MR. FANTASTIC

Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the Fantastic Four. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961).

Possessing a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology, Richards is considered to be the most intelligent human being in the Marvel Universe, first among a select group which includes Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy (the Beast), Hank Pym (Yellowjacket), Tony Stark (Iron Man), T'Challa (the Black Panther), Victor von Doom (Doctor Doom), and Charles Xavier (Professor X). He is the inventor of the spacecraft which 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.

He is the leader of the Fantastic Four, although his methodical manner sometimes makes him seem cold and distant to his teammates, particularly best friend the Thing, who somewhat blames Richards for his transformation into a large, rocky creature. Whenever he is confronted with a scientific challenge, his attention can be so focused that he can neglect even his own family which has caused marital problems between him and Sue and has put his family in danger on rare occasions. He is, however, the husband of Susan Storm, father of son Franklin Richards and daughter Valeria Richards, and mentor of his brother-in-law, the Human Torch. According to BusinessWeek, Mr. Fantastic is listed as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics

Reed Richards gained the power of elasticity from irradiation by cosmic rays. He has the ability to convert his entire body into a highly malleable state at will, allowing him to stretch, deform, and reform himself into virtually any shape. Reed Richards has been observed as being able to utilize his stretching form in a variety of offensive and defensive manners, such as compressing himself into a ball and ricocheting into enemies or flattening himself into a trampoline or a parachute to rescue a teammate. He can squeeze through openings sometimes even as small as one molecule's breadth. He can twist or reshape his body or stretch roughly three miles fully extended before physical pain. He can flatten himself to the thickness of a sheet of vellum. Due to Reed's distaste for violence, he will usually wrap an opponent up in his body to attempt to control and compromise with them. To trap an opponent, he can also flatten his body and smother his opponent until they give in. Other applications of his powers include expanding his lungs allowing him to hold his breath longer, adjusting the distance between his cornea and retina to allow for natural ocular magnification, and in at least one case shortening the distance between the synapses in his brain allowing him to process thought at impossible speeds. He has also shown that he can stretch his brain's cerebellum as to facilitate operation of Cerebro, the mutant finding computer devised by Professor Charles Xavier

Because of his elastic nature, Mr. Fantastic cannot be harmed by traditional bullets or most other projectile weapons, including knives, missiles, darts, etc, and has superhuman durability. He can often cause projectiles to rebound back towards the attacker. Despite this, Reed is not completely invulnerable. His skin has been cut at least once by an evolved form of a Brood queen; while reaching into a direct hole to Hell created by Elizabeth Cromwell, a random demon reached out and inexplicably broke his arm; and on occasion if he suffers a large amount of head trauma he'll lose consciousness. He has also shown to have all the weaknesses of rubber, as he melts and weakens when exposed to extreme heat and will freeze and crack when exposed to super-cool temperatures. He has also occasionally demonstrated other applications of this molecular control. While imprisoned by Psycho-Man, meditation allowed him to reduce his body to a nearly liquid state in order to flow out of a glass encasement specially prepared by the villain to have only the most infinitesimal of openings

Richards was given possession of the Power Infinity GemThis gem contains access to all power and energy that ever has or will exist, and can back the other gems and boost their effects. It allows the user to duplicate almost any physical superhuman ability and become invincible. Like all former Illuminati members, Richards has vowed never to use or reveal the location of the gem.

INVISIBLE WOMAN

Susan Storm Richards (also known as Invisible Girl and later, Invisible Woman) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961, and was the first female superhero created by Marvel in the Silver Age of Comics. Like the other founding members of the Fantastic Four, Sue received her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm. Her primary power deals with light waves, allowing her to render herself and others invisible. However, she can also project powerful fields of invisible energy which she uses for a variety of offensive and defensive effects. Sue plays a central role in the lives of her brother, her husband, her children (Franklin Richards and Val Richards), and her friend, Ben Grimm.



