Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. Richards possesses a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology. BusinessWeek listed Mister Fantastic as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics. He is the inventor of the spacecraft that was bombarded by cosmic radiation on its maiden voyage, granting the Fantastic Four their powers. Richards gained the ability to stretch his body into any shape he desires.
Mister Fantastic acts as the leader and father figure of the Fantastic Four, and although his cosmic ray powers are primarily stretching abilities, his presence on the team is heavily defined by his scientific acumen, as he is officially acknowledged as the smartest man in the Marvel Universe. This is particularly a point of tragedy in regard to his best friend, Ben Grimm, who he has constantly tried to turn back into his human form but typically remains a large, rocky creature called the Thing. He is the loving husband of Susan Storm, father of Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards, and mentor of his brother-in-law, Johnny Storm.
The character of Reed Richards was portrayed by actors Alex Hyde-White in the 1994 The Fantastic Four film, Ioan Gruffudd in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Miles Teller in the 2015 film Fantastic Four.
Theme song: Reed and Sue (John Ottman)
Ikran's Fantastic 4 OC series[]
Reed and Ben first met Terri on a bench in Central Park; they offered her to go on their space voyage at the Von Doom space station, months after they shown her around the complex Big Apple. Reed spotted the cosmic storm and warned Victor, saying it came sooner than anticipated. He gained his ability to stretch because of it! He, Sue, and Johnny left Terri to recover while they found Ben and saved everyone on the Brooklyn Bridge, thus becoming the Fantastic 4. They took the Baxter Building as their main base of operations, and Reed created a reversal device to switch them back to normal and promised Ben he'd be human again. He gave each of the members tests of their unique abilities, even when he and Terri accidentally activated his old robot with her telekinesis; Reed came to the conclusion of Terri's skills, including telepathy!
A week passed, and Ben was becoming more impatient while he went on a date with Sue to take a break. He got involved in a brief scrimmage, declaring he won't be his bodyguard anymore. He went to Victor and Reed surveyed him nearly killing his friend. He was captured and frozen by him, till Ben as the Thing broke the tanks and Sue distracted Victor! She saved him while Ben haplessly fought him. He, Sue and Johnny arrived, while Reed ordered Terri to evacuate everyone! He ordered Johnny to perform the supernova, then Ben to rapidly freeze him with a broken hydrant, Chemistry 10 101. They were successful and a cruise was arranged in their honor! Reed then proposed to Sue!
He was one of the unfortunate victims consuming the tainted wine and got the brutal end of the stick while the group, excepting Terri, disbanded. She was the only one helping him, though her powers weren't fully developed. That was till she assisted him in a fight at a cornfield by thugs and got his spleen ruptured. He recovered and late that night, the receptionist got shot, and Reed and Terri were unable to save him. They attended his funeral, then he began to lose hope, even to the point on visiting a church to restore his faith. He stumbled into a forest and found Sue, then he took the bullet as a sorceress was attempting to brainwash her with the doom gaze. He regained his senses, though weakly, once the team reassembled. He even felt depressed once he reminisced on his troubled childhood as he ran away from his quarreling parents and got struck by lightning. He then used the leftover vessel to design the FantastiCar.
He then got into an altercation by Sue, making him believe falling for him was a mistake. He left and got caught in a tidal wave and washed up at a desolate island inhabited by mutants, who declared him as the chosen one. Their clan leader, Mira, admired him, to the point on never letting him leave the island and be forever his. She hypnotized him as a way to get back at Sue! She and Reed were caught in the crossfire, though he was eventually able to save her, while Ben pushed a boulder onto the ginormous shark metamorphosis! Sue had forgiven him, and assured it was Mira as Sue in disguise to pry them apart,
Finally, it was their wedding, and Reed designed a telescope to spot the radiation! It wreaked havoc, and he was the one chasing after the Surfer, and identifying Johnny's molecules in constant flux. Though he reluctantly accepted Victor since he had insight of the Surfer and got the idea of using tectonic pulse to separate him from his board. It was successful, though the group, excepting Terri, went to Moscow. By the time Victor stole the board, he summoned the FantastiCar and chased him to Shanghai. He was unable to protect Sue from Victor's energy spear! Johnny offered to fuse their powers and help the Surfer retrieve his Power Cosmic. Norrin assured Sue was right, as people do have a choice, and he destroyed Galactus reuniting Reed with Sue in the process. He assured it won't be the end of the team, and he decided to have his wedding in China! He then received an alert that the Adriatic was sinking and invited John Myers and Terri to tag along!
A couple years later, he was chosen as the co-pilot for Terri's AstroWing as they reunited with the Surfer and venture to the Deneb Galaxy! Only the couple made it thru since Norrin was on exile. He had a nightmare as Shalla-Bal was being fatally beaten by Mephisto at her flower garden! By the time they arrived at Zenn-La, they were cornered by Fennan and Zenn-lavian soldiers accusing them on capturing her. Elmar assured they aren't responsible, and Jartran led him to their temple. He was curious on what happened, and he became skeptical the citizens use their visions instead of surveillance to find missing persons. They soon left and he alerted the group of Shalla's fate.
He wasn't able to design the FantastiCar to make it go into space before the team went thru the Aurora Borealis. Reed and Fennan worked professionally as one, going thru each location in the universe. He and the crew were soon invaded by the possessed night crew and Sue by Possessor, after he had a nightmare of her being intruded by black matter. Ben and Terri distracted her, while Johnny and Norrin took the offense. She was successful on reverting Sue's spirit while Johnny incinerated Possessor! Though Reed wasn't pleased on his cocky endeavors. He carried Sue to their quarters, till she came to. He then led the team thru Skullros and their emperor, as well as offering to fuse the team's powers before fighting Mephisto with Norrin. They were unsuccessful when Fennan took the blow for Norrin's soul. Though the AstroWing distracted the demon long enough for their escape, even though Shalla only had her soul retrieved, till they got her discarded body in the Magik Domain. The mission was successful, and Reed and his friends wished they'd see the valiant Surfer again.
Trivia[]
- Back in 2005, when Ikran first got into the Fantastic 4 in theaters, he was an instant favorite to her along with Ben and Sue. She had a crush on the actor, Ioan Gruffudd, ever since. Until Nov 2021, when she found out he cheated on his wife, Alice, and their 2 daughters and soon filed for divorce for his mistress, Bianca, a 29-year-old model! She's not sure how to portray him now.
- Ironically, the main reason why she lost interest in her Fantastic 4 fics, and the series, were because of the times as well as losing interest with Ioan, ever since his more questionable roles in Ringer, Sanctum, W., and recently finding out of his infidelity!
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