Fantastic Four (Earth-616)

## Fantastic Four

### Locations

Base of Operations* Reed's Apartment, Central City, California, United States of America

### Goals

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #1* Find the origin of the Cave-ins
* Stop the Mole Man
* Escape Monster Isle

## Membership

### Members

* Reed Richards (Leader and Founding Member)
* Sue Storm (Founding Member)
* Johnny Storm (Founding Member)
* Ben Grimm (Founding Member)

## Affiliations

### Enemies

* Mole Man
* Skrull Empire
	+ Imposter Fantastic Four
* The Miracle Man
* Namor the Sub-Mariner
* Dr. Doom

## Real World Information

### Creators

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby

The **Fantastic Four** was a superhero team consisting of Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing. The Four's origins lied in space travel. Reed Richards had created a space ship and he, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm went on an authorized flight of the ship. The ship was exposed to cosmic radiation which mutated the passengers. The passengers gained extrordinary powers and formed the Fantastic Four.

## History

### Foundation

Reed Richards had created a spaceship but did not have the ordinance to fly it. Desperate to beat the Soviets in the Space Race, Reed attempted to convince Ben Grimm to pilot the ship but Grimm refused due to the unknown danger of the cosmic rays. Reed's fiancé, Sue Storm, managed to get Ben to agree by calling him a coward. Reed, Ben, Sue, and Sue's brother, Johnny, then snuck into the spaceport, near Central City and took Reed's ship the Marvel-1. The flight was initially well, but the ship flew into a cosmic storm and the resulting rays began having affects on the crew. The Marvel-1 crashed in Ithaca, New York and the group discovered they had gained powers: Reed gaining elasticity powers, Sue gaining the power to turn invisible, Johnny being able to turn on fire, and Ben transformed into a large stone monster. The four astronauts then decided to form the Fantastic Four in order to do good in the world.

### First Mission

Later, Reed learned about mysterious craters forming under atomic power plants all over the world and decided that it was time for the Fantastic Four to spring into action. Reed fired a flare into the sky to alert the rest of the team that they were needed. Reed then triangulated the origin of the incidents to Monster Isle. The group then flew a private jet there.

The Four began exploring the island but they were attacked by a three-headed monster known as Tricephalous. Sue distracted the monster with her invisibility and Reed formed a lasso with his arms and tossed the monster into the sea. The ground beneath Reed and Johnny then collapsed and they fell into a cavern, although Reed formed a parachute so that both he and Johnny could float safely. The bottom of the pit was pitch black, but Johnny found a trap door. When they opened the door a blinding light shot out at the pair and they fell unconscious. The two woke up in protective suits and were confronted by the Mole Man. The Mole Man explained his origin to Reed and Johnny and displayed his powers against Reed in a duel. Meanwhile, Sue and Ben began looking for them, but Sue was being stalked by another monster. Ben began fighting the monster and tossed it into the ocean. Reed was defeated and the Mole Man was prepared to call in his monsters to kill the two but Ben and Sue arrived in time to save them. The Mole Man summoned Giganto to fight them while he escaped, but Reed used his powers to catch him as Ben and Johnny began distracting Giganto. The Four then made their escape from the monsters chasing them, but Reed decided to let the Mole Man go. The Four made it to their jet and left just as the Mole Man blew up Monster Isle.

### First Battle with the Skrulls

One day the Fantastic Four was resting at a hunting lodge in the wilderness when they hear news of an imposter Fantastic Four causing mayhem. Reed attempted to think of who was capable of impersonating them, why they would want to do so for evil, and how to stop them but was forced to deal with Ben who began destroying the furniture in the lab because of his rage over the incident. The army then arrived to arrest the Four and Reed surrendered, unwilling to fight a massive group over something they had never done.

The Fantastic Four were then transported to a federal prison where they had specialized cells made for all of them. They all escaped through their own methods. The Four began hiding out in an apartment and Reed came up with a plan to trick the imposters by having one of the members to impersonate their imposter. Johnny volunteered for the role and while Ben objected, Reed supported Johnny and came up with a plan for Johnny to sabotage a rocket so the imposter Fantastic Four believe he is one of them.

Johnny did as he was told and was taken to the Imposter Fantastic Four's hideout where he learned the imposters were in fact a shapeshifting, alien race known as the Skrulls. Johnny fired a flare to alert the Fantastic Four to his location and the Four arrived to capture the Skrulls. Reed threatened the Skrulls with their own gun to tell them what their mission was, but the Skrulls refused. Ben became enraged and grabbed a desk and was about to beat them to death but was stopped by Reed. Reed then threatened to let Ben loose if the Skrulls didn't tell him what their mission was. The Skrulls relented and revealed that the four Skrulls were sent to Earth to get the Fantastic Four to be eliminated so a Skrull armada could invade and conquer Earth.

