Reed Richards (Earth-616) | Marvel Database | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] History I learned that the difference between living and dying is managing fear. Not being afraid so afraid of losing the things you love that you hold them too tight. I used to believe in universal contraction. Entropy and the end of all things. Well, I changed my mind. I'm letting go. Because now I believe in expansion. I believe we endure. Don't you see? Everything lives. -- Mister Fantastic Main article: Reed Richards (Earth-616)/Expanded History Early Years Reed Richards was born in Central City , California the only son of wealthy physicist Nathaniel Richards and his wife Evelyn , was a child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Evelyn died when Reed was seven.[ citation needed ] Education Nathaniel encouraged and guided young Reed in his scientific studies, and Reed was taking college-level courses. Reed entered college at fourteen at CalTech (California Institute of Technology) [ citation needed ]. He also attended Harvard University [ citation needed ] and M.I.T. [ citation needed ]. He studied abroad at the University of Vienna in Austria .

It is their he met fellow "super-genius"; Alyssa Moy . [4] By the time he was eighteen, had had obtained four degrees in fields such as engineering, math, and physics.[ citation needed ] It was when he was working on his fifth at 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 gained as his roommate 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. [5] 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 that 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. [6] [5] Doom blamed Reed for his deformities and he continually tried to prove himself superior to Reed, especially intellectually. They battled many times, but Reed almost always emerged triumphantly.[ citation needed ] Military Service Reed and Ben later served in the military together. Their time in war increased their trust in each other. [7] Richards also met Nick Fury during World War II . [8] [9] While attending Columbia University , Richards rented living quarters at the Manhattan boarding house owned by the aunt of a young girl named Susan Storm . Though she was still only a child, no more than twelve years old, Susan fell in love with the older Richards, much to his embarrassment.[ citation needed ] Three years before Reed Richards tested his starship, his father mysteriously disappeared. In fact, Nathaniel Richards had devised a time machine which he had used to attempt to journey into the future of his own world. However, the machine actually transported him to an alternate Earth with a history considerably different from our own. Reed Richards would be reunited with him while visiting this alternate Earth years later.

Before Nathaniel Richards left his own time, he made arrangements that left two billion dollars to his son. 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.[ citation needed ] Fantastic Four Richards recruited his old friend Ben Grimm, who had become a successful test pilot and astronaut, to pilot the starship. Richards was joined in California by Susan Storm, who was now an adult. Richards and Storm were dating at the time. [10] Shortly before the starship was to be launched, Richards used his scientific knowledge to defeat the extraterrestrial being Gormuu , who had intended to conquer Earth. Richards’ encounter with Gormuu strengthened his resolve to finish the starship, which he saw as a first step for mankind to defend itself from extraterrestrial threats. [11] However, the federal government then threatened to withdraw its funding from the project. Richards decided to take the starship on a test flight himself before the funding was withdrawn. Grimm was opposed to the idea, warning that the starship's 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, entered the starship, and blasted off. They intended to travel through hyperspace in the ship to another solar system and back in order to convince the government to reconsider. However, unknown to Richards, a solar flare caused Earth's Van Allen radiation belts to be filled temporarily with unprecedented, ultra-high levels of cosmic radiation . Since the ship was designed to shield against ordinary levels of radiation, the cabin volume was subjected to 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, named himself Mister Fantastic, while Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm named themselves the Thing, the Invisible Girl (later the Invisible Woman), and the Human Torch, respectively. [10] The profits from Richard's patents and royalties funded the team's activities. Under Richards’ leadership the Fantastic Four has become Earth’s most honored team of superhuman adventurers, and has saved the world from conquest or destruction many times. Richards proposed to [12] and eventually married Susan Storm in a wedding ceremony attended by most of the world's heroes, [13] and they had a son, Franklin . [14] Franklin proved to be a vastly powerful mutant whose fluctuating abilities have alternately saved or menaced both the Fantastic Four and the world, forcing Reed to take steps to contain Franklin's powers. On one such occasion, Franklin's mind was temporarily shut down. An outraged Sue, already resentful of Reed at this point because she felt that he did not regard her as an equal, left her husband and quit the team.

She was replaced in the Fantastic Four for an extended period by Medusa of the Inhumans , but Sue reclaimed her spot on the roster after she and Reed finally reconciled. However, Reed and Sue were separated. [15] A number of Earth's most powerful heroes -- Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Professor X, Iron Man, and Namor -- traveled to Skrullos to confront the Skrull King, informing him that the Earth was strictly off-limits. Upon arrival, however, the heroes were captured and experimented upon before they were able to escape. Mr. Fantastic would later blame himself for the Skrulls increased transforming powers. While the meeting predictably turned violent, the experience would provide the basis for the later establishment of the Illuminati . The secretive group of Earth's most influential heroes would meet only a few times, and these, only to tackle events of extraordinary importance. Reed added the viewpoint and perspective of a scientist. [16] After losing his powers for a time, Reed was imprisoned and impersonated by the Brute , his then-criminally insane counterpart from the High Evolutionary 's Counter-Earth , who ultimately exiled himself to the Negative Zone after finally regaining his senses.

The Fantastic Four even broke up for a while, during which time Doom hypnotized Reed into capturing his former teammates as the Invincible Man. The team regrouped after Reed took a solo space flight into the Van Allen radiation belts, guided by information from colleague Stephen Beckley (later Comet Man ), regaining his powers at amplified levels, and the Fantastic Four foiled Doom's latest world-conquering plot. Later, seeking a more normal family life, Reed and Sue established a household in small town Belle Porte , Connecticut for a while, living quietly in disguise there as the Benjamin family while continuing to serve with the Fantastic Four in their original identities. After a conflict during which he mercifully spared the life of the planet-eater Galactus , Reed found himself placed on trial in an interstellar court by survivors of the many worlds Galactus had consumed; but Reed was exonerated once the last-minute testimony of Eternity proved to the court that Galactus was a necessary aspect of the cosmos.

