate in a boxing match. Reed and the other members of the Fantastic Four watched as the challengers fought for the fate of the Earth. Although the Thing also lost the match his inability to give up so impressed the Champion he decided to spare the Earth. Ben was later hospitalized due to injuries he sustained battling both the Gladiator and the Champion. While Ben recovered, the Fantastic Four and their allies defended him when the hospital was suddenly under siege by an army of super-villains trying to kill the Thing while he was vulnerable. Once Ben was back on his feet Reed warned him to be cautious of a film contract that he had signed. This proved to be sage advice as this was an attempt to humiliate the Thing concocted by a vengeful film producer after he ruined the "Monster Man" television show. Later, after leaving Franklin in Ben's care, Reed and Sue came home to learn how the pair saved the planet K'rith from the invading Gh'runjians. Reed finally had time to sit down and analyze Ben's previous attempt to travel into the past to try and cure himself. He discovered that his original theory -- that Ben created a divergent timeline -- was actually wrong. Instead, Reed discovered that Ben had actually visited a parallel dimension. This discovery prompted Ben to return to that reality to see how things faired on that world after his last visit.
=== Wedding of the Sentry ===
Reed and Sue later met with the Wasp for lunch concerned about her recent marital problems and her ex-husband's recent incarceration. Reed was later the best man at the wedding of his long time ally the Sentry who was marrying his long time girlfriend Lindy Lee. However Reed's memories of these events were later erased. Reed and the other members of the Fantastic Four were later called upon by the United States government to share information on Attilan's transfer to the moon prior to the Avengers going on a mission to see if they posed a threat to national security. When the Thing was later possessed by the Puppet Master once again Reed developed a device to free his friend from their foe's control. The Fantastic four were able to catch up and free Ben with the help of Spider-Man.
=== Negative Zone Exploration ===
After discovering that time moves at an accelerated rate in the Negative Zone and that they could spend months exploring the Zone while mere hours passed on Earth, Reed decided to mount an expedition of this unexplored realm. Constructing a new travel module as well a new shaft system to travel into the Negative Zone he and the rest of the Fantastic Four departed, leaving Franklin in the care of Alicia. After leaving Franklin in Alicia's care, the Fantastic Four then left for their exhibition, unaware that they were leaving Alicia and Franklin to the mercies of Annihilus who crossed over to Earth. On the first planet, the group found themselves among a society called the Children of Ootah that sacrifice chosen women to Ootah a massive city which the Children had been forced out of centuries earlier. While Reed was incapacitated by a blow dart drug, the rest of the Fantastic Four fought their way into Ootah, thinking it just a lifeless construct whose security systems had run amok. Reed awoke and tried to stop them from destroy Ootah's memory banks but was too late. He explained that Ootah was actually a living organism which was merely defending itself from hostile contamination.
The group next encountered the massive ship called Kestor's Hope, carrying the last of the Kestorans, who were trying to seek a new world but had not been able to locate one for generations due a ship malfunction causing them to fly aimlessly in the void of the Negative Zone. Reed helped the Kestorans find what appeared to be a suitable world, but having evolved to prefer life on the ship. Also after discovering that the millions of Kestorians that were supposedly kept in suspended animation were long dead and this was kept secret from the crew, the Fantastic Four departed leaving the Kestorans to continue living their grim existence. On the primitive world of Mantracora, Reed sent Johnny and Ben out to explore so that he and Sue could spend some moments alone in privacy. Unknown to them at the time, Reed had impregnated his wife. However, their romantic interlude was interrupted by the local deity, Taranith Gestal. Actually, an alien trapped on this world, Gestal needed the energy from brains to power his ship and kidnapped Reed to drain his mind as it had a superior intellect. Although met with resistance from the Fantastic Four, Taranith succeeded, leaving Reed's body a mindless husk.
As Gestal blasted off in his ship, Reed's mind endured within the computer core. Commandeering the ship, Reed forced Taranith out of the vessel and took control of it. Deciding it was time to return home, Reed instructed Sue on how to build a transmitter helmet so his mind could transmit instructions to his body until he found a cure for his condition. However when they returned to the Negative Zone portal they found it destroyed. With no other option, the heroes had to venture through the dimensional interface of the Negative Zone and potentially face annihilation.
After examining the destroyed portal and the Annihilation Zone, Reed realized who was behind it and that somehow Annihilus was attempting to destroy Earth with a null-field. In order to get back home, Reed instructed his team to build a dimensional analog of the Baxter Building. The group succeeded in traveling back to Earth, shunting Annihilus back into the Negative Zone. The process also inverted the colors of their uniform from black-on-blue to white-on-black. Upon returning home they discovered that the Avengers had been battling Annihilus in their absence but the battle was not without casualties. Not only was the Vision rendered inert, but both Alicia and Franklin had been tortured for hours and required immediate medical attention.
=== King's Crossing ===
Reed and Sue rushed Franklin and Alicia to Mercy General Hospital where they were put under the care of Ben's uncle Dr. Jacob Grimm. There they waited to hear news about their son's condition. Meanwhile, unknown to the Fantastic Four, Galactus had just consumed the Skrull throneworld causing the death of billions of Skrulls. At that very moment, Reed learned that Sue was now pregnant with their second child. With this news and after Franklin's harrowing experience, Reed decided that instead of he and Sue quitting the Fantastic Four, they would move to a new home away from the Baxter Building so Franklin could be raised in relative safety and be provided some semblance of a normal life.
Not long after this, part of the Fantastic Four's past came back to haunt them when they received a frantic call from Johnny's friend Sharon Selleck who was trapped in the town of King's Crossing. There Reed discovered that the Skrulls he turned into cows years ago were used for milking and their invasive DNA was transforming the locals into xenophobic pseudo-Skrulls. Reed then devised a cure to annihilate the invasive Skrull DNA and cure the town.
While Sue was sent to purchase a home in the town of Belle Porte, Connecticut, Reed went to Avengers Mansion to see what he could do to restore the Vision to proper working order. It was during this work that Reed was abducted from alien beings.
=== Trial of Reed Richards ===
In Reed's absence, Doctor Doom recovered Tyros -- formally Terrax the Tamer -- and made him a tool for revenge against the Fantastic Four. He then sent Tyros against the Fantastic Four who were still reeling due to Reed's sudden disappearance. Ultimately with the help of the Silver Surfer, the Fantastic Four defeated Tyros, the battle ending with both Doom and Tyros being seemingly atomized in the process. The Fantastic Four continued their search for Reed and were contacted by the Watcher who brought the group to a delegation of the Galactic Council who were seeking to execute Reed for his part in saving the life of Galactus. The Fantastic Four convinced the council to hold a hearing for Reed to defend himself. Reed explained that Galactus is an important part of the balance of the universe. The Council was mere moments of clearing Richards of any wrong doing when suddenly the hearing was interrupted by Empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar who demanded a full trial against Reed Richards.
Reed was then put on trial where he had to convince the court that Galactus was a necessity in the universe or face execution. The Fantastic Four sought to defend their leader and with the help of the Watcher sought out to contact those who could defend Reed. First they called upon the Asgardian ruler Odin, who explained the origins of Galactus. Then Galactus himself came to plead on Richards' behalf. Then finally, Galactus summoned Eternity to explain to the court the important role of Galactus in the universe. Although none remembered the details of this explanation, it was compelling enough to convince the jury and the court and Richards was set free and allowed to return home with his family. Back on Earth, Reed's mind became the target of Everyman a minion of the evil psychologist Doctor Faustus. With the help of Spider-Man, Mister Fantastic brought Everyman to justice and restored his mind. Discovering that Dr. Faustus had captured his teammates and son and was mentally torturing them, Richards and Spider-Man forced their way into the facility run by Faustus and defeated their mutual foe. The Fantastic Four later attended the Barrington Theater, where they witnessed Moon Knight's battle against Bora. Reed later left his lab available to Bruce Banner when he requested its use.
=== Reed Benjamin ===
Reed and Sue soon moved into their new home in Belle Porte where they took on the identities of Reed and Sue Benjamin in order to maintain anonymity while living there. Reed used his powers to alter his appearance. During this time Sue's pregnancy advanced. He then began working on a means of restoring the Vision's mobility but became distracted by some strange energy readings he was picking up. Reed later tracked this energy signature which led him to Central Park where he could find nothing amiss. Later when the Dazzler helped the Inhumans apprehend Moonstone and Blackout, they were turned over to Reed who in turn relinquished them to Project PEGASUS. Reed was later sought out by the Black Cat who had come to ask him to grant her super-human abilities, however Reed refused to do so on ethical grounds. Picking up the strange energy readings from Central Park again, Reed went back to investigate taking Ben and Johnny with him and leaving Sue behind due to her advanced stage of pregnancy. On Sheep's Meadow, they found a massive construct and were compelled to pass through its gates. Realizing too late that it was some kind of trap, Reed, Ben and Johnny were teleported away.
=== Secret Wars ===
Reed and the other soon discovered that they were captured alongside members of the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Magneto, and apparently the mercenary Deadpool (or so the mercenary has later claimed).
These heroes were taken aboard a massive ship. On an opposite ship were a gathering of villains which included a seemingly resurrected Doctor Doom, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, the Absorbing Man, the Wrecking Crew, the Enchantress, the Lizard, Kang the Conqueror, and the Molecule Man. They then witnessed as an entire galaxy was wiped away and a patchwork world -- later dubbed Battleworld -- was created. They were then visited by the neigh omnipotent being calling itself the Beyonder. The Beyonder then told those gathered to slay their enemies and all they desired would become theirs. They were then transported to Battleworld to participate in a conflict that later became known as the original Secret Wars.
After the opening battle, the heroes forced the villains to flee, taking prisoners as well. Reed and the others then located a massive abandoned complex and co-opted it as their base of operations. There Reed found a kinsmanship with the X-Men's Cyclops who was also taken away from his wife. When Magneto attempted to steal equipment from their base, Reed, and the others tried to stop him, but Magneto escaped with the Wasp as his prisoner. Much to everyone's surprise the Thing reverted back to his human form in the battle. With Galactus now standing atop a mountain, Reed and the other scientists among the group were charged with monitoring his activities. Soon the X-Men decided to cut out and when Spider-Man attempted to warn the others, but Professor X altered his memories. Reed's alarm was then smoothed over by Cyclops. Soon Reed and the others had to defend their headquarters as Doom's minions -- including the newly empowered Titania and Volcana -- attacked and recovered their captured allies. The heroes then attempted to flee the scene but had a mountain dropped on them by the Molecule Man. They were saved only by the strength of the Hulk but they were trapped under tons of rock. In one account, Reed fashioned a weapon using one of Spider-Man's web-shooters, some of Hawkeye's trick arrows, and Iron Man's power pack to free themselves from the mountain.
In Deadpool's account, they also used a mysterious shield that Deadpool located within their newly abandoned base. The heroes soon found refuge in an alien village where they were helped by a healer named Zsaji. When Ben suddenly changed back into the Thing, Reed suspected his theory but still kept quiet about the truth. Suddenly all other concerns ended when Reed suddenly realized that Galactus was summoning his ship in order to consume Battleworld. Reed attempted to make contact with Galactus and talk him out of consuming the planet but was blasted aside. Galactus then summoned a robot from his ship to keep the heroes busy but they destroyed it. Suddenly they were attacked by Doctor Doom's forces, but Reed and the others were assisted by the arriving X-Men who fled after the battle was over, leaving their wounded teammate Colossus behind.
With Galactus still constructing his device to consume Battleworld, Reed and the others began making strategies a means to stop him from doing so. With the arrival of the new Spider-Woman, Reed and the others also learned that the entire city of Denver, Colorado was transported to Battleworld. Not long after this the Wasp's seemingly dead body was dumped off by the Wrecking Crew. When the She-Hulk ran off to get revenge, Reed and the others petitioned Captain America to go after her. With the X-Men agreeing to watch over Galactus, Captain America agreed to mount a rescue mission.
Reed an the others launched an attack on the villain's Doombase. and soon defeated all the villains there, taking them prisoner. After Reed began treating their injured, he and the others were warned by Professor X that Galactus was almost ready to consume the planet.
When Reed and the others launched their counter-attack against Galactus, suddenly Reed was teleported away by Galactus and taken aboard his ship. There Reed once again petitioned Galactus not to consume the world they were trapped on. Galactus commended Richards as a champion of justice and offered him one more glimpse of his wife and Franklin before returning them to the others. The heroes then launched an attack on Galactus. Eventually, Galactus had to abandon his attempts to eat Battleworld and was forced to consume his Worldship instead.
However, the energy was stolen by Doctor Doom and filtered into his body. Doom then used this power to try and attack the Beyonder directly. Fairing poorly, Doom tried to reach out to the heroes and ask them to grant him their strength. When the heroes refused Doom still succeeded none-the-less and stole the power of the Beyonder. The now omnipotend Doctor Doom announced the Secret Wars were over and when the heroes refused to accept him he left to address his former allies. While the villains fled Battleworld by levitating Denver out into space, the heroes were summoned by Doom to meet him at a the newly constructed Tower of Doom. Doom then gave them an ultimatum, side with him or be annihilated. When Reed an the others unanimously agreed to unite against their foe, Doom smote them with a single burst of energy. Although the heroes were seemingly dead, Zsaji sacrificed her life to revive Colossus who in turn used the technology at Doombase to revive Reed Richards. Reed in turn used the technology there to revive all the others.
However, in Deadpool's account of events, Reed was only able to do so by getting a sample of Deadpool's healing factor. The heroes then made one last attack on Doctor Doom, and they were successful when the remaining visage of the Beyonder was able to steal back it's power from Doom and banish him. With the Secret Wars over, Reed then began working on a means of finding a way back home for everyone. In doing so, Reed discovered that Battleworld was partially shaped by their whims and they could accomplish their goals based entirely on willpower. The Wasp, feeling guilty over a romantic interlude with Deadpool during while his skin condition was temporarily cured, unconsciously willed everyone to forget Deadpool's presence during the entire war. After Reed sent back the other heroes, he and Johnny were shocked to learn that Ben decided to stay behind, having come to believe that Battleworld allowed to him change back and forth between his human and Thing form. Reed, knowing the truth, decided not to correct Ben in the hopes that he sorts out his life while on sabbatical and he and Johnny accepted Ben's petition to have She-Hulk take his place on the team. Soon Reed, Johnny and She-Hulk teleported back home, leaving Ben alone on Battleworld.
Reed, Johnny, and She-Hulk reappeared in Central Park and were instantly reunited with Sue and a woman who appeared to be Alicia Masters. Unknown to all at the time, Alicia had been kidnapped and replaced by a Skrull spy named Lyja who was sent to spy on the Fantastic Four. Not long after their return, Sue began to go into labor, a potentially complicated and deadly one, due to the energies from the Negative Zone that were present when their child was conceived.
=== Sue's Miscarriage ===
Reed rushed Sue to a hospital where he enlisted the aid of Walter Langkowski, Bruce Banner, and Michael Morbius to determine what is wrong with Sue and help her and her baby survive childbirth. After examining Sue, Langkowski and the others determined that the only man who could help them is an expert in the field of radiation, the villain known as Doctor Octopus.
Reed then traveled to the sanitarium where Octavius was being held and appealed to him to help his wife. Otto was compliant until seeing a Daily Bugle billboard featuring his foe Spider-Man, causing Doctor Octopus to lash out and mentally summon his mechanical arms. Reed battled the Doctor but managed to convince him to help once again. However when Reed arrived at the hospital he learned that he was thirty minutes late and that his wife miscarried the baby.
After ensuring his wife was recovering okay in hospital, Reed returned to the Baxter Building where he found Johnny and She-Hulk being attacked by Doctor Doom's mask, which the group collected following his apparent death. Reed deactivated the mask, but was left to wonder if Doom was truly dead.
=== Wedding of Black Bolt and Medusa ===
Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were later invited back up to Attilan on the moon for the official wedding of Black Bolt and Medusa. The nuptials were interrupted by a conflict between the Kree and Skrull warriors known as Bel-Dann and Raksor. The Fantastic Four and the Inhuman Royal Family convinced the two to work together, and since their lone battle was intended to resolve the ongoing Kree/Skrull War, the two working together resulted in a truce between both races, at least for the time being.
Later, Reed and Sue were pulled forward in time once again by their Earth-60166 counterparts to participate in their 40th wedding anniversary.
=== Terminus ===
Back in his own era, Reed and She-Hulk investigated a strange alien ray that cut a massive message across the United States. Tracking what appeared to be an alien ship to the desert near Wyatt Wingfoot's tribe, the pair discovered that the planet had just been claimed by the massive alien known as Terminus. Reed ultimately defeated Terminus by attaching a device that changed the alien's velocity to oppose that of the Earth, sending Terminus plummeting deep into the Earth's surface where he would be trapped for months, giving Reed the time to discover a means of dealing with their menace in a more permanent fashion.
=== The Pride ===
With the news that Tony Stark had collapsed into alcoholism and his company was overtaken by business rival Obadiah Stane, Reed attended a meeting with his fellow members of the Illuminati to discuss this unfortunate series of events. When Reed, Xavier and Doctor Strange suggested helping Tony out, both Black Bolt and Sub-Mariner vetoed the idea, pointing out that if Iron Man cannot win over his own inner-demons he is of no use to anybody.
When Stark began working on a new business called Imperio Techworks, Reed sought him out and wrote a six-figure check to help fund its early operations. However when Tony's business operations ran afoul of the Pride criminal organization, they attacked Tony at home. It was then that Reed and the rest of the Illuminati came to his aid. With the help of Reed and the others, Iron Man was able to force the Pride to retreat.
=== Symbiote ===
Later, when Spider-Man was having troubles with the costume he obtained on Battleworld, Reed agreed to examine it and discovered it was a symbiotic creature that was living off the hero. With his life at risk, Spider-Man had Reed remove the costume and contain it at the Baxter Building. Reed then began examining the creature to determine if it had any type of intelligence in an attempt to communicate with it. When the Casket of Ancient Winters was opened, it caused the Earth to enter a planet-wide winter and unleash the armies of Surtur on Earth. Reed was among the many heroes who were rallied together by the Avengers to fend off these invaders in New York. Ultimately Surtur was defeated by the combined force of Thor and Odin. Reed then continued his examination of the alien symbiote in his lab.