Reed then had a plan for the Four to impersonate their impersonators and convince the Skrull fleet to leave orbit and never return. The Four take the Skrulls space pod (which was designed to look like a normal water tower) and flew to the mother ship. Reed told the commander that an invasion of Earth would be impossible because of the immense danger. Reed then gave the commander pictures of monsters that appeared in the comic book Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery. The commander was convinced that an invasion was too dangerous and told the Four to revert to their original forms so they could leave. Reed then told the commander that he and his group planned to stay behind to erase the evidence of their existence, which touched the commander so much he gave them a medal of honor.

The Four returned to Earth and were once again hit by cosmic rays. Having landed back on Earth the Four were surrounded by the police and saw that the rays had turned Ben back into his human form, albeit only temporarily. Reed then convinced the police to come with the Four to see the Skrulls before they arrest them. The police relented and upon arrival were attacked by the Skrulls who morphed into monsters. The Four subdued the Skrulls and showed them to the Police who absolved them of their crimes. Reed then pondered what to do with the captured Skrulls which was a matter the police left in the hands of the Four. Reed decided to hypnotize the Skrulls into taking the forms of cows and dumping them on a farm in King's Crossing.

### The Miracle Man

One night the Fantastic Four was at a magical show and witnessed a magician known as the Miracle Man. The Miracle Man recognized the Four and call them out to the audience. The Miracle Man then mocked the power of the Fantastic Four and displayed his magical prowess and challenged them to a display of power. Ben accepted and they had a contest of strength through seeing who could destroy a log faster and the Miracle Man bested Ben. Ben then attacked the Miracle Man but couldn't harm him and Reed was forced to hold Ben back.

The four then used their new Fantasticar to go home, and Reed expressed his thankfulness that the Miracle Man wasn't a criminal as he was unsure if the Four would be able to stand up to him. Having arrived home at the Baxter Building, Johnny turns on the TV and sees that the premiere of *The Monster From Mars* is being televised. Sue then walked in and displayed new uniforms she designed and Reed tried his on. The footage of the premier then showed a glimpse of the Miracle Man in the crowd who used his magic to bring the giant statue of the titular monster to life and it goes on a rampage. The Four then took the Fantasticar which split into four separate vehicles and began scouring the city for the Miracle Man and the monster. Reed saw the monster and stretched to his limit to contain it, but the Miracle Man threw a brick at Reed and knocked him unconscious. Reed awakened and was taken to the police commissioner who lambasted Reed for his failure to stop the monster.

Johnny saw the monster attacking a military depot in an attempt to take an experimental atomic tank. Johnny began to battle the monster and Sue and Ben arrived to support him. From below the Miracle Man, disguised as a soldier, blasts Johnny with foam which causes him to plummet to the ground. Ben and Sue saw Johnny fighting the monster and moved to support him Sue and Ben arrived to support him. From below the Miracle Man, disguised as a soldier, blasts Johnny with foam which causes him to plummet to the ground. Ben attempted to attack to the Miracle Man but himself was defeated when the Miracle Man used his magic to open up the ground beneath Ben. Sue then radioed in and said that she would sneak on top of the atomic tank which the Miracle Man was stealing and signal the location the Miracle Man hid in.

The Miracle Man parked in a junkyard, and as Sue was about to signal the rest of the Four a dog smelled her and alerted the Miracle Man. The Miracle Man realized that Sue was using her powers to become invisible so he hypnotized her. Under the thrall of the Miracle Man, Sue fired a flare in the sky to signal her location to the rest of the Four. Reed met with Ben and Johnny at the Baxter Building. Ben and Johnny then got in a small fight with each other, which caused Johnny to storm out and Reed to admonish Ben for not being able to control his temper. Johnny went to a diner to hang out with his friends, but saw Sue's signal and rushed out to her location. Reed and Ben then saw the Fantasti-Signal over a junkyard, and took a helicopter there, unaware that the Miracle Man had found Sue and hypnotized her to do his bidding. Reed and Ben were confronted by the Miracle Man who turned a large key into a machine gun. Reed dodged the bullets by turning into a rubber ball, while Ben tanked the remaining bullets. The Miracle Man then grabbed Sue and attempted to escape using the atomic tank. Johnny arrived and told Reed and Ben not to use their helicopter as the Miracle Man had tampered with it. The three then grabbed an antique car and used it to chase the tank. The Miracle Man then shot out one of the tires, but Reed formed a new wheel out of his body. Johnny then flew in front of the tank and fires a flare which blinded the Miracle Man which allowed for his capture. Ben attempted to punch the Miracle Man but Reed stopped him and forced the Miracle Man to let Sue out of his thrall. Reed then explained that he had determined that the Miracle Man was not a magician but rather a skilled hypnotist. Reed further explained that because Johnny had blinded the Miracle Man, he was no longer a threat. Ben insulted Johnny and didn't like the insinuation that Johnny had saved the day, but Johnny quit the team because he was tired of being put down. Reed and Sue tried to dissuade him but were unable to.

