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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_fantastic.jpg]]

-> ''"I've '''done''' it! I'm drifting into a world of limitless dimensions!! It's the '''crossroads''' of '''infinity''' -- the junction to '''everywhere'''!"''
-->-- '''Reed Richards''', ''Fantastic Four #51'', "This Man, This Monster", written by Creator/StanLee

Reed Richards, better known as '''Mister Fantastic''', is a Creator/MarvelComics character created by Creator/JackKirby and Creator/StanLee, first appearing in ''The ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #1 (dated Nov. 1961).

Dubbed one of the smartest people in the MarvelUniverse, Reed was a mild-mannered scientist who --alongside his girlfriend [[ComicBook/InvisibleWoman Sue Storm]], best friend [[ComicBook/TheThing Benjamin Grimm]], and Sue's younger brother [[ComicBook/HumanTorch Johnny]]-- gained fantastic powers and abilities together while on a mission in outer space. In a classic example of [[PowerStereotypeFlip superhero irony]], the accident turned obstinate, rigid Reed into a RubberMan with super-flexibility.

In the years since becoming Mister Fantastic, Reed has married Sue, became a father, joined ComicBook/TheIlluminati, and reconstructed the {{multiverse}} with his family. In many ways, he's the father of the MarvelUniverse, and is perhaps the most well-known superhero dad in all of fiction.

While far from a {{joke character}} in the truest sense, Reed has a reputation of being somewhat ineffectual, and is the {{trope namer}} of ReedRichardsIsUseless. By contrast, he's also the namer of AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome, which is references the popular opinion that {{alternate universe}} versions of himself (such as the villainous [[ComicBook/TheMaker Maker]] of ComicBook/UltimateMarvel) are superior to the original.

As one of the first true Marvel characters, Reed has appeared quite often in other media. In the ''Fantastic Four'' films, he has been portrayed by Alex Hyde-White, Creator/IoanGruffudd, and Creator/MilesTeller.

----
!! Mister Fantastic has appeared in:
[[folder: Notable Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' (various runs):
** vol. 1 (1961 -- 1996, 2002 -- 2012, 2015)
** vol. 2 (1996 -- 1997)
** vol. 3 (1998 -- 2003)
** vol. 4 (2013 -- 2014)
** vol. 5 (2014 -- 2015)
** vol. 6 (2018 -- present)
* ''ComicBook/{{FF}}'' vol. 1 (2011 -- 2012)
* ''[[ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers New Avengers]]'' vol. 3 (2013 -- 2015)
* ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|2015}}'' vol. 2 (2015 -- 2016)
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' (1994), portrayed by Alex Hyde-White
* ''Film/{{Fantastic Four|2005}}'' (2005), portrayed by Creator/IoanGruffudd
** ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'' (2007)
* ''Film/{{Fantastic Four|2015}}'' (2015), portrayed by Creator/MilesTeller
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Fantastic Four|1967}}'' (1967 -- 1968), voiced by Gerald Mohr
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Fantastic Four|1978