=== Reunion ===
While celebrating his birthday, Reed confided in Sue, telling her that some of his memories had been erased following his mind was trapped within the alien ship in the Negative Zone. After recounting his early encounter with Gormuu, Reed decides to visit the Richards family estate to try and recover his lost memories of his childhood. There Reed introduced the Fantastic Four to the estate keepers and told them that his father, Nathaniel, had gone missing some time prior to the spaceflight that created the Fantastic Four. Learning of strange "ghosts" seen coming out of his father's lab, Reed and his teammates crack the complex locking mechanism. Inside, they discovered that Nathaniel Richards had created a Time-Platform very similar to the one created by Doctor Doom. Deciding to retrace his father's footsteps, Reed and the Fantastic Four used the Time-Platform ended up in the parallel universe of Earth-6311, a war-torn domain where high technology and frontier justice exist side-by-side. There they learned that Reed's father apparently ruled over this land as the Warlord. Unwilling to believe that his father could be such a tyrant, Reed and the Fantastic Four then headed to the Warlord's citadel to learn the truth.
There the group joined the warrior women known as the Eyriennes in fighting the Warlord's forces. In the end, the Warlord was slain and revealed to be none other than Nathaniel's second wife, Cassandra. In the end, the Fantastic Four discovered that Nathaniel was ignorant of his wife's ways and was not responsible for the tyranny on this world. Despite this betrayal and dealing with the death of his new wife, Nathaniel was happily reunited with his son Reed, but refused to return back to His earth with them, having so much to repair in this reality.
=== The Symbiote Escapes ===
Returning to the Baxter Building, Reed and the Fantastic Four watched Namor give a televised address to the United Nations. Later, Reed was surprised to learn that Johnny and "Alicia Masters" had started a relationship. This caused him to wonder how the Thing was doing out on Battleworld. While Reed continued to work in his lab, some Doombot's later freed the alien symbiote from it's containment unit. The symbiote's escape was quickly detected by Reed who tried to contain it but was possessed by the creature instead. The rest of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man tried to contain the creature, but it was eventually incapacitated by Franklin's mutant powers and contained again. Unknown to all, a future version of Kristoff Vernard had ventured to this era to collect a sample of the symbiote for his own use. After collecting the same he reprogrammed the Doombot's probe and sent it back on its intended mission. Reed, Sue, and Johnny were later captured by the minions of Ahmet Abdol who utilized their cosmic rays in their bodies to transform himself back into the Living Monolith. The Monolith was later defeated by the She-Hulk, the Avengers, and Spider-Man and his inert body was jettisoned into space by Thor. After the Monolith's defeat the captured members of the Fantastic Four were released.
=== Haunting at Belle Porte ===
Retreating back to their family life in Belle Prote, Reed, and Sue hosted a house warming party. However one of their neighbors, local snoop Alma Chalmers, discovered that the "Benjamin" family had strange powers. Instead of recognizing them as members of the Fantastic Four, she assumed that they were demonically possessed and summoned occult expert Elspeth Cromwell to exorcise them. Cromwell cast a spell to summon the Knights of Hades upon Reed and Sue. The mystical creatures were able to break Reed's arm, something nearly impossible given his pliant body. During their battle, Franklin suffered a head injury and his blood caused the demon Mephisto to be summoned on the scene. Reed, Sue, and Franklin's souls were then pulled in Mephisto's realm, where the two parents were tortured. They were rescued thanks to Franklin unleashing his power and seemingly destroying Mephisto in the process.
=== Shattered Friendship ===
Reed returned to the Baxter Building shortly thereafter and discovered that the Thing had returned to Battleworld. Discovering that Johnny and "Alicia" were now in a relationship, Ben decided it was time to move on and leave the Fantastic Four. Reed then decided to finally tell Ben about the mental block which prevented him from transforming back and forth between human and Thing forms. Having seemingly lost his ability to transform at will on Battleworld, the Thing lashed out at Reed and eventually stormed out, quitting the Fantastic Four, seemingly for good. Reed and Sue later decided to discuss what happened in Belle Porte and how to deal with Franklin's powers as they were seemingly starting to return.
=== The New Doom ===
With Doom still seemingly dead, his loyal Doombots took his ward, the youthful Kristoff Vernard, and initiated a program that would see his mind overwritten with the memories and personality of Doctor Doom. Stopping the process part way through, Kristoff -- now thinking of himself as Doctor Doom -- decided to recreate on of the real Doom's earliest plots against the Fantastic Four. Kristoff's plan was put into fruition as Reed, She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot were discussing the Thing and if they should pursue him after he stormed out. Suddenly the Baxter Building was launched into Earth orbit where it was blown up. Having survived thanks to Sue's force fields, the Fantastic Four then returned to Earth, crashing into Doctor Doom's castle. Thinking Doom was still alive, the Fantastic Four were surprised when She-Hulk tore apart Kristoff's armor revealing his true identity. With their foe defeated, it finally sunk into Reed and the others that their home and headquarters was gone.
=== Secret Wars II ===
Seeking to learn more about human desire, the Beyonder eventually came to Earth in human form to experience it first hand. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four had setup temporary operations at Avengers Mansion. New York City was soon under the grip of mass hatred perpetuated by the Psycho-Man and his minion the Hate-Monger. Unaware of this, Reed discovered that emotion manipulating molecules within racist literature being passed out in the city was a the cause. Before he could investigate this further, Reed was warned by his son Franklin that he had a dream wherein he killed Sue. When investigating this, Reed discovered that his wife had been transformed, her dark side -- called Malice -- having been unleashed. Realizing that her evil emotions were artificial, he began chastising his wife to make her really hate him, reversing the Hate-Monger's affect on her. Free from his control, a furious Susan Richards was out for revenge against those who perverted her emotions. While pursing Sue's abusers, Reed was approached by the Beyonder who began asking him questions about the nature of desire. While Reed was distracted the Hate Monger was murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld and Psycho-Man escaped back to the Microverse. When the Beyonder suddenly disappeared to seek answers elsewhere, Reed had to take a sideline in order to focus on his wife's desire for revenge.
Returning to Avengers Mansion, and at the insistence of his wife, Reed built a new Reducta-Craft which they used to travel into the Microverse and seek out the Psycho-Man, however they were captured in the process. While Psycho-Man emotionally tortured Sue even more, Reed managed to use his malleable body to break free from his cage and attack their massive keeper. As it turned out Psycho-Man's massive body was merely a robotic exo-suit and the real Psycho-Man was easily captured. However, even though Sue and Johnny were free, She-Hulk was lost somewhere in Sub-Atomica. While they searched for their teammate, Psycho-Man attempted to escape utilizing his Emotion-Caster to try and cloud their minds. However Sue saw right through this and stole the device and gave the Psycho-Man a taste of his own medicine. With She-Hulk recovered, Reed was told by his wife that the Invisible Girl was now "dead" and that she would be calling herself the Invisible Woman from now on.
Reed later met with the Illuminati on the Moon where Professor X was convinced that the Beyonder was a Mutant/Inhuman hybrid. Detecting the Beyonder elsewhere in the solar system, the Illuminati confronted him in a strange recreation of New York City the Beyonder brought into existence. There the Beyonder seemingly confirmed Professor X's assertions and appeared to obey when Black Bolt demanded he stop his mischief. Satisfied, the Illuminati returned to Earth.
However, this assertion has since been proven false, and the Beyonder returned to Earth shortly thereafter.
Later when She-Hulk was stopping sentient Cockroaches from taking over SHIELD, she was exposed to a heavy dose of radiation. Reed later examined her and revealed that due to this exposure to radiation, She-Hulk lost her ability to change back into her human form, news that She-Hulk was apparently unfazed by. However, this was only at the direction of psychologist Doc Samson when Reed couldn't find any physical reason, who believed her inability to change form was psychological.
=== Genetic Bomb ===
Reed then began the construction of their new headquarters located at the site of the former Baxter Building. Not long after this the team were lured into a trap by some Skrulls posing as the Elan known as the Infant Terrible, as part of a plot by an enterprising Skrull warlord to kill the Fantastic Four. The group thwarted this plan and stumbled upon yet another plot by two Skrulls Zabyk and Myrn to detonate a Genetic Bomb that would strip the Skrulls of their shape-shifting abilities. Even with the assistance of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four were unable to stop the bomb from being set off.
After returning to Earth, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were part of a group of heroes who tracked down and attacked the Beyonder. However because he was going through a deep depression the Beyonder did not fight back, prompting the heroes to stop their attack and let him go. When the Beyonder turned around and attempted to become a "champion of life", Mister Fantastic and Captain America visited his new headquarters in Sparta, Illinois, to warn him against solving all the world's problems.
=== Finding Jean Grey ===
Returning to Avengers Mansion, the Fantastic Four learned how the Avengers recovered a strange cocoon from the bottom of Jamaica Bay. Reed put his knowledge to work opening it, revealing the X-Man known as Marvel Girl. They soon learned that she had been in a state of suspended animation for approximately three years after she was replaced by the Phoenix Force while trying to return the X-Men home from a mission in space. With Jean Grey's memories recovered, Reed attempted to contact her old colleague the Beast who was still a part of the Defenders. When he got in touch with the Beast it was just after the Defenders disbanded, but with the Fantastic Four's help Jean was reunited with the her old X-Men alumni and they formed a new group called X-Factor.
Reed and Sue were later called in for a meeting with Captain America who was asking if they had a right to assist Nighthawk of Earth-712 in stopping the Squadron Supreme's Utopia Project. Although Reed insisted that this was not their affair, Captain America decided to assist Nighthawk anyway. With the Beyonder still a concerning problem, Reed began using the Avengers resources to build devices to try and track him.
=== Doctor Doom Lives! ===
Suspecting that Doctor Doom might still be alive, Reed began building a device to try and track his brain waves. This proved to be unnecessary as Doom -- his mind still trapped in the body of Norman McArthur -- attacked the Latverian Embassy dressed as the Invincible Man. This tricked Sue, the Wasp and She-Hulk in helping him storm the building. There Doom turned on them, and revealed how he cheated death at the hands of Tyros with the Ovoid mind-swapping technique.
When Reed and Johnny came to rescue the others they too were captured. Doom then held them prisoner as he summoned a being of great power who could restore him to normal. Doom's spell succeeded in summoning the Beyonder before him. Realizing that Doom did not recognize the Beyonder, Reed realized how Doom could have been active during the Secret Wars when he was seemingly dead. Reed then explained to the increasingly volatile Beyonder that the Doom active during the Secret Wars was from the future and that destroying Doom now would cause a time paradox that would destroy them all. Not willing to face possible destruction, the Beyonder then restored Doctor Doom to normal and sent him back in time with no memory of future events so he could play his part in the first Secret Wars. The Fantastic Four then departed before Doom could return to his appointed time.
=== Last Stand of the Beyonder ===
Eventually, Reed and his teammates were summoned by the Phoenix alongside the East and West Coast Avengers, Spider-Man, the Silver Surfer, Alpha Flight, the Heroes for Hire and Cloak and Dagger to stop the Beyonder from destroying all existence. After clashing with the New Mutants the heroes battled the Beyonder who easily beat them back. Deciding to recreate himself as an infant child, but with all his power, the Beyonder hoped to finally understand human desire. However many thought the Beyonder was too powerful to be allowed to live and since he was recreating himself in a mortal body would be easy to kill. Reed was one of those who opposed the idea and tried to hold everyone back. However the Molecule Man fired the killing blow, re-channeling the Beyonder's energies back into the dimension from which they came.
With the Earth having suffered serious damage to much of its surface in the final battle, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four worked with the Avengers in attempting to keep the Earth together. Eventually they repaired the damage by having the Silver Surfer boost the Molecule Man's powers to a point where he could repair the planet.
=== Near Annihilation ===
As the construction of their new headquarters continued, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were called up to SHIELD's space station to investigate a strange rip in time and space. Reed realized that it was caused by the destruction of the Negative Zone portal when the Baxter Building was blown up. Venturing out in a space suit with a protective force-field, Reed was then pulled into the Negative Zone. Because of the force field, his body did not undergo the needed conversion from matter to anti-matter, making him explosive to the touch should anything in the Negative Zone breach the force field. Reed was soon taken prisoner by Blastaar and the nearly dead Annihilus. When the rest of the Fantastic Four went after Reed, they wrested the Cosmic Control Rod from Blastaar, but it fell back in the hands of Annihilus, restoring him to full health.
In the ensuing battle, Annihilus attempted to travel through the portal to the positive matter universe. Freed, Reed then ventured out in the hopes of making contact with Annihilus, triggering a matter/anti-matter explosion that would eliminate their foe. Despite Sue's protests, Reed ventured out to stop him and seemingly sacrificed himself to do so. In reality, Reed saved himself be ejecting his body out of the space suit at the last minute and was picked up by SHIELD before he could die in the vacuum of space. Reed was alive and well after the Fantastic Four and Nick Fury were freed from the artificial reality created by Joseph Calhoun, an elderly mutant who trapped them in his version of reality.
=== Search for the Thing ===
With plans for the evening, Reed told his teammates to go on without him so he could work on his Sidereal-Displacer a device that should shift him forward and backward in time. Although there were some mishaps along the way, he managed to finish his work and still make the show on time. When news that the Thing was suddenly undergoing another unstable mutation, Reed was in constant touch with the West Coast Avengers who were out looking for him in California. Although the Avengers ceased their search when the Thing told Hawkeye he wanted to be left alone.
Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were later left in charge of Avengers Mansion while the Avengers went off to deal with the Hulk who was on yet another rampage. Later, Reed was tapped by Power Man and Iron Fist to try and save their young friend Bobby Wright who was suffering from an unknown illness. Despite Reed's best efforts he could not find a cure. When William Evans, Jr.'s mutant powers became dangerous, Iron Man sought out Mister Fantastic for more information about his encounter with the boy. Tragically, despite the best efforts of Iron Man and X-Factor, William was killed while they were trying to get his powers under control.
=== Return to Central City ===
With their headquarters nearing completion the Fantastic Four returned operations there. Reed then began trying to find a way of restoring Kristoff Vernard's personality back to normal. Soon the Fantastic Four were called to the site of Central City which was trapped beneath a massive black dome which also sucked up She-Hulk. Passing through the dome, the Fantastic Four quickly discovered that time moved much faster there and Central City was centuries ahead of the outside world and developed a society that worshiped the Fantastic Four as a religion. Learning that this situation was product of paranoid scientist Harvey Jessup's attempts to protect Central City from a looming nuclear attack, the Fantastic Four were considered heretics and were sentenced to death. With the help of Jessup's daughter Murna, Reed helped convince Harvey that the outside world is safe. With the damage done to Central City, Reed altered Jessup's device to send them forward in time thousands of years into the future where they might fit in. After this experience, Reed decided that it was time that the Fantastic Four go searching for the Thing and ask him to come back to the team.
With Franklin increasingly having precognitive dreams, Reed began to express concerns about the return of Franklin's powers to his wife. Later when Franklin was sought out by Kofi Whitemane to save the young heroes known as the Power Pack from the Zn'rx, he left a note for his parents before leaving. The following morning Reed and Sue noticed that Franklin had gone missing and tried to make sens of the crude message left behind. While both teams of Avengers were out seeking out Quicksilver, who had recently gone mad, Reed offers the Fantastic Four's assistance, but Tigra declined the offer. Reed then went back to trying to decipher Franklin's note. Running it through the computers he determined that Franklin's note was referring to the Zn'rx. Realizing the danger Franklin could be in, he mobilized the Fantastic Four on a rescue mission. The Fantastic Four engaged the Zn'rx and through the course of the battle learned from Kofi that Franklin had been returned home to Earth. Reed warned Zn'rx leader Maraud to avoid endangering his son or the Earth again or she would face the Fantastic Four again. The Fantastic Four rushed back to Earth where they found Franklin safely in the care of the Power family.
=== Return of the Thing ===
The Fantastic Four then returned to the west coast where they helped with the reconstruction of Central City as well as search for the Thing who was still missing. They ended up tracking Ben to Subterranea where the Mole Man had cured the Thing's spontaneous mutation, restoring him to his familiar brick-like appearance. The Fantastic Four learned that the Thing had decided to remain in Subterranea where the Mole Man was preparing to raise an island for his Outcasts to live on. However Reed soon determined that such a feat would cause untold damage, and realizing that the Mole Man was becoming delusional, Ben put aside his differences and helped destroy the device. As result the Mole Man and his people seemingly perished as Monster Isle sunk in the ocean. Escaping on a life raft, Reed and the others convinced the Thing to return to the Fantastic Four.
Although Ben returned to the group, he was moody and taken to wearing a costume that covered his entire body. Ben's mood also bordered on the suicidal when Ben overheard Johnny proposing to "Alicia". When Reed was asked to assist on the government funded Star Watch Program. Getting reading from Earth's sun, Reed inadvertently transported the warring alien brothers Umbra and Jaagur, fusing them into a composite being. The Fantastic Four subdued the fused being and after learning what happened to them, Reed agreed to try and help restore them. However as Reed used a device to split Umbra and Jaagur, the pair's mutual hatred for one another caused them to fight while in the process of being separated. It caused an overload that seemingly killed the pair.
=== Comet Man ===
When Reed became aware of reports of the hero known as Comet Man, Reed suspected it was his old friend Stephen Beckley. After Comet Man defeated the Hulk in battle, Reed went to see for himself, confirming his suspicions. Reed brought Comet Man back to the Four Freedoms Plaza where he offered to help Beckley because his knowledge on sunspot activity helped save Reed's life two years prior. After learning the origin of Stephen's powers and that his wife and son were prisoners of the Bridge, Reed developed a device to that could channel Comet Man's powers and allow him to teleport to the location of his wife. The process was a success, although Reed was unaware that Stephen's wife had been murdered and buried underground.
Reed and the Thing then recovered Comet Man. After learning from Nick Fury that the head of the bridge, the Superior was Stephen's biological brother, Reed and Ben convinced Stephen to gather up the courage and rescue his son.
=== Devil's Due ===
Not long after this, Reed loaned Doctor Strange a ship so he could venture into space to reclaim his mystical artifacts after they were stolen from him by the alien sorcerer Urthona.