### First Clash with Namor

Sometime later at the Baxter Building, the remaining members of the Fantastic Four were thinking about Johnny's absence. Reed attempted to assuage Sue's fears of Johnny being on his own while condemning Ben for being the reason that Johnny left in the first place. The trio took the Fantasticar and split up to scour the city to find Johnny. Reed went to a park and began questioning the teenagers there to see if they had seen Johnny somewhere, but was unable to get any information. Reed then moved on to asking the crew of a helicopter and people using a train. Sue went to the center of the city and checked all the hotspots teenagers would stay at. Ben investigated a garage that Johnny frequented and spotted him working on cars with his friends. Ben then burst through the wall and, knowing that Johnny couldn't use his powers because of the gasoline, decided he would teach Johnny a lesson for leaving the team. Ben came close to hurting Johnny, but he suddenly began turning into his human form which caused him to pause. Johnny took the chance to escape, knowing that Ben's sudden transformation would only be temporary. Just as soon as Ben regained his human form, he reverted to the form of the Thing.

Johnny then began hiding in the Bowery and decided to spend some time in a flophouse. There Johnny began reading through a comic about Namor the Sub-Mariner from the 1940s. Johnny pondered what happened to Namor as he had simply disappeared one day, when one of the lodgers stated that there was another lodger who had the strength that Namor supposedly had. The tenant attempted to goad the lodger to showcase his strength by tearing a phone book in half, but the lodger was irritated by these attempts and simply backhanded the other man away from him. This caused the rest of the lodgers to attempt to attack the man but the man fought them off. The man then voiced his discontent with his amnesia, Johnny called off the rest of the attackers and decided to use his powers to burn off the man's beard. The man turned out to be an amnesiac Namor, and Johnny decided to take him to the pier so that he could get his memory back with the reasoning that since Namor drew his power from the ocean then it should give him his memory back. Johnny dumped Namor in the sea, who swum off to Atlantis but found it in ruins. Namor returned to the pier and expressed his desire to exterminate humanity in retribution for the destruction of his kingdom. Johnny then fired a signal for the rest of the Fantastic Four.

The Four arrive at Johnny's location and he explained the events that transpired. Namor summoned a giant whale-like monster known as Giganto to attack New York City. The Four worked with the military in order to fight off the colossal creature. Johnny attempted to use his powers to defeat the creature, but it used water to extinguish his fire and Reed saved Johnny from falling to his death. Ben then had a plan of strapping a nuclear bomb to his back and entering Giganto's mouth and detonating it inside him. Ben's plan succeeded and he was then recovered by Reed and Johnny.

Namor attempted to summon more monsters, but Sue grabbed the Horn of Proteus. Namor then tackled Sue and wrestled it away from her, causing Sue to become visible again and Namor was enchanted by her beauty. Namor then told Sue that if she agreed to marry him then he would spare humanity. Reed and the rest of the Four confronted Namor who angrily stated that because of their intervention he will force Sue to be his bride and would exterminate humanity regardless. Sue attempted to convince Namor to spare humanity as she would marry him willingly, but Namor was insulted by the insinuation that Sue would be sacrificing herself by marrying him. The rest of the Four attempted to attack Namor, but he fought them off. Johnny then flew into the air and managed to create a tornado which sucked up Namor and the corpse of Giganto and flung them far into the ocean. In addition, Namor lost the Horn of Proteus to the depths of the sea. While the day was saved, the Four knew that they had not seen the last of Namor but resolved to be there to prevent his wrath.

### The Fantastic Four vs Dr. Doom

One day, as the Four were relaxing in the Baxter Building when Johnny and Ben got in a fight when Johnny compared Ben to a monster in a comic book (the Hulk). Reed subdued Ben while Sue subdued Johnny. As Reed was lecturing the two for their constant fighting, the lights suddenly went out and a net was draped over the Baxter Building. The Four were then confronted by Dr. Doom, and Reed explained that he knew Doom from his college years. Doom was a scientist and sorcerer who was creating a machine that would allow him to commune with the dead in Hell, however the machine malfunctioned and exploded in his face which scarred him horribly. Doom was expelled from the University and he traveled to Tibet in order to learn more about the Mystic Arts.

Doom took them as prisoners that would follow his commands if they wanted to live. Doom also demanded that Sue be delivered to him as a hostage so he could ensure the others follow his directions. Sue had no choice but to acquise to the demand, and while Reed wasn't happy with the deal he realized that it was the only option they had and that Doom may do something drastic if Sue didn't do as she was told.