An object of infatuation for Doctor Doom, and, most notably, Namor the Submariner, Sue's passive invisibility power translated into her frequent deployment as a damsel in distress during the team's early adventures. However, upon developing the ability to project powerful fields of energy, Sue Storm became a more powerful member of the Fantastic Four, and the team's second-in-command. While Sue operated somewhat in the shadow of her hot-headed brother, Johnny Storm, and her brilliant husband Reed Richards in the early years, she is now the soul of the Fantastic Four and one of the premiere heroes in the Marvel Universe.

Some time after World War Hulk, but before Secret Invasion, the Richards' have hired a new nanny for their kids, Tabitha Deneuve. At the same time, a mysterious new group, calling themselves the New Defenders, commits robberies, and one of their members, Psionics, starts a relationship with Johnny. After a bad break-up, Johnny is kidnapped by the Defenders, along with Doctor Doom and Galactus, to power a massive machine that is designed to apparently save the people of the future 500 years from now, a plan orchestrated by Tabitha, who is revealed to be Susan Richards from 500 years in the future. Eventually, the present Fantastic Four are able to save both the present Earth and the future Earth by sending the future inhabitants to the Earth Trust's private duplicate Nu-Earth, but after freeing Doctor Doom, the future Sue goes to apologize to him, and is electrocuted by Doom




The Invisible Woman, as her name suggests, has the power to render herself invisible at will, as a result of the mutagenic effects of exposure to cosmic radiation. She has the psionic ability to manipulate ambient cosmic energy to mentally bend all wavelengths of light (including infrared and ultraviolet radiation) around her body without causing any visible distortion; she also somehow directs enough undistorted light to her eyes to retain her sight while invisible. Her body cells produce an unknown form of energy that she can mentally project around other people or objects, rendering them invisible. She can also use this energy to render visible, persons or objects rendered invisible by other means, and energy that is normally invisible.

THE THING

THE THING



The Thing (Benjamin Jacob "Ben" Grimm) is a fictional character, a founding member of the superhero team known as the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). His trademark orange rocky appearance, sense of humor, blue eyes, and his famous battle cry, "It's clobberin' time!" makes him one of comics' most recognizable and popular characters.

As a result of exposure to cosmic rays, the Thing possesses high levels of superhuman strength, stamina, and resistance to physical injury. His strength has continued to increase over the years due to a combination of further mutation and special exercise equipment designed for him by Reed Richards.

He is capable of surviving impacts of great strength and force without sustaining injury. He is also able to withstand gunfire from high caliber weapons as well as armor piercing rounds. The Thing's highly advanced musculature generates fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity, granting him superhuman levels of stamina.

Aside from his physical attributes, the Thing's senses can withstand greater levels of sensory stimulation than an ordinary human, with the exception of his sense of touch. His lungs possess greater efficiency and volume than those of an ordinary human. As a result, the Thing is capable of holding his breath for much greater periods of time.

Despite his brutish, even monstrous form, the Thing suffers no change in his personality nor his level of intelligence. Despite his greatly increased size, the Thing's agility and reflexes remain at the same level they had been prior to his transformation.

The Thing is an exceptionally skilled pilot, due to his time spent as a test pilot in the United States Air Force and as a member of the Fantastic Four. He is also a formidable and relentless hand to hand combatant. His fighting style incorporates elements of boxing, wrestling, judo, jujutsu, and street-fighting techniques, as well as hand-to-hand combat training from the military.

After an encounter with the Grey Gargoyle, the Thing seemed to have gained the ability to shift between his human and rock forms at will.That ability has since been lost after it was revealed that he spawned clones in an alternate reality every time he changed.

On occasion, when Ben Grimm regained his human form and lost his Thing powers, he used a suit of powered battle armor designed by Reed Richards that simulated the strength and durability of his mutated body, albeit to a weaker degree. Wearing the suit, which was designed to physically resemble his rocky form, Ben continued to participate in the Fantastic Four's adventures until it was destroyed in battle