Mr. Fantastic

comic-book character

Also known as: Reed Richards

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July 19, 2026

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Mr. Fantastic, also known as Dr. Reed Richards, is a comic-book character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics in 1961. He is a founding member of the Fantastic Four, a superhero team that brought a unique element of realism to the genre.1

Richards gained his extraordinary abilities after his spaceship was flooded with cosmic rays while in orbit. He emerged with the power of extreme elasticity, allowing his limbs to stretch, contort, and twist to incredible lengths and shapes, earning him the name Mr. Fantastic. He is also depicted as a brilliant scientist and the leader of the Fantastic Four, often engaging in intellectual battles with his arch-nemesis, Doctor Doom.12

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Fantastic Four
Origins
…a quartet of new characters: Dr. Reed Richards, a pompous scientist; Sue Storm, his lovely and somewhat reserved fiancée; Sue’s hotheaded teenaged brother Johnny Storm; and Richards’s beefy longtime friend pilot Ben Grimm. The foursome commandeered an untested spaceship of Richards’s design from the U.S. military in a frantic but…
Read More
…a quartet of new characters: Dr. Reed Richards, a pompous scientist; Sue Storm, his lovely and somewhat reserved fiancée; Sue’s hotheaded teenaged brother Johnny Storm; and Richards’s beefy longtime friend pilot Ben Grimm. The foursome commandeered an untested spaceship of Richards’s design from the U.S. military in a frantic but…
Read More