Soon the demon Mephisto targeted the Fantastic Four, bringing them and Franklin to his domain. There Mephisto threatened to take Franklin's soul. When Reed tried to bargain his in his son's place, Mephisto tried to convince Reed that he had already made a pact with the devil, which is how the Fantastic Four was born, then stripped Reed of his intellect. This however, was all a ruse to trick the Invisible Woman into turning over her soul to Mephisto in exchange for her husband and friends. With Sue as his prisoner, Mephisto then teleported the rest away, leaving a cryptic clue that the key to Mephisto's defeat was an "unknown quality".
Reed then started building a device to try and breach Mephisto's domain. However he realized Mephisto's hint might have been in referenced to the recently formed X-Factor. However when Reed sought X-Factor's help, this all proved to be merely a plot for Mephisto to exchange the Invisible Woman for the soul of Marvel Girl. Suspecting that Mephisto might be after the souls of both mutants and gods, Cyclops of X-Factor advised Reed who then attempted to contact the X-Men, but was also too late to stop Mephisto from attacking them. Ultimately, Mephisto's end-goal, to steal the soul of Thor, was foiled by the Avengers.
=== Johnny and "Alicia's" Wedding ===
With Ben back on the team, and Johnny's impending marriage on the horizon, the Fantastic Four also publicly opened the Four Freedoms Plaza to the public, with Reed and Sue presenting the opening ceremony. After returning to the top floor of their new headquarters, Reed and Sue were surprised to find numerous personal possessions and scientific equipment that was believed to had been lost when the Baxter Building was blown up. After some investigation, Reed and Sue learned that these items were saved from the explosion by their ally the Watcher.
Reed and the rest of the team later attended Johnny and "Alicia's" wedding, a private affair that was almost crashed by the Puppet Master, the Wizard and the Mad Thinker. The Puppet Master betrayed his comrades when he heard how happy his "step-daughter" was to be getting married. Reed and Sue were then pulled forward in time to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of their Earth-60166 counterparts.
=== Franklin's New Powers ===
Another chance encounter with the Silver Surfer resulted in the Fantastic Four battling the Champion again. When the quartet and the Surfer defeated the Champion, Reed devised a new means for the Surfer to escape the barrier put around the Earth by Galactus. Traveling inside his board, the Surfer was able to finally make his escape. After raising the Thinker's hideout and finding nothing, Reed then began running tests on Franklin's ability to cast a "dream self" whenever he slept. When Franklin was later kidnapped by the Wizard, Reed and the others rescued the boy. Reed then continued his tests on Franklin's abilities, have the boy successfully send out his dream-self to find Johnny who was still on his honeymoon with "Alicia". Putting Franklin to bed that night, both he and Sue expressed concerns about how Ben is coping with Johnny and "Alicia's" marriage. Reed and the rest of the team were later attacked by Dominus and his minions who came to destroy the Time-Platform before members of the West Coast Avengers could ask to use it to save their teammates who were trapped in the past. With the help of the Avengers Henry Pym, Reed managed to repair his time machine and the time lost Avengers were rescued.
Johnny soon returned from his honeymoon only for "Alicia" to be kidnapped by the mad Quicksilver. Reed and the others tracked the speedster down to the Bronx where they captured him and rescued "Alicia". It was at this time that Reed and Sue decided that they needed to take a break from the Fantastic Four. Reed then asked Ben to take over leadership of the team. When Crystal came to pick up her husband Quicksilver, he offered her a chance to rejoin the Fantastic Four, much to Johnny's aggravation.
=== War With the X-Men ===
Doctor Doom soon plotted against the Fantastic Four again by planting a forgery of Reed's early diary that suggested that he intentionally mutated his friends and family on the flight that created the Fantastic Four. When Sue found this diary it rocked her entire world and filled Reed with so much grief that he began to doubt himself. Later, the X-Men later came calling to seek Reed's help to save the life of their teammate Shadowcat. Reed agreed to bring his device to Muir Island to try on Shadowcat, but backed out at the last second fearing that the device might kill her. This led to a clash with the X-Men.
Eventually, the fight stopped when Doctor Doom offered his expertise and the Fantastic Four returned home. There, Sue was forced to tell the others about the diary, rocking the Fantastic Four down to their core. However, Sue came to believe that Reed couldn't have written the words in the diary after seeing him tell Franklin a story. After soul searching the rest of the Fantastic Four decided to stick by Reed, and Richards himself was confident that he could save Shadowcat after all.
When the Fantastic Four ventured out to Latveria, they briefly battled the X-Men, but they agreed to let Richards stand in on Doom's attempt at saving Shadowcat. Watching the experiment, Reed noticed that Doom's calculations were off and worked with him to save Shadowcat's life, foiling Doom's plot to defeat Reed by shaking his confidence in himself. Reed was later caught in a lab fire, necessitating rescue from his teammates.
=== Taking a Break ===
Later, the Fantastic Four were visited by their old foe the Mad Thinker, whose mind appeared to be trapped in the body of the Awesome Android. Reed agreed to help try and restore the Thinker to his body. However, this turned out to be a ploy by the Thinker to transfer his mind into the computers of the Four Freedoms Plaza. But, Reed threatened to destroy the computer if the Mad Thinker didn't vacate them. Fearing for his life, the Thinker didn't call Reed on his bluff and retreated. As Reed and Sue were continuing their transition out of the Fantastic Four, the group was approached by Doctor Doom again who sought the aid of Franklin. When Reed refused, Doom kidnapped the boy in the hopes of offering his soul to Mephisto in exchange for that of his mother. In order to get Franklin back, Reed allowed Kirstoff to escape and lead them into Doom's castle. There a battle broke out between Doom and Kristoff who both laid claim to the Latverian throne as the true Doctor Doom. Reed went after Franklin into Mephisto's realm where his son defeated Mephisto with his mutant powers once again. Back on Earth, Reed had Victor admit he was wrong, this had an unexpected result as it convinced the Doombots that Kristoff was the true Doctor Doom and Victor was chased out of Latveria. In thanks for helping him with the "impostor", Kristoff allowed the Fantastic Four to leave.
When Diablo threatened the team again, they were assisted by Ben's ally Ms. Marvel, who was also asked to join the team. With Ms. Marvel and Crystal now on the team, Reed and Sue departed from the team to have some time with their son a normal family setting in Stamford, Connecticut. However, Reed did have Franklin check on the group with his dream-casting powers. After being told the team held their own against Diablo, Reed was satisfied that they would do well under Ben's leadership.
== Downtime ==
However not long after their departure, Reed briefly returned to the Four Freedoms Plaza to finish an experiment. Reed and Sue later went on a trip, leaving Franklin in the temporary care of the Power family. The couple then tried to ease into a normal family life. Reed attempted to fix some shingles on the roof of their new home, a task he failed miserably. Reed and Sue continued to live a mundane life, even though their home was unknowingly visited by a member of the Grunds.
Still, even though they were trying to live a normal life, Reed continued his experiments. His latest invention accidentally brought an alien being to Earth. After a brief battle, the alien -- seeking a world to colonize -- realized Earth was too much trouble and was returned to his home world through the portal. When a power surge awoke one of the Mad Thinker's android duplicates of Sue, Reed contacted Ben at the Four Freedoms Plaza to make sure everything in the basement was secure. Ben and Johnny were then attacked by an alien calling himself the Exile. Reed and Sue returned to the Four Freedoms Plaza where they helped defeat the Exile who then left Earth.
=== Infinity Gems ===
Try as they might, Reed and Sue could not get away from costumed heroics. Not long after the Silver Surfer was freed from his prison, the Elders of the Universe attempted to destroy Galactus and cause a new big bang so they could be the oldest beings in the universe. This plot ended with the Trader, Astronomer, and the Possessor being sucked into a black hole with the Infinity Gems and Galactus consuming the Grandmaster, the Collector, the Champion, the Gardener, and the Runner.
Because the Elders could not die, existing inside of Galactus was tearing the world devourer apart. He then sent the Silver Surfer and Nova to seek the aid of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman to help recover the Infinity Gems from the black hole.In particular Sue's invisible force fields could help them collect the Gems without coming into contact with the Soul Gem which steals the soul of all who possess it. Reed and Sue agreed to go, leaving Franklin in the care of Nova. Breaching the black hole, Reed, Sue and the Surfer found themselves in a world governed by Master Order and Lord Chaos. The different extremes had an effect on Reed and Sue, while Reed became more ordered, Sue became more chaotic, reverting back to her Malice persona. Tracking down the Trader and Astronomer, Sue betrayed her friends by exchanging the Silver Surfer for the Infinity Gems.
Although they were left behind by Sue, Reed was able to convince the two Elders to let the Surfer go free because, as they were in a different dimension, they were not immortal in this realm like they were in their native reality. With no other choice, they let the Surfer go who pursued after Sue with Reed. When they caught up with Sue in their ship a fight broke out. There Reed tried to stop his wife, but came into contact with the Soul Gem and was taken possession of it. However, Reed was merely a pawn for the In-Betweener who sought to claim the Soul Gem for himself. As it turned out the In-Betweener was an ally of the three Elders trapped in this realm to help them escape. Reed and his allies got back to Earth just moments after a failed attempt to kill Galactus at the hands of the In-Betweener. Because the In-Betweener threatened the balance between Lord Order and Master Chaos, Galactus was healed so he could do battle with the In-Betweener.
While Galactus and the In-Betweener battled it out, Reed and Sue prevented Franklin from locating and using the Ultimate Nullifier to intervene in the battle. Ultimately, Galactus won, forcing the In-Between back into the realm of his masters where he was punished. With Galactus saved and the Elders and the In-Betweener defeated, the Silver Surfer returned the Richards family to Earth.
=== Inferno ===
During the Inferno crisis, the Captain was seeking out allies to help fight off the demonic hordes that were invading New York. He sought out Reed and Sue, but arrived just moments after Franklin had been kidnapped by Nanny and the Orphan-Maker. When they tracked down Orphan-Maker and Nanny and attacked they were shocked when they discovered that Nanny had placed Franklin in a suit of armor to fight them as well. The battle was then joined by the Eternal known as Gilgamesh.
Overpowered the two mutant cyborgs fled, leaving Franklin behind. Before Reed and Sue could free their son from the armor he was placed in, he was kidnapped by N'astirh, a demon who was collecting mutant children to make his Inferno spell permanent. They tracked Franklin into Manhattan where they crossed paths with Thor who also joined their side. The trail led them to the Empire State Building which served as N'astirh's base of operations. There this ad-hoc team of Avengers rescued Franklin and also defeated one of Kang's Growing Men. Eventually the Inferno crisis was stopped thanks to the X-Men and X-Factor. Back at the Richards home, the Captain asked Reed and Sue if they would like to join his new team of Avengers. Realizing that they cannot hide from the outside world, they agree to join alongside Gilgamesh and Thor. Although not long after Reed and Sue joined Thor quickly departed to deal with personal matters.
=== Avengers ===
Not long after this, Reed was contacted by Comet Man for help trying to find his brother. Despite his best efforts, Reed could find no trace of Stephen's foe. Reed and Sue later saw Franklin off with the Power family on a vacation to Maine. The couple also made a brief visit to the Four Freedoms Plaza.
Back with the Avengers, Reed and Sue accompanied the team as they answered a distress call from their ally Starfox who warned them that the rogue Xandarian known as Super Nova was a threat to the Earth as he searched for Nebula. Attacking Super Nova's ship, they freed the Firelord, but Super Nova broke free from his own ship on a course to destroy the Earth.
While Reed and the rest of the Avengers made their way back to Earth, the West Coast Avengers and Quasar kept Super Nova at bay. While the East and West Coast Avengers and the Fantastic Four battled Super-Nova, Reed recovered the Time-Platform from Four Freedoms Plaza with Quasar. They then tricked Super-Nova into thinking that Nebula was somewhere in the time-stream, and send him to it through the Time-Platform. Although Reed was commended for a job well done, Captain America was unhappy that Reed disobeyed orders to carry out his plan.
=== Perchance to Dream ===
Reed and Sue soon found that they were unhappy working with the Avengers and wanted to return to the Fantastic Four. Reed then traveled to the Four Freedoms Plaza to check on the old team and discovered that they needed their help. Johnny's flame had been magnified and made uncontrollable as a side effect of the Inferno crisis. Reed and Sue then returned to their former headquarters so Reed could work on a device to cure Johnny's condition. With the device completed, but the Frightful Four attacked the group. During the fight, Johnny was cured, but Ben was also knocked into the machine and was restored to his human form. Even without the Thing's strength, the Fantastic Four easily trounced the Frightful Four.  After a brief interruption by Thor, who was just passing through via the Negative Zone portal, Reed learned that the Wizard had hacked the Four Freedom's computer systems, Reed tracked the signal to the Wizard's hideout. There Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ms. Marvel attacked but they were all felled by Aron the Rogue Watcher who sought the Fantastic Four for his own ends.
Worried about his teammates, Ben tracked the Fantastic Four down to the Empire State Building where the Frightful Four and Aron were keeping them contained. Ben helped free the Fantastic Four and another fight broke out. This time the Fantastic Four won. However when they attempted to leave with their foes as prisoners they were felled by Aron again who intended to replace the Fantastic Four with clones of the whole team that would do his bidding. Taking both the Fantastic Four and the Frightful Four as prisoners, Aron hid them away in the Canadian Rocky Mountains where they were kept in suspended animation. While the clones of the Fantastic Four ran amok in the real world, Reed and the others were kept in stasis and subject to vivid dreams. Reed dreamed that the Four Freedoms Plaza was infiltrated by Ultron, leading to the group having to stop it from taking over the building. Eventually a malfunction in the cryogenic devices allowed the Fantastic Four and the Frightful Four to break free. With Aron incapacitated, the battle got even more complicated when the clones returned to their master. However Aron managed to break free as well. With his plan in shambles, Aron banished the Frightful Four to the Vault prison, and teleported away with his clones, satisfied he could watch their dreams to his own amusement, leaving the Fantastic Four behind to clean up the mess created by their impostors. Deciding to return to the Fantastic Four full time, Reed and Sue answered Captain America's call to form a new team of Avengers to announce their resignation from the group. Having moved back into the Four Freedoms, Reed provided Franklin some education on the known universe.
=== Atlantis Attacks ===
Later when the Avengers Hydrobase was risen out of the ocean by a column of rock by the Lava Men, Reed and Sue answer a distress call from the Avengers butler, Jarvis. With the help of the West Coast Avengers, Reed and Sue were able to lower Hydrobase back down into the ocean while the East Coast roster dealt with the Lava Men. Reed later went to assist NASA in constructing a faster-than-light space shuttle, running into his old teammate She-Hulk while working on the project. When the shuttle was hijacked, Reed uses his body to help spring-board She-Hulk onto the ship before it could reach escape velocity. Back in New York, when Captain Marvel's powers returned to her, she later turned to Reed to test out the upper limits of her powers.
During the Atlantis Attacks conflict, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were called in by the Avengers to assist in fending off attacks from various Atlantean menaces on US soil. Reed, Sue, She-Hulk and the Black Panther liberated Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant from Lord Arno and the Orka. The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man later defended Battery Park from an attack by the forces of Attuma. However during the course of the battle Sue was kidnapped in order to become one of the Brides of Set that Ghaur needed to bring his master Set to Earth. Reed later joined the rest of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in storming Ghaur's hideout in Lemuria, freeing the Bride of Set and ruining the ceremony that would have brought Set to Earth. With their enemies vanquished the captive women pushed the massive Serpent Crown into the ocean, ending its threat.
When Ned Dobbs and John Trane tried to warn the Fantastic Four to warn them of the coming of Evilhawk. Believed to be insane derelicts, Reed had the Thing toss them out onto the street. Not long after this, the Four Freedoms Plaza was infiltrated by the dimension hopping bounty hunter known as Death's Head. This led to a clash with the Fantastic Four. However he helped the group save Franklin when the Four Freedom's security system malfunctioned. In thanks Reed agreed to use his Time-Platform to send Death's Head to the year 8162. However upon learning that Death's Head was a bounty hunter, Reed tried to abort the transfer, but only succeeded in transporting Death's Head to the year 2020 on Earth-8410 instead.
=== Acts of Vengeance ===
During the so-called Acts of Vengeance conspiracy, Doctor Doom secretly planted a device at the Four Freedoms Plaza. This prompted villains to attack the headquarters just as the Fantastic Four were preparing to speak to the United States Congress to argue against super-human registration. Unaware of Doom's ploy, the group was attacked by the Constrictor, the Beetle, and the Shocker. Each foe was trounced easily and turned over to the authorities. The following day, Reed and the others stood before the Senate hearing to argue against registering. The meeting was briefly delayed when the mutant Apocalypse flew over the capital, but it resumed when it was determined that he wasn't attacking the capital. However the hearing was later attacked by more enthralled villains including Ramrod, Plantman, the Quill, Flying Tiger, the Vanisher, Thunderball, the Eel, and Mad Dog. Doom' device was spotted in the courtroom and destroyed.
When even more villains began heading toward the Senate, the rest of the Fantastic Four went outside to deal with them while Reed and Sue continued to testify. Although Doom's device briefly re-activated and caused those in the courtroom to briefly attack Reed and his wife, he finally deactivated the device. Having illustrated his points, Reed convinces the senate to back down on forcing superhumans to register with the government. Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four later tracked the signal on Doom's device to a warehouse in New York where they learned his attacks were part of a large conspiracy. But the "Doom" they were fighting was merely a Doombot. After defeating the Super-Adaptoid as well as Hydro-Man and Water Wizard, the Fantastic Four returned home no worse for wear.
Reed and Sue later took Franklin and Jack Power to the Stamford Mall. Reed was later visited by Spider-Man who was seeking a means of curing the Carrion virus so that he could cure Malcolm McBride, a man currently infected with it. However, Reed's lab was later broken into by the Hobgoblin who trashed the lab and stole Reed's notes on the virus. Reed was later asked to be a guest speaker at the Phoenix Science Convention. His speech was later interrupted by the Hulk, who was easily felled by Ms. Marvel after the Hulk suffered a heart attack. Reed examined the Hulk's blood and determined that he had been poisoned and if a cure isn't found he the Hulk will die. The Hulk later found a cure on his own.