On the family front, Sue's second child was stillborn despite Reed's frantic efforts to save their unborn baby; Reed discovered that his own long-lost father Nathaniel was living a new life with a new family on Other Earth; and an embittered Thing quit the Fantastic Four, partly because a well-intentioned Reed had withheld information from him regarding the state of Ben's ability to resume human form, an ability Ben lost due in part to Reed's misinformation. Ben's hand-picked replacement, She-Hulk , served a long stint with the Fantastic Four, but eventually left after Ben finally reconciled with the group and rejoined their ranks. Seeking a more normal family life again, Reed and Sue retired from the Fantastic Four altogether to concentrate on raising Franklin, leaving Ben in charge of the group. To replace them, Ben recruited his friend Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura) and Crystal (who had already served as Sue's substitute during and after Sue's first pregnancy); however, Reed and Sue's retirement was short-lived. After teaming with several Avengers to rescue a captured Franklin during a demonic invasion , Reed and Sue reluctantly agreed to join the Avengers , who were critically short-handed at the time.

But Reed was too accustomed to leadership himself to serve smoothly under Captain America for long, so Reed and Sue amicably stepped down from active Avengers membership after only a few missions with the team. They later resigned their Avengers membership altogether after rejoining the Fantastic Four. They remained friends and allies to the Avengers, though. When Reed and Doom seemingly died [17] as a result of their conflict with the alien Hunger , they were actually spirited away by the space-time-warping Hyperstorm , mad son of an alternate-future Franklin Richards. Hyperstorm kept Doom as a tortured captive and trapped Reed in the distant past for months, during which time the world believed both Reed and Doom to be dead. In Reed's absence, Sue took over leadership of the Fantastic Four and served capably in the role, recruiting Ant-Man as the team's new scientist. However, she refused to believe Reed was truly dead, and she rebuffed romantic advances from Namor . Reed was eventually rescued. The entire Fantastic Four appeared to die in battle with the psychic monster Onslaught . Instead they (and the Avengers) found themselves on Counter-Earth , in a pocket universe Franklin had created to save them.

In a sense, they had been reborn and had to start their lives over. [18] Once the heroes on Counter-Earth realized what had happened, they returned to their original homes. [19] An even more surprising resurrection unfolded during the team's reality-warping conflict with the cosmic being Abraxas when Franklin revealed he had used his powers to rescue Sue's seemingly stillborn second child years earlier, and that this child had been raised in an alternate future to become the Marvel Girl (Valeria Von Doom) who was now an ally of the present-day Fantastic Four. As a side-effect of Abraxas's defeat, Marvel Girl was restored to her original state, as an unborn child in Sue's womb. This time, Sue's pregnancy resulted in the birth of a healthy baby girl, christened Valeria in memory of Doctor Doom's first love. (Doom had insisted on naming the child in exchange for assisting with the difficult birth.) Later, Doom would exploit his special bond with the child to employ her as a mystical familiar, using sorcery to mount one of his most ruthless and terrifying attacks on the Fantastic Four ever.

In the end, Doom was taken by his own demonic benefactors, but not before he hideously disfigured Reed's face as a petty parting gesture. Physically and emotionally scarred, Reed led the Fantastic Four into Doom's now-leaderless Latveria , where he worked obsessively to dismantle Doom's regime, neutralize his arsenal, erase Doom's legacy and create a better state, becoming increasingly tyrannical himself in the process and ignoring threats of international criminal charges from the United Nations . At the same time, unknown even to his teammates, Reed was secretly plotting to retrieve Doom from Hell and place him in a specially prepared other-dimensional prison from which he could never escape; but this transfer was unwittingly interrupted by the rest of the Fantastic Four, allowing Doom to escape long enough to kill the Thing. Devastated, the remaining Fantastic Four returned to America, where their standing with the authorities and their reputation with the general public had taken a terrible beating due to the Latverian controversy. The Fantastic Four broke up, Reed and Sue split up, and Reed was even forced to sign over most of his patents to the government as part of a deal to escape prosecution. However, Reed was certain that Ben could be resurrected.

He convinced Sue and Johnny to join him in this quest, which ultimately led them to the gates of Heaven itself using a modified model of Doom's old afterlife machine. Persuaded it was not yet his time, Ben agreed to return to the land of the living with his friends-and the Creators allowed it, even healing Reed's facial scars as a parting gift. With the Fantastic Four back together, Reed led them in rebuilding their reputations and their finances. For a time, he also steered the team into taking on more conventional civilian occupations as life experience; but his chief goals continued to be raising a family, protecting humanity and seeking knowledge in all corners of the universe and beyond. Civil War During the Civil War , Reed Richards was one of the leading figures, along with Iron Man , on the side favoring the Superhuman Registration Act . Reed's true motive for supporting the registration act was due to his development of a working version of Isaac Asimov's (fictional) Psychohistory concept. His application of this science indicated to him that billions would die in escalating conflicts without the presence of the act.

[20] He speculated that this would lead to conflict with his wife, which came true when a clone of Thor , created by him and Iron Man, lost control, killed Goliath and nearly killed all the rest of the Secret Avengers as well until Sue stepped in and saved them. [21] Soon after, Sue left Reed, along with Johnny, to join the Secret Avengers in hopes that it would drive Reed to end the conflict quickly. In the final battle of the war, Reed was shot by Taskmaster as he was saving Invisible Woman's life. [22] He survived, however, and Sue returned to him in the aftermath of the battle, having been granted amnesty. With their marriage in jeopardy, Reed and Sue agreed to “take a break” from the Fantastic Four to focus on each other. While away on a second honeymoon Reed asked The Black Panther and Storm to take their places on the team. [23] Betrayed by a Skrull disguised as Hank Pym . Reed and Sue reunited with the Four when the Hulk returned to Earth seeking revenge on the Illuminati. [24] Reed was defeated and thrown into Madison Square Garden, which had been turned into a gladiatorial arena by the Hulk.

Hulk implanted the Illuminati members with obedience discs and forced them to fight each other. However the Hulk spared them from being forced to kill each other, deciding that he had shown them and that he had proved his point to the world. They survived the encounter by Hulk's mercy and the timely intervention of the Sentry , who weakened Hulk enough for Stark to use prototype defense satellites to negate the Hulk's powers. Future Foundation Reed and the Future Foundation. After the Human Torch sacrificed himself to save the Baxter Building from the Annihilus 's Annihilation Wave, the Fantastic Four disbanded. The Future Foundation started acting in its place. [25] Due the presence of Reed Richards of alternate universes, Mr. Fantastic made an alliance with many villains such as Mad Thinker, AIM, Wizard, Diablo and High Evolutionary to plan how to stop them. Then they lead the battle to High Evolutionary's city where one of the Richards escaped with Doctor Doom and the others two were captured by the Kree army. After returning to Baxter Building , Richards reunited other heroes to fight the Inhumans in Attilan, but at the time they where preparing to go at the rooftop, a Kree invasion started.

