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178-573: 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 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 regards to his best friend, Ben Grimm, who he has constantly tried to turn back into his human form but who typically remains in

356-550: A 1973 try-out in two issues of Marvel Feature , the Thing starred in the long-running series Marvel Two-in-One . In each issue, Ben Grimm would team up with another character from the Marvel Universe , often an obscure or colorful character. The series helped to introduce characters from Marvel's lineup, by way of teaming up with the more recognizable Thing. In 1992, Marvel reprinted four Two-in-One stories (#50, 51, 77 and 80) as

534-556: A baby, Franklin ; the team battled Annihilus right before Franklin's birth. Franklin was a mutant with incredible powers, but, due to the cosmic ray alteration to his parents' DNA, they manifested while he was still very young (in the Marvel world, most mutants like the X-Men get their powers while teenagers). Franklin appears to have power that can rival a member of the Celestials ; the power of

712-506: A bomb. The young man dies and the Thing verbally blasts both sides for not caring about the civilians caught in the conflict. He announces that, while he thinks the registration is wrong, he is also not going to fight the government and is thus leaving the country for France. While in France, he meets Les Héros de Paris (The Heroes of Paris). Ben returns to New York as both sides of the SHRA battle in

890-475: A boy, Reed loved spending time with Ted. Unfortunately, Ted was also "an eccentric" and "stubborn". Because he had a career in the arts and because he stood out, Ted was called before HUAC , imprisoned on contempt of Congress charges for six months, and was unable to find work after he'd served his sentence. He was even shunned by Reed's father. Ted lost everything, which Reed says finally "killed him" without going into greater detail. Richards opines that his uncle

1068-546: A career in Hollywood . It is suggested that he had a short relationship with his Uncanny Avengers /Unity Squad leader Rogue, following which he had a rebound relationship with Medusa (Crystal's sister). At first it seemed as if he and Rogue resumed their relationship, which was considered as an open secret, however this relationship came to an end after his apparent death and when Rogue rekindled her relationship with Gambit. He has also had relationships with civilian women. In

1246-482: A coward for taking control of what was left of existence rather than trying to reshape it. Inspired by Reed's words, Reece transfers Doom's power to him, with Reed recreating the former Earth-616 before he, Susan, their children, and the rest of the Future Foundation move to use Franklin and Reed's powers to rebuild the multiverse. Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and the Future Foundation were later confronted by

1424-589: A daughter named Luna and a son named Ray. He is also the leader of the Fantastic Four. He first appeared in Fantastic Four/Fantastic 4 Annual (1998). The Earth-A version of Johnny does not join Reed and Ben in their trip to space. He serves in the Vietnam War, where he is believed to have been killed. However, Johnny is found and saved by Arkon , who gives him superpowers and the new identity of Gaard . In

1602-645: A falling teammate, or inflating himself into a life raft to aid in a water rescue. He can willfully reduce his body's cohesion until he reaches a fluid state, which can flow through minute openings or into tiny pipes. Reed is also able to shape his hands into hammer and mace style weapons, and concentrate his mass into his fists to increase their density and effectiveness as weapons. Having an elastic-like texture allows Reed protection from damage. He can be punched with incredible force, flattened, squished, and still re-form or survive without any form of sufficient injury. Reed's control over his shape has been developed to such

1780-565: A few inches from his skin, so as not to ignite nearby objects. Storm refers to his maximum flame output as his "nova flame", which he can release omnidirectionally. Flame of any temperature lower than this cannot burn or harm the Torch. This "nova" effect can occur spontaneously when he absorbs an excessive amount of heat, although he can momentarily suppress the release when necessary, with considerable effort. Storm has demonstrated enough control with fire that he can safely shave another's hair, or hold

1958-462: A fictional Long Island suburban town, Johnny Storm lost his mother due to a car accident from which his father, surgeon Franklin Storm , escaped unharmed. Franklin Storm spiraled into alcoholism and financial ruin, and was imprisoned after killing a loan shark in self-defense. Johnny Storm was then raised by his older sister, Sue Storm . At 16, Storm joined his sister and her fiancé, Reed Richards , in

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2136-452: A four-issue miniseries written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Dean Haspiel , The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street . The story was more character-driven than the stories that usually feature the Thing. Tom Spurgeon found its outlook on relationships "depressing". After the success of the 2005 Fantastic Four feature film and events in the comics series that resulted in Grimm becoming

2314-501: A four-issue miniseries written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Scott Kolins , in which the Thing travels across the United States by train, inadvertently stumbling upon a deformed gypsy boy he once ridiculed as a teenager, who is now the super-strong main attraction of a troupe of traveling circus freaks . He later discovers a town full of alien Kree and Skrull warriors fighting over a Watcher infant. In 2003, Marvel released

2492-583: A friendship/friendly rivalry with Bobby Drake due to each other's respective powers. He is present at Reed Richards' test of the N-Zone Teleportation Device in the Nevada Desert. After a malfunction in the device, he wakes up in France in a hospital bed. He uncontrollably bursts into flames until he learns to control his powers by saying "Flame On" and "Flame Off.". When Mole Man 's creatures attacks, Johnny finds out he can fly while on fire. It

2670-542: A god in the body of a small child. The couple briefly separated, and Reed further alienated Sue by shutting down Franklin's mind to prevent his power from causing global catastrophe; Sue Storm initiated divorce proceedings but the two were reconciled soon after. Reed also saved Galactus's life during the course of his adventures. He then bought the Baxter Building . Later, he was tried by the Shi'ar for saving Galactus's life, but

2848-452: A human trampoline, or inflating his hands into pool toys to entertain his children. The most extreme demonstration of Reed's powers is when at one point he was able to increase his size and mass to Thing-like proportions which also increased his physical strength. Assuming and maintaining these shapes used to require extreme effort. Due to years of mental and physical training, Reed can now perform these feats at will. His powers (and those of

3026-586: A large, rocky form and is called the Thing . Richards is the husband of Susan Storm , father of Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards , and mentor to his brother-in-law, Johnny Storm . The character 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

3204-512: A limited extent in Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders #7. While in the military, Nick Fury sends him, Logan and Carol Danvers on a top secret surveillance mission into Vladivostok . Following this, he becomes an astronaut for NASA , taking part in attempts to reach the Moon, occurring at a time before any crewed spaceship had escaped Earth's orbit. In keeping with an early taboo in

3382-746: A member of the Fantastic Four and simply humored him. This series introduced what would become the recurring Fantastic Four foes the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete , later known as the Trapster. In Storm's home life, Mike Snow, a member of the high-school wrestling squad, bullied Storm until an accidental flare-up of the Torch's powers scarred Snow's face. Storm dated fellow student Dorrie Evans, although she eventually grew tired of his constant disappearances and broke off their relationship. After graduating high school, Storm enrolled at New York City's Metro College. There he befriended his roommate Wyatt Wingfoot . He also met

3560-539: A military scientist, all this by the age of 22. He also worked in communications for the Army. Three years later, in his mid-20s, Reed used his inheritance, along with government funding, to finance his research. Determined to go to Mars and beyond, Richards based the fateful project in Central City. Susan Storm moved into the area, and within a short time, found herself engaged to Reed. Reed's old college roommate, Ben Grimm, now

3738-639: A millionaire, the Thing was once again given his own series in 2005, The Thing , written by Dan Slott and penciled by Andrea Di Vito and Kieron Dwyer . It was canceled with issue #8 in 2006. The Thing was a member of The New Avengers , when that team debuted in their self-titled second series in 2010. He appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010–2013 New Avengers series, from issue #1 (Aug. 2010) through its final issue #34 (Jan. 2013). The Thing had another solo series in 2021, written by Walter Mosely and illustrated by Tom Reilly, which lasted for six issues. A new limited series, Clobberin' Time ,

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3916-517: A miniseries under the title The Adventures of the Thing . The series was cancelled after 100 issues and seven Annual s to make way for a solo series. The cancellation of Marvel Two-in-One led to the Thing's first completely solo series, which ran for 36 issues. The Thing was originally written by John Byrne and later, Mike Carlin . The series also featured art by Ron Wilson and later by Paul Neary . It elaborated on Ben Grimm's poor childhood on Yancy Street in its early issues, and chronicled