== The Time Bubble ==
When Reed's lab was attacked by something within the Bubble at the Heart of Time, a pocket of time in the potential future of Earth-8810 that was trapped in a massive temporal bubble. Building a Time-Sled to investigate how to take down the Bubble, the Fantastic Four gathered the aid of Iron Man and Thor for their mission. Also seeking to penetrate the bubble was the mysterious woman named Nebula who attempted to take possession of Reed's body. When Reed resisted, she possessed Johnny instead. The Fantastic Four and their allies soon piloted the Time-Sled some fifteen years into the future and into the heart of the Time Bubble. When they breached the time bubble, Neblua's hold on Johnny became complete and she waited to make her move. Meanwhile, the heroes found themselves in a future world out of sync with time, allowing them to move freely without interacting with anyone in this reality. However, they were soon hunted by Death's Head, who was sent by the Time Variance Authority to stop whoever is responsible for the Time-Bubble. They were also attacked by two members of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. After defeating the two Kangs, they learned that apparently, the cause of the Time-Bubble was the so-called Black Celestial who was rumored to be at the center of the universe. Having Thor teleport them there, they found a massive wall sucking in all matter and energy. Penetrating the barrier, they were shocked to see that the cause of the Time-Bubble was actually this realities Galactus who was feeding on the entire universe.
Seeking a means of destroying this device, the Fantastic Four venture to the Shi'ar galaxy where a massive war was going on. There they began building massive ships to carry ammunition dumps in the hopes of blowing up the weapon that Galactus was connected to. However, they were spotted by Gladiator, whose "Hyper-Vision" allowed him to see them and attacked. When Gladiator proved an even match for Thor, he stood down and learned why the Fantastic Four were taking these weapons and agreed to help them. However before they could launch their onslaught at Galactus, the Black Celestial appeared before them and decimated their fleet with but a wave of the hand. Fleeing back to Earth, the heroes then attempted to infiltrate the Black Celestial's tomb, there they battled armies of Deviants and learned the origins of the Black Celestial. When the Celestial followed them back to Earth, the Fantastic Four and their allies led the Black Celestial on a chase, tricking it into falling into the maw of Galactus. When Galactus consumed the Black Celestial, he regained his senses for a brief moment. Seeing the pleading in the eyes of Galactus, Reed realized that the world devourer was begging to be put out of his misery.
The group then ventured to the Worldship of Galactus to obtain the Ultimate Nullifier to put Galactus out of his misery. When they found the object, Nebula (now possessing Sue) tried to take the Nullifier for herself but feedback from the weapon freed Sue from her control. The group then returned to Galactus and restored his sanity long enough for him to use the Nullifier on himself. With the Time Bubble shattering around them, the heroes rushed back to their own era. As the Time-Sled shook into pieces, the Fantastic Four lost Iron Man and Thor in the timestream, and soon returned home to what they believed to be their home reality.
=== Time Variance Authority ===
However the Fantastic Four soon learned that they were actually on Earth-9061, a parallel universe where the Cold War was still an ongoing and ever escalating conflict between the United States and Russia. With nuclear weapons about to be launched, Reed developed EMP blasters to knock them out and the team rushed out to save this world from nuclear annihilation. After deactivating the nukes, the Fantastic Four then flew to Russia where the infiltrated the inner sanctum of Josef Stalin. Realizing that they were really fighting a robot, Reed reprogrammed it to turn the reigns of the government over to a more peaceful successor before "dying", ending the threat of nuclear war. With this world saved, Reed repaired the Time-Sled and they set course for home. The group crash landed on a mostly deserted island on Earth-616. There they found that something had stripped them of their powers. Running into a group of American soldiers, the Fantastic Four learned that the island was overrun by dinosaurs from various past time periods. Worst of all, portions of the island are appearing to vanish back to their respective eras. Protected by Ben, thanks to his Thing exoskeleton, the Fantastic Four and the soldiers constructed a raft to try and escape the island but a barrier prevented them from passing out into sea until the entire island had vanished. Having survived the experience, their powers began to return. As the group sought out rescue, they remained unaware that the entire incident was the work of the Time Variance Authority.
When Franklin had a nightmare about Galactus and Nova, he woke his parents to warn them of a danger to Earth, but Reed and Sue were convinced it was only a nightmare. While Franklin, the Infant Terrible and the Power Pack were secretly fighting the Starstalker, Reed began to suspect that his son must be right about his dream. Reed arrived at Central Park to witness the battle as the Power Pack defeated the Starstalker and Nova -- who had been driven insane. It is here that he and James Power discovered that their children were secretly the Power Pack. With the battle over and won, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman helped the Infant Terrible return home. Reed was later involved in a televised speech where he discussed the possibility of using leylines to solve the world's energy needs.
=== Days of Future Present ===
One day when returning to their headquarters the Fantastic Four were shocked to find that the Four Freedoms Plaza was replaced with a replica of their old headquarters the Baxter Building. Inside they were ambushed by younger versions of themselves being commanded by an adult version of Franklin from Earth-811. However when the real Fantastic Four broke free this adult Franklin -- upset that the past isn't how he remembered it -- fled. The future mutant slaver known as Ahab sent drones to attack the Four Freedoms Plaza but the group was helped thanks to the arrival of the X-Men known as Forge and Banshee. They managed to track down this adult Franklin at the Power home and asked the boy to accompany them back home. Along the way, Franklin teleported away after spotting X-Factor's Ship along the New York skyline. Unsure where Franklin had gone, the heroes split into two groups to find him.
Reed, Sue and Banshee went to the site of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters where Cable and the New Mutants already had their own encounter with the future version of Franklin. Suddenly they were all attacked by Ahab and his forces. One of Ahab's mutant Hounds explained to the heroes that they were seeking to stop Franklin from altering history before being killed. With Ahab and his forces having retreated, the Fantastic Four and the New Mutants returned to the city where they found Franklin at a museum, having met up with his former lover Phoenix. There they were all attacked by Sentinels from the future. Ultimately, they defeated the attackers. Realizing that his powers were bad and the root of all the problems, the adult Franklin used his powers to shut down the mind of his younger self before disappearing again.
Reed and the others caught up with Franklin on Liberty Island where he, Phoenix, X-Factor, Forge, Ben, and Sharon were fighting the forces of Ahab. The combined forces of these heroes managed to drive Ahab and his forces back. In the aftermath of the battle, Franklin make Cyclops' son Christopher Summers seemingly disappear, before vanishing again. The heroes regrouped at the Four Freedoms Plaza and were visited by Franklin and Phoenix who decided that Franklin was going to stay in this era. When Reed pressed the adult Franklin to restore all the things he took away or changed, Franklin altered their minds and left. Later while Ahab kidnapped Cyclops and the Invisible Woman, the Four Freedoms Plaza was visited by Storm and her companion Gambit. Storm recounted her past encounter with a future version of Kitty Pryde from Franklin's future and how Franklin was reportedly dead. Suspecting that there is something wrong with the situation the Fantastic Four, New Mutants, X-Factor and X-Men went looking for Franklin. Franklin and Phoenix were later captured by Ahab. The heroes followed Ahab to his base of operations and forced him to retreat back to his own era. With man injured and his younger self still in a comatose state, Franklin realized that he would have to go home and face his future. With the help of Phoenix, Franklin was returned to his own era, and all the things he changed were restored back to normal.
== Bon Voyage, Power Pack! ==
Reed later provided Nick Fury and his Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with an orbital spacecraft for a mission and monitored their progress on the moon via telescope. When the Sub-Mariner started Oracle Inc., he threw a massive party in which Reed and Sue were invited. When there was a oil spill in New York Harbor, they aided Namor and Iron Man in the clean up operation. Later when She-Hulk and her sidekick the Blonde Phantom sought to go back in time to the year 1947 to learn where mobster Dutch Rosenblatt from stealing a nuclear bomb, Reed allowed them to use the Time-Platform to do so. When she completed her mission, Reed returned She-Hulk and her partner to the present. Not long after this, Reed gave Franklin a lesson on the known universe. Reed later participated in a mock battle against the Sub-Mariner to keep him distracted long enough for a surprise birthday party to be thrown for him at Oralce Inc.
Reed was later called into help the Power family by restoring Alex Power to human form and restoring James Power's lost sanity. This process was interrupted by an attack by the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. Reed and Sue helped the Power Pack defeat the Red Ghost, and restore James mind. Later when there was a disturbance at the Metropolitan Hospital, Reed assured his wife that the Avengers have the situation under control. The later said their goodbyes to the Power family who were venturing off into space to find a cure for Alex. Reed was later asked for his opinion on the X-Men and X-Factor's involvement in the crisis in Genosha during the X-Tinction Agenda crisis. Reed later borrowed Karnak's PsionicTransubstantiator for an experiment.
Detecting increased psychometric activity in the Yukon territory and wanting to compare notes with Alpha Flight regarding their recent battle against Doctor Doom, Reed called together Fantastic Four on a trip into Canada. Once in Canada both the Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight became victims of Headlok's mental powers. Headlok then pitted the two teams against each other until they broke free from his control and defeated him. With the battle over, Reed constructed a device that would prevent Headlok from using his powers.
=== New Fantastic Four ===
Reed went back to trying to figure out how to get his son's powers to activate themselves again to their full potential. However this project was waylaid by the Skrull agent known as De'Lila who had come to Earth seeking a lost Skrull Inorganic Technotroid. Incapacitating the Fantastic Four, De'Lila tricked Spider-Man, the Hulk, Wolverine and Ghost Rider to deal with her Skrull pursuers by convincing them that the Fantastic Four were killed and encouraging them to form a new team by posing as the Invisible Woman. With the "New" Fantastic Four off on their phony mission, De'Lila revived Reed and forced him to help her locate the Technotroid by threatening to really kill his family. With Reed's help she tracked the creature to Subterranea, where Spider-Man and the others had also ended up finding the Skrulls as well as the Mole Man.
De'Lila forced the New Fantastic Four to help free the Technotroid from its pod. But before she could activate it and allow the creature to imprint itself to her, the real Fantastic Four arrived after having freed themselves. During the ensuing battle, the Technotroid imprinted itself to one of the Mole Man's Giganto beasts. De'Lila was then soundly defeated and turned over to the Skrulls to return to their homeworld.
However before they could take her away, a time traveling Kristoff Vernard freed De'Lila causing another battle to break out long enough for him to steal a sample of the Technotroid before leaving. The two Fantastic Four teams got her back under control and she was taken back to the Skrull empire.
== Hard Time ==
The Fantastic Four then became test subjects for the sentient Cosmic Cube known as Kubik and his partner Kosmos who wanted to see if they could survive a deadly scenario without a dominant trait. Reed was confined to a trap without his analytical mind, but was able to break free using his emotional drive. When the rest of the Fantastic Four also managed to break free, Kubik considered the test a success and returned them back to Earth. Reed and Sue later joined the Black Panther in order to stop the poaching of a breed of hippo that feeds his people. This led to a chance encounter with members of the Knights of Pendragon whom they helped stop the Bane from operating in the area. Reed and the Fantastic Four later joined an army of heroes that were gathered to help Damage Control stop Edifice Rex. Reed later sat in one of the Thing's regular poker games with Captain America and Nick Fury, until Fury was pulled away on SHIELD business. Later, Reed and his team also assisted Nick Fury and the Avengers against the forces of Hydra. Reed was later contacted by Spider-Man to cure the super-villain known as Corona of her condition, but he was blocked thanks to a legal order obtained by Cedric Forrester who carted Corona away.
The Fantastic Four were later sought out by the Guardians of the Galaxy who had returned to the Modern Age to prevent the essence of their foe Michael Korvac from passing along his ancestors so he could be reborn in the 30th Century with his god-like powers. They tracked Korvac's essence to Australia where it was residing in the body of his ancestor Jaboa Murphy. While Jaboa was battling the other heroes, Reed traveled back in time three years into the past during the Avengers and Guardians first battle against Korvac. There he intercepted a blast of energy fired by Galactus via the Ultimate Nullifier and sent it through the through the Time-Platform to the present. With his existence threatened again, Korvac vacated Jaboa's body. In the aftermath of the battle, the Guardians continued on their hunt for Korvac. Meanwhile, Reed was visited by a member of the Time Variance Authority who warned Reed against altering the timestream and demanded he turn over the Time-Platform. Reed did so, but only because he could construct a new one later.
=== Persecuted by the TVA ===
While Reed continued to try and revive Franklin's lost powers, there was tension among the group because of Ben being restored to normal and Ms. Marvel being trapped in her She-Thing form. Unknown to the group at the time, Doctor Doom reclaimed the Latverian throne and convinced Sharon to come to him for a cure. Also unaware of this, Ben purposely mutated himself back into the Thing to try and repair the rift in their relationship. Learning that Sharon was in Latveria, the Fantastic Four stormed Doom's castle. Ultimately, Sharon knocked out Ben, and Doom challenged Reed to a duel using Null-Time Sequencers to battle between moments in time.
Unknown to Reed at the time he accepted the challenge was that he wasn't fighting the real Doctor Doom, but Kristoff Vernard. The two battled it out between moments of time, ending in a victory for Reed. However this battle earned the ire of the Time Variance Authority who sent their agent Justice Peace to apprehend the Fantastic Four for their infractions against the timestream. The Fantastic Four were then brought to the Null-Time Zone where they were informed by TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius that they would be put on trail for their infractions against the timeline. Given a tour of the TVA facilities, Reed had Johnny and Ben run amok so that he and Sue could steal data software and hack into the TVA's files and erase records of their reality in order to prevent the TVA from disposing it along with other discontinued realities.
While the TVA were otherwise occupied, Reed succeeded in hacking their computers and erasing the location of Earth-616. The Fantastic Four then hijacked a Cross-Time Train and used it to return to their native reality before the TVA could eradicate them from existence.
=== Forgetting the Sentry ===
When the Avengers completed construction of their brand new headquarters, the Fantastic Four were among the guests invited to the grand opening. However the event was marred when Doctor Doom infiltrated the party and took control of the facility. The Fantastic Four assisted the Avengers in foiling Doom's attack on the party. Later when Namor was brought to trail for his past attacks on New York City, Reed and the other members of the Fantastic Four came to his defense and pleaded his case. Thanks to testimony from the super-hero community, Namor was acquitted. Reed later investigate the cause of a freak blizzard which was caused by the Painter of 1000 Perils, one of Johnny's old foes. The storm ended when the Painter was defeated by the Torch and Spider-Man.
Eventually the Sentry's greatest fear -- the Void -- came to threaten all life on Earth. Reed and the Fantastic Four battled alongside the Sentry. Soon it was determined that the Void was somehow linked to the Sentry. In order to save all life on Earth the Sentry needed to "die". In order to accomplish this feat, Reed went on national television to tell the whole world that the Sentry had betrayed them all. Then the Sentry faked his death. Reed attended the fake funeral as part of the deliberate ruse. Reed then went to the Sentry's Watchtower and programmed his computer to make everyone forget that the Sentry existed.
Before the process could complete itself, Reed made a recording to warn himself in the event his memories of the Sentry ever returned and cautioned him against striving to find answers unless he doom them all. Reed and Doctor Strange then activated the device that not only made everyone forget who the Sentry was, but also made it impossible for anyone to see any evidence of his existence. This process remained in place for two years.
=== Business as Usual ===
The Fantastic Four later assisted Quasar in keeping Eon safe when it was attacked by Starlight and the Presence. While Reed was working on yet another attempt to cure the Thing, he decided to take a break and killed time in a video arcade where he broke up a gang who sold drugs there. Reed's computers later picked up the energy readings from one of Iron Man's many battles with the Mandarin. Likewise did his instruments pick up Quasar's recent battle with Maelstrom. The Fantastic Four and the Avengers West Coast were engaged in the mundane task of being guests at the opening of a new theme park in California. However the two teams were then pulled into another dimension where they got involved in a conflict between Arkon and Thundra. The battle quickly ended when the two warriors realized they were attracted to each other.
Reed later assisted the new Deathlok who had come calling to have his ally Misty Knight's cybernetic arm repaired after a battle with Doctor Doom. When Deathlok asked Reed for help shutting down a robotics facility Doom was running beneath Manhattan, Reed couldn't go until his current experiment was finished. Unwilling to wait, Deathlok went to shut down the facility on his own. When Deathlok was overpowered by the defenses in the facility, he was soon rescued by members of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Vision. The assembled heroes were able to help the cyborg shut down the facility.
=== Infinity Gauntlet ===
When the demi-god known as Thanos assembled the Infinity Gems, he used them to kill half the population of the universe. Reed was reported among those who were reported dead. However, a team of survivors led by Adam Warlock and the Silver Surfer defeated Thanos and restored the universe to its proper order. Reed and all those whose lives were snuffed out by Thanos were brought back to life.
=== Deceptions Revealed ===
The Puppet Master soon suspected that there was something wrong with his step-daughter and utilized his powers to enthrall Marvel Boy of the New Warriors to capture her. However, intervention from Reed and the others foiled this plan, but not before the Puppet Master became convinced that "Alicia" was an impostor. When Terrax resurfaced again and battled the New Warriors, they enlisted the aid of the Fantastic Four to help battle the former herald of Galactus. With weapons devised by Reed, the two teams kept Terrax on the ropes until the Silver Surfer could arrive and remove him from the Earth. Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four were among other heroes who joined Spider-Man's battle with the newly reformed Sinister Six. When the Six were defeated Reed worked on sending their minion Gog back to his native world.
In order to avoid another instance where the Puppet Master or others could enthrall members of the Fantastic Four, Reed developed a device that could read the brain patterns of his family so the Four Freedoms Plaza's security system could detect if their minds were tampered with. "Alicia" was reluctant to undergo this process as it would blow the cover she maintained for years. This all came to afoot when the Puppet Master provided the Thing with compelling evidence -- provided by the Mad Thinker -- that "Alicia" was an impostor. Ben went on a rampage through the Four Freedoms Plaza. Reed and the others tried to stop Ben, but were shocked when he turned out to be correct when Lyja revealed her true identity to them. Lyja then revealed the truth, leading to the Fantastic Four mounting a mission to rescue the real Alicia from the Skrulls. This led to a battle aboard the Skrull war-world against Paibok the Power Skrull. During the ensuing battle, Lyja seemingly sacrificed her life to help rescue Alicia. As the Fantastic Four made their escape, the Mad Thinker's grand scheme came to fruition. Having tampered with the plans for Reed's spaceship, it's hyperdrive system failed leaving them stranded in deep space. They found salvation of sorts when they were brought aboard the ship of Devos the Devastator. Devos charged himself with bringing "peace" to the universe by eliminating alien races he deemed a threat and attempted to battle the Fantastic Four. Overpowered, Devos abandoned his ship, allowing Reed to pilot it back to Earth.
he ship ended up crash landing on a deserted island where they had an escape pod that could only fit a few passengers. Reed, Sue and Alicia returned to New York, and Reed came back for Ben and Johnny in the Pogo Plane. With the holidays just around the corner, Reed was surprised when Franklin presented him with a gift that he claimed came from the Spirit of Christmas. Inside he found it contained an old coin from the 1800s. Reed instruments soon detected strange energy readings, which caused teenager Steven Harmon to be transformed into the cartoonish superhero known as Slapstick. Reed next tested his new Hyperwave communicator with the Silver Surfer. Reed and the Fantastic Four were later among the heroes called in by Peggy Carter to deal with the conflict between Slapstick and his foe the Neutron Bum. Reed returned home where he continued to celebrate the holidays with his family.