Reed used Iron Man's armor and Sue's power to create a force field around Manhattan, at the same time the Cult of the Negative Zone opened the portal to the Negative Zone after Spider-Man failed at stop them, the portal revealed a living Johnny Storm with a enslaved Annihilus. [26] Then Johnny gathered the team drawing with fire the symbolical "4" at the sky above the Baxter Building. Reed, Sue, Ben and Peter boarded one of the Annihilation Wave's ships controlled by Johnny, who used the rest of the ships to battle the Kree army until the Inhumans asked to finish them by their own hand. [27] Meanwhile the other heroes on Earth where dealing with the scraps of the battle which could damage the Earth, Reed and Sue summons Galactus, who destroys completely the Kree army. That moment, the Mad Celestials appeared to destroy this universe. Although the team tried to use the Hub (a weapon of mass destruction created by the Reeds), they couldn't defeat the Mad Celestials. Then, a future version of Franklin and Valeria appeared as part of Nathaniel Richards 's plan.

[28] The Future Franklin used his power to heal Galactus and destroy the Mad Celestials, saving the day. [29] Later, the Baxter Building was easily rebuilt, Mr. Fantastic showed a new secondary headquarters called Foundation and new costumes were given to the members of the Future Foundation, as part of the reformation of the Fantastic Four. [30] Voyagers Reed's cells begin degenerating. After finding out that during one of their explorations he developed a sickness which caused the cells of his body to start degenerating, Reed decided to disguise a travel through time and space to find a cure as a family excursion. [31] They discovered their sickness had been caused by an overload of their powers, as the abilities of an alternate reality version of themselves had them stripped from them when trying to stop Doctor Doom , who had conquered their Earth. [32] After helping their depowered counterparts from that alternate universe defeat Doom the Annihilating Conqueror , the Fantastic Four re-stabilized their powers and returned home.

[33] Time Runs Out Reed had returned to form part of the Illuminati with the presence of a new threat: the Incursions , [34] events in which universes collided with their respective planet Earths as the focal point, and the only way to prevent the death of one's own Earth was to destroy the colliding one, [35] for which the Illuminati had to prepare themselves to do "the unthinkable," destroy an innocent planet. [36] Soon after being forced to confront a colliding Earth inhabited by noble heroes , [37] an event after which none of the Illuminati were willing to destroy that Earth, Namor decided to take matters to his hands and do it. [38] After Captain America discovered the Illuminati's activities regarding the possible destruction of worlds, [39] he decided that the Illuminati's actions shouldn't be tolerated, and disposed the Avengers to hunt them down. [40] While on the run, the Illuminati attempted to find numerous times a way to solve the problem of Incursions, from trying to create a new Earth with a Cosmic Cube and then with Franklin Richards' powers, to asking for help to the Celestials.

However, all of their plans failed. [41] After setting a trap to Steve Rogers and his forces, [42] [43] both parties managed to reach a middle ground [44] and started working together. [45] Secret Wars Reed and the Future Foundation began working on vessels capable of surviving the imminent destruction of the Multiverse . [46] When the final incursion took place between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 , Mister Fantastic gathered in the life raft every person he could and deployed its measures. When the vessel approached the central point of the incursion, it suffered a hull breach that led to the death of Reed's family. [47] The life raft reached its destination, whatever thing which was left of the Multiverse , namely Battleworld , a patchwork planet composed of the remnants of different realities, created by Doctor Doom, who had seized the power of the Beyonders as his own.

[48] The raft was found five years after Battleworld's creation by Stephen Strange , the sheriff of this planet and right hand to Doom, who kept it hidden in his sanctuary, the Isle of Agamotto , fearing something of great consequence was inside it, but not knowing it was the bodies in stasis of the few other survivors of Earth-616. With the public discovery of another similar vessel, which was revealed to contain the survivors of Earth-1610 , the Maker and the Cabal , Strange investigated the one he had found, and freed Mr. Fantastic and the other survivors. After learning about Battleworld, Reed immediately opposed the idea of such a man as Doom governing everything that was left of reality, [49] and began working together with the Maker, Reed's own counterpart from Earth-1610, to bring him down. [50] When discord arose in Battleworld as a consequence of the Cabal's meddling, Mr. Fantastic and the Maker infiltrated Doom's castle in Doomstadt while the God Emperor was dealing with the marching forces that opposed him. [51] Mr.

Fantastic and the Maker came across an alternate version of Sue Storm who was married to Doom and had his children, realizing that Doom had basically stolen his life. The two Reeds soon came across the Molecule Man , the source of Doom's power. After discovering Richards' meddling, Doom confronted him, but as he wished to make the fight fair, the Molecule Man reduced his powers. During a furious battle, Doom accused Richards of believing he could've done better had he had Doom's power, and when Reed conceded he did, so did Doom. On the grounds that both agreed, Molecule Man gave his power to Reed, destroying Battleworld in the process. With the power of a god in his hands, Reed rebuilt Earth-616, bringing all of its inhabitants back with no memories of what had occurred. Mr. Fantastic also brought his family back from the dead, and together with their help, began to reconstruct the entire Multiverse . [52] 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's meticulous, scientific nature can cause him to be cold and distance toward family and friends, but Reed is also an extremely likable fellow who keeps a pleasant smile on his face and deeply cares for those he is close to. 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 to be a form of autism. [53] It was later confirmed that Reed has a form of autism. [54] Powers and Abilities Powers Gifted superhuman powers by cosmic rays bombarding his body. Hyper-Intelligence: Mister Fantastic’s natural mental abilities were greatly augmented by the Cosmic Rays that gave him his powers.

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 is 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. [55] 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 thereof 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. [56] 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. 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. Fist 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. Omnipotence: Reed Richards acts as a vessel to the Molecule Man 's unlimited source of power. He has shown the ability to create together with his son Franklin entire realities. [52] Abilities Reed in the Avengers 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. [57] He has often be stated to be the smartest man on Earth. [58] Hypnotism: Mister Fantastic is trained in hypnosis.