4094-631: A monstrous freak, attacking Reed's children and attempting to seduce Sue. After many adventures as the Fantastic Four, Reed married Sue. Not long after that, the team encountered the Inhumans for the first time. They next encountered Galactus and the Silver Surfer . Reed then opened a portal to the Negative Zone for the first time. Soon, the team first battled the Psycho-Man . Before long Reed and Sue had

4272-538: A new layer forms underneath. Unlike the mainstream Human Torch, Ultimate Johnny's power sometimes have detrimental effects on his health, specifically causing unhealthy levels of weight loss and exhaustion. In issues #68 and 69 of Ultimate Spider-Man , Johnny meets Spider-Man when his sister says he has to finish high school. Johnny picks a school in Queens which happens to be Midtown High. He quickly meets and becomes friends with Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Liz Allan . At

4450-516: A new team, the Future Foundation , to help create a better future for mankind. However, the team's initial tasks are complicated when they are forced to deal with the ' Council of Reeds ', a group of alternate versions of Reed Richards who lack his morality or family that became trapped in the FF's reality after an accident with Reed's dimensional portal. After Johnny is returned and the team resume using

4628-628: A person while in his flame form without his passenger feeling discomforting heat. His knowledge extends to general information about fire as well, supported by regular visits to fire-safety lectures at various firehouses in New York. In one instance when poisoned, Storm superheated his blood to burn the toxin out. Storm's ability to ignite himself is limited by the quantity of oxygen in his environment, and his personal flame has been extinguished by sufficient quantities of water, flame retardant foam, and vacuum environments. He can reignite instantly once oxygen

4806-470: A plan. Reed eventually starts working with his counterpart from the Ultimate Marvel universe who calls himself Maker . The two find themselves disagreeing on their methods, with Reed preferring to find a way to save the world while Maker is more focused on killing their enemy, Reed countering his other self's accusations that he is weak by musing that he simply has things to care for outside of himself. In

4984-412: A point that he has been able to radically alter his facial features and his entire physical form to pass among human and non-humans unnoticed and unrecognized. He has even molded himself into the shapes of inanimate objects, such as a mailbox. He rarely uses his powers in such an undignified fashion. However, he appears to have no qualms about stretching out his ears, taking the shape of a dinosaur, becoming

5162-581: A rampage with the other zombies. Eventually Reed contacts the Ultimate Reed and gets him to come to the infected universe. Johnny travels with the three others to the Ultimate Universe. They attack the Fantastic Four there but are thwarted, and are locked up in a containment cell. Johnny eats live animals and loathes the Ultimate version of himself, remarking that he especially hates his hair. When they escape

5340-671: A ruler known as the Unspoken , one more powerful than any other in the universe, to the point he had to be erased from history, and how his return will impact the planet and the cosmos beyond, in the War of Kings . After the Secret Invasion and some time into the Dark Reign , in the War of Kings , when Blastaar is about to open the portal to Earth, on the other side in Camp Hammond, Star-Lord and

5518-464: A sense of humor, and the battle cry and catchphrase "It's clobberin' time!" Thing's speech patterns are loosely based on Jimmy Durante . A key feature throughout his character arc has him struggling to accept his newfound powers, which often culminates in his returning to his human form before going back to his mutated form. The Thing notably appeared in other media, including live-action films , with Michael Bailey Smith and Carl Ciarfalio playing

Mister Fantastic - Misplaced Pages Continue

5696-551: A soft spot. During this unauthorized ride into the upper atmosphere of Earth and the Van Allen Belts , they are pelted by a cosmic ray storm and exposed to radiation against which the ship's shields are no protection. Upon crashing down to Earth, each of the four learn that they have developed fantastic superhuman abilities. Grimm's skin is transformed into a thick, lumpy orange hide, which gradually evolves into his now-familiar craggy covering of large rocky plates. Richards proposes

5874-652: A space flight in which cosmic radiation transformed those three and spacecraft pilot Ben Grimm into superpowered beings who would become the celebrated superhero team the Fantastic Four . Storm, with the ability to become a flaming human with the power of flight and the ability to project fire, dubs himself the Human Torch, in tribute to the World War II -era hero known as the Human Torch . In The Fantastic Four #4, it

6052-484: A space rocket to explore the regions of space around Mars; Grimm jokingly agrees to fly that rocket when the day comes. The details of his life story have been modified over the decades. Prior to the stories published in the 1970s, Grimm, after earning multiple advanced degrees in engineering, serves in the United States Marine Corps as a test pilot during World War II . These exploits are chronicled to

6230-531: A starship capable of traveling in hyperspace. Sharing his plans with his new roommate, Grimm jokingly volunteered to pilot the craft. Also while at State U he met a brilliant fellow student, Victor Von Doom . In Richards, Doom met the first person who could match him intellectually; regarding Richards as his ultimate rival, Doom became increasingly jealous of Richards. Determined to prove he was better, Doom conducted reckless experiments which eventually scarred his face and would lead him to become Doctor Doom. During

6408-441: A steadfast member of the Fantastic Four. In a Fantastic Four comic published in 2005, Ben learns that he is entitled to a large sum of money, his share of the Fantastic Four fortune, which Reed Richards had never touched, as he had the shares of the other teammates (who were family members) to pay off various debts of the group. The Thing uses his newfound wealth to build a community center in his old neighborhood on Yancy Street,

6586-409: A successful test pilot and astronaut, was indeed slated to pilot the craft. All seemed well; however, when the government threatened to cut funding and cancel the project, Reed, Ben, Sue, and Sue's younger brother Johnny , agreed to sneak aboard the starship and take it up immediately. They knew they had not completed all the testing that had been planned, but Reed was confident they would be safe. Ben

6764-406: A team, but as a family. Shortly after their return, the FF were confronted by a being called Onslaught . Onslaught took control of an army of Sentinels and invaded New York City , hunting down every mutant being he could find. Onslaught wished to add the abilities of the godlike Franklin Richards to his own. Only through the apparent sacrifice of the Fantastic Four's own lives and that of many of

6942-646: A television series and they are still children. Silk picks up a magazine that says they are entering their fourth season. In the Amazing Spider-man comic's event Spider-Verse , Scarlet Spider (Kaine) and Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) met and fought Johnny Storm (Earth-802) who is the Head of Security of Baxter Building and serving one of the Inheritors, Jennix. In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Johnny Storm

7120-579: Is Storm who discovers an amnesiac hobo whom he helps regain his memory as the antihero Namor the Sub-Mariner , one of the three most popular heroes of Marvel Comics' 1940s forerunner, Timely Comics , returning him to modern continuity. Though a member of a world-famous team, Storm still lived primarily in Glenville and attended Glenville High School. Here he thought he maintained a secret identity , although his fellow townsfolk were well aware of his being

7298-463: Is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four . He is writer Stan Lee 's and artist Jack Kirby 's reinvention of a similar, previous character, the android Human Torch of the same name and powers who was created in 1939 by writer-artist Carl Burgos for Marvel Comics' predecessor company, Timely Comics . Like

Mister Fantastic - Misplaced Pages Continue

7476-564: Is a reluctant member of the pro-registration side of the controversy over the 2006 Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA), until he witnesses a battle on Yancy Street in which Captain America 's forces try to rescue captured allies held by Iron Man 's forces. The Fantastic Four's foes the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master try to escalate the battle, using a mind-controlled Yancy Streeter to deliver

7654-521: Is able to bankroll the Fantastic Four, Inc., without any undue financial stress. Mind control is rarely effective on him and when it does work, it wears off sooner than it would on a normal person, due to what he describes as an "elastic consciousness". However, this intelligence can be a handicap in his dealings with magic, as it required an intense lesson from Doctor Strange and facing the threat of his son being trapped in Hell for Reed to fully acknowledge that

7832-474: Is actually Lyja , a member of the shape-changing alien race known as the Skrulls . The real Alicia, who was kept in suspended animation , is rescued by the Fantastic Four and reunited with the Thing. Ben begins dating a teacher named Debbie Green. Ben soon asks Debbie to marry him, which she accepts. He later leaves her at the altar when he realizes the dangers of the wives of superheroes . Ben and Alicia, on

8010-572: Is believed by most to be the Earth's foremost intelligence. There is little he cannot create, fix, or understand given time. The patents and royalties on his inventions alone have funded the group over the years. However, there are drawbacks to his association with the team. Chief among them is the team's violent encounters with Doctor Doom, who believes that Reed was responsible for the accident that scarred him. Doom has never forgiven Reed and has sworn revenge. Doom has even gone as far as transforming Reed into