The rest of the Four was then ordered to board Doom's helicopter and they did so. The Helicopter then flew to Doom's castle where Doom explained his plan for the Four. Doom wanted Reed, Ben, and Johnny to use the time machine he invented to go back into the past and steal Blackbeard's treasure for him and in exchange they will all be freed. Reed agreed to the terms and Doom activated his time machine sending Reed, Ben, and Johnny into the era of the Golden Age of Piracy in the West Indies. The trio stole some clothes to appear inconspicious. Hiding at a tavern, Reed attempted to formulate a plan to find Blackbeard and steal his treasure when the trio were knocked unconcious by drugged drinks.

The trio awoke on a pirate ship with some of the crew having drugged their drinks to forcebly press them into their crew. Ben rampaged through the ship defeating any pirates that he came across, with Reed and Johnny doing much the same with their powers. The Pirates on the ship formally ceded control to the trio, when they were attacked by another pirate ship. Reed took command and told Johnny and Ben to rally the troops for battle. Johnny attacked the other pirate ship, Reed formed a gangplank for the pirates to board the attacking ship, and Ben led the pirates into battle. With the battle won, the pirates began singing the praises of Ben who they began calling Blackbeard after the fake beard he was wearing. Reed and Johnny stole the treasure from the rival ship and figured out that Ben was potentially Blackbeard (or at least was believed to be him at one point at time) and that the treasure they were to steal was the one they were in the process of stealing. Reed divided the treasure between the men and decided to trick Doom by delivering the treasure chest to him, using his exact words that they were to recover the chest.

Ben refused to return to the present as he believed he had no future in the modern day, but since he would be Blackbeard he would have a notable legacy and live a good life. Ben had Reed and Johnny captured and put in a boat that would be lost at sea, so that the pair had no choice but to return to the present without him. Before, Ben had the chance a hurricane came and demolished the ship. The trio washed up on shore and Ben decided to forgoe his plan and return to the present with Reed and Johnny (who had recovered the treasure chest once again).

Doom used his machine to bring the trio back to his castle in the present. The Trio presented the treasure chest to Doom who explained that the gems in the chest were enchanted by Merlin so that their owner would have invincibility. When Doom discovered he had been decieved, Ben rushed and attacked Doom, however they discovered that Doom was just a robot duplicate known as a Doombot. The real Doom appeared on a screen and revealed he anticpated the betrayal and had brought them back into a room that could have all the oxygen cut off.

Sue managed to save the trio before they died, The Four then broke out of their confinement and used their powers to escape and force Doom to fight them on their terms. Johnny attempted to burn down the castle to force Doom out, however Doom used a jetpack to escape Johnny who exauhsted his flames. The Four then pondered that they now had two dangerous enemies, Namor and Dr. Doom, free to inflict their malice on the world.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

**Fantasti-Flare:** Reed created the Fantasti-Flare and used it to call upon the Fantastic Four.

**Fantastic Four Uniforms**

* **MK I**: Sue created the suit to act as a uniform for the team. The suit was comprised of unstable molecules which caused the suit to be attuned to the wearer's powers (in Reed's case the costume stretched with him [Even though his regular clothes did this anyway in earlier comics]), was insulated, The suit also acted as a moblie, wearable computer.

### Transport

**Marvel-1**: Reed created the Marvel-1 to achieve space travel. It was destroyed when it crashed back on Earth.

**Fantastic Four's Private Jet**: The Fantastic Four apparently had a private jet with a four on it. They used it to and from Monster Isle on their first adventure.

**Fantasti-Car MK I**: The Fantasti-Car was a flying car the Four used. The car could seperate into four different sections that could be independently piloted by each member.

**Fantasti-Copter**: The Fantasti-Copter was a helicopter the Fantastic Four used.

**Pogo Plane MK I**: The Fantastic Four had a special plane that could be used for long-range transport.

**Intercontinental Passenger Missile**: The Fantastic Four had a modified missile that the Four used for fast transportation or for space travel.

## Members

### Current Members

* Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards)- Leader and Founding Member
* Invisible Girl (Sue Storm)- Founding Member
* Human Torch (Johnny Storm)- Founding Member
	+ Johnny briefly quit the team after the incident with the Miracle Man but would rejoin to fight Namor.
* The Thing (Ben Grimm)- Founding Member

## Miscellaneous Information

### General Trivia & Notes

* The powers of Fantastic Four's powers are all based on the four classical elements. Reed's powers are based on water, Sue's are based on air, Johnny's are based on fire, and Ben's are based on earth.

### Discrepancies, Retcons, and Mistakes

* The origin of the Fantastic Four is retconned several times.
	+ The original origin was that the Four were attempting to beat the Soviets in the Space Race.
	+ The second origin was that the Four were attempting to get to Mars.
* While the Fantastic Four uniforms allow the Four to use their powers unimpeeded (like not affecting their clothing), even though that was already the case.