Current Members:
Reed Richards
a.k.a. MISTER FANTASTIC
Ben Grimm a.k.a. THING
Sue Storm a.k.a. INVISIBLE WOMAN
Johnny Storm a.k.a. HUMAN TORCH
Notable Former Members :
Jennifer Walters a.k.a. SHE-HULK
Crystalia Amaquelin Maximoff a.k.a. CRYSTAL
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Current Team
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Synopsis:
Reed
Richards. Sue Richards. Benjamin Grimm. Johnny Storm. They rocketed into
space in an experimental starship, the first humans to attempt interstellar
travel. But a freak encounter with cosmic rays changed their lives forever,
granting each unique powers. Now, they continue to challenge the unknown
as the greatest team of superhuman adventures ever assembled: the Fantastic
Four!
Base of operations: Baxter Building, New York City
First appearance: Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #1 (1961)
History:
Known internationally as Earth's first family of super heroes, the members
of the Fantastic Four owe their amazing abilities to their elastic leader:
scientific stalwart Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic. As a starry-eyed
student at State University, Reed already had set his sights on interstellar
travel. His roommate and best friend, Ben Grimm, jokingly promised to
pilot the craft. Working years later as an aeronautical engineer, Reed
finally realized his lifelong dream. Exhausting the majority of his
vast inheritance, he funded the construction and launch of a starship.
Reed recruited Ben, who had become a successful test pilot and astronaut,
to fly the vessel. Reed's longtime sweetheart and fiancée, Sue
Storm, joined him at the launch site.
When the government
threatened to cut off its partial funding of the project, Reed elected
to embark on an immediate test flight. Ben opposed the idea, warning
that the ship's shielding might prove inadequate against intense forms
of cosmic radiation. Nevertheless, Reed persuaded his old friend to
serve as pilot. Sue and her adolescent brother, Johnny, insisted on
accompanying the would-be history-makers. The four stole into the launch
facility, boarded the starship and blasted off in pursuit of scientific
glory. They intended to travel to another star system and back, but
a solar flare temporarily boosted the intensity of the ionizing radiation
in Earth's Van Allen belt. Cosmic rays bombarded the ship's cabin, irradiating
the four passengers and slagging the controls. Ben was forced to abort
the flight and return to Earth.
Back on terra firma,
the four discovered that the radiation had triggered mutagenic changes
in their bodies. Reed could become malleable, Sue could turn invisible,
and Johnny could generate fiery plasma. Ben stood transformed into an
orange-colored, thick-skinned, heavily muscled, superhumanly strong
"thing." It was Reed who convinced his friends that they should
use their newfound powers for humanity's benefit.
Mr. Fantastic, the
Thing, the Human Torch and Invisible Girl established their base atop
the Baxter Building in midtown Manhattan. Financed by profits from the
patents on Reed's inventions, the Fantastic Four set out to safeguard
the world from any and all threats beyond the purview of conventional
peacekeeping forces. Some time after the freak accident that granted
the foursome its powers, Sue married Reed. Like all couples, the super-powered
duo has experienced its share of problems -- thanks, in large part,
to Reed's devotion to his work. However, they always return to one another.
The two have one son, Franklin, who possesses latent mutant abilities.
The team first put
its abilities on public display when the subterranean Mole Man attempted
to take revenge on the surface world by destroying Earth's power plants
and unleashing an army of gigantic monsters to annihilate the human
race. The Fantastic Four turned back the Mole Man's threat, unaware
that greater menaces awaited. As fate would have it, Reed again encountered
his college rival, Victor Von Doom, whose face had been hideously scarred
during an experiment gone awry. The newly christened Dr. Doom now ruled
his homeland of Latveria with an iron fist -- his ghastly countenance
cloaked beneath a metal faceplate, his body sheathed in nigh-impenetrable
armor. Doom kidnapped Sue to draw her teammates to his castle. The would-be
conqueror had created a time machine, and he demanded that Reed, Ben
and Johnny travel into the past to retrieve a magical stone. Upon their
return, the team defeated Doom.
The greatest squad
of superhuman adventurers ever assembled, the Fantastic Four continued
to push the bounds of human exploration. Challenging the unknown, the
intrepid heroes discovered the parallel dimension known as the Negative
Zone; initiated human contact with alien races such as the Skrulls and
Kree; unearthed the hidden civilization of the Inhumans, a genetic offshoot
of mankind; and located the secret African nation of Wakanda, ruled
by the noble Black Panther. Perhaps the finest of the Fantastic Four's
early victories came in the face of the fundamental force of nature
known as Galactus. Only able to satiate his awesome hunger by depleting
a planet's life-sustaining energies, Galactus had come to consume Earth.
The FF repelled the ravager of worlds under the threat of an extraterrestrial
device called the Ultimate Nullifier, powerful enough to eradicate even
Galactus. In the process, the heroes liberated the alien's herald, the
Silver Surfer.
Following their
supposed deaths at the hands of the sentient psionic menace called Onslaught,
the Fantastic Four and a number of Earth's other great champions were
shunted into an alternate dimension created by young Franklin Richards.
The team returned to its proper place and time only to discover that
its headquarters had been destroyed by the Thunderbolts, a collection
of villains posing as heroes. Consequently, the FF was forced to relocate
to a warehouse on a Manhattan pier. But with the help of Noah Baxter,
his friend and fellow inventor, Reed managed to rebuild the team's Baxter
Building headquarters and return the Fantastic Four to its former glory.
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