Technological Achievements Strength level Mister Fantastic possesses the normal human strength and build of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate exercise, but thanks to his malleable body, he can mold himself into stronger, more attack-based forms. 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 Main article: 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 uniform Main article: Fantastic Four Uniform 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 Johnny's costume doesn't burn when he "flames on," Sue's costume turns invisible when she does, and Reed's costume stretches with him. The costume also insulates them from electrical assaults. In addition, the team's uniforms are also, in essence, wearable computers. Their costumes have a complete data processing and telemetry system woven into the material of the uniform on a molecular level.

This forms a network with the entire team, providing a constant, real-time uplink of everyone's physical condition as well as their location and current situation. The suit is capable of displaying data and touch-pad controls on the gauntlets. Its sensors can track all of the team's uniforms and provide a picture of their immediate vicinity. The suit has an intricate scanner system which can detect things around the wearer, from how many people are in the next room to what dimension or planet they are on. Reed can also up-link the bodysuit to any computer by stretching his fingertips to filament size and plugging them in to an I/O data-port. With this, Reed can establish a fairly comprehensive database of any computer's cybernetic protocols and encryption algorithms. Universal translator Main article: Universal Translator Reed has a Universal Translator that can decipher and interpret languages, both alien and terrestrial, into the native language of the user. [59] Former equipment the Reality Gem Notes Along with his penchant for inventing, Dr. Richards is often known to rewrite works of Stephen Hawking and decode alien languages.

Reed Richard is an Atheist , he is well aware that Abstract Entities exist but would in no way worship them, he treats them as are highly evolved lifeforms. [60] Mr. Fantastic was one of the characters featured in Series A of the Marvel Value Stamps issued in the 1970's. Marvel Value Stamp #34 Despite the clear and obvious use of Magic in the Marvel Universe, Reed admits to having a poor understanding of magic. Often calling it a form of other dimensional science he doesn't understand..."yet" 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. [20] 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 Heroes Reborn Fantastic Four , X4: X-Men and Fantastic Four , Ultimate Fantastic Four and in the Marvel Boy mini-series by Grant Morrison . Marvel: "The Fantastic Four" - ROBLOX Marvel: "The Fantastic Four" Free Get "The Fantastic Four" is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The four individuals traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four, who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space, are: Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius and the leader of the group, who can stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes; the Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm), who eventually married Reed, who can render herself invisible and later project powerful force fields; the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's younger brother, who can generate flames, surround himself with them and fly; and the monstrous Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy but benevolent friend, a former college football star and Reed's college roommate as well as a good pilot, who possesses superhuman strength and endurance due to the nature of his stone-like flesh. Type Apr.

06, 2014 Description "The Fantastic Four" is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The four individuals traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four, who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space, are: Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), a scientific genius and the leader of the group, who can stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes; the Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm), who eventually married Reed, who can render herself invisible and later project powerful force fields; the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's younger brother, who can generate flames, surround himself with them and fly; and the monstrous Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy but benevolent friend, a former college football star and Reed's college roommate as well as a good pilot, who possesses superhuman strength and endurance due to the nature of his stone-like flesh. Read More Read More Marvel Superhero Teams Marvel Superhero Teams Marvel Superhero Teams Marvel Comics is all about teams.

Marvel's Silver Age began with the publication of a team comic, Fantastic Four #1.Since then, teams of Marvel superheroes, like the well-known Fantastic Four , the X-Men , the Avengers , along with a host of somewhat lesser-known superhero teams such as the Defenders, the Champions, the Thunderbolts, Alpha Flight, and others, defend the world from evil villains, nasty space aliens, and various supernatural baddies. Below are summaries of several Marvel superhero teams brief descriptions with a listing of their best known members: Alpha Flight-Canada's best known (only?) real super-team, featuring Sasquatch, Northstar, Snowbird, Guardian, and Puck. Wolverine has a history with this team. Northstar is best known, by the way, as one of the first openly gay superheroes in Marvel (or any) Comics. The Avengers --Earth's Mightiest Heroes, came together one day to face down a threat greater than any one hero could manage. The original team consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and, incredibly, the Hulk. Captain America joined the team in issue # 4, and the rest is history...comicshistory, that is!

Champions-The Champions were made up of former members of other teams. Hercules and Black Widow from the Avengers, Angel and Iceman from the X-Men, and the Ghost Rider, (former member of Team Hell). Defenders-Marvel put this team together as "non-team" of "outsiders" who do not normally play well with others. The Defenders originally consisted of the Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Namor, the Sub-Mariner. The Silver Surfer later joined the Defenders. The Defenders often battled mystic and supernatural threats. Valkyrie, Nighthawk, and Hellcat are other notable members who later associated with the Defenders. Some of the best moments in Defenders comics came with the continual bickering and battling between Hulk and Namor. Fantastic Four -Marvel's legendary First Family: Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Thing, and the Human Torch defend the world, while still behaving like a slightly dysfunctional (that is, normal) family. Heroes for Hire-Founded by Luke Cage (Power Man), and Daniel Rand (Iron Fist), Heroes for Hire was a bit different for a super-group in that they offered a full line of professional investigation and protection services for paying customers.

As heroes, of course, they also did a lot of pro bono (free) work. The Howling Commandoes- These World War Two soldiers were led by Captain America in the movie , but in reality (i.e. the comics), they were led by Sgt. Nick Fury, who, for several good movie continuity reasons, could not have commanded this group in the recent movie. As we know, Sgt. Fury became Colonel Fury in the modern age, and went on to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. Invaders-Speaking of World War Two, the Invaders were a group of super-heroes ret-conned into existence in the 1960s by Marvel, based on a "real" 1940s superhero team called the All-Winners Squad. Both teams featured Captain America , the original Human Torch, and Namor, the Sub-Mariner, along with the sidekicks Bucky and Toro. Runaways-Great concept: A bunch of teen-agers discover their boring old parents are really super-villains, run away from home, and discover the wonders and perils of being nascent superheroes while on the lam.

Oh, and they can't get any respect from the adult heroes like Captain America and Iron Man . Thunderbolts-One of the best story ideas of the 1990s, in this writer's humble opinion: While most of the world's real heroes are missing (long story), a new super-group, calling themselves the Thunderbolts, fortuitously appears to save innocent people from the big, bad super-villains who are now preying on them. The surprise ending to their first comic, shows the new "heroes" as some of the vilest and most troublesome villains in Marvel history, including Baron Zemo, Moonstone, Power Man (NOT the "Power Man" Luke Cage), the Beetle, Screaming Mimi, and the Fixer. In reality, the Thunderbolts were the latest iteration of Zemo's Masters of Evil, the arch super-villain who regularly made life difficult for the Avengers. The X-Men --Originally billed as Marvel's strangest heroes, Fantastic Four / Comicbook - TV Tropes The Thing (Benjamin "Ben" Grimm), who is superhumanly big and strong — but also remarkably monstrous , and unlike the others , can't switch it off .