8188-639: Is called upon to battle Otto von Doom, he kidnaps Doris and takes her with them, believing this is for her own good. In Marvel 2099 , there are different versions of the Human Torch: In the Marvel Mangaverse comics, the Human Torch is portrayed by two separate characters spanning two very different continuities. The first character is a member of the Megascale Metatalent Response Team Fantastic Four on Earth-2301a and

8366-475: Is caught in the radiation of the Anomaly, turning him into a Human Torch. The Four continue their explorations until they are captured by Otto von Doom prior to the original 1602 miniseries. At the start of the miniseries 1602: Fantastick Four , Jon has rejoined high society, and once more finds himself embroiled in a duel, this time with Lord Wingfoot , who is betrothed to the 1602 version of Doris Evans. When he

8544-433: Is eight years old. This portion of his own life is modeled on that of Jack Kirby , who grew up on tough Delancey Street , whose brother died when he was young, whose father was named Benjamin, and who was named Jacob at birth. Following the death of his parents, Ben is raised by his Uncle Jake (who married a much younger wife, Petunia, who becomes a frequent reference used by the character until her death). He comes to lead

8722-729: Is eventually revealed that this Alicia was actually the Skrull impostor Lyja ). An angry Grimm wallows in self-pity for a time, later on accompanying the West Coast Avengers , and actually joining the team for a while. Eventually, he returns to his surrogate family as leader of the Fantastic Four when Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman leave the team to raise their son Franklin, at which point Ben invites Crystal and Ms. Marvel II (Sharon Ventura) to fill their slots. Soon after Sharon and Ben are irradiated with cosmic rays, Sharon becomes

8900-447: Is explained by Reed that Johnny's combustion makes him lighter than air. Johnny's body is covered with a microscopically thin film of transparent plates that make him impervious to flame. When he activates his powers, fat cells beneath his skin create clean nuclear fusion and jet out between the plates as plasma which then ignites on contact with air. Periodically, Johnny enters a hibernation where his old layer of skin peels off as ash while

9078-539: Is later seen among the various heroes that the Hulk defeated so far, within the depths of the Hulk's Gladiator arena located within Madison Square Garden . He and all of the heroes are implanted with "obedience disks" that are used to suppress their powers. These disks are the same that were used upon the Hulk during his time on Sakaar. The Hulk orders Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic to face off in battle. Richards, after having

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9256-519: Is later seen captive in Madison Square Garden, which the Hulk has turned into a gladiatorial arena, with an obedience disk fitted on him. Released from his imprisonment, Ben, Spider-Man , and Luke Cage attack the Warbound , with Ben fighting Korg . Their battle is brought to an abrupt end when Hiroim repairs the damage to Manhattan Island, drawing the energy to do so from Ben and Korg. In

9434-520: Is never afraid to admit when others have greater expertise in certain fields than him, such as recognizing that Doctor Octopus possesses greater knowledge of radiation, that Hank Pym is a superior biochemist , or that Spider-Man can think of a problem from a biology perspective where he would be unable to do so, since his expertise is in physics. Richards has earned Ph.D.s in Mathematics , Physics , and Engineering . His patents are so valuable that he

9612-412: Is not the real Sentry and destroys the machine. In a last line of defense, Sue Storm tries to protect her husband by encapsulating the Hulk in an energy field while pleading with him to spare Reed. The Hulk does not listen and is able to easily exert enough strength against her force field to cause Susan to collapse and experience a nosebleed from the stress, before she dooms Reed to the Hulk's wrath. Reed

9790-494: Is quite hotheaded; sometimes riding into battle singing "I am the Goddess of Hellfire." She denies being impulsive, saying she can only be described that way in comparison to her "neurotic" teammates. In New Mangaverse Jonatha is slightly redesigned to look a few years younger than she did in volume one of Mangaverse, and no longer wears her hair in multiple braids, instead sporting two pigtails on each side of her head. After witnessing

9968-482: Is returned, with no ill effects. In early stories he could only remain aflame for up to five minutes at a time, after which he would need five minutes to recharge before igniting himself again. Storm was depicted as transmuting his body itself into living flame in the first two issues of The Fantastic Four . In all subsequent appearances, his power consists in the generation of a flaming aura. The Human Torch has been involved in several romantic relationships throughout

10146-435: Is shown that a Skrull assumed Reed's form to successfully ambush and capture Sue Richards, to facilitate an attack on the Fantastic Four's headquarters. A conscious but still mostly shapeless Reed Richards is seen being forcibly stretched in all directions to cover the floor of a medium-sized arena aboard a Skrull ship, with all of the seats filled by Skrull onlookers. He is freed by Abigail Brand , and then travels with her to

10324-637: Is split over the Superhuman Registration Act , which required them to register with, and become agents of, the US government, Storm and his sister allied with the underground rebels, the Secret Avengers . Shortly afterward, during the " Secret Invasion " company-wide crossover, the shape-shifting extraterrestrial Skrulls intensified their clandestine infiltration of Earth. Storm was briefly reunited with his former Skrull girlfriend, Lyja . Though part of

10502-478: Is the blind Alicia Masters, and he is intensely protective of her. When Johnny starts a relationship of his own with Alicia and they become engaged, Grimm is upset. However, he has to concede that, unlike himself and his stone-covered body, Johnny can "be a man". He agrees to act as best man at their wedding. The relationship between Alicia and Johnny ends with the revelation that the Alicia that Johnny fell in love with

10680-488: Is the youngest child of Franklin Storm, but is not as intelligent as his sister and father. He spent time at the Baxter Building, but his rebellious nature meant that he learned little from his time spent there. Although he is portrayed as being very vain, narcissistic , and displays some misogynistic tendencies, he is also shown to have a deep devotion to his friends and family. He is good friends with Spider-Man, and has

10858-414: Is to envelop his body in fiery plasma without harm to himself, in which form he is able to fly by providing thrust behind himself with his own flame, and to generate powerful streams and/or balls of flame. He can also manipulate his flame in such a way as to shape it into rings and other forms, such as a fiery duplicate of himself that he can remotely control. Even when not engulfed in flame himself, Storm has

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11036-539: The House of M : Iron Man limited series, Johnny Storm is a contestant on a reality game show called Sapien Death Match. He has no inherent superpowers, but wears a suit of powered armor that has a "flame on" ability. In the Marvel 1602 universe, Jon Storm is a young hothead who has to leave London following a duel. Along with his sister, who is escaping a man she does not love, he joins Sir Richard Reed on his explorations, and

11214-538: The Reckoning War storyline, Johnny unites various cosmic factions and leads their armies to defend the Watchers . Once the multiverse is saved, Johnny opts to return to Spyre with Sky so that her people can cure him and return him to normal. Johnny Storm gained a number of superhuman powers as a result of the mutagenic effects of the cosmic radiation he was exposed to, all of which are related to fire. His primary ability

11392-683: The Secret Invasion : Fantastic Four miniseries, the Skrull Lyja, posing as Sue, sends the Baxter Building , with Ben, Johnny, Franklin, and Valeria inside, into the Negative Zone . Not long after their arrival, Ben has to protect Franklin and Valeria from an impending onslaught of giant insects. With the aid of the Tinkerer , who Ben broke out of the Negative Zone Prison, they, with the exception of Lyja who stayed behind, were able to return to

11570-488: The Secret Wars storyline, Reed is one of the few survivors of Earth-616 to come through with his memories intact, hiding in a 'life raft' with various other heroes and eventually released by Doctor Strange. Learning that the new 'Battleworld' is now ruled by Doctor Doom, who has absorbed the power of various Beyonders and Molecule Men to become a virtual god, Reed and the other heroes disperse across Battleworld to come up with

11748-484: The Age of Apocalypse , Johnny never becomes the Human Torch. Instead, he is among Reed Richards' crew, along with Ben Grimm as pilot and Johnny's sister Susan. Reed Richards attempts to evacuate a full contingent of refugees in his own experimental tran-ship, but a mutant saboteur interferes with the launch. Johnny and Reed sacrifice themselves to save the others from the forces of Apocalypse . On Counter Earth , counterparts of

11926-655: The Black Order in Peru, but is restored after Living Lightning wins a high stakes poker game versus Grandmaster . To help the Thing cope with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's disappearance, the Human Torch takes him on a journey through the Multiverse using the Multisect in order to find them. They have not been able to find Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman as they return to Earth-616 empty-handed. The Human Torch and