=== Inniverse ===
When a portal that opened in a remote region of Siberia, Mister Fantastic was called in for his scientific expertise. However, the situation was resolved by the X-Men. He later provided his expertise in Moon Knights then recent feud with Doctor Doom.
Soon, Mister Fantastic began investigating another dimension that exists between the atoms of objects from his world. He dubbed this place the Inniverse. During his experiment he accidentally pulled a being named Wildblood a rebel wanted by the Inniverse's ruler Occulus. As the Fantastic Four and Wildblood fought, some of Occulus' minions found their way to Earth. There, they detected Franklin Richards' great power and absconded with the boy and Sue back to their dimension. Reed then mounted a rescue mission into the Inniverse to save his wife and child. Allying themselves with the rebels of this world, Reed and the others learned that Occulus sought to use Franklin's powers to boost his own gem-fueled abilities. However, when they went to storm the fortress, they arrived too late.
Regardless of how bleak it looked, Reed and the rest of the team still stormed the fortress of Occulus. With the aid of Wildblood, they discovered that Sue and Franklin were still alive and attempted to free them. However, when Reed attempted to contain Occulus with one of his inventions, his foe proved far too powerful. While Ben and Johnny kept Occulus at bay, Reed constructed a "Gem-Screen" to force their foe from that world. Returning home, Reed and Sue began to worry how this incident would affect their son.
=== Before the War ===
Not long after their return home, they found that someone had stolen and crashed the Fantasti-Car, but never learned who was responsible. Reed was late present during another one of the Thing's poker games. Later, when She-Hulk and her friend Louise Mason were victims of a botched Ovoid mind swap. After an examination, Reed deduced that Mason's hesitance to give up her new body was the reason why they were apparently trapped. Reed's further analysis of the situation became moot when Louise willingly gave up her control shortly thereafter. Later, when Spider-Man was tackling his foes Venom and Carnage, Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch gave a last minute assist to contain the foes.
Later, Reed was visited by Silhouette of the New Warriors. She came to turn over her costume to him because it was made from Unstable Molecules without his authorization. However, Reed allowed her to keep it since she is able to do good with her powers. He later showed Franklin the Fantastic Four's database of their most deadly foes.
Reed was next sought out by the Thought Police, who needed Richards assistance in tracking down the Sleepwalker. Mister Fantastic agreed to accompany them into the Dreamscape. There they fought the Sleepwalker. However, when they learned that they were battling in the dying mind of Sleepwalker's host. Richards pulled the plug on the mission after the Thought Police were defeated by Sleepwalker. 
=== Infinity War ===
Soon the Magus was making a bid to take over the universe. Seeing that the heroes of Earth would resist such an attempt, he created an army of doppelgangers to cull their ranks. At that time, the Fantastic Four was going through quite a bit of turbulence. As the ramifications of Lyja's deception were finally being felt, Reed and Sue also had to worry about the well-being of their son. While working in his lab, Mister Fantastic was attacked by a doppelganger created by the Magus. After some struggle, Reed was defeated and replaced by his evil twin.
Reed's body was kept in stasis with the other captured heroes until they were all rescued during the final battle by the Invisible Woman. Ultimately, the Magus was defeated by his counterpart Adam Warlock and the Fantastic Four were transported back home. However, there was now tension between Reed and his wife who, unknown to him, was once again under the influence of Malice. They found Moon Knight waiting for them and after learning that he was tainted by his own doppelganger. With the assistance from Doctor Strange, Reed was able to cure the Moon Knight.
=== Citizen Kang ===
The Fantastic Four soon found themselves sucked back into the manipulations of the woman named Nebula when her former lover, Doctor Druid, sought out their aid to stop Kang the Conqueror. Convinced to help, the Fantastic Four ventured to the realm of Chronopolis with their Time-Sled. There they soon crossed paths with the Avengers who were also manipulated into venturing to this realm. Tricked into thinking that the Fantastic Four were allied with Nebula -- now calling herself the Terminatrix -- a fight broke out between the two groups. However, it was soon broken up by Kang's elite warriors the Anachronauts.
Ultimately, both teams were captured and made prisoners of Kang. When a battle between Kang and the Terminatrix broke out, both teams learned that she was really Ravonna, Kang's long lost love. In the end, Kang was put into a near-death state during his battle with the Termiatrix and the heroes were free to go.
Back on Earth, Mister Fantastic was visited by Rick Jones who was seeking help trying to resurrect his late wife Marlo Chandler. Unfortunately, Richards was unable to help him.
Later, Reed examined a robot named War Zone who recently battled She-Hulk. He determined that a gas attack from the robot was threatening to wipe out She-Hulk's superhuman powers. After an examination, he sent her to seek out Dr. Daniel Ridge for a cure.
== Return of the Rogue Watcher ==
Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four were called to Wakanda by the Black Panther. There they found the nation under attack by a squad of terrorists led by Klaw. The Fantastic Four teamed up with the Black Panther and his Panther Posse fight back Klaw and his attackers. Back at home, Mister Fantastic and the Thing were approached by the Puppet Master who was seeking help because Alicia Masters had been kidnapped again. Going to Alicia's apartment, Reed constructed a Trans-Temporal Reflector to replay the moments leading up to Alicia's abduction. They discovered that she had been kidnapped by their foe Aron the Rogue Watcher. Rushing back home to search for Aron's hideout, Mister Fantastic, and the Thing were broadsided with the return of Sharon Ventura who wished to assist them on their rescue mission. Worse, Sue's erratic behavior had worsened causing her to adopt a more revealing costume and lash out at her husband. With no time to lose, Mister Fantastic and the Thing agreed to allow Sharon to join them on their rescue mission. Tracking Aron to the Rocky Mountains, they were quickly captured by their foe.
The three heroes were then forced to live in a fantasy world created by Alicia where she and Ben Grimm are married with children. Eventually, they fought through these illusions and after forcing Alicia to accept reality were freed from Aron's device. When the Fantastic Four awoke, they found that someone had already defeated Aron. When they asked the arriving Uatu what happened, the Watcher kept his vow of non-interference and teleported away. This left the Fantastic Four unaware that Aron's powers had been stolen by Doctor Doom.
== Human Torch: Outlaw ==
Reed and Ben returned home to discover that Johnny was now an outlaw after he accidentally burned down Empire State University during a battle against Lyja, Paibok, and Devos. Leaving Franklin in the care of Agatha Harkness, the Fantastic Four went out looking for Johnny. Unfortunately, Johnny was also being hunted by the Secret Defenders who sought to convince Johnny to turn himself in. The Fantastic Four were joined by a repentant Lyja and Sharon Ventura in the ensuing battle. During the fight, Wolverine slashed the Thing in the face, horribly scarring him. Before the Fantastic Four could be defeated, they were suddenly teleported away.
The group found themselves at the Watchers citadel on the moon and in conflict with Doctor Doom, who was using the powers of Aron the Rogue Watcher. Even with the additional aid of Lyja, Ventura and the Inhuman Royal Family, the Fantastic Four were no match for Doctor Doom. Ultimately, Reed gained the upper hand by developing a device that overloaded Doctor Dooms armor, stripping him of his power. Doom managed to teleport away at the last moment, barely surviving the resulting explosion. With the threat of Doom over, Uatu teleported the Fantastic Four back to Earth. There they were surprised to find that Reed's father returned to inform them that Franklin's powers were going to run out of control.
While speaking at the opening ceremony for an urban renewal project, the Fantastic Four soon got caught up in an attempt by the new Seeker to reclaim Ahura Boltagon, the long lost son of Black Bolt and Medusa. The team assisted the Inhuman Royal Family to rescue the child and prevent him from becoming a pawn of the Inhuman Genetic Council. Ultimately, the Council was disbanded, but the Royal Family declined to continue ruling over Inhumanity.
After receiving an alarm from his lab, Mister Fantastic led the Fantastic Four back into the Negative Zone to investigate strange energy readings coming from the Annihilation Zone. This led to a conflict between both Annihilus and Blastaar. However, with both the positive and anti-matter universes at risk of destruction the long time foes put their differences aside to investigate the cause. They discovered that Counter-Earth's Brute was working alongside the long lost Tyannans and was attempting to conquer both realms. Ultimately, the Brute was lost in the same vortex that threatened to destroy everything and it was closed. With the crisis averted, the Fantastic Four returned home. Back home, Mister Fantastic read news that She-Hulk managed to cure herself of her power loss, but worried that the danger would not be over until she defeated whoever sent War Zone after her.
=== Future Franklin ===
Finally sitting down with his father, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four learned of an apocalyptic future where Sentinels rule North America, a future where an adult Franklin and the rest of the Fantastic Four have died in battle. On top of this grim omen, the Fantastic Four learned that a legal settlement with Empire State University would ruin them financially. While Johnny turned himself over to the police, Franklin's powers continued to affect his behavior. Deciding that something must be done Nathaniel, with the assistance of Agatha Harkness, battled the Fantastic Four while Franklin was contained and taken into the timestream. While reeling from the abduction of his child, Reed and Sue were rocked even further when a teenager returned claiming to be their son.
While this teenaged Franklin tried to convince the Fantastic Four of who he is, the Invisible Woman refused to accept that her baby was robbed of his youth. Seeking to learn the truth, Mister Fantastic ran a series of tests which concluded that this teenager was indeed their son. Regardless of the scientific proof, Sue continued to deny the fact that this was her child. Reed also spent this time to work on his Contiguous-Dimensional-Energy-Teleport-Matrix. While testing the device, he accidentally transported Blastaar back to Earth. Although caught off guard, Reed was able to defeat Blastaar and return him from whence he came. Soon it came time for Johnny to stand trial and the rest of the Fantastic Four were on scene to lend their support. Moments before the tiral could begin, the courts were attacked by Klaw, Piabok, Devos and the mysterious Huntara. Reed, Sue, Ben, and Lyja helped defend Johnny from attack. As the battle took them out into the street they were also joined by Daredevil, the Avengers, and the Sandman. Overpowered, the newly formed Fearsome Foursome retreated before they could be captured.
=== Infinity Crusade ===
Not long after this, the Goddess, the embodiment of Adam Warlock's goodness, sought to bring peace across the universe. To this end, she began gathering heroes from Earth who have a great deal of religious faith. Among those gathered was the Invisible Woman, who disappeared before her husband's eyes. Before Reed could begin investigating the disappearance of his wife and other heroes, he too was teleported away.
As it turns out, Richards was snatched by Pip the Troll who bought him to Monster Isle, home of the Infinity Watch. Learning that Watch members Warlock, Gamora, and Moondragon disappeared as similarly as his wife, Reed began investigating the phenomenon there. Reed's investigation takes him to Warlock's room where they find an orb given to Warlock by Eternity itself. Through it, Richards and his allies learn who abducted their allies. Detecting similar energies that were used during the Infinity War, Reed feared for the worst. Soon, Pip teleported them all to Avengers headquarters where a gathering of heroes was already taking place.
A brief clash ensued, but Reed broke it up so they could get down to work. With the biggest minds in the group tackling the current crisis, they all learn that since the start crime has suddenly began subsiding. They got a break when Alpha Flight's Aurora's split personality started to change, her overly religious personality fell under the thrall of the Goddess. Mobilizing a team, Mister Fantastic and the other heroes had Aurora lure them to the Goddesses base of operations, Paradise Omega. Brought face-to-face with the Goddess, Mister Fantastic and Iron Man learn of the Goddesses plot to bring universal peace. When they offer their scientific expertise to help in this cause, the Goddess firmly reject it and labels them infidels and summarily banishes them from Paradise Omega. Seeking to learn if the Goddesses intentions are pure, Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, and the Vision then ventured to the Blue Area of the Moon to seek the advice of the Watcher. The Watcher explained the scope of the peace spreading across the universe. But when Mister Fantastic pressed on the matter of the intent of such a plan, the Watcher had no more to say and teleported Reed and his allies back to Earth.
Unaware that they were being spied on by the forces of the Goddess, as well as Warlock and Thanos, Reed and the other heroes continued to debate on the merits of the Goddess. The fact that she is altering the minds of sentient beings is made poignant when the Absorbing Man arrived at Avengers Headquarters to surrender. Deciding that universal peace at the cost of free will is not acceptable, the heroes then begin planning to oppose the Goddess. After Moondragon uses her powers to put Professor X into a comatose state, Mister Fantastic then began building a device to disrupt the Goddesses Cosmic Containment Units. Soon everyone is mobilized to strike at Paradise Omega. Enroute, tensions began to flare between Night Thrasher and Darkhawk resulting in fight among the heroes. When the ensuing clash caused a fire to break out on the ship, Mister Fantastic calmed everyone down long enough to contain the inferno.
Continuing on their course, Mister Fantastic and the others were contacted by Thanos and the Silver Surfer who offered to create a distraction so the heroes can attack Paradise Omega. With no other choice, Reed agrees to the offer made by Thanos. With the Silver Surfer causing the distraction they need, Reed and the others launch escape pods to land on Paradise Omega. Upon their arrival, Mister Fantastic and the Vision are attacked by Doctor Strange and Windshear and are quickly felled. Soon everyone else fall to the minions of the Goddess and Thanos' gambit failed to stop the Goddess from completing her rapture of the universe. However, this was all a ploy, with the power of Professor X, Thanos tricked Goddess into thinking that she had succeeded, revealing to her minions that she was willing to sacrifice all their lives to recreate the universe in her image. She was then quickly shut down by Thanos and Adam Warlock, ending her scheme. With the Goddess defeated, Earth's heroes were returned home and restored to normal.
=== The Death of Reed Richards ===
No sooner was he back on Earth, Mister Fantastic's operations were briefly shut down by an planetwide electromagnetic pulse unleashed by Magneto. When Reed learned that Sharon Ventura was put through a state of unstable mutation by Doctor Doom, Reed found he was unable to reverse the mutations at that time. When Sharon broke free and went on a rampage, the Fantastic Four were forced to incapacitate her. With Sharon becoming more and more unstable, Mister Fantastic put her in stasis until he could get around to developing a cure.
Learning that the Thing went to Latveria to get revenge against Doctor Doom, Reed, and the others went after him. At that time, Doctor Doom summoned an energy vampire called the Hunger to try and control its power, only for the creature to start laying siege on his country. The Fantastic Four then worked side-by-side with Doom to try and stop the Hunger before it could destroy the country. Doom mortally wounded trying to destroy the creature. When Reed reached out to his old foe, Doom refused to admit defeat and seemingly incinerated himself and Mister Fantastic. Unknown to everyone at the time, Reed and Doom had actually been captured by the powerful foe known as Hyperstorm who was plotting a complex scheme against the Fantastic Four, who in his timeline, are his ancestors.
With Reed seemingly dead, the Invisible Woman took up the mantle of leadership of the team. Through this period, Sue refused to believe her husband was truly dead and began scouring the multiverse for him. To assist with the Fantastic Four's scientific needs, Sue enlisted the aid of Ant-Man. Also during the time of Reed's disappearance, the Sub-Mariner also made an attempt to rekindle a romance with Sue. All the while, Reed's father Nathaniel continued manipulating the team and the teenaged Franklin (now calling himself Psi-Lord) so that they would be ready for the coming battle against Hyperstorm.
=== Strange Days ===
Brought to a possible future by Hyperstorm, Mister Fantastic, and Doctor Doom were tortured by their captor. Refusing to surrender, Reed continued to fight back only to find himself banished to the Hyborian Age. Instantly attacked by a group of bandits and a wizard, Reed easily defeated them. Retreating to a nearby cave, Reed then began trying to construct a make-shift lab, but the lack of technology made trying to return home impossible. When the locals began trying to encroach on his domain, Reed make it appear that the area around his cave was haunted by demons so that he could live out his exile uninterrupted.
After months trapped in this era, Mister Fantastic continued to apply his inventive genius to try and keep himself busy. Staying away from the people of this era proved more difficult. He eventually came to the aid of a young boy who was being terrorised by a troll named Glot.
Eventually, the Fantastic Four began their battle against Hyperstorm and found themselves banished to the Hyborean era along with the Sub-Mariner and Kristoff Vernard. When they found Reed, Richards thought they were nothing more than a trick created by Hyperstorm to torture him. After a brief battle, he soon realized that it was really his friends and family and he was happily reunited with his wife. As Kristoff Vernard worked on a time machine to get them out of this era, the group was attacked by the wizard known as Artabazus who managed to take the device and capture most of the heroes. About to be burned at the stake, Reed and the others are freed by the Thing and a band of bandits. During the ensuing battle, Reed battled Artabazus across time and space, ultimately Reed won when the wizard was dumped in Salem during the witch trials and was burned at the stake. With the immediate threat over, Mister Fantastic and the others prepared to take the battle to Hyperstorm.
Returning to Hyperstorm's era, Mister Fantastic led the Fantastic Four and their allies in a battle against Hyperstorm's forces. Ultimately, Hyperstorm entered the battle and easily trounced Reed and the others. The tide of battle ended up turning when the Invisible Woman used her increased powers against their foe combined with Doom's newly built siphoning device. Deciding that the time to defeat their foes was not now, Hyperstorm banished the Fantastic Four and their allies back to their proper era, warning them that the battle had just begun.
