Bentley 23

Origin

Thirty-Two is the final clone of the Wizard. The previous thirty one were failures (see notes below). The Wizard used some of his clones to try once again to defeat the Fantastic Four. They were defeated and Reed Richards found his way to the Wizard’s lab. He detained the Wizard and sent him to prison.

Thirty-Two was taken in by the Fantastic Four as one of their own. He refers to himself as Thirty-Two because he believes he has not earned the right to call himself by his ‘fathers’ name. The Four still call him Bentley. Eventually he believed he had earned the name as a member of the Future Foundation.

While brilliant like his ‘father,’ Bentley was dark, brooding and seemingly sinister in thought. While often somewhat of a loner, he developed a relationship with Valeria and was only close with her. He would eventually face his father, who told him that they were one and the same and there was no escaping it. Bentley kicked his father in the groin and rejected him, proving that nurture over nature had prevailed.

Creation

Bentley 23 was created by Jonathan Hickman and first appeared in Fantastic Four #570.

In his original appearance, Bentley was the thirty-second clone of the Wizard. Beginning with the FF series, this number seems to have reversed – Bentley being referred to on multiple occasions as Bentley 23 or as Twenty-Three by the Wizard. This number has stuck and been used regularly.

Powers & Abilities

Like his “father,” Bentley possesses a genius level intellect and great understanding of technology and mechanics.