12104-472: The Heroes Reborn history of the Marvel Universe, created after a battle with Onslaught , Johnny is an owner of a popular casino and part financial backer of Reed Richards' plan to go into space. His handprint is one of two — the other being his sister's — needed for launch. His rivalry with Ben Grimm now extends into much more dangerous areas, such as a potentially deadly game of 'chicken' without thought to

12282-499: The Marvel Universe . In the 2004 Fantastic Four story "Hereafter Part 1: A Glimpse of God", the Thing is killed by an energy weapon wielded by Reed Richards, but is brought back to life in one story by the hand of God. Out of universe, Jack Kirby featured the Thing on his family's 1976 Hanukkah card. Some years later, Reed Richards, now a successful scientist, once again makes contact with Grimm. Richards has built his spaceship, and reminds Grimm of his promise to fly it. After

12460-454: The Masters of Evil , posing as heroes, The Thunderbolts . One year later, Franklin returned with his family along with the other heroes from the parallel reality. Reed was overjoyed to see his son again, but he and the rest of the FF found themselves without a home, moving into Reed's storage warehouse on Pier 4, overlooking the East River. Making this their home, the Fantastic Four continued with their lives, eventually managing to move back into

12638-401: The Rawhide Kid , but producers reconsidered and gave the role to Lon Zelig (actually the alien Super-Skrull ). After working mostly in some television shows, Storm also spent some time as a firefighter at the behest of his former classmate, Mike Snow, but when Snow moved away after his wife turned out to be a psychopathic arsonist and seemingly died, Storm left the job. He later returned to

12816-516: The Red Ghost ) were also increased when they were exposed to a second dose of cosmic rays. Maintaining his body's normal human shape requires a certain degree of ongoing concentration. When Reed is relaxed and distracted, his body appears to "melt in slow motion" according to Susan Storm. Being forcefully stretched to extremes during a short span of time (by a taffy-puller-type machine or a strong character, for example) causes Reed to suffer intense pain and

12994-609: The Sandman and manages to escape the prison with the aid of a plan coordinated by the She-Hulk and Ant-Man , allowing him to rejoin Sue and Johnny to investigate Reed's recent abduction, revealing that the dead Puppet Master came from the alternate Earth Franklin had created. As the Fantastic Four disbanded in the aftermath of the " Secret Wars " storyline, the Thing is working with the Guardians of

13172-680: The Savage Land and uses a device to reveal all the Skrull invaders present. After helping the Avengers to defeat the imposters and return to New York, Reed aids the heroes and villains of Earth in their battle against the Skrulls. Mister Fantastic aids the New Avengers in the search for the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. He and the rest of the Fantastic Four are magically reduced to television signals by

13350-555: The She-Hulk to fill in for him. Mister Fantastic did leave him with the device needed to return to Earth when it comes time. The Thing's time on Battleworld lasted until Ben eventually decides to return home after defeating Ultron and slaying his manifested dark side Grimm the Sorcerer. Once he left, the planet had no more reason to exist and so it broke apart. On returning to Earth, he learns that Alicia had become romantically involved with his teammate Johnny Storm during his absence (it

13528-496: The Shema , an important and oft-recited Jewish prayer (which, translated to English, begins "Hear, O Israel") over the dying Sheckerberg, who eventually recovers. In a later story, Grimm agrees to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah , since it has been 13 years, the age a Jewish boy celebrates his Bar Mitzvah, since he began his "second life" as the Thing. To celebrate the ceremony, Grimm organizes a poker tournament for every available superhero in

13706-589: The Skrulls . Soon after that, the team encountered the Sub-Mariner . They then had the first of many battles with Doctor Doom. They later journeyed to a subatomic world. Soon after that, they encountered Rama-Tut . They then battled the Molecule Man . As the team leader, Mr. Fantastic created numerous exotic devices and vehicles for the team to use such as clothing made of ' unstable molecules ' so that it can be used with their powers safely. Furthermore, he often leads

13884-584: The Wizard ; after a confrontation with that supervillain, who escaped with Cole, Storm remained hopeful of meeting her again. For a time, Storm became the Herald of the powerful cosmic being Galactus , becoming the Invisible Boy after switching powers with his sister and teammate, Susan Richards, the Invisible Woman . During the 2006–2007 " Civil War " company-wide crossover, in which the superpowered community

14062-478: The X-Men and the Avengers. During the 2011 " Fear Itself " storyline, Ben lifts one of the seven fallen hammers of the Serpent and becomes Angrir: Breaker of Souls. In this form, he then destroys Yancy Street and Avengers Tower, and battles Spider-Man, Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, before confronting Thor, who seriously wounds him. Franklin then uses his powers to restore Ben to his normal self, free from

14240-465: The android Human Torch , created for Timely Comics in 1939. Storm first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 ( cover-dated Nov. 1961), establishing him as a member of the titular superhero team. In his plot summary for this first issue, Lee passed on to Kirby that the recently formed Comics Code Authority had told him that the Human Torch was only permitted to burn objects, never people. Over

14418-514: The original Human Torch of the 1930s and 1940s. Around this time, Storm met and fell in love with Crystal , a member of the superpowered race the Inhumans . After their relationship ended, Crystal returned to her native city of Attilan and eventually married the superhero Quicksilver , Storm, crushed, attempted to move on, finding that his high-school girlfriend, Dorrie Evans, had married and had two children. Storm dropped out of college but remained friends with Wingfoot, who often participated in

14596-557: The "Grimm Youth Center". Thinking the center is named after the Thing himself, the Yancy Street Gang plans to graffiti the building exterior, but discovers the building was actually named after Daniel Grimm, Ben's deceased older brother and former leader of the gang. The relationship between the Yancy Streeters and the Thing is then effectively reconciled, or at least changed to a more good-natured, playful rivalry (as exemplified by

14774-452: The 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book Avengers: The Initiative #1. Ben once again tries to take on the Hulk within the events of the 2007 storyline " World War Hulk " to buy Reed Richards the time he needs to complete his plans for the Hulk. Ben gives his best shots, but the Hulk takes his punches without slowing down. The Hulk proceeds to knock out Ben by punching both sides of his head simultaneously. He

14952-478: The 2015 film Fantastic Four . In the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, John Krasinski portrayed Richards in the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , and Pedro Pascal will portray him in the 2025 film The Fantastic Four: First Steps , the 2026 film Avengers: Doomsday , and the 2027 film Avengers: Secret Wars . During an interview, Lee stated the inspiration behind

15130-517: The Baxter Building (due to Loki's manipulations, likely) sows further displeasure and leads to a direct conflict between the Fantastic Four and Loki's Mighty Avengers, stretching across to The Mighty Avengers #26 . This conflict eventually ends in a new base for the Mighty Avengers and a shockingly disturbing alliance of the Dark Reign ; the next issue of the Mighty Avengers will show a new character,

15308-584: The Baxter Building is now owned by a new superhero team, Fantastix, the Thing allows his teammates to use his hometown in Yancy Street as their current operation base. The Thing is generally well liked by other heroes within the Marvel Universe . Grimm's relationship with his teammates has been a close but occasionally edgy one given his temper. He and Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) often argue and clash but they do respect each other. Grimm's first love interest

15486-530: The Baxter Building. It has emerged that Reed is one of the members of the " Illuminati ", unknown to his wife. He is also in possession of the "Power" gem of the Infinity Gauntlet . In Marvel's Civil War miniseries and crossover event, Reed Richards is one of the leading figures, along with Iron Man, on the side which is in favor of the Superhuman Registration Act . He speculates that this will lead to conflict with his wife, which came true in issue #4 of

15664-511: The Dark Raider who was traveling from reality to reality, destroying all the various versions of himself after his own failure to save his world from Galactus in their original confrontation. A while later, the remaining members of the FF along with the Sub-Mariner, Lyja and Kristoff Vernard found themselves trapped in the same era as their Reed and Doom. They found Reed but faced a new problem: during his time alone, Reed had resigned himself to

15842-533: The Fantastic Four (including X-Men member Iceman ) fight the Griever at the End of All Things after Mister Fantastic persuaded the Griever to let him summon the Thing and the Human Torch. As the Thing and his teammates finally return to 616, while the Future Foundation stays behind to keep learning about the Multiverse, the Thing reveals to them that he and Alicia proposed their wedding and are about to get married soon. Although