=== Resettling ===
Once back in their native reality, Reed paid a visit to the headquarters of Fantastic Force where he is reunited with his son. Back at the Four Freedoms, Reed had Psi-Lord scan his mind to make sure that Hyperstorm didn't plant any surprises in his mind. Getting the all clear, it began to sink in just how much changed during his "death". He demanding his father provide answers on how to beat Hyperstorm, Reed struggled to create weapons to deal with their foe. Unfortunately, this process was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Gorgon of the Inhumans. While waiting for Gorgon to come around, the Fantastic Four were called to a supposed bomb threat at a science lab. Instead, they discovered that Blastaar was loose on Earth thanks to Dr. Wilson Ramos using untested Negative Zone technology. The group was easily able to defeat Blastaar and banish him back to the Negative Zone once more.
When Gorgon revived, the Fantastic Four learned that Black Bolt had gone insane after the tuning fork on his forehead was damaged in a previous battle. The Fantastic Four tracked Black Bolt down to Hoover Dam where they assisted the Inhumans in containing their leader. Although they succeeded in containing Black Bolt, the Invisible Woman pushed her powers too far. Returning to their headquarters, Reed overheard the Sub-Mariner trying to push himself onto his wife and attacked him. The two battled across New York until Sue and the others tracked them down and forced them to stop. Telling Namor that she is still devoted to her husband, she and Reed returned home while the Sub-Mariner parted company. The team was later woken up late at night thanks to a prank being played on Johnny by Spider-Man. This corresponded with a portal opening in the middle of their headquarters leading to the realm of Perrinois. When the Thing was captured by the evil wizard Rasheed ven Garmchee, Reed and the others ventured into Perrinois and rescued him.
== Hyperstorm Down ==
Reed began to realize that he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder following his captivity by Hyperstorm and started making cleaning up his image. He then used his skills to repair Black Bolt's tuning fork, restoring his sanity. Reed then sought to track down the Silver Surfer and get his assistance in stopping Hyperstorm. To do so, he traveled into the Negative Zone and cross the Crossroads to Infinity to reach the Surfer. Learning where Galactus was seemingly slain. When he returned to Earth, Reed and the team failed to stop a data theft from the Doctor Doom from the year 2099 AD. To make matters worse, Hyperstorm reached out and altered the timeline replacing Psi-Lord with his younger self once again. Despite this, Reed and Sue were happy to have their son back at his proper age.
Demanding answers from his father, Reed and the others learn that Hyperstorm comes from a future where Franklin had a child and that Hyperstorm is this boy. With a space ship, the Fantastic Four and Nathaniel Richards venture to the place where Galactus seemingly died. Upon their arrival, Hyperstorm arrived to try and stop them from opening a portal to the dimension where Galactus shunted himself into. However, their foe failed to stop Reed from completing his device and opening a portal. Galactus then drained Hyperstorm's power and trapped him in the other dimension, ending his threat of Hyperstorm.
=== Onslaught ===
By this point the malevolent psychic entity known as Onslaught began posing as Franklin's imaginary friend Charlie in order to lull the boy into a false sense of security. The Fantastic Four later mobilized during an attack on the Avengers by Loki. Eventually, Onslaught began enacting his plan by trying to slay the X-Men. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four were blissfully unaware of what was going on, thinking that Franklin's imaginary friend was just that. Possessing the body of Charles Xavier, Onslaught attempted to convince Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman to allow him to take Franklin to the Xavier Institute. When the couple refused to turn the boy over, Onslaught attacked by force. Even with the eventual arrival of members of the X-Men and the Avengers, Onslaught managed to abscond with Franklin.
Soon Onslaught launched a full-scale assault on New York City by unleashing an army of Sentinels upon it. While the Fantastic Four and their allies regrouped atop the Four Freedoms Plaza. As they began working on a means of counteracting Onslaught, their foe unleashed a massive electromagnetic pulse that crippled not only the heroes but the entire city. Onslaught then erected a massive citadel in the middle of Central Park. While the heroes regrouped, the Invisible Woman gathered a team to try and rescue Franklin, while Reed stayed behind to tend to the wounded and to get their headquarters back up and running. Although they managed to free Charles Xavier from Onslaught, their ever evolving foe managed to force them back before they could save the boy. Mister Fantastic was present when another team, led by the Hulk, attempted to breach Onslaught's citadel. However, their foe used his mental powers to deceive his enemies in order to make them distrust the Hulk.
As Reed continued to work on contingencies to fight against Onslaught, Franklin attempted to use his powers to contact his family. Onslaught intercepted this and used the child's powers to create constructs of many of the Fantastic Four's foes and unleash them upon the Four Freedoms Plaza. Reed and the others were assisted by their allies Kristoff Vernard, the Inhumans, the Sub-Mariner, She-Hulk, Agatha Harkness, as well as an unexpected assist from Doctor Doom. Building a device to banish the remaining constructs, Mister Fantastic mobilized his allies for a final battle with Onslaught. By this point, Onslaught had also captured the powerful psi known as the X-Man as part of his bid to control the Earth. After seeing how the mutants of the X-Men's reality ultimately led to its destruction, Onslaught decided that he would destroy the Earth instead. At that moment, the Fantastic Four and their allies were preparing to take their final battle to Onslaught.
The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Avengers then went to face Onslaught in Central Park for one final attempt to stop their foe. Onslaught, in turn, used Franklin's powers to create a second sun close to Earth that threatened to wipe out all life by its opposing gravity. During the ensuing battle, Phoenix used her powers to shut down the Bruce Banner's portion of the Hulk's mind. The savage Hulk then attacked Onslaught and in the fury of the attack, the gamma-spawned monster managed to shatter Onslaughts armor. However, instead of killing their foe, it merely revealed Onslaught's final evolution: A being of pure psychic energy. With Onslaught capable of spreading all across the world, Mister Fantastic deduced that a suitable vessel could allow them to contain and destroy Onslaught, however, only non-mutants could be used as a vessel. The gathered heroes then sacrificed their lives by diving into Onslaught to absorb all the energy. In went the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom and a number of their allies. With Onslaught suitably contained, the X-Men unleashed their full power destroying Onslaught. Although Franklin and the X-Man were freed in the resulting destruction, Earth's greatest heroes were seemingly annihilated.
=== Heroes Reborn ===
However, Earth's heroes weren't killed as everyone thought. Instead, Franklin's used his powers to create a pocket universe with its own version of Earth where they lived out alternate versions of their lives. They did so with no memories of their past lives and false memories of a past that never existed.
In this "reborn" life, Reed Richards attended State University along with Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Victor von Doom, Henry Pym, and Conner "Rebel" O'Reilly. Working on an exo-suit project together the dubbed themselves the Atomic Knights of the Round Table. Seeking to get ahead of the project, Victor attempted his own test on the technology, ignoring Reed's warnings and it ended up blowing up on his face. Victor then left school when he went on a path to becoming Doctor Doom once again. "Years" later, Reed began working on a space shuttle project that was funded by his fiancée Sue Storm's family business. Tony Stark began developing his Promethean Armor, Rebel O'Reily seemingly died while testing it. Reed went to try and talk Tony out of his funk.
Soon Reed had completed his new experiment spacecraft and was about to launch it. However, with a strange stellar anomaly approaching the planet, someone posing as SHIELD agent Wyatt Wingfoot sought to shut down the project. Not wishing to miss his test flight, Reed along with Sue, her brother Johnny and Ben Grimm broke free from their confines stole the ship and flew into space to examine the anomaly. Wingfoot responded by trying to blow it up with a nuclear weapon. The combination of the alien energies and the nuclear bomb bombarded Reed's ship causing it to crash land on a Pacific Island. There they discovered that they had gained powers on par with their abilities before they were "reborn". Exploring the island the newly reformed Fantastic Four stumbled upon the domain of the Mole Man.
=== Repeat Performances ===
During their battle against the Mole Man, Reed notices strange inscriptions in the caverns. Ultimately, the battle ended in a much similar fashion to the Fantastic Four's original battle with the Mole Man. They were recovered and quarantined by SHIELD at the command of their leader Nick Fury. However, this came to a quick end when the Sub-Mariner launched an attack on New York City after being tricked by Warlord Krang. Modifying SHIELD uniforms, Reed. and his friends began calling themselves the Fantastic Four. As they dived into battle, Namor unleashed the massive whale Giganto upon the city. With the assistance of the Avengers Captain America and Thor assisted in fending off the Atlantean invasion. Eventually, Krang's deception was revealed, and Giganto killed. This instantly made the Fantastic Four a hero in the public eye. They then moved into the Baxter Building. When the Avengers later battled Kang, the Fantastic Four were otherwise occupied but the heroes eventually stopped him on their own. When SHIELD sought to capture the newly created Hulk, SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell called in the Fantastic Four for Reed's expertise. However, the search turned up nothing.
As the team seemed well adept with their powers, Mister Fantastic began investigating how they could command their abilities as though they had years of experience. Also investigating the source of their powers, Reed had detected that something crash landed in the African nation of Wakanda. Leaving Ben and Johnny behind, Reed and Sue ventured to the country where they were "introduced" to the nation's ruler, T'Challa, the Black Panther. When trying to recover whatever crash landed on Earth, the trio discovered the man posing as Wyatt Wingfoot absconding this a strange humanoid being. When they attempted to stop him, Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Black Panther were incapacitated. They were then taken to Latveria where they were brought before Doctor Doom. Doom showed his prisoner what it was they sought, a powerful alien called the Silver Surfer. While Doom sought to steal the Surfer's cosmic powers, Johnny and Ben crashed the experiment with the real Wyatt Wingfoot. As it turned out Doom's ally was actually a Skrull named Kl'rt. In the ensuing battle, Kl'rt absorbed some of the Surfer's powers transforming him into the Super-Skrull. In the ensuing battle against the Super-Skrull, the Fantastic Four learned that the Surfer served a master, the world devourer known as Galactus. When they freed the Surfer he unleashed his power on the Skrull, slaying him before returning to the stars.
=== Industrial Revolution ===
The Hulk eventually cut a swath of destruction that led them all the way to the Avengers Hydrobase headquarters. His attack compromised the Gamma Core of the base which could caused a powerful chain reaction. Reverting to human form, Bruce Banner then broke into the Baxter Building to seek the Fantastic Four's aid in shutting down the Core before it was too late. With the Avengers and Iron Man in tow, Banner led the Fantastic Four deep into the ruined island base in order to find the Gamma Core. However, the close proximity to the gamma radiation caused Banner to transform into the Hulk once more.
While the Invisible Woman managed to calm down the Hulk, Mister Fantastic and Iron Man instructed the brute on how to shut down the Gamma Core so they could avert disaster. During this process, there was a strange flash of light and the heroes caught a brief glimpse of Onslaught before he vanished again. Yet another clue of their past lives. In the aftermath of the battle, the Avengers broke away from SHIELD and became an independent organization.
=== Clues to the Past ===
While the Thing was recovering in hospital, Reed took the rest of the team on an exploration of the "newly discovered" Negative Zone. There they briefly battled Blastaar before they were taken away by the Watcher who showed them a glimpse of their past lives. Mister Fantastic was made to revisit one of the Fantastic Four's more recent clashes with the X-Men. After the bizarre experience, they were returned to Earth to try and make sense of what they saw.
Back on their native Earth, Doctor Strange discovered a strange energy emanating from the Hulk. Using it, he found a passage to Franklin's pocket universe where the alternate Hulk was engaged in another rampage. When the Fantastic Four and Iron Man arrived on the scene, Doctor Strange tried to convince them of their situation, but none of them believed Strange. Although he warned how the two Hulks were somehow threatening the existence of both worlds, Strange was shunted back to his home reality when the Hulk there broke free of the Doctor's mystical barriers.
=== Inhumanity Revisited ===
By this point, Sue was starting to get haunted by images of a child that she has no memory of happening, yet another tie to the past they no longer remember. The Fantastic Four were next invited to the unveiling of an ancient tablet that was discovered in Tibet. Reed noted that the inscriptions resembled those found in the Mole Man's caverns. The tablet was stolen back by members of the Inhuman Royal Family. In the ensuing battle, the Human Torch was injured and taken by the Inhumans. Reed and the others then tracked them to the Inhumans hidden city of Attilan but they were blasted out of the sky by Black Bolt and were taken prisoner.
Brought before the Inhuman royal family, the Fantastic Four learned that they worshiped Galactus and his four heralds. Thinking Johnny to be their prisoner, the Fantastic Four broke free, but in the ensuing battle, they discovered that Johnny wasn't a prisoner but a guest. They then learned that Inhumans needed assistance in stopping Black Bolt's brother Maximus the Mad who was seeking to access the Terrigen Mists that were located deep below the Inhuman city. Although the Fantastic Four managed to stop Maximus, it was not before he was able to expose Crystal to the Mists. Reed later attended the funeral for Rebel O'Reilly, who had apparently survived only to sacrifice his life to save his friend Tony Stark. Stark explained his own trip into the past which revealed an alternate history of which he had no memory of. The pair were visited by the Watcher who warned them that they must remember who they are and stop the coming of Galactus before it was too late.
=== Heroes Reunited ===
During a quiet period, the Fantastic Four decided that they were going to spend the day in Central Park. There, Sue revealed to Reed that she believed she was pregnant, much to his surprise. Not long after this, the Fantastic Four were attacked by Terrax, one of the heralds of Galactus who had come to test his strength against them as his master approached. The Fantastic Four were barley able to defeat Terrax when they were visited by two more Heralds: Firelord and Plasma.
Although the Fantastic Four recovered from the initial onslaught, they were eventually saved by the Silver Surfer who was sympathetic to the heroes due to their earlier rescue. The Fantastic Four were later picked up by SHIELD and joined with the Avengers. When Nick Fury showed them the ship that was coming their way, he split the heroes up into groups to stop the various terraformers that Galactus uses to consume the Earth. While the heroes were sent around the world, Reed worked in the SHIELD Helicarrier trying to build a device that could stop Galactus. As the heroes fell, Doctor Doom arrived with armor to absorb the Surfer's power, but it was not enough to stop Galactus.
Seeing that the battle was lost, Doom traveled back in time to prevent the tragedy, leaving Reed and the others to die.
With each time that Doctor Doom went back in time events on the world happened differently. The second time around the Fantastic Four clashed with the Silver Surfer in Russia but were annihilated when Doctor Doom unleashed nuclear weapons on them. When Doom failed to stop Galactus again, he went backward in time once more. The third time, the Fantastic Four were meeting the Hulkbusters when they learned of Galactus' approach. The Fantastic Four were then killed by the Heralds, Mister Fantastic was specifically killed by Plasma. The last time Doom went back, he managed to convince the Avengers to join him in attacking the Heralds of Galactus just as they were launching their initial attack against the Fantastic Four, saving the teams life. Reed rejoined the Atomic Knights to utilize the various technologies that Doom brought back and they were able to build a nullifying device to destroy Galactus. By this point the Silver Surfer had decided to work against his master and sacrificed his life to destroy Galactus, saving the Earth in the process.
=== World War III ===
The defeat of Galactus caused shattered reality causing Franklin's pocket universe to merge with that of a distant cosmos. With the two realities merged, the heroes of both worlds co-existed as though they always existed together. In this merged reality, the Skrulls and the Daemonites invaded the Earth and decimated Europe. Doctor Doom forged an alliance with the invaders and built a locking device that kept the two realities merged so they could continue to rule unimpeded.
The Fantastic Four ventured into the Negative Zone to try and obtain energy sources that could help in the war effort, instead, they learned the truth of the matter and returned back to Earth to try and warn everyone. On their way back Annihilus and Defile attempted to stop them but failed. Meeting with SHIELD commander John Lynch, Reed had Earths heroes summoned together to reveal the truth. Lynch assembled the Avengers, Stormwatch, Wetworks, and the Wild C.A.T.s together unaware that there was a spy in their midst that was reporting this all back to Doctor Doom and Helspont. While Reed led a team of heroes into the Negative Zone to destroy the lock there, the rest of the heroes were deployed to deal with its counterpart in Latveria. However, while Reed's team was swarmed by Skrull and Demonite hordes, the traitor took down the defenses aboard the Wetworks satellite leaving it open to be destroyed.
While Reed and his team continued fighting a losing battle, the surviving heroes on Earth were joined by the Thing, Deathblow, and Captain America who took down the spy, a Skrull posing as Iron Man. In the Negative Zone, Mister Fantastic battled Doctor Doom as the rest of the heroes destroyed the lock there. While on Earth, Captain America led the surviving heroes on an assault on Doctor Doom's castle. With both locks destroyed, the two realities split apart again, with none retaining any memories of the merged realities.
=== The Return ===
Life went on uninterrupted for the Fantastic Four at this point. However, the link between two worlds was becoming tenuous. The Celestials sent their agent Ashema to Earth and revealed to Franklin that his parents were still alive and told the boy that he must choose which universe would live and which one would die. Unwilling to sacrifice the billions of lives in the universe he created, Franklin was transported to the pocket universe to seek out his parents for guidance.
However, no sooner was Franklin reunited with his family and explained his plight he was pulled away by Ashima. Still unable to remember their past lives, Reed and Sue struggled with the revelation that they might have a child and the world they live in might be a lie. Calling in Iron Man, Reed conducted a test by examining a rock taken from a mile below the Earths surface and scanning it in the Negative Zone. They were shocked to discover that the rock registered as having only existed for less than a year. With the arrival of a second Hulk and Spider-Man to Franklin's pocket universe, the ties between worlds continued to unravel. This brought an assemblage of the heroes in Franklin's universe as well as Doctor Doom, who confirmed the very thing that Franklin claimed. With the Celestials preparing to destroy both worlds, Ashema became touched by humanity and agreed to assist Franklin in saving both worlds.
Franklin returned to his pocket universe where he revealed that the only way they could save both worlds is if the heroes that Franklin brought here came back to their proper Earth with him. Doctor Doom provided a ship, but as they were crossing the dimensional gulf, he attempted to abscond with Franklin so he could exploit the boy's powers. Thor rescued Franklin and left Doom to be lost in the abyss. As the heroes passed through the barrier, Reed, and the others had their memories restored and finally remembered who their son was.
The Fantastic Four reappeared in Upstate New York. The return of Earth's lost heroes was instant news and spread fast. Soon, Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four held a press conference confirming their return.
=== A New Beginning ===
Back on their proper world, the Fantastic Four found themselves getting back into the motions of invention and discovery. When an archeological expedition in Paris unearthed an ancient race called the Ruined, the Fantastic Four ventured there and prevented these ancient creatures from reverting Earth to a pre-technological age. Not long after this, Reed and Sue were once again pulled forward in time to celebrate their wedding anniversary. As usual, they were returned with no memory of the event.  Later, Reed and Tony Stark were contacted by Bruce Banner who asked for their assistance making Rick Jones walk again after suffering paralysis.
