Mr. Fantastic

Reed Richards, also known as Mr. Fantastic, is the leader of the Fantastic Four. He can stretch his body to great distances due to his exposure to cosmic rays while in space. He is also considered to be one of the smartest men alive, using his brain to explore alternate dimensions and save the world alongside his family from science-based threats.

Reed Richards was born in Central City, California and the son of Nathaniel and Evelyn Richards. Reed’s father was a brilliant scientific genius and a trait that Reed inherited. Reed excelled in mathematics, physics, and mechanics and was enrolled in college by the age of 14. He went to multiple colleges including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, and Empire State University. While attending EMU he met and became a roommate of Ben Grimm. They became great friends and Reed shared his dream of building a spaceship himself.

After EMU, Reed continued to go to school at Columbia University, and he rented an apartment from Sue Storm's Aunt. Sue quickly fell in love with Reed. Reed, also met Victor Von Doom, while attending Columbia University. Doom loved that Reed could rival his intellect. Eventually Doom became jealous of Reed and began conducting reckless experiments that scarred his face.

Reed next enrolled at Harvard and earned his P.H.D. in physics and a mastery in mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry and all levels of human and alien biology by the age of 22. After he was done with school he used his inheritance and government funding to finance his project. He began building his spaceship in Central City. Sue Storm would move to this same area and eventually found herself dating Reed again. Reed would ask Ben to pilot the ship for him. The government denied the flight into space so Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny decided to sneak onto the ship and they took the ship into outer space. Reed miscalculated and forgot the abnormality of the radiation from the cosmic radiation. The rays destroyed the ship and they crash-landed back on earth. After the crash Reed found out that he could stretch his body like elastic at will. Reed adopts the name Mr. Fantastic and convinces the four of them to use their powers for good, becoming the Fantastic Four.

Reed's defining quality is his vast intellect; the Intelligentsia considered him one among the eight smartest men in the world, and Galactus himself once remarked that Reed possessed a "universally relevant intelligence". The great resources and revenues of the Fantastic Four stem almost entirely from the legion of patents for things Reed has created, and he is a pioneer in a range of fields including physics, chemistry, biology, computing, space travel, medicine and so on. Even so, Reed acknowledges that there are fields where he would defer to the expertise of others. For instance, while Reed is a brilliant inventor, he still considers Iron Man to to be the greatest engineer in the world and has said "There's no one that can do the things Tony can do".

His main superpower however is that his body becomes elastic and he has complete control over it. This allows him to use his body for either offensive or defensive purposes. 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 sets in (though in some cases, he has stretched or been stretched past this limit and still managed to push through the discomfort). He can flatten himself to the thickness of a sheet of vellum. By lowering the cohesion of his body through relaxation, he can enter into a semi-liquid state and bypass sealed openings or enter through pipes. 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. Reed's body can blanket and absorb the brunt force of an explosion, usually several tons, though it might strain him to do so. He can reflect sharp weapons such as bullets, darts, knives, etc as if his body were a trampoline. His body's natural elasticity affords him great resilience in that being flattened, squished, bashed, chewed on, and pummeled will have no lasting effects, and he momentarily rreforms; even being shot point-blank in the face or any part of his body, while discomforting, will have no lasting damage as he just reflates into normal. This is due in no small part to his suit comprised of unstable molecules, which stretches and shifts as he does and takes a substantial of protection for him.

However, despite the fantastic nature of Reed's abilities, he is not invulnerable. Though it is difficult to do, his skin has been cut . Because he is like rubber, he suffers all the drawbacks of it, like melting in heat and freezing in cold conditions. Electricity is generally not a great weakness to Reed, but a quick or sufficient shock can paralyze that part of his body and make his form lose composure. More concentrated energy, like that of Doctor Doom, can be detrimental enough to reduce him to his liquid state

Reed can also change his appearance by force of will, like "aging" himself, altering his hair color and body composition, inflating his body like a balloon, stretching to become vastly taller, imitating a goofy expression to entertain his children, and once even took on the appearance of a bloodthirsty alien. His body's elasticity enables him to shift into inanimate objects, ala a parachute, cube, wheel, trampoline, spring, or container. Some enable him to hide while other serve either the purpose of getting somewhere or aiding someone; as a trampoline, he can cushion the fall of others, and as a parachute save those falling towards the ground. When Reed becomes a ball, he can increase the speed at which he propels himself or simply bounce across a space. He can concentrate his elasticity into one area of his body. For example, it can all go to his fist, making it an effective offensive weapon. This can increase his strength and size considerably, as he did in the instance where he went up against Onslaught.

His intellect is also considered a power of his. He is one of the smartest in the universe. Because of this, mind control is useless, though when it does affect him, it wears off more quickly than on an average human. He also indicates that he can not understand magic, which usually stunts him when dealing with Doctor Doom or Diablo. Later in life, he also earned a Black Belt in Judo.

The Baxter Building is a 35-story building located in Manhattan, New York City in the United States of America. It is home to the Fantastic Four.

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