16020-566: The Fantastic Four hijack an experimental spaceship in order to be the first humans in space. Man-Beast negates the effects of the cosmic radiation for all of them except Reed Richards who succumbs to the effects a decade later. Johnny Storm's counterpart is revealed to have been killed by the cosmic radiation. In Ghost-Spider's universe , Susan and Johnny Storm went missing on a trip to Latveria. When they return to New York, they are shown twisted to evil and murderers of their own mother. In Earth-98 universe, Johnny married Crystal and has

16198-402: The Fantastic Four name, they are systematically attacked by the mysterious Quiet Man, a figure who reveals that he has been behind many of the villain attacks the FF have faced over the years, now stepping forward to take a more active role as he shuts down Johnny's powers, frames the Thing for murder, has Reed and Sue Richards declared unfit guardians for their children, and then abducts Reed with

16376-409: The Fantastic Four's adventures. Storm eventually began a romance with who he thought was Alicia Masters but was eventually revealed to be an alien from the shapeshifting Skrull race, Lyja , posing as Masters. In the interim, they married. Storm later discovers "Alicia's" true identity, and that Lyja is pregnant with his child. He then witnessed Lyja's apparent death and rescued the real Alicia from

16554-505: The Fantastic Four, an act that alienated the United States government and his own team. This led to team-member Ben Grimm 's apparent death and the Fantastic Four's subsequent dispersal. Storm took to fixing cars for a living. Grimm later was revealed to be alive. Over the Internet, Storm meets a young woman, Cole, whom he learns is the daughter of one of the Fantastic Four's oldest enemies,

16732-464: The Fantastic Four, and then joined the Avengers , although Reed's past experience as leader of the Fantastic Four meant that he had trouble adjusting to following Captain America 's lead regardless of his respect for the other man. Eventually, Reed and Sue did rejoin the Fantastic Four. In the course of fighting an alien called Hunger, Doctor Doom was seriously injured. The Fantastic Four were also part of

16910-529: The Fantastic Four, but ask Storm and the Black Panther to take their places in the meantime. Within the midst of Civil War, Reed Richards learned from a brief conversation with Mastermind Excello that the Hulk is not on the planet where the Illuminati attempted to exile him. After a conversation over the good the Hulk has done for humanity, Reed tells Iron Man of what happened to the Hulk and also states that

17088-439: The Fantastic Four. Reed was chosen to lead the group, under the name "Mr. Fantastic". He later told his daughter , by way of a bedtime story , that the reason he suggested they become adventurers and gave them such outlandish costumes and names as "Mister Fantastic" and " The Thing " was that he knew they would likely be hated and feared for their powers without such an over-the-top public image. This history has been changed over

17266-405: The Fantastic Four. Their relationship is brief however, when Johnny cheats on her with Victorious, a hero from Latveria and fiancé of Doctor Doom. During a conflict at Doctor Doom's wedding, where his infidelity with Victorious is revealed, Johnny Storm becomes permanently stuck in his Human Torch form and his powers are boosted to the point where it is unsafe for him to be around others. During

17444-633: The Galaxy, and the Human Torch is acting as an ambassador with the Inhumans and becoming part of the Uncanny Avengers. During the 2017 " Secret Empire " storyline, the Thing appears as a member of the Underground, which is a resistance movement against HYDRA ever since they took over the United States, until the real Captain America returns, ending HYDRA's empires and defeating his HYDRA counterpart. To help

17622-460: The Griever at the End of All Things after Reed had expended most of his Beyonder-based energies while Franklin was left with only limited reality-warping abilities. Due to the Griever causing the collapse of 100 worlds, the Future Foundation had to make a stand even after Molecule Man was killed. When Mister Fantastic tricked the Griever into bringing their Fantastic Four teammates to them, Thing and Human Torch were reunited as every other superhero that

17800-581: The Guardians tell Reed Richards and others to never open the portal, or they will face the wrath of Blastaar. Mister Fantastic agrees and says they will not open the portal and then asks who they are. Star-Lord replies, "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy" before leaving. Tragedy strikes the team when Johnny is apparently killed in the Negative Zone. As the Fantastic Four recover from Johnny's apparent death, Mister Fantastic grows disillusioned at how scientists see science and its applications. Therefore, he creates

17978-450: The Hulk has friends, and "may God help us if they find him before we do". Within the aftermath of Civil War, Reed Richards had been keeping tabs on Mastermind Excello and when the She-Hulk learned about the Hulk's exile, Reed Richards sends out Doc Samson to confront her when he sees her meeting with Mastermind Excello. In World War Hulk #1, Reed is shown with Tony Stark as Iron Man. Both men were trying to convince Sentry to fight

18156-513: The Hulk, thinking that the calm aura that the Sentry produces may be able to stop the Hulk's rampage. In World War Hulk #2, with the aid of the rest of the Fantastic Four, Storm, and the Black Panther, Reed is able to create a machine that projects an image of the Sentry and recreates the hero's aura of calm. He uses the machine on the Hulk just as he is about to defeat the Thing, but the Hulk knows it

18334-547: The Human Torch in Strange Tales #124 (1964), which previously featured solo adventures of the Human Torch and backup Doctor Strange stories. The change was intended to liven the comic through the always humorous chemistry between the Torch and the Thing. They were replaced in #135 (1965) with the "modern-day" version of Nick Fury , Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. , who had already been appearing in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos . After

18512-569: The Red King forces breach the ship's warp core. Miek kept quiet to initiate what he felt was Hulk's destiny as the "Worldbreaker". Mister Fantastic is at the Illuminati 's meeting discussing the threat of the Skrulls when the Black Bolt with them is revealed to be a Skrull in disguise. Mister Fantastic and Hank Pym autopsy the body of the Skrull who impersonated Elektra (with Reed pretending to be seeing

18690-454: The Serpent's possession. In the 2014 " Original Sin " storyline, after learning from the eye of the murdered Uatu that Johnny Storm unintentionally sabotaged an experiment that could have allowed Grimm to become human again, Ben is found having apparently murdered the Puppet Master ; the crime was committed in a sealed room that even Reed Richards could barely penetrate, with Alicia Masters as

18868-459: The She-Thing, lumpy much like Ben was in his first few appearances, while Ben mutates into a new rockier, more powerful form. After being further mutated into the more monstrous rocky form, Ben is briefly changed back to his human form, and returned leadership of the Fantastic Four to Reed Richards. Grimm once more returned to his traditional orange rocky form out of love for Ms. Marvel. He remains

19046-481: The Silver Surfer , and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024); Michael B. Jordan in the 2015 film Fantastic Four ; and Joseph Quinn in the MCU films The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Avengers: Doomsday (2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby , Johnny Storm is a renovation of Carl Burgos 's original character,

19224-450: The Skrulls. Storm briefly joined his nephew Franklin Richards ' Fantastic Force team, where he battled his otherdimensional counterpart, Vangaard (formerly Gaard). Lyja posed as student Laura Green and dated Storm to stay close to him; Storm recognized her when they kissed, though he did not reveal this to her until later. Seeking an acting career, Storm was cast as the Old West hero

19402-435: The Thing cope with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's disappearance, the Human Torch takes him on a journey through the Multiverse, using the Multisect to find them. They have not been able to find Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, as they return to Earth-616 empty-handed. The Thing and the Human Torch were reunited with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman to help alongside other superheroes who were part of

19580-404: The Thing reveals to them that he proposed to Alicia and they are about to get married soon. Although the Baxter Building is now owned by a new superhero team Fantastix, the Thing allows his teammates to use his hometown Yancy Street as their current operation base. He later becomes engaged to an Unparalleled superhero named Sky from the planet Spyre, who then travels back to Earth with him and joins

19758-442: The Thing were reunited with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman to help alongside other superheroes who were part of the Fantastic Four (including surprisingly X-Men 's Iceman ) fight the Griever at the End of All Things after Mister Fantastic persuaded the Griever to let him summon the Thing and the Human Torch. As the Thing and his teammates finally return to 616, while Future Foundation stays behind to keep learning multiverse,

19936-459: The Thing's later foray into the world of professional wrestling . It also featured a major storyline offshoot from Marvel's Secret Wars event, in which the Thing elects to remain on the Beyonder 's Battleworld after discovering that the planet enables him to return to human form at will. A full third of the series' stories take place on Battleworld. In 2002, Marvel released The Thing: Freakshow ,