Because the Thunderbolts had taken over the Four Freedoms Plaza, the Fantastic Four had moved near the harbor in a new headquarters dubbed Pier Four. Not long after they had moved in the Mole Man attacked New York City with his legion of monsters. However, they were defeated when Mister Fantastic used a shrink ray to reduce the monsters in size. The Mole Man took his tiny monsters and retreated back to Subterranea. One evening, Reed and Sue were attacked by a creature called Iconoclast who was on a mission to destroy the Invisible Woman. Sue managed to defeat their foe, although they never determined why he had attacked them. Later, the Thing was sent on a test flight of a new spacecraft that ended up crash landing. Reed and Johnny later located Ben on a remote tropical island. Reed and Sue later attended a party thrown by Tony Stark. Later, when the Kingpin framed Spider-Man for murder, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four joined the manhunt for the wall-crawler. However, Spider-Man managed to clear his name with some help from Daredevil. When the sorceress Morgan Le Fay began targeting former Avengers, Captain America began contacting former members of the team. Of those, Reed, Sue and Ben were contacted, but they declined to join as they were focused on business pertaining to the Fantastic Four.
=== Thunderbolts Exposed ===
Eventually the Thunderbolts were outed as Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil and they left the Four Freedoms Plaza decimated. From his satellite, Zemo took control of militaries from all over the world and began laying siege to the planet. The Fantastic Four and the Avengers then infiltrated Zemo's space station. The heroes were later assisted by the Thunderbolts, who had a change of heart, and Zemo's plans and space station were destroyed.
When the seemingly new hero named the Hornet appeared on the crime-fighting scene, Reed cautioned his teammates about this newcomer, given their recent experiences with the Thunderbolts.
=== Lost Innovation ===
On New Year's Eve that year, Reed was called to Empire State University when there was trouble. He discovered that the Red Ghost and the Super-Apes had swapped IQs. The now intelligent apes were plotting to create a virus to wipe out humanity. Thanks to Reed's intervention, this plan was failure. The Fantastic Four were next alerted of a dire threat by the Silver Surfer. This turned out to be the return of Termius, who was reconstructing his body using a virus that infected the Mole Man's Moloids. With the help of the Power Cosmic, they were able to purge the virus and seemingly slay Terminus. Later, when a Skrull calling himself the Sensational Hydra caused massive hysteria across the United States, Mister Fantastic was enlisted alongside the Avengers in keeping the population safe until Captain America could exposed and defeat the alien invader. Reed later came through with his promise to build an exoskeleton to allow Rick Jones the ability to walk again.
Reed was called to a scientific symposium in Scandinavia and brought the Thing along with him. It was here that Reed finally reconnected with his old lover Alyssa Moy. During the conference, the two heroes were attacked by a masked menace calling himself Crucible. During the ensuing battle, Crucible altered Reed's mind making him incapable of coming up with new innovations and then managed to escape. Without his constant inventive drive, Reed became a more caring husband and father, taking Franklin out to a ball game and later taking Sue on a romantic dinner. While the couple were out, Pier Four was attacked by Technet, who were seeking out Franklin for their master Saturnyne.
== Roma ==
Not only were Technet seeking out Franklin, but also the murderous Warwolves. Alyssa Moy attempted to get Franklin to safety, but their pursuers were relentless. Eventually, Franklin sent out a cry for help allowing his family to locate them. Just as Reed and the rest of the team were about to defend the boy, they were suddenly surrounded by the Captain Britain Corps.
As the heroes battled the Corps, they discovered that they were no longer on Earth but in Otherworld home of Saturnyne and Roma. While Reed and the others fended off the Corps, Johnny convinced Roma and Saturnyne that Franklin wasn't a threat and he should be kept in their care. Convinced, Roma allowed the Fantastic Four to return home.
Soon the team became aware of the fact that Johnny had rescued a slave named Alysande Stuart, who was also a member of the Captain Britain Corps as Caledonia, and brought her back to Earth with him. Back at home, Reed earned Sue's ire for having a documentary film crew come and film their daily lives. However, later that day, Johnny discovered a new Inhuman dog that was just a puppy and brought it home for Franklin as a pet.
=== May Parker ===
Not long after this, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men were targeted by the Fantastic Four's old foe the Psycho-Man. The Thing and Wolverine were able to expose the foe and shunt him back to the Microverse before he could complete his revenge. Reed was present during the Avengers anniversary celebration when the team was suddenly abducted by the Grim Reaper. The Fantastic Four were among the heroes who attempted to breach the Reaper's barrier, but ultimately the Avengers freed themselves once their foe was defeated.
Not long after this, Spider-Man came to Mister Fantastic to confirm that May Parker was really his long thought to be dead aunt, or an impostor of some kind. Reed examined her body and determined that she was human really May Parker. Later, Spider-Man learned that the Green Goblin implanted a device that would kill her if removed. Reed was warned in enough time to disable the device and remove it. When Fire Lord was detected on Earth, Mister Fantastic dispatched the Silver Surfer to deal with him. When Spider-Man disappeared for a time, the Fantastic Four began searching for him at the insistence of the Human Torch. However the hero was merely taking a break from costumed heroics and returned to the scene shortly thereafter.
=== Genosha ===
When Reed was to give a lecture at a nearby University he stepped into a trap set by the Genoshan Press Gang who captured Mister Fantastic with the help of the Trapster and forcibly removed him to Genosha. When the rest of the Fantastic Four discovered the truth they went to Genosha after him. There, they discovered that Crucible was attempting to take over the already destabilized country. Capturing the Fantastic Four, Crucible had his minion Ayesha forcibly swap the heroes bodies with three Genoshan Mutates.
Meanwhile, Reed had been working with the Genoshan government to liberate the country from Crucible's rule. When the other members of the Fantastic Four escaped Crucible, they were found by the resistance and Reed instantly believed what happened. In the ensuing battle, Reed exposed Crucible as one of the Enclave and regained his lost innovative intelligence before ruining their operations. When the Fantastic Four returned to New York, however, they were informed by government official Val Cooper that their unsanctioned operation in Genosha has gotten them into trouble with the United Nations.
== Time with Franklin ==
Reed and the others threw a surprise party for him in thanks for saving Franklin from Doom. Thor explained his later battle with Doom in the ruins of Asgard, and ominously told his allies that he knew not where Doom went after his defeat there.
When Franklin came upon some of Reed's old inventions, he told his son about the time he searched for the Claw of Bast. Franklin didn't believe the story was true until they were attacked by Lao-Tse, who had since become a skilled mystic. Franklin helped his father defeat the intruder with one of his freezing compounds. Later, Reed and his family attended the funeral of Karen Page out of respect to their long-time lawyer, Matt Murdock.
With tensions growing between the Inhumans and the nation of Portugal, Mister Fantastic was called upon to provide the United States government with intelligence on the Inhumans. Ultimately, the Inhumans faked their destruction in order to relocate Attilan from the risen continent of Atlantis back to its previous location in the Himalayan Mountains. Later, the Fantastic Four assisted Spider-Man in stopping the Trapster and Sandman from assassinating Senator Stewart Ward. Reed was working in his lab late one night when Ben accidentally bumped into one of his devices and was briefly transported to the alternate reality of Earth-98.
Soon the Fantastic Four were contacted by Superman, a hero from a distant cosmos who had just discovered that Galactus had been active in his reality. The Fantastic Four travelled to Superman's universe. There they foiled a plot by the evil Cyborg Superman to have Superman turned into a herald of Galactus.
=== Ronans Revenge ===
The Fantastic Four soon learned that SHIELD was going to do a secret transfer of captured Kree terrorists in the ruins of the Four Freedoms Plaza. Going there, the Fantastic Four clashed with their old foe Ronan the Accuser, who suddenly transported them an NYPD officer Charlotte Jones and the whole Four Freedoms Plaza to the moon. During the ensuing battle Sue was captured and infected with a Manequin that would turn her into his willing slave in an attempt to get into the Watchers citadel.
While travelling under the surface, Reed and the others crossed over into a possible future where the male members of the Fantastic Four are dead and Sue married Doctor Doom and had a second child named Valeria. Spotted by the adult Franklin of that reality, tells Reed to "let Galactus go" before sending them back to their proper time and space. Back in the present, the male members of the Fantastic Four were suddenly joined by Iron Man who had come to investigate the moon on behalf of SHIELD. Unfortunately, his teleportation technology caused his armor to malfunction and attack the Fantastic Four. Once Iron Man regained control of his armor he agreed to help them stop Ronan. Despite their best efforts they were unable to stop Ronan from escaping with the plans for a power core.
=== Across Time and Space ===
Instead of being teleported back to Earth, the Fantastic Four were secretly sent to the future that Reed and the others glimpsed by Margali Szardos. The group were soon attacked by Kree soldiers disguised as the Avengers. Escaping to planet Earth, the Fantastic Four were horrified to find that the planet was decimated by a species similar to the Brood. They also found two human warriors named Lucas and Redwing. Learning that they were trying to eliminate the alien invaders the Fantastic Four agreed to help. After they slew the queen, Szardos teleported the team away.
The team found themselves in the Negative Zone on a world where the population live out their lives in a virtual reality simulation. Forced into this virtual world where the fantasies of a would-be hero named Lockdown fought crime in the fictional setting of Shadow City. The Fantastic Four were forced to play the role of a criminal organisation called the Tetrad. While everyone else on the team was reprogrammed to play their parts, Reed was able to resist this conditioning and played along in the hopes of finding a way to free themselves. Forced to play out a heist with his teammates and the so-called Twisted Sisters, Reed allowed Lockdown and his partner Rosetta Stone capture them.
While imprisoned, Reed figured out a way to get themselves out of the simulation. Staging a jail break, he told Sue to concentrate on expanding her force field out as much as possible while he kept Lockdown busy. Sure enough, this effort caused Sue's body in the real world to extend a force field that broke her simulation pod, breaking her free. Sue then recovered the others and they teleported away from Lockdown's planet. The team spent some time jumping from world to world until they ran afoul of Annihilus. Although their foe was more powerful than ever and somehow stocked with weapons taken from the Four Freedoms Plaza, Reed managed to repair their transporter and send the team back to Earth.
=== Marvel Girl ===
The Fantastic Four found themselves back in Paris where the Ruined were trying to make a comeback. They prevented the ancient beings from converting the world again by stopping their attempts to sacrifice Margali Szardos to complete the spell. Upon completing their business in France the team learned that Caledonia, Alyssa, and Franklin had been captured by Pluto and Hippolyta and brought to Hades itself. The Fantastic Four liberated them with some assistance from Hercules. However, after the rescue, they were shocked to discover the teenaged Valeria von Doom was now in their reality. The team also made a new ally in the woman known as Bounty ( Back in New York City, Mister Fantastic was asked to examine a mystical energy bubble that appeared in the city. However the crisis was dealt with by Daredevil and Spider-Man. Reed was later a challenger in the second Contest of Champions, but was defeated by the Hulk.
Able to focus on Valeria von Doom, Mister Fantastic ran a battery of tests to prove her identity. The DNA tests proved a match with Sue, although the Invisible Woman refused to believe that this girl was anything but an impostor. However, when Valeria battled the Absorbing Man, Titania as well as the nanite-controlled Thing and She-Hulk, Sue stepped in to save the young girl. In the aftermath of the battle, both Sue and Reed welcomed Valeria into their extended family. While attending the San Diego Comic Con, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers were forced into a battle by the Red Skull and the Mad Thinker using nanite technology. Reed and the others managed to shut down the nanites defeat the Agents of Skull and send their master fleeing.
=== Death of Galactus ===
The Fantastic Four next attended an art gallery showing put on by their long time ally Alicia Masters. The festivities were attacked by the Mole Man who used it as a distraction to steal a water purifier. The Fantastic Four, Avengers and Silver Surfer pursed. Learning that the Mole Man needed it to clean contaminated water his Moloids needed to survive, they allowed him to leave with it. Their attentions were turned were turned to what appeared to be a blazing meteor. The Surfer managed to deflect the object to prevent loss of life. It turned out to be an alien ship, it's dying passenger warned that Galactus was coming.
While the Silver Surfer and Alicia went into space to investigate they clashed with the newest herald of Galactus, Red Shift. He warned that Galactus was now addicted to consuming the life forces of living creatures on the planets he consumed, increasing his hunger. The Surfer then sent Alicia back to Earth to warn Reed and the others while he dealt with Red Shift.
When Galactus eventually arrived on Earth, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers tried to drive him away, but the world devourer was far too determined. It was not until the Surfer agreed to become the herald of Galactus again did he spare the Earth. Reed later examined Alicia's new armor and determined that it allow her to follow the Surfer. Despite the Thing's protests, Alicia could not bare to be parted from the Silver Surfer and followed after him.
After seeing one world fall under the power of Galactus, Alicia returned to Earth to get its heroes to help. By this point, Mister Fantastic had begun a plan to put a stop to the threat of Galactus. Deciding that they should try, they traveled to the Shi'ar galaxy where they offered their aid to Empress Lilandra whose world was under threat of Galactus. Ultimately, Reed devised a means of holding Galactus at bay long enough for the Silver Surfer to recover his Worldship and use it to convert Galactus to a star. This seemingly killed Galactus and ended his threat. However, this would have grave repercussions later on.
=== Domination Factor ===
Back on Earth, Reed was one of many scientists invited to a science conference with the United States Government. Riding Air Force One, the plane was attacked by agents of the Praxis Corporation who attempted to steal a slice of a mysterious golden apple. The Fantastic Four defended the aircraft and the Torch destroyed the slice. Back at Pier Four the group found a massive wooden statue standing out front. When they tried to fight it, time suddenly came to a stop. They were then approached by what appeared to be the astral form of Doctor Strange who said that the Fantastic Four needed to venture into the past and collect four slices of a mystical apple. Agreeing to help "Strange" the group had their spirits transported back to three different time periods. At this same time, "Strange" had also sent the Avenges on a similar quest.
Reed's soul was sent into his body some eight years in the past during the time the Fantastic Four were attempting to rescue Alicia Masters from the Enclave. When Reed tried to deviate from their path in order to collect his slice of the Golden Apple, that era's Ben Grimm thought that Reed was trying to prevent him from saving Alicia and attacked him. After a brief struggle, Mister Fantastic convinced the Thing to turn over the apple slice. Upon contact, Reed's spirit was sent back to the present where he was reunited with his teammates. Meanwhile, things had not fared well for the Avengers, as Thor was killed while in the past. This cause caused a reality warp that altered reality.
The spirits of the Avengers and Fantastic Four were shocked to find that this new world was run by the Praxis Corporation. Deciding to find out what happened by possessing their counterparts in this reality, Reed discovered that his counterpart worked for Praxis alongside Victor von Doom. Reed possessed his alternate and prevented Doom from sabotaging his latest project. He also discovered that in this reality, Stephen Strange also worked for Praxis but had no memory of their quest. When Reed reconnected with the others and told them this, they were then confronted by Loki, the mastermind of this scheme. Learning this was all to restore the youth and immortality of Knorda an exiled giant queen from Asgard. However, the combined heroes convinced her that this was not worth the sacrifice of Thor and she went back in time and undid the changes wrought by Loki and prevented him from starting his quest to begin with. This restored history to its proper course, only without the Golden Apple slices.
=== Planet Doom ===
Back in New York, the Fantastic Four and Thor arrived too late to assist Nova in battle the Quintronic Man, as the hero had already defeated the foe by himself. Nova later enlisted the aid of Mister Fantastic to help examine his surging powers. However, the test was interrupted by Nova's old foe the Condor. The arrival of the rest of the Fantastic Four ensured that the Condor was defeated and incarcerated. Later when Alyssa Moy was mystically struck down by an unseen foe, the Fantastic Four sought out mystical assistance. With the aid of Marigali Szardos, Mechamage and the Son of Satan, they foiled a plot by Selene of the Hellfire Club from freeing the demonic Blackheart. Moy later departed with her mystical rescuers, forming a group called the Shadow Hunters. Later, Reed accepted an audience with the X-Man who was seeking a means of tracking other refugees from his reality. Reed assisted best he could, but also got to test his new psi-dampers as well.
Returning to his lab, Reed discovered that a Chaos Wave was heading to Earth, threatening to destroy all life on the planet. Reed spent what fleeting time remained with his family. When the chaos wave finally struck, they sent Franklin away in a support ship along with Puppy and Caledonia to another plane of existence for safety. Instead of total destruction, the Fantastic Four and Marvel Girl found themselves displaced to Franklin's Counter-Earth which was now under the control of Doctor Doom and his Generals. Forced to work with their mortal enemy, they learned that the so-called Dreaming Celestial was attempting to merge both versions of Earth together. Thinking it too dangerous, Reed sent Marvel Girl where he sent Franklin. In the resulting battle against the Dreaming Celestial, only one man emerged from the rubble, and he was wearing Doctor Doom's armor.
In reality, it turned out to be Mister Fantastic, and he was trapped. Convincing the Fantastic Four of his plight, Reed then convinced them to keep up the charade that he was Doctor Doom so that they could contain his generals from Counter-Earth before they could lay siege to their own world. When Dorma and the others came to doubt "Doom's" command, Reed trounced them in battle and announced an alliance with the Fantastic Four. Having to maintain the charade, Reed and Sue arranged a mock wedding between her and "Doctor Doom" a move that was met with outrage from both the government and the super-hero community. Unable to unlock Doom's armor, Reed found himself blocked from accessing his personal databases.
=== A Better Doom ===
With the world on edge, Doctor Doom's Generals demanded that they launch a strike as hostilities continued to grow. When the Avengers later stormed Doom's ship, Reed calmed by subduing the Generals and turning them over to the authorities. With the hostilities over and convinced Captain America to trust him. When the Frightful Four attacked the Keewazi reservation searching for supposedly lost gold, Reed and the Fantastic Four came to the aid of their old friend Wyatt Wingfoot. The Wizard and his minions were unprepared for "Doctor Doom" being part of the Fantastic Four and they were soundly defeated. That evening, Reed finally cracked his armor and was able to alter his databases so that he could access them while posing as Doom. Something that was secretly seen by the Invisible Woman, who became concerned about her husband's mental state when he decided to keep this a secret from the others.
