Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)

Reed Richards

• Able to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will, allowing him to morph his body into any shape or weapon. How his body's respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown.
• Reed is trained in judo, a skill he later passed onto his wife.
• Reed is the world's foremost authority in many areas of science, including biochemistry, physics, and engineering. He is said to possess at least nineteen Ph.Ds in several of these fields.

• The greater the distance Reed stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes.

Reed Richards is considered to be a modern-age Albert Einstein; it is speculated that Richards' intellect surpasses Einstein's threefold. Described as a near-literal human calculator, Richards' ability to solve complex mathematical equations or write out detailed and intricate chemical formulas exceed even some of the most advanced computers.

Despite his intelligence, Reed tends to be unfocused; he was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, as well as A.D.H.D., in his early twenties. His tendency to hyperfixate on the sciences makes it difficult for him to socialize with other people: only his family, and some close friends, truly "get" him and are able to put up with his unintentional rambling.

The disappearance of Nathaniel Richards imprinted on Reed subconscious and unaddressed abandonment issues. Reed scarcely discusses his childhood with others, including his wife. A years' long endeavor of his, predating the construction of the Marvel-01, is locating his father. Another personal haunting of Reed is the disfigurement of Ben Grimm into the Thing, which Reed considers his greatest failure as a scientist. He labors incessantly to find a cure for his friend.

Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, is the husband of Susan Richards, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman, the co-leader of the Fantastic Four, and the original founder of the Future Foundation peacekeeping organization. When Reed was young, his father, the brilliant scientist Nathaniel Richards, vanished in a laboratory experiment. As a result, Reed dedicated his life to continuing his father's research while hoping to someday find him. In his teenage years, Reed began developing plans for a starship that could exit the Solar System, a project he codenamed "Marvel-01." At Empire State University, Reed encountered Susan Storm, a woman every bit as intelligent as he, as well as beautiful. Falling in love, Susan was instrumental to helping Reed design and construct the Marvel-01.

Nearly a decade's worth of hard work resulted in the completion of the Marvel-01, Reed's gift to mankind. However, by the time they were finished building the machine, the corporation that funded their project ceased contributing. Unwilling to allow his dream to fade away, Reed and Susan convinced their close college friend Ben Grimm, an Air Force pilot, to help pilot their ship. Joined by Susan's younger brother Johnny, the group embarked on an unauthorized test flight into space with the Marvel-01.

Three hours into the flight, however, the group became bombarded by a freak storm of cosmic radiation. Forced to make an emergency landing back on Earth, the group found themselves altered by exposure to radiation: Reed discovered that he could stretch and contort his body unnaturally, like living taffy. After halting the rampage of a kaiju-controlling Mole Man in New York City, the quartet banded together as the Fantastic Four.