20114-408: The Yancy Street gang at one point. Excelling in football as a high school student, Ben receives a full scholarship to Empire State University, where he first meets his eventual lifelong friend in a teenaged genius named Reed Richards , as well as future enemy Victor von Doom . Despite their being from radically different backgrounds, science student Richards describes to Grimm his dream of building

20292-437: The ability to control any fire within his immediate range of vision, causing it to increase or decrease in intensity or to move in a pattern directed by his thoughts. Additionally, he is able to absorb fire/plasma into his body with no detrimental effects. The plasma field immediately surrounding his body is hot enough to vaporize projectiles that approach him, including bullets. He does not generally extend this flame-aura beyond

20470-407: 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. 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, flattening himself into a trampoline or a parachute to catch

20648-415: The abnormal radiation levels in the belt's atmosphere. The cosmic rays wreaked havoc on the starship's insufficient shielding and they were forced to return to Earth immediately. When they crash-landed they found that their bodies were changed dramatically. Reed's body was elastic and he could reshape any portion of his body at will. At his suggestion, they decided to use their new abilities to serve mankind as

20826-456: The battle against Hunger and Doom asked for his old enemy to take his hand. At that point they both disappeared in a flash, leaving nothing but ashes. It would appear as if the two sworn enemies had fittingly died in each other's hands. However, unknown to anyone else at the time, Reed and Doom had actually been thrown back into the time of barbarians and onto an alien world by a being called Hyperstorm , Reed's grandchild from an alternate future,

21004-546: The chaotic activities of the Elder God Chthon, to prevent them from intervening, though after Chthon is defeated, he and the other three are turned back. Norman Osborn has sent H.A.M.M.E.R. agents to shut down the Fantastic Four and capture them, expelling them from the Initiative and stripping them all their rights. Taking place a week from the Secret Invasion, which has caused Richards to seriously reevaluate his own life and

21182-460: The character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Kirby modeled the character after himself. In addition to appearing in the Fantastic Four, the Thing has been the star of Marvel Two-in-One , Strange Tales (with his fellow Fantastic Four member the Human Torch ), and two incarnations of his own eponymous series, as well as numerous miniseries and one-shots . The Thing joined his Fantastic Four partner and frequent rival

21360-561: The character in his human and mutated forms respectively in the unreleased film The Fantastic Four . Michael Chiklis played the character in the 2005 Fantastic Four film and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer , and Jamie Bell in the 2015 reboot . Ebon Moss-Bachrach will portray the character in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Avengers: Doomsday (2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby ,

21538-437: The character's powers: "I liked Plastic Man . That's a great power, and nobody is using it so I gave Reed Richards Plastic Man's power" Born in Central City, California , Reed Richards is the son of Evelyn and Nathaniel Richards . Nathaniel was a scientific genius, and Reed inherited a similar level of intellect and interests. A child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics , physics , and mechanics , Reed Richards

21716-414: The charges were dropped when Eternity briefly granted all those attending the trial a moment of 'cosmic awareness' that allowed them to understand that Galactus was necessary for the continued well-being of the universe. Reed's battle with Gormuu prior to getting his powers was recounted. Just after that, Reed was reunited with his father in an alternate timeline. Some time later, Reed and Sue retired from

21894-453: The child of Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers , daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey . They were so far into the past, and with no technology, that even their brilliant minds couldn't find a way back home. Doom was captured and held prisoner by Hyperstorm. Reed wandered aimlessly for about a year. Meanwhile, the rest of the FF recruited Scott Lang as scientific advisor. They even confronted an insane alternative version of Reed called

22072-488: The city. Indifferent to choosing sides, Ben focuses on protecting civilians from harm. In Fantastic Four #543 (March 2007), Ben celebrates the Fantastic Four's 11th anniversary along with the Human Torch, and latecomers Reed and Sue. The aftermath of the Civil War is still being felt in this issue, as Ben and Johnny (and even Franklin ) consider the future of the team and Reed and Sue's marriage. When Reed and Sue arrive near

22250-474: The comic ending, with the Yancy Streeters spray-painting the sleeping Thing). Some personality traits of the cantankerously lovable, occasionally cigar-smoking, Jewish native of the Lower East Side are popularly recognized as having been inspired by those of co-creator Jack Kirby, who in interviews has said he intended Grimm to be an alter ego of himself. Initially in the 2006 storyline " Civil War ", Ben

22428-440: The comic superhero world against revealing a character's religion, the fact that Grimm is Jewish was not explicitly revealed until four decades after his creation, in the story "Remembrance of Things Past" in Fantastic Four vol. 3, #56 (Aug. 2002). In this story, Grimm returns to his old neighborhood to find Mr. Sheckerberg, a pawn shop owner he knew as a child. Flashbacks during this story reveal Grimm's Jewish heritage. He recites

22606-509: The corpse for the first time, thus keeping the secret of the Illuminati). After completing the dissection, Reed claims to have discovered the secret of how the Skrulls have been able to conceal their identities. Before he can elaborate, " Hank Pym " reveals himself to be a Skrull and shoots Richards with a weapon that violently leaves his elastic body in a state of chaotic disarray similar to Silly String . In Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1, it

22784-460: The course of the series, Johnny being the little brother of teammate Susan Storm a.k.a. the Invisible Girl was one of several sources of tension within the group. Additionally, he starred in a solo feature in Strange Tales #101-134 (Oct. 1962 – July 1965). An eight-issue series, The Human Torch (Sept. 1974 – Nov. 1975), reprinted stories from that solo feature, along with stories featuring

22962-603: The creators found this format too restrictive. He co-starred in two one-shot comics, Spider-Man & the Human Torch in... Bahia De Los Muertos! #1 (May 2009), by writer Tom Beland and artist Juan Doe, and Incredible Hulk & the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1, a previously unpublished story from 1984, intended for Marvel Team-Up by plotter Jack C. Harris , scriptwriter and artist Kesel, and breakdown artist Steve Ditko . Growing up in Glenville, New York,

23140-485: The disguise of the Thing 's former girlfriend Alicia Masters, carried on a long-term relationship including marriage with the Torch, until it was revealed that her true nature was as a Skrull double agent. Although the two attempted reconciliation after it was learned that their "child" was actually an implanted weapon to be used against the Fantastic Four, they ultimately parted on less than favorable terms. Torch's brief relationship with Namorita lasted until he pursued

23318-596: The events of Civil War #5, Peter Parker demands to see the conditions inside the detention facility designed by Reed to hold unregistered superhumans. After being escorted to and from the prison by Iron Man , Parker returns with more doubts than ever about whether he is on the right side and asks Reed why he supports the Superhuman Registration Act, a question Reed answers by telling the story of his paternal uncle , Ted. A professional writer, Reed remembers his uncle as "funny", "colorful", and "accepting". As

23496-494: The final confrontation, Reed and the Maker discover that the source of Doom's power is the Molecule Man (Owen Reece), but although the Maker attempts to betray Reed by forcibly devolving him into an ape, Reece reverses the Maker's attack and turns him into pepperoni pizza. When Doom comes down to confront Reed, Reed challenges Doom as Reece temporarily deprives Doom of his new god-level powers, Reed proclaiming Doom to be nothing more than

23674-732: The four attack the Baxter Building, Ultimate Reed switches bodies with Ultimate Doom and takes on all four zombies. Johnny is last seen being torn apart and extinguished by Reed in Dr. Doom's body. In the MC2 alternative future Johnny leads the Fantastic Five . He is married to Lyja and they have a son Torus Storm (who calls himself "Super-Storm" when role-playing as a hero). Torus has inherited both his father's flame powers and his mother's stretching / shapeshifting powers. In this universe starring Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman, Johnny and Susan's family are stars of

23852-399: The government denies him permission to fly the spaceship himself, Richards plots a clandestine flight piloted by Grimm and accompanied by his future wife Susan Storm , who had helped provide funding for the rocket, and her younger brother Johnny Storm , who helped the group gain access to the launch system. Although reluctant to fly the rocket, Ben is persuaded to do so by Sue, for whom he has

24030-448: The grumbling Ben Grimm . In the early 1960s, he starred in a series of solo adventures, published in Strange Tales . The Human Torch is also a friend and frequent ally of the superhero Spider-Man , who is approximately the same age. In film, the Human Torch has been portrayed by Jay Underwood in the unreleased 1994 film The Fantastic Four ; Chris Evans in the 2005 film Fantastic Four , its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of