Reed next took the Fantastic Four to Latveria where he began to take the Doctor Doom charade too far. While pretending to be shutting down Doom's operations, Reed was actually plotting to take over the world. Realizing what her husband was up to, the Invisible Woman was forced to call back the one man that could defeat her husband: the real Doctor Doom. Forced to battle her brother and the Thing, sue managed to convince them that Doctor Doom's armor had begun altering Reed's mind to make it more like Doom. Rede and Doom battled it out, and ultimately, the true Doctor Doom won out and reclaimed his armor. With Doom currently occupied with taming Counter-Earth, he left his rivalry with the Fantastic Four for the time being.
Returning to New York, the Fantastic Four were attacked by Doctor Doom's Generals who managed to escape captivity. The group rampaged across New York in an effort to force Mister Fantastic into returning them to Counter-Earth. In the end, Mister Fantastic tricked them into entering a portal that brought them to Counter-Earth, but trapped them within the Baxter Building, all except for Dorma who managed to escape. When Sue went missing while boating at sea, Mister Fantastic and the others searched tirelessly for her. When they finally found her, she had just finished a battle against Dorma, whom the Sub-Mariner subdued.
=== Fantastic Voyages ===
When someone broke into Pier Four and sabotaged Reed's transceiver, Reed, and the others tracked their attacker to the town of Revelation, Arizona. There Reed uncovered the last surviving members of the Z'lyztayan race who had fled to Earth to escape the genocidal Obliterator. Thanks to Reed's transceiver, the Obliterator managed to find its way to Earth. Finding a crystal to power the Z'lyztayan ship, the Fantastic Four were able to destroy the Obliterator's construct and its ship, saving the Earth.
With all immediate dangers over, the Fantastic Four summoned Franklin and Valeria back home from Otherworld so they could spend some time together. That evening the Fantastic Four were attacked by strange elemental creatures. Fighting those creatures off they were accosted by a mystical being calling himself Jihad. Incapacitating the Fantastic Four and their family, the group awoke in another dimension riding aboard the ship of Sinbad the legendary sailor. On board they found maps laying out the destinations of various mystical artifacts. The group then collected the Mystical Eye, the Gauntlet, the Crystal Casque and the Mallet of Destiny facing various perils along the way. Once they collected all the artifacts, Jihad returned and kidnapped Franklin, Valeria, Caledonia, and Puppey. Freeing Sinbad (who was transformed into the ship's masthead) Jihad then fled to utilize the captured life forces and mystical items to gain ultimate power.
Because his daughter was also a prisoner of Jihad, Sinbad accompanied the Fantastic Four in their pursuit of Jihad. The heroes then prevented Jihad from completing his spell and vanquished the creature. With their quest over, Sinbad returned the heroes back to their home dimension.
=== Gideon Trust ===
Later, Pier Four was infiltrated by Moonstone of the Thunderbolts who was under the influence of the Moonstone. Reed and Sue confronted her. but she refused to listen and after getting what information she needed to know about the Lifestones she fled. Reed and the Fantastic Four later monitored the situation in Tokyo when it was under siege by both the Hand and the Dragon Kings. A situation that was eventually resolved by Iron Fist and Wolverine.
The Fantastic Four soon hit another bout of financial troubles and at the advice of lawyer Foggy Nelson met with members of the Gideon Trust to sell off some of their assets. This deal coincided with an attack on Pier Four by Diablo who used his demonic powers. After signing away Reed's patents and Pier Four, Reed and Sue returned home to find it surrounded by a water elemental. They also met Blanca del Hierro a member of an order of Deacons that were charged with stopping Diablo. Entering into Pier Four it was suddenly decimated by Diablo's attack.
Reed and Sue were also incapacitated and Diablo convinced Blanca to join him in administering Ignis Aquia to the Fantastic Four as part of a spell to grand him ultimate power. However, this plot was foiled thanks to Sue's powers blocking the administering of a final ingredient, causing the spell to collapse. Both Diablo and Blanca were trapped in the otherworldy dimension while the Fantastic Four were set free. When members of the Gideon Trust saw that Pier Four was in shambles they vowed to get even with the Fantastic Four.
=== Maximum Security ===
Soon the Galactic Council began to worry about how frequently the planet Earth was getting involved in interplanetary conflicts. The arrival of a strange species calling themselves the Ruul appeared and convinced the council that there are options other than eradicating the human race. Soon it was decreed that Earth would become a maximum security prison where criminals from across the galaxy would be imprisoned. This caused chaos across the globe as alien criminals went on a rampage. Meanwhile, Earth's heroes desperately fought to defend their world as well as liberate it from forced incarceration.
During the crisis, the Fantastic Four discovered an insectoid named Daddy Wronglegs was transforming the cities most vulnerable into insectoids like himself. They destroyed the drones and Mister Fantastic contained Daddy Wronglegs for study, inadvertently rescuing the Punisher in the process. One of the prisoners on Earth was a spore containing the essence of Ego the Living Planet who was slowly merging with the planet Earth. Seeking the aid of Iron Man, Mister Fantastic probed his knowledge gained from the alien known as Max Power to try and locate Ego. They were able to track the spore to the town of Littleton, Nebraska. There they fought against the thralls of Ego, and discovered that the Silver Surfer was in the town as well.
Mister Fantastic joined the Silver Surfer and Iron Man in trying to contain the cosmic menace. While a group of mystics led by the Scarlet Witch tried to contain the expense of Ego, Mister Fantastic, Iron Man and Bruce Banner continued to try and contain it. They were joined by Gambit who managed to steal a data disc containing the means in which the Galactic Council managed to compress Ego and trap him on Earth. While they worked, the Kree launched their final attack on Earth. when Ronan the Accuser tried to destroy their device, the Avengers kept him at bay. Unable to absorb Ego's essence into himself, the Silver Surfer collapsed from the strain. Taking his place was Quasar who succeeded where the Surfer failed. Ronan and his Ruul minions were easily defeated. Realizing that they had been deceived, the Galactic Council removed their embargo on the planet Earth.
=== Return of the Sentry ===
With their headquarters destroyed, the Fantastic Four were invited to set up temporary operations within Damage Control Headquarters at the Flatiron Building. It was here that Reed was contacted by his old teacher, Noah Baxter, who offered his assistance to the Fantastic Four. Reed later fielded a call from Vibraxas whose vibrational powers were being affected by a "sonic cancer" affecting the world's Vibranium supply. Unfortunately, Reed could not help him and recommended N'Kano seek out the Black Panther for advice.
By this time, Robert Reynolds began remembering his life as the Sentry, haunted with fragmented memories of his heroic career as well as his foe the Void. His initial wanderings brought him to the ruins of the Four Freedoms Plaza setting off the alarms and alerting Reed his presence. Although Reynolds remembered Reed, Richards had no such memory of him and thought he nothing more than a crazy man. However, when Bob mentioned "unicorns", Reed suddenly recalled that whatever he had forgotten it was something he was not supposed to remember. Returning home, Reed found a unicorn statue covering up a video recording. Playing the recording back, he and the Fantastic Four were shocked to see that it was a recorded warning from Reed himself, telling himself that if he is playing this recording they are all going to die. The recording was a warning that if Robert Reynolds had come to him that the Void was returning. Before they could learn more from the warning it self-destructed. Puzzled by this mystery, Reed investigated his records for more on the mysterious Robert Reynolds and discovered that there were no computer records, however, he did find a secret cache of hard files. As Reed went over the files he was visited by Doctor Strange who confirmed everything: He did know the Sentry, his memories would come back, and it could mean the end of their universe.
As his memories of erasing all record of the Sentry from began to return the Sentry continued to make contact with the superhero community. This also caused the Void to return and begin making his way to his old foe. Soon the Sentry's full power and headquarters returned. Even with their memories partially complete, the Void came to New York, forcing the Sentry to gather all of Earth's heroes, including Mister Fantastic even though he believed that Reed had betrayed him. As they waited for the Void to arrive, Mister Fantastic began to recall some of his earliest adventures with the Sentry. When the Void arrived the creature began laying waste to the heroes. Eventually, Reed and the others began to recall that the Sentry and the Void were the same being and connected. They also began to remember that the only way to stop the Void once and for all was to make everyone forget about the Sentry. While the heroes tried to contain the Void, Reed, Doctor Strange, and the Sentry ventured back to the Sentry's Watchtower where they made Cloc make everyone forget the Sentry again. As soon as it was complete, everything went back to the status quo and the Sentry and the Void were forgotten. This would remain the case for another for about another year.
=== Enslavement ===
When Dracula decided to make Sue his bride and Queen, Reed was unaware his wife was falling under the sway of the King of the Undead. Upon the 3rd day of Vlad, the nosferatu decided to enslave the scientist to use his knowledge and abilities to his advantages. Partially thanks to a device created by The Wizard, which prevented Reed's body from becoming elastic and malleable, Dracula was able to bite him and partially feed on his blood. Learning from previous encounters with slaves, Vlad decided to enforce his enslavement by adding on mesmerism to his bite.
Reed's first assignment from his new master was to construct device by which "milk" Ben, Johnny, and himself of their blood. When he was finished, the scientist was able to convince them to enter the machine.
== Personality ==
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 stubbed his toe, Reed would want to spend ten years studying it." Reed is an extremely likable fellow who keeps a pleasant smile on his face and cares deeply about those he is close to, particularly his extended family. However, he does occasionally lapse into depression and self-hatred 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 saved Galactus from dying due to exhaustion from his hunger and attacking Earth. Susan once speculated that Reed's eccentric behavior may be due to autism.
== Biology ==
=== Physical Traits ===
* Hair: Brown; white temples
* Build: Unknown
* Penis Size
** Erection
*** Length: 15.24 cm (6 in.) originally; varies due to malleable physiology
*** Girth: 10.9728 cm (4.32 in.) originally; varies due to malleable physiology
** Flaccid
*** Length: 7.7978 cm (3.07 in.) originally; varies due to malleable physiology
**** Stretched: 15.5702 cm (6.13") originally; unknown due to malleable physiology
*** Girth: 10.9474 cm (4.31 in.) originally; varies due to malleable physiology
== Attributes ==
=== Powers ===
Gifted superhuman powers by cosmic rays bombarding his body.
Plasticity: Mister Fantastic possesses the ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will. How his body's respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown. Mister Fantastic can alter his form in a matter of seconds, often much less (depending on the complexity of the shape), and revert to his normal humanoid shape within a similar time. The greater the distance he stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes. Mister Fantastic's transformation to a malleable state is reflexive and nearly instantaneous: if he was at his normal form and taken unaware by machine gun fire, his body would still absorb the bullets' impact through radical deformation. In fact, it was revealed that it was Mr. Fantastic, despite being in a weakened state, who protected all the heroes other than Hulk from the impact of the 150 billion ton mountain falling on them before the Jade Giant caught the mountain, although the strain caused him to pass out. Mister Fantastic's skin is virtually impervious to laceration or punctures unless he willfully relaxes his reflexive control over small areas of his body. In that case, scalpels and ordinary needles can penetrate his skin.
* Dense Flesh: Due to the great malleability and elasticity of his molecular structure, Mister Fantastic is able to absorb the impact of any type of man-made ballistic projectile by deforming his body along the path of the projectile's trajectory at the point of initial impact.
** Contain Explosions: Mister Fantastic may use his elastic form to contain explosions by enveloping them and allowing their force to expand him. He can enclose and absorb the energy of a large explosive, on the order of 8 to 12 pounds of TNT (excluding exotic, high density explosives). Such shocks to his system are physically exhausting.
** Redirect Projectiles: After his body absorbs the kinetic energy of a ballistic projectile's impact, Mister Fantastic can expel the object back along its trajectory by flexing his body like a trampoline if he is adequately braced.
* Elongation: Mister Fantastic can extend his limbs, torso, or neck to great distances: the maximum length he can distend before his body segments become painful is about 1,500 feet. (Although he can extend discrete body parts, such as a single finger, an ear, or an eye, he seldom if ever isolates such parts in his elongations.)
** Grappling: Mister Fantastic may restrain opponents very efficiently by using his elastic form to entangle them.
** Movement: Mister Fantastic can move at great speeds by stretching to his destination.
* Shape Changing: Mister Fantastic can stretch, deform, expand, or compress his entire body or parts into any contiguous shape he can imagine for a variety of uses.
** Imitation: Mister Fantastic may alter his basic physical features, allowing him to take on the appearance of any other man with similar hair and skin tone. One time, Mister Fantastic actually increased his size and mass density, in effect bulking his body to "Thing"-like proportions while increasing his strength to the same levels as well. The force of his strikes was enough to stagger even Onslaught.
** Canopy, Parachute or Sheath: Mister Fantastic can extend his body in two directions, creating a canopy, parachute, or sheath, its thickness determined by the extent of its distention.
** Gliding: Mister Fantastic can transform himself into aerodynamic shapes such as parachutes or hang-gliders. In this form he can support an additional 1000 pounds (enough to hold the rest of Fantastic Four, even the Thing).
** Cushion: Mister Fantastic may form his elastic form into a trampoline and other cushion-like objects, allowing him to safely catch falling people and objects.
** Sling Shot: Mister Fantastic may use his elastic form as a slingshot to hurl objects with great force. Johnny Storm used his body to hurl the Thing and Medusa ten New York City blocks.
** Geometric Shapes: Mister Fantastic has compressed his body into the shape of a solid sphere, a cylinder, a cube, a toroid, and a rectangular prism: he can assume the shape of any solid that he can envision clearly, of a volume no greater than 1.7 cubic feet (a sphere about 18 inches in diameter). He can generate thin-walled shapes that enclose great volumes of space.
** Bludgeoning Weapons: Mister Fantastic may form his fists into large hammers, maces, etc., which improve his physical effectiveness in hand-to-hand combat.
** Bouncing Ball: Mister Fantastic can transform himself into any of a number of resilient shapes, such as balls or springs that allow him to leap or bounce great distances.
** Two-Dimensionality: Mister Fantastic can flatten himself to the thickness of an average sheet of typing paper (.0035 inch) or narrow himself to a diameter small enough to pass through the eye of a #10 beading needle (about .045 x .06 inches).
** Infiltration: Mister Fantastic can lower his body's cohesion to such an extent that he can actually flow through minute openings.
** Open Locks: Mister Fantastic may form his fingers into various types of keys, allowing him to open most forms of mechanical locks.
** Wind Generation: Mister Fantastic may form his hands into fans, allowing him to generate wind by twirling them at great speeds.
** Semi-Solid Liquid State: Mister Fantastic can willfully reduce his body into an almost liquid state in order to flow out of small cracks or passages, even through needle-sized holes.
=== Abilities ===
Super-Genius Intelligence: Dr. Richards is one of the most intelligent beings on the planet. Reed possesses a mastery of electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, electronics, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology. A visionary theoretician and inspired machine smith, he has made breakthroughs in such varied fields as space travel, time travel, extra-dimensional travel, biochemistry, robotics, computers, synthetic polymers, communications, mutations, transportation, holography, energy generation, spectral analysis and more. He is one of the few people on Earth to be an expert on other dimensions and the methods by which to travel to and through them. Reed's patents are so valuable that he is able to bankroll the Fantastic Four, Inc., without any undue financial stress. Not only has Reed proven himself to be a genius in virtually every science native to Earth, he has shown himself to be more knowledgeable than even some of the most highly advanced alien civilizations in the known universe as well. He has often been stated to be the smartest man on Earth, and possesses a photographic memory.
Hypnotism: Mister Fantastic is trained in hypnosis.
Martial Arts: Mister Fantastic is one of Earth's best Judo experts. He is the master of Atemi-Waza (body-striking techniques).
=== Weaknesses ===
Fantastic Four Power Synergism: The original members of the Fantastic Four are tethered to each other, and act as as their own conduits of power. They can be apart within their own universe and retain a connection, but prolonged periods cut off from each other in other universes result in a gradual decline in power levels. If they spend too much time separated this way, they would eventually become powerless.
== Paraphernalia ==
=== Equipment ===
Although the Fantastic Four have numerous devices, crafts, and weapons, there are some items that Reed Richards carries with him at all times:
Fantasti-Flare: Launches a fiery "4" symbol into the sky that is used during combat situations to let other members of the group know their location.
Fantastic Four Uniforms: Like all the Fantastic Four'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 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.
Universal Translator: Reed has a Universal Translator that can decipher and interpret languages, both alien and terrestrial, into the native language of the user.
Memorium Device: This device allowed the Fantastic Four to look through the memories of individuals.
* Along with his penchant for inventing, Dr. Richards is often known to rewrite works of Stephen Hawking and decode alien languages.
* Reed allegedly won Nobel prizes. One of which was for the discovery of the Negative Zone.
* Reed Richard is Agnostic and does not believe any human religion could be the one true religion. He well aware that Abstract Entities exist but would in no way worship them, considering them as highly evolved life forms, but also believes in a higher power that guides the universe, "Something bigger than us; something we can't totally comprehend". When asked by his son if he believed in God he answered "Yes I do Franklin. Because I believe religion and science go hand-in-hand".
** Reed has stated that the accident that gave him and the other members of the Fantastic Four their powers, as well as the fact that they survived the exposure and crash landing, led him to believe that there was "Something or someone bigger and more mysterious than us, who was watching us that day, protecting us". He cites the frequent resurrection of superheroes as "almost proof of a higher power, of someone who needs us to live to stop what's coming. To fight the good fight".
** Despite the clear and obvious use of magic in the Marvel Universe, Reed admits to having a poor understanding of it, often calling it a form of other dimensional science he doesn't understand. This may be why he duplicated Doctor Doom's Time Platform instead of inventing his own
** Based on the novel "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov, Reed put into practice one of the fictional concepts presented by said book, "Psychohistory:" the ability to use equations to predict future trends by mathematically modeling history. It was the first field ever created by Richards, and with it he can predict social trends to an extremely high degree of accuracy.
== Trivia ==
* The powers of all of the Fantastic Four are based on one of the four elements; 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 Fantastic Four (Vol. 2), X-Men / Fantastic Four, Ultimate Fantastic Four and in the Marvel Boy mini-series by Grant Morrison.
* Reed failed his driving test four times.
* Though both Moon Girl and Reed's own daughter Valeria have surpassed him in intelligence, Moon Girl still considers Reed Richards to be the "smartest man" on Earth.
* He served as a military consultant in the Siancong conflict.