The characters first appeared in "Fantastic Four" vol. 1 #1 (November, 1961), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . The four were connected even before the same Negative Space Wedgie gave them all their powers — Reed and Sue were sweethearts and eventually got married, Johnny is Sue's younger brother, Ben is Reed's best friend since college (previously Reed's buddy from World War II , until Comic-Book Time forced a Retcon ) — and are as much a family (if occasionally a dysfunctional one) as a team. Reed is the World's Smartest Man, and his genius is often at least as useful as the powers he got from the accident. The royalty payments from all his inventions fund the Four's adventures, despite the fact that they never get implemented in the world around them , and lets them live in high style in the time between.

Their number one recurring enemy is Victor von Doom (Doctor Doom to you), who was at college with Reed and Ben and holds an almighty grudge against Reed for "sabotaging" one of his experiments: the experiment actually failed because of Doom's own error, which Reed noticed and tried to warn him about, but Doom's pride will not permit him to accept the truth. Reed may have Doom (narrowly) beat for the title of World's Smartest Man, but Doom is well ahead for the title of World's Vainest ( though he's not the one calling himself "Mr. Fantastic"... ). It really didn't help that the experiment in question literally blew up in Doom's face, marring his previously flawless good looks . These days he wears an iron mask at all times, usually as part of a full suit of battle armor . Their book kick started the success of Marvel Comics , and led to Spider-Man , the X-Men , and all the others. It also created many tropes ; the FF were the first superheroes without a Secret Identity , the first super-team where the members fought each other as much as the villains, and the first place that Kirby Dots appeared, among others.

The series spun off another book FF , meaning Future Foundation. Originally a temporary replacement for the regular Fantastic Four book, the Foundation is a scientific organization working for the betterment of mankind. The book features Reed and Sue's children, Franklin and Valeria; and notably includes Spider-Man and Doctor Doom as members. With the Marvel NOW! relaunch the new volume of the Future Foundation stars Scott Lang , She-Hulk , Medusa and Johnny Storm's current girlfriend, Darla Deering, while the main family is on a intergalactic vacation. The series was relaunched again with All-New Marvel NOW! and ended with issue #645. However some characters are going to appear in other titles separately. Valeria was a main character in a Runaways Secret Wars (2015) tie-in, and now Johnny Storm is appearing in Uncanny Inhumans and Uncanny Avengers and the Thing has joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. As for Reed and Sue Richards, they currently have their hands full rebuilding The Multiverse , which was destroyed in the lead-up to Secret Wars.

There have been several TV adaptations of the family, all animated ; The Fantastic Four (1967) , a 1967 Hanna-Barbera series with many episode plots taken straight from the comics, The Fantastic Four (1978) , the 1978 series with H.E.R.B.I.E the Robot in place of the Human Torch, Fantastic Four , a 1990s series that aired along with Iron Man as part of the "Marvel Action Hour/Marvel Action Universe", and Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes , a 2006 animesque French co-production . Ben also appeared in his own show in the late 1970s as part of Fred and Barney Meet the Thing ; on that show he was reimagined as a mild-mannered teenager, who had the power to turn back and forth from the comic-book alter ego with the help of a magic ring. ("Thing Ring, do your thing!") Oh, and he never actually meets Fred and Barney . The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! features the four as allies to the eponymous team.

In the mid-'70s, there was even a radio adaptation, which faithfully represented many key early Lee/Kirby plots, and which is notable for being one of the first acting roles for a just-starting-out Bill Murray (who played the Human Torch). In 1994, The Fantastic Four , a low-budget movie never intended to be released, was made by Roger Corman . Eleven years later, Fantastic Four , a big-budget movie, was released; it was followed in 2007 with a sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer . An unrelated Continuity Reboot , also called Fantastic Four , was released in 2015. In 1999, Lee and Kirby's original run was ranked #31 in The Comics Journal's list of the Top 100 Comic Books of the 20th Century, honored alongside the works of such greats as Carl Barks , Al Capp , Charles M. Schulz and Bill Watterson . While not the only mainstream superhero series to make the list, it was the highest ranked of any them.

In 2012, they got video game incarnations as playable heroes in the Facebook Marvel: Avengers Alliance game. In 2014, Marvel announced they would be cancelling the Fantastic Four comic. Also see Ultimate Fantastic Four , an (obviously) Ultimate Universe version where the main difference is that the Four are younger and a little less mature. The book lasted until the Ultimatum event, after which Johnny moved to Ultimate Spider-Man and then Ultimate X-Men . Their series contain examples of: Action Girl : Invisible Woman, and there have been two female stand-ins for Ben Grimm : She-Hulk , and Sharon Ventura, who was transformed into a Distaff Counterpart of The Thing. Crystal of the Inhumans also once filled in for Sue. So did Medusa, Crystal's sister. Action Mom : Invisible Woman, mother of two and still telekinetic butt-kicker supreme. Actually Pretty Funny : In issue 518 of the 1998 series: Johnny: AAAUUGH! It's horrible! Make it invisible! Make it invisible! Sue: Then how is Ben supposed to hit it? Johnny: I was talking about Ben.

Ben: You little...naw, wait, that wuz a good one. Alliterative Name : Reed Richards, Susan Storm. In fact, Stan Lee has commented that he used this to help keep the names straight. Eventually, Sue's name would cease to be alliterative, although the hyphenate Sue Storm-Richards is sometimes used. All the Other Reindeer : A Marvel staple... which is actually usually averted. The Fantastic Four are one of the more beloved heroes in the Marvel universe. All Your Powers Combined : The Super Skrull has all the powers of the Fantastic Four. When Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out, the Super Skrull was on the roster as their gameplay equivalent. Fantastic Four Canceled?: Marvel's First Family Takes a Break ‘Fantastic Four’ Canceled? Comic Books Will Be Disappearing from Shelves for Awhile Posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2016 by Ethan Anderton If 2015 was already a bad year for Fantastic Four, it doesn’t sound like 2016 is shaping up to be much better for Marvel’s first family.