24208-409: The heroes in the Marvel universe was Onslaught finally vanquished. The heroes would have died then and there if not for Franklin, who created an alternate reality for them to reside in. Completely oblivious to what had taken place, Reed and his compatriots relived most of their lives. In their absence the Fantastic Four's headquarters, Four Freedoms Plaza , was annihilated by a super villain group called

24386-591: The intention of framing him for a series of attacks committed by the heroes created in Franklin's pocket universe. However, Reed is able to defeat the Quiet Man's plan to proclaim himself the hero who defeated Reed's 'attack' on the world when he realizes that the Psycho-Man - one of the Quiet Man's allies - intended to betray him, forcing Reed and the Quiet Man to work together to deactivate the Psycho-Man's equipment. During

24564-567: The invading force, she finds she still has some feelings for him, and does not carry out her mission of sabotage. She returns to her people, unsure of herself and of any future relationship. In the conclusion of the 2011 "Three" storyline, in Fantastic Four #587 (March 2011), the Human Torch appears to die fighting a horde of aliens from the Negative Zone . The series ended with the following issue, #588, and relaunched in March 2011 as simply FF . Spider-Man , one of Storm's friends, took his place on

24742-468: The issue's end, they announce that they are taking a break from the team and have found two replacement members: the Black Panther , and Storm of the X-Men . The title of the story in this issue is a quote from Ben, "Come on, Suzie, don't leave us hangin'." Ben Grimm served as one of the pallbearers at the memorial service for Captain America, along with Tony Stark, Ms. Marvel, Rick Jones, T'Challa and Sam Wilson. Ben has been identified as Number 53 of

24920-550: The key to using magic was to accept that he would never understand it. Thing (comics) The Thing ( Benjamin Jacob " Ben " Grimm ) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . He is a founding member of the Fantastic Four . The Thing was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby , and he first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 ( cover-dated Nov. 1961). Known for his trademark rocky appearance, he has superhuman strength,

25098-455: The life he has built for his family, resulting in turbulent internal conflicts. Richards, as he takes a long, hard look at the life, is prompted to construct a machine that is capable of bending reality itself, to do so. Agents from H.A.M.M.E.R. (sent by Norman Osborn, a man well aware Reed is one of the few that have intellect exceeding even his own and thus pose a great threat to his carefully constructed shadow world) arrive just as Reed activates

25276-507: The life of the woman in his passenger seat. After being attacked by agents of Doctor Doom , Johnny ends up going up into space on Reed's spacecraft prototype as he really had nowhere else to go. The entire launch base had been overtaken by enemy forces and it was miles to civilization. It is during the flight a cosmic anomaly imbues him and the others with their powers. After the crash of the prototype, Johnny would prove more reliable, recovering Reed Richards and rescuing his own sister. In

25454-468: The machine, interfacing with the Baxter Building's power supply, resulting in an energy fluctuation that sends Sue, Ben and Johnny back to the prehistoric era, fraught with dangers, which manifest in the form of the First Celestial Host. Reed searches for answers which can only be found in alternate timelines as the three find themselves in a super hero Hyborian-age civil war; Franklin and Valeria are

25632-475: The miniseries when a clone of Thor , created by him and Tony Stark, went out of control and killed Goliath and nearly killed all the rest of the Secret Avengers until Sue Storm stepped in and saved them. Soon after, Sue left Reed, along with Johnny, to join the Secret Avengers in hopes that it would drive Reed to end the conflict quickly. In The Amazing Spider-Man #535, which takes place shortly before

25810-440: The mirror opposite of Earth-616's Johnny Storm in terms of personality. The team uses power-packs to boost their talents to manifest at mecha -sized levels in order to combat Godzilla -sized monsters that seem to constantly attack Earth. In volume two of Mangaverse, which takes place on Earth-2301b, the character of Johnny Storm has been replaced with a young woman named Jonatha Storm, who is the half-sister of Sioux Storm . Jonatha

25988-523: The monstrous form of the Thing, Grimm's body rejects various attempts by Richards to restore his human form, lest he lose Masters' love. Grimm has remained a stalwart member of the Fantastic Four for years. The Thing first fought the Hulk early in his career, with many such further clashes over the years. Not long after that, he is first reverted to his human form, but is then restored to his Thing form to battle Doctor Doom . Grimm has been temporarily replaced on

26166-408: The murder of the other Fantastic 4 members by supernatural assassins, she joins Spider-Man , Spider-Woman ( Mary Jane Watson ), Black Cat , Wolverine , and Iron Man , in hopes of getting revenge . In this alternative universe crazed Reed Richards recently infects Johnny Storm, Sue Storm , and Ben Grimm with the zombie virus. The three then turn Reed into a zombie and the four of them go on

26344-427: The only ones available to confront the agents Osborn sent. Richards studies other parallel Earths to see if any found a peaceful solution to the Civil War, which resulted from the Superhuman Registration Act. Reed peers into different worlds, some more bizarre than our own, to see what they did differently. This is an insightful look into where the Marvel Universe has gone in the past "year" (in Marvel time) and to see who

26522-541: The only witness. Although Ben claims innocence, his depression over recent events prompts him to accept incarceration in the Raft. Although power-dampeners in the Raft restrict his strength to a more manageable level, he is attacked by various other thick-skinned superhumans — including the Armadillo and Ironclad — on orders of the current 'boss' of the prison, Sharon Ventura , the She-Thing. Eventually, Ben forms an alliance with

26700-413: The original android Human Torch. Later years also saw a 12-issue series, Human Torch (June 2003 - June 2004) by writer Karl Kesel and penciler Skottie Young , and the five-issue team-up miniseries Spider-Man / Human Torch (March–July 2005) by writer Dan Slott and penciler Ty Templeton . The Human Torch was the permanent co-star of Marvel Team-Up , but was dropped after three issues because

26878-573: The other hand, do get married, despite an attack by Galactus. Later, in the aftermath of conflict between the Kree , the Skrulls and the Cotati, Ben and Alicia adopt two orphans, Kree boy Jo-Venn and Skrull girl N'Kala. Grimm is best friends with Reed Richards , whom he addresses with the nickname "Stretch", due to Richards' natural height and his ability to stretch his body. However, Grimm also holds Reed responsible for his condition, since Richards had dismissed

27056-633: The potential danger of the cosmic rays that gave them their powers, although Grimm had taken them very seriously. At times of real frustration towards Reed, Grimm refers to him simply as "Richards". Grimm is the godfather of Reed and Sue 's son Franklin , who affectionately calls him "Unca Ben". The Thing's primary superhuman power is his great physical strength. Over the years, as a result of further mutation and rigorous training on machines designed by Reed Richards, his strength has increased dramatically. Human Torch (Johnny Storm) The Human Torch ( Jonathan Lowell Spencer " Johnny " Storm )

27234-577: The power output of Tony's Repulsor-battery heart implant. For virtually his entire publication history, Mister Fantastic has been depicted as one of the most intelligent characters in the Marvel Universe . A visionary theoretician and an inspired machine smith , he has made breakthroughs in such varied fields as space travel , time travel , extra-dimensional travel , biochemistry , robotics , computers , synthetic polymers , communications , mutations , transportation , holography , energy generation , and spectral analysis , among others. However, he

27412-417: The presence of the act. In the final battle of the war, he is shot by Taskmaster , saving Sue Storm's life. With Reed on the brink of death, a furious Sue crushes Taskmaster with a telekinetic field. Reed survives, however, and Sue returns to him in the aftermath of the battle, having been granted amnesty. Seeking to repair the damage done to their marriage as a result of the war, Sue and Reed take time off from

27590-482: The profession during a period when the Fantastic Four was short on cash. Frustrated with her brother's directionless life and near-disastrous pranksterism, his sister compelled him to become chief financial officer for the Fantastic Four, Inc. Infighting and betrayal resulted in a near-catastrophe, ending Storm's position. After a major battle with the supervillain and dictator Doctor Doom , Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards attempted to claim Doom's Latveria for

27768-662: The quartet band together to use their new abilities for the betterment of humanity, and Grimm, in a moment of self-pity, adopts the super-heroic sobriquet, the Thing . The team clashes with the Mole Man in their first appearance. Trapped in his monstrous form, Grimm is an unhappy yet reliable member of the team. He trusts in his friend Reed Richards to one day develop a cure for his condition. However, when he encounters blind sculptor Alicia Masters , Grimm develops an unconscious resistance to being transformed back to his human form. Subconsciously fearing that Masters prefers him to remain in

