10444 TME4 195

Mr. Fantastic

Leader of the Fantastic Fonr

•W

O FACTFILE P REAL NAME (0 Reed Richarda fj OCCUPATION 2 ScteoUst. adventurer < SASE li. New Yoik City

K HEICHT 6tt lin 5 WEIOHT t80lbs EYES Brown HAIR Brown

FIRST APPEARANCE

Fantastic Four »1 (Novomber 1961)

A scientiDc gorwis. speaałzing m płrysjos. aeronautics; Mr. Farrtasttc can stretch, reshapo, oompress, or expand he onUre body or parta ol Iks body into any shape. He can strolch his neck. Urnbs or lorso up to 1,500 leet without pain. He can creete a canopy. słieath. umbrota, or parachute with his body.

ALLIES Susan Storni flnr^blo Woman). Ben Grimm (tl>e Thing), Jotwiy Storni (Humań Tcrch), Lyja tho SkruH, Abcm Master s

FOES GomUAi. LX:<:ti n Doom. Fngtitfui Four, Galactus. Powiel Maslor, ttw Sknjlis, Anrwhłlus, Blastaar. Diablo

Hes the leader of one of the world s most important Super Hero teams. Hes also a brilliant scientist. Kced Richards is Mr. Fantastic. As leader of the super hero group, the Fantastic Four. Mr.

Fantastic uses both his ability to strctch his body and his sharp scientific mitid in his qucst to help mankind.

A BRILLIANT STUDENT

The son of highly intclligcnt parents. Reed Richards was a child prodigy and a brilliant student. His father Nathanicl Richards was a wealthy physicist. Reeds mother. F.vclyn,died when the boy was seven ycars old.

Young Kccd showed a genius for inath. pliysics. and mcchanics. which his fither encouraged. Nathaniel guidcd his son s scientific studies. By the time Reed was fourteen. he was alrcady taking and cscelling in college-level courses. When hc reachcd college age, Reed attendcd several universiiies, induding Empire State Uniccrsity in New York.

It was there that Reed Richards met scvcr.il people who would play a major role in his later lite as Mr. Fantastic.VictorVon Doom was a foreign student from the nation of Latveria.This scientific genius was assigned to be Reeds first college

roomniatc, butVon Doom disliked Reed from the moment hc met him and asked for a new roommate. I.atcr. as Do< fok Doom, he would bccome Mr. F.mtastics and the Fantastic l ours greatest enemy.

ReplacingVon Doom as Reeds roommate was Benjamin J. Grimm, a former high school football star who. though vcry different in temperament, intcllect.and personality.tjuickly hecame Reeds best friend.

In college. Reed began working on plans to build a starship that would enable him to travel to other solar Systems.When he told his new roommate about this plan, Ben joked that it Reed could build the ship, Ben would pilot it.

This would not only tum out to be truć, but would also be the pivot.il cvent in both their lives.

Aftcr transferring to Columbia Uniwrsity in Manhattan. Reed rented a room from a woman whose daughter, Susan Storni, immediately fell for Reed. One day she would he his wifc, as well as his partner in the Fantastic Four.

In Novembcr 1961. issne number one of Fantastic Four ushered in the Moivel Aye of Comics and rirroduced mrllwna to what woutd become the Marvoi Uruwse Comłc books wou'd nevw bo tho same!

Reed Rtciards* attempt to make fńonds wrth fellow studont ViCtor Uon Doom werc rudeły Imished asido.

ESSENTIAL STORYLINES

•    Fantastic Four »5

V>ctof Vtan Doom błamos for ihe ‘acol scaf bo recewes when a machino exptodes. Ho dons a mask and becomcs Doctcx Doom. M'. FanlasTCs worst enemy.

•    Fantastic Four Annual #6

The oosmic ratki iIkki tiwt gavo Suo hef inv«łbility pOwer affecis hor rc<J bkxxls ceils. putling łier We and tho He of twr unbom chikl t\ danger.

A Fateful JOURNEY

Using nioncy left to him by his father, Nathaniel, s\ ho arrangcd for the fortuno to be given to keed whilc Nathaniel \\as on an alternatc Earth. keed bogan dcveloping his starship shortly alier college.When his own funds began to run out. keed got funding from the US Federal (»overnmcnt to completc the projeet.

Ho\vever, shortly bełorc Reed could complete the ship. the government threatened to cut off funding to the projeet. Desperate to prove that his starship would Hy, Reed decided to tako the ship up on a test Hight himself. Ben argued against the idea, telling keed that he thought the ship s sluelding would bo inadequate against the powerful cosmic radiation lound m spacc.

s body into o te Mr FantsstłC can ntmtch his nock to pmfc arouryj cnrners. or ovon (ook owy

bodies. keed discovcred that he could bend and stretch his body at will. Sue could turn herself invisible.Johnny could cover his body with flamos and also fly. Ben s skin was transformed into a orange. rock like substam o. and he gained tremendous st rengi h.

Reed becanie the team s leader, calling himself Mr. Fantastic. Sue called herself Invimm>: Girl (and later Inyisibli Woman).Johnny called himself the I Iuman Tokch. and Ben called himself the Ti UNO. Ali four agreed to use their newfound powers to help humanity.

Guidcd by the brilliant Reed Richards. the fantastic Four has become the most respected Super 1 Iero team on F.arth.Thcy have saved the planet from conquest and destruction at the hands of Super Villams and alien lorccs many times.

Reed and Sue eventuallv got married and had a son named Franklin Benjamin Richards, named for Sues father. Franklin Storni, and for Bon Grimm. Reeds best friend. MT

AT THE CROSSROADS

Mr. Fantastic floats at the Crossroads of Infinłty. where aH dimensions and universes intersect. A trave(er can /oumey from one dimension to another by carefulty navigating throogh the Crossroads. Doctor Doom proved this, using the Fantastic Four as his test subtects.

Mr. J.itti.iuu «.im nrrtch hit body wy// i*rrr 1,000 feti

■ on t

i

C/o

EncHM

auonl

•. i

ohm ■

Sue

pad

rtesujnod

keed fmaily convinced Ben to pilot slup on its test voyage. By this time, keed and Sue Storni were engaged insisted in eoiuing along on the Hig did her younger brother Johnny Storni. The quartet snuck onto the launc slipped onto the slup. and blasted into space.

Before they could achieve hyperspace and a journey to another solar system, an uruwpccted solar flarę shot intensc levels of cosmic radiation at the ship. Ben lud becn right.Thc ships shields were not cnough to withstand this ultra-burst of cosmic radiation which flooded the passenger compartment, irradiating the four astrnnauts and disruptmg the ship*s Controls. Ben was forced to cut short the flight and land back on Rarth.

Big Changes

Upon their return to Earth each member of the foursome soon discovered that the cosmic radiation had changed the vcry structure of their

TAC TAC UcTąc

, .v sr

łOUITWf