20th Century Fox’s franchise reboot of the comic book property bombed hard at the box office and now Marvel Comics is shelving the superhero team, at least for awhile. Get the details below. First of all, if you’re a comic book fan and you’re reading Secret Wars, there are spoilers from here on out through issue #9. But if you’re in the clear on that front, or you just don’t care about knowing the ending of the final issue of the series, then keep reading. At the end of Secret Wars #9 (via THR ), Reed Richards, Sue Storm and their kids Franklin and Valeria end up outside reality with a group of students from the Future Foundation. Their primary goal is to create new universes in an attempt to repopulate a comic book multiverse that suffered some crushing blows thanks to the events that led up to Secret Wars. And as a line that functions both as character dialogue and a hint to fans, Reed Richards says this: No more superheroes for a while, just science. And no more Mister Fantastic, just Dad. That doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

Back in the fall of 2014, the primary Fantastic Four comic book that was still being published was revealed to be coming to an end , and now this is the last appearance of the superpowered quartet that will happen in the Marvel comic book universe for the time being. There has been speculation that a touchy relationship between Marvel and 20th Century Fox had the comic book company getting rid of the team for a while, out of spite for the movie studio holding on to the rights of their characters instead of letting them fall back to Marvel Studios. That buzz wasn’t helped any by the fact that a page in one of The Punisher comics in 2014 killed off the cast members of the Fantastic Four reboot . But Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort sat down for an interview with Comic Book Resources and explained some different reasoning: Fantastic Four has been one of those books that, for a number of years, has been effectively taken for granted. It’s been considered stodgy, or old school, or some people see it as a thing that’s there and people are comfortable because it’s there, but they’re not particularly passionate about it. So we’re not going to have that book for a while. That certainly makes sense.

Fantastic Four has been a staple of Marvel because it was one of the early titles. But it’s not exactly a comic book that has garnered a lot of attention or praise in recent years. This could actually end up benefiting Fantastic Four in the long run as Brevoort pointed out: We didn’t have a Thor book for a while. For a couple of years, there was absolutely no Thor book, and when Thor came back, it was a huge book. It continues to be a huge book to this day. I think that absence was part of what made people cherish its return, and then it was just having great talent to execute that return. If the same sort of thing happens with Fantastic Four that would not be the worst thing in the world. So if Marvel keeps Fantastic Four canceled for a couple of years and 20th Century Fox doesn’t end up making a sequel to their disastrous reboot (they’ve already pulled it from the release calendar in 2017), then maybe the rights will go back to Marvel Studios around the same time that Marvel Comics decides to bring them back to comic book shelves. That would be something that fans would get really excited about. So now is the time to say farewell Reed, Sue, Johnny and the Thing.

Well, not the Thing, because he’s hanging out with Guardians of the Galaxy right now. And not Johnny, because he’ll still be appearing in Uncanny Avengers and Uncanny Inhumans. And there’s also an alternate universe Reed Richards in New Avengers as well. You know what, don’t say bye to anyone. They’ll all be back eventually. Cool Posts From Around the Web: Fantastic Four | comic-book characters | Britannica.com comic-book characters comic strip Fantastic Four, American team of comic strip superheroes, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics in 1961, that brought an element of realism to the genre unique for its time. A cornerstone of Marvel’s universe of characters, the Fantastic Four remains one of the most popular superhero teams in comic book history. Promotional image from Fantastic Four (2005). Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation/Marvel Entertainment Origins The Fantastic Four no. 1 (November 1961) introduced a quartet of new characters: Dr. Reed Richards, a pompous scientist; Sue Storm, his lovely and somewhat reserved fiancée; Sue’s hotheaded teenaged brother Johnny Storm; and Richards’s beefy longtime friend pilot Ben Grimm .

The foursome commandeered an untested spaceship of Richards’s design from the U.S. military in a frantic but unsanctioned effort to beat the Soviets into space. In orbit, the craft was flooded by cosmic rays that genetically altered its passengers. Upon returning to Earth, the quartet discovered that they had been forever changed: Sue could fade in and out of view and eventually developed the ability to project force fields as the Invisible Girl (later Invisible Woman); Grimm mutated into the rock-skinned powerhouse dubbed the Thing; Richards became the rubber-limbed Mr. Fantastic; and Johnny erupted into flame, blazing through the skies as the Human Torch. Richards persuaded the group to join forces as the Fantastic Four, but the group’s dynamics made them more than a team: they were a family, albeit a dysfunctional one. Using science to explain the radiation that, in Marvel Comics’ universe of superheroes, created the … © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Fantastic Four (“The” was dropped from the title in issue no.

16) quickly became a triumph for Marvel, and an array of fearsome foes appeared and reappeared, including the oafish Mole Man, the Golden Age antihero Namor the Sub-Mariner, the alien Super-Skrull, and the towering Galactus, who gained sustenance by absorbing the life forces of planets. No menace was more persistent than Doctor Doom, whose hideously scarred face was hidden behind an ominous iron mask. This despotic mastermind—originally Richards’s scientific colleague Victor von Doom—habitually returned to plague the group and to engage Richards in intellectual battles, always with dire consequences. Similar Topics Spider-Man In Fantastic Four Annual no. 3 (1965), Reed and Sue were married in a wedding that was interrupted by a cadre of criminals, and a few years later their son, Franklin, was born. The Richards family was far from traditional, however: Franklin displayed dangerous reality-altering superpowers, and Mr. Fantastic repeatedly ignored his family by spending days holed up in his laboratory. The challenges of superheroic married life would become a recurring theme in the comic, no more so than when Sue and Reed’s second child was stillborn, despite all of Reed’s efforts to save her.

After Lee and Kirby By the late 1960s the Fantastic Four’s acclaim had extended beyond comic books. Fantastic Four (1967–68), an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera, borrowed heavily from the Lee/Kirby comics. Despite its short run, the cartoon spurred a flurry of merchandising and served as an early crossover success for Marvel. A dispute involving story contributions divided the team of Lee and Kirby, and in the 1970s both vacated the comic. A variety of creators ventured in and out of the title, some making minor contributions to the canon and others leaving a larger mark. The Thing headlined the long-running team-up title Marvel Two-in-One (1974–83), and members came and went from the team, being temporarily replaced by such heroes as Power Man, Crystal, and Medusa. The Human Torch was optioned for an unrealized live-action film, precluding his inclusion in the Fantastic Four’s second animated series, The New Fantastic Four (1978) on the NBC television network.