27946-458: The reality that it was impossible for his old friends to stage a rescue and attacked them but soon realized that these truly were his friends. After returning to their own time period, he sought Galactus, as he was the only being in the Universe who could defeat Hyperstorm. Upon Hyperstorm's defeat at the hands of Galactus, the FF returned to the present day where they continued their lives, not only as

28124-454: The regular Marvel Universe just after the invasion was over. Following the Siege of Asgard , Luke Cage asks Ben to serve on his Avengers team. Although Ben states that his loyalty will always be to the Fantastic Four, Cage confirms that he is not asking Ben to resign from his original team, merely suggesting that Ben split his time between the two teams, as Wolverine divides his time between

28302-558: The rest of the Fantastic Four, Johnny gained his powers on a spacecraft bombarded by cosmic rays . He can engulf his entire body in flames, fly, absorb fire harmlessly into his own body, and control any nearby fire by sheer force of will. "Flame on!", which the Torch customarily shouts when activating his full-body flame effect, has become his catchphrase . The youngest of the group, he is brash and impetuous in comparison to his reticent, overprotective and compassionate older sister, Susan Storm , his sensible brother-in-law, Reed Richards , and

28480-537: The same machines he is using; the machine locates them and the people he finds tell him that they can help him. Reed Richards reappeared in The Mighty Avengers #24 refusing to give Hank Pym an invention previously left in the care of the Fantastic Four, following Bill Foster 's untimely death, causing the Wasp to lead the team of Mighty Avengers to retrieve the device. In the next issue, Pym's attempting to knock down

28658-559: The summer months, Reed rented a room in a boarding house owned by the aunt of a young woman named Susan Storm , who was an undergraduate student at the time. Reed fell in love with Sue instantly and began courting her. Ultimately, Reed was too distracted from his work on his dissertation due to his romance with Sue and decided that the best thing for the both of them was to move out of Marygay's home. Moving on to Harvard, Reed earned Ph.D.s in Physics and Electrical Engineering while working as

28836-410: The team into daring expeditions such as into the Negative Zone in addition to opposing evil. Also, he has felt personally responsible for Ben Grimm's grotesque change and has labored off and on to reverse it permanently. Under his guidance, the team went on to become Earth's most celebrated band of heroes. Together, they would save the world countless times. Ever driven by his quest for knowledge, Reed

29014-505: The team twice. First, after Grimm temporarily lost his powers and reverted to human form, Reed Richards hired Luke Cage (then using the code name "Power Man") to take his place until Richards had completed a Thing-suit for Ben (however, Ben unexpectedly reverted into the actual Thing again later on). Years later, after Grimm chose to remain on Battleworld in the aftermath of the " Secret Wars " due to his apparent control over his transformation between his human and mutated states, he asked

29192-580: The team, as requested in the Torch's will. It is later revealed that the Human Torch was revived by a species of insect-like creatures that were implanted in his body by Annihilus in an attempt to force Storm to help open the Negative Zone portal. Storm eventually escapes and Richards determines Storm was on the other side of the portal for two years from his perspective. The Human Torch becomes an ambassador within Inhuman society and joins Steve Rogers 's Avengers Unity Squad and helps Rogue in incinerating

29370-531: The telepathic portions of Professor Xavier's brains, thus unknowingly preventing Hydra from using it for their secret empire . He becomes a multi-billionaire when he inherits Reed Richards' and Sue Storms' wealth and uses the money for rebuilding the Avengers Mansion and philanthropy. He is seemingly annihilated when he grabs a cosmic object called Pyramoids during the fight between the Lethal Legion and

29548-718: The temporary loss of his natural elastic resiliency. He possesses other weaknesses too; a great shock to his body - for example, from the likes of Doctor Doom when he constructs around him - can make his body so rubbery he loses motor control. Enough energy can reduce him to a liquid state in which he is immobile. Mister Fantastic's strength comes more from the powers of his mind than the powers of his body; indeed, he once told Spider-Man that he considers his stretching powers to be expendable compared to his intellect. Some stories have implied that his intellect may have been boosted by his powers, as he once visited an alternate universe where his other self-had never been exposed to cosmic rays and

29726-419: The upper hand on Stark, is then given the thumbs down by Hulk, instructing Richards to kill Stark. However the Hulk spares their lives, showing them that he proved his point to the world. They survived the encounter by Hulk's mercy and the timely intervention of the Sentry. The Illuminati are partially cleared from the responsibility of Sakaar's destruction when Miek , one of the Hulk's alien allies, admits he saw

29904-588: The years to keep it current. In the original comics, Richards was a veteran of World War II who had served behind enemy lines in occupied France, and the goal of his space mission was a crewed space flight to the Moon before the Communists were able to . This was later changed to getting there before the Chinese Communists and to explore the interstellar areas of the red planet and beyond. Also, Reed originally states that he and Sue "were kids together" and that Sue

30082-640: The years, including, but not limited to, the Inhuman Crystal , member-in-training and future Galactus herald Frankie Raye , the Skrull agent Lyja disguised as Alicia Masters , the Atlantean Namorita , Inhuman Medusa , and X-Men member Rogue . Crystal dissolved her relationship with him due to the adverse effects of pollution within population centers of Homo sapiens . Frankie Raye ended her relationship with him when she accepted Galactus' offer to become his newest herald. Lyja, while in

30260-410: Was an editorial decision made in 2013 as Reed developing, several years later, a romantic interest in a girl he first met when she was thirteen years old was deemed inappropriate. The early career of the Fantastic Four led Mister Fantastic to a number of discoveries, and had their first encounters with many unusual characters. In the team's first appearance, they battled the Mole Man . They then battled

30438-404: Was at fault, if anyone. Reed meets with the other five Illuminati to handle the problem. Ultimately, after seeing about a million alternate Earths, he had concluded that there was no way for the Civil War to be resolved but that he, as the cleverest man in the Marvel Universe, had a responsibility to put things right. But before turning the machine off, he searches for other realities where they have

30616-512: Was initially skeptical about the unknown effects of radiation, while Reed theorized that their ship's shielding would be adequate to protect them. It was on Reed's initiative that the fateful mission which had Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm accompanying him into space took place. When their ship passed through the Van Allen belt they found their cockpit bombarded with nearly lethal doses of cosmic radiation . Reed had neglected to account for

30794-468: Was launched in 2023, written and illustrated by Steve Skroce . The series sees Thing teaming up with various heroes. Born on Yancy Street in New York City 's Lower East Side , to a Jewish family, Benjamin Jacob "Ben" Grimm has an early life of poverty and hardship, shaping him into a tough, streetwise scrapper. His older brother Daniel , whom Ben idolizes, is killed in a street gang fight when Ben

30972-498: Was notably less intelligent than him, though purely human versions of Reed that are as or even more intelligent than himself have been shown, particularly among the Council of Reeds. Tony Stark has commented that Reed's ability to make his brain physically larger (via his elastic powers) gives him an advantage, though this seems to be meant more as a joke. That said, scenes from the same issue show Reed "inflating" his skull as he calculates

31150-417: Was part of the Fantastic Four showed up as well. Faced with these numbers, the Griever was eventually driven back when most of her equipment was destroyed, forcing her to return to her universe or be trapped in this one, while the heroes were able to repair the damaged equipment to create a new teleporter to send them all home. Reed Richards gained the power of elasticity from irradiation by cosmic rays. He has

31328-504: Was taking college-level courses when he was 14. He attended such prestigious universities as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , California Institute of Technology , Harvard University , Columbia University , and the fictional Empire State University. By the age of 20, he had several degrees in the sciences under his belt. It was at Empire State University that he met Benjamin J. Grimm . Reed had already begun designing

31506-494: Was the "girl next door" who Reed left behind to go fight in the war. This origin story was, many years later, altered so that Sue was thirteen years old when she first met Reed, who was in his early twenties, at her Aunt Marygay's boardinghouse. Current official Marvel canon has since altered this origin story by combining elements of both—it eliminated the large age gap but maintained that Reed and Sue did not meet until their late teens at Aunt Marygay's boardinghouse. The change in age

31684-399: Was wrong to take such a stand, to pick a fight he couldn't win, and to fail to respect the law. However Fantastic Four #542 reveals that the real reason for supporting the registration act is due to his development of a working version of Isaac Asimov 's fictional psychohistory concept. His application of this science indicates to him that billions will die in escalating conflicts without

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