Johnny Storm was replaced in the show by a comical robot named H.E.R.B.I.E., and the program lasted only a single season, owing at least in part to the relatively low quality of its animation. Writer and artist John Byrne’s run during the 1980s on The Fantastic Four comic book (nos. 232–292, July 1981–July 1986) featured such memorable events as the induction of the She-Hulk as a temporary member and the evolution of the once-meek Invisible Girl into the forceful and liberated Invisible Woman. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent The 1990s did not bode well for the Fantastic Four. Convoluted plot lines impeded series continuity, and sales dropped as readers sought out stories that were grittier and, on the whole, more violent than those involving Marvel’s first family. In the 2000s the Human Torch was spun off into his own series, and Fantastic Four was restored to its former glory by writer Mark Waid and artist Mike Wieringo.

A decision by Marvel to remove the two creators in 2003 was met by such overwhelming backlash from readers that the move was soon reversed. An alternate-universe title featuring a younger version of the team, Ultimate Fantastic Four, premiered in early 2004. Superheroes Quiz The live-action Fantastic Four movie was released by Twentieth Century Fox in 2005, and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, followed in 2007. A new animated TV series, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, premiered in 2006 on cable television. In spite of these successful ventures into other media, sales of the Fantastic Four comic were moribund. Writer Jonathan Hickman took over the title in 2009, revitalizing the stalled book with a critically acclaimed three-year story arc that capitalized on the franchise’s traditional strengths: cosmic scale, super science, and family interaction. Twentieth Century Fox attempted to reboot its cinematic franchise with Fantastic Four (2015), but the film, derived in part from the first arc in the Ultimate Fantastic Four series, received a harsh reception from critics.

Promotional image from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation/Marvel Entertainment Fantastic Four Vol. 1 (Issues 345-604), Rare Fantastic Four Comic Books, Marvel's Fantastic Four Home Page / Testimonials / Contact / Faq / Grading / Links / Shipping Info / Returns Fantastic Four Vol. 1 (Issues 345-604) The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961), which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium. The Fantastic Four was the first superhero team created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, who developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title that they would use from then on. As the first superhero team title produced by Marvel Comics , it formed a cornerstone of the company's 1960s rise from a small division of a publishing company to a pop-culture conglomerate. Run your mouse over the links below to see a pop up image of the comic. Click on the link to see the comic at full size.

Fantastic Four (2005 film) | Marvel Database | Fandom powered by Wikia Fantastic Four (2005 film) Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. MPAA: PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some suggestive content Release Date(s) Von Doom Industries Space Station Items: New York Taxi's Plot Reed Richards , a brilliant but timid and bankrupt scientist, is desperate to get funding for a space mission to study a cosmic storm, approaches multi-millionaire industrialist Victor Von Doom . Victor agrees to let Reed and his friend Ben Grimm use his facilities, but decides that he and his assistant (also love interest, and former girlfriend of Reed) Susan Storm accompany him, and the mission is piloted by Von Doom astronaut Johnny Storm (Susan's brother and former subordinate of Ben). On the Von Doom space station, Ben is sent to arrange plants for experiments with the cosmic storm, while Reed monitors its approach.

Whilst Ben works, Reed find the storm is accelerating much more than he anticipated, and tries to get Ben back inside before it hits. When Victor refuses Reed's plea to abort the mission, the station is engulfed by its vast energies. Whilst Victor is seemingly safe behind the station's shields, the others attempt to rescue Ben (who was space-walking at the time) and are exposed to the cloud. The astronauts make it home intact and are taken to Victor's private hospital to recuperate. There, they begin to experience physical changes. Reed find his body is able to stretch far past normal lengths. Susan finds she is able to turn invisible, and Johnny finds he can engulf his body in flames without being harmed, and has some limited flying ability. Ben, however, is traumatized by his transformation into an orange, rocky creature of superhuman strength. Ben flees the hospital, heading back home. In New York, Ben contacts his former fiancee, but she is terrified by his new appearance. Dejected, Ben retreats back into the shadows. He finds himself on a bridge, where a man is contemplating suicide. In attempting to help him, Ben inadvertently causes a massive traffic accident.

He goes to help, as the rest of the team turn up. Using their new-found powers, Reed, Susan and Johnny help to save everyone involved in the accident, and are hailed as heroes in the media. Victor, meanwhile, is developing his own powers. The head wound he sustained begins to spread, and reveals a metallic layer underneath the flesh. He also finds an ability to affect electrical equipment and that metallic objects near him begin to vibrate. The Fantastic Four (although they have yet to adopt this name) all move into Reed's apartment in the Baxter Building , where Reed works to reverse the storm's effects, particularly for Ben. He subjects them all to tests, finding the hottest temperature Johnny can reach (as hot as a supernova, capable of vaporising all life on the planet) and finding the triggers for their powers. (He finds they are caused by emotion: when Susan is annoyed or angry she turns invisible. When Johnny is particularly excited, he can flame-on). However, he cannot work out why Ben is unable to turn his powers on and off. Johnny, tired of being cooped up inside, runs off to participate in a motocross event, exploiting his powers to pull off tricks.

As he finishes, the media swarms him, pressing for details of the team. It is now that he gives the team their names- Mr Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and The Thing. Ben is particularly put out by this moniker. Victor is called to a meeting by his stockbrokers, who inform him that due to the disastrous space mission, his company is in serious financial danger, and they are planning on withdrawing their capital. It is a final comment, suggesting Victor returns to his home country of Latveria , which causes Victor to snap and murder the head of the stockbrokers that evening. Victor decides that Reed is responsible for his problems, and by proxy the rest of the team. He finds Reed has been working on a machine to reverse their powers, but it lacks enough electricity to work. However, that is not a problem Victor has any more. He lures Ben into the machine and powers it himself, turning Ben human again. Victor then kidnaps Reed, and begins to freeze his body, knowing that if rubber is super-cooled it becomes so rigid that it can be shattered. He fires a heat-seeking missile at Johnny, knowing the Human Torch to be the hottest item in the vicinity.

Ben, meanwhile, realizes that if he is to be any use to his friends, he must become The Thing again. He steps into the machine. Susan tries to stop Victor and save Reed, but on her own she is not powerful enough. Fortunately, Ben, now The Thing again, arrives just in time to initiate the final showdown. As Johnny appears again, having avoided the missile and caused it to fly into the river by setting fire to a garbage barge and flaming off, the Fantastic Four is united against Doctor Doom (his body now completely metallic, and his face covered by the familiar mask). Reed co-ordinates an attack utilizing all their powers: Johnny flies around Doom, heating up to full supernova ability, whilst Susan holds a force-field around him to contain the heat. As those two members eventually stop, exhausted, a superheated Doom advances on the other two. Ben breaks open a fire hydrant, and Reed shapes his body into a funnel to shoot the water at Doom, cooling him rapidly and freezing his metal body solid. Ben informs Reed that he has accepted his condition with the help of Alicia Masters, a woman for whom he has developed feelings, and the team decide to embrace their roles as superheroes and unite officially as the Fantastic Four.

Reed takes Susan aside and proposes to her, which she accepts. Von Doom, meanwhile, is last seen loaded into a crate and shipped back to Latveria. The electronics on the ship experience unusual interference, and it appears that Doom is not dead after all. Cast Stan Lee as Willie Lumpkin Cast Notes As in almost all of the previous Marvel Comics-based films, Fantastic Four co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance. He is Willie Lumpkin, the mailman who greets the team on their way to the Baxter Building elevator. A number of other actors and actresses audition for roles in the film. These include: Paul Walker auditioned for the role of Johnny Storm / The Human Torch but lost the part to Chris Evans at the last moment. Several actresses tried out for the role of Susan Storm / The Invisible Woman including Rachel McAdams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Keri Russell, Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Elizabeth Banks but each were turned down. The role was later given to Jessica Alba. Interestingly, Elizabeth Banks was already an actress in a Marvel Comics film, Spider-Man as Betty Brant. Kate Bosworth and Elisha Cuthbert both auditioned for the role of Susan Storm / The Invisible Woman as well.

Their screen tests can be seen on the special features of the DVD. Also interestingly, Kate Bosworth would later star as Lois Lane in Superman Returns, a DC Comics film. Brendan Fraser and George Clooney auditioned for the role of Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic. James Gandolfini auditioned for the role of Ben Grimm / The Thing. Crew Based on a comic-book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Music by John Ottman Edition by William Hoy Notes Fantastic Four is a film released July 8th 2005, telling the origin of the superhero group The Fantastic Four, and their first battle against arch-nemesis Dr Doom. Fantastic Four is a 2005 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics comic Fantastic Four. It was directed by Tim Story, and released by 20th Century Fox. This is the second live-action Fantastic Four movie to be filmed. The previous attempt, a B-movie produced by Roger Corman, was never officially released. The film was released in the United States on July 8, 2005. It was the third superhero film of the year, after Elektra and Batman Begins.

Fantastic Four - 2005 Trailer Fantastic Four trailer Reaction The critical reaction was overwhelmingly negative, scoring only a 26% at Rotten Tomatoes and 40% at Metacritic, both movie review aggregation websites. The movie was criticized for weak storytelling, poor science, and paper-thin characters — especially the bland Doctor Doom , arguably one of the hallmark villains in the Marvel Comics world. In addition, Jessica Alba's performance earned her a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress. Many critics felt that this movie was widely surpassed by both Batman Begins and Sin City (also starring Jessica Alba), two comic book movies that were released in the same period. A major disappointment with the movie was the choice of casting, as neither Alba or Chris Evans have natural blond hair. Evans' hair was cut to make special effects easier but by doing so he loses the look of Johnny. The Storms while working for Doom were seen as "anti" Richards and Grimm.

Those who did like the film to some degree often praised Michael Chiklis for faithfully depicting his character's difficult adjustment to his transformation in a moving fashion while Chris Evans' character was considered a refreshing change of pace for modern superhero adaptations of a superhero who immediately takes delight in his powers without a resulting tragedy linked to them. However, many fans derided the producers' decision to place Chiklis in a bodysuit rather than using computer-generated effects or by the very least in a convincing body suit and make-up similar to what was seen in the movie version of the comic book Hellboy. Film critic Roger Ebert put this film at number 10 on his list of the top ten worst films of 2005. MSN ranked it #4 in their list of "worst superhero films." Fantastic Four proved a box office hit on its opening weekend. By September 2005, the film had totaled over $330 million worldwide with a domestic gross of $154 million. In addition the movie also did very well on the DVD Sales.

Deleted scenes Among the deleted scenes included on the December 2005 DVD release: There are three slightly modified penultimate scenes concerning the attack on and subsequent defeat of Doctor Doom - one in which Reed uses his body as a funnel to direct a stream of water at Doom, one in which he doesn't, and one in which Doctor Doom's line "Is that the best you can do, a little heat?" is cut short, having the "..a little heat?" portion removed. After the release of The Incredibles, the ending of the movie was rewritten because it was thought to be too similar. There are two different versions of a scene which includes Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd as Sue and Reed respectively. One version (the original) features the pair in the Planetarium, in which they communicate their feelings for each other properly without an argumentative tone. This ends in an inevitable kiss. The second version (used in the theatrical release) features the two outside, looking towards the Statue Of Liberty. Similar lines were used, but it ended where Susan turns invisible before Reed can kiss her.

A joke was used during the line "a stronger man": Instead of Reed giving himself a square jaw (as he does in the theatrical release), he makes his skin look like the X-Men's Wolverine. Actor Gruffudd breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera as he does this, suggesting the scene might have been filmed as a joke (similar to a practical joke filmed for the first X-Men film, in which stunt coordinator Scott Leva dressed up as Spider-Man and ran onto the set in the middle of a scene). The novelization of the film contained a number of scenes which did not appear in the final cut; most notably a small number of scenes that drastically developed the character of Alicia Masters. Sky Movies in the UK actually show a different version of the film to the theatrical or DVD releases. Among the changes, are the song playing in the bar scene not skipping when the Thing takes a step, the planetarium scene being reinstated and the masked Doctor Doom's voice changing from his regular voice to having an effect over the speech. Other parts of the film, such as Thing and Doom's underwater fight, are shortened whereas Reed's involvement in stopping Doom is removed.

Extended Cut In June 2007 an extended cut was released, incorporating over twenty minutes of deleted scenes. Sequel Its financial success has led to the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer , which debuted in theatres in 2007. It featured The Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom as its central villains, with an appearance by Galactus .

Question: The Marvel Comics superhero team led by Mr Fantastic was the Fanstastic (what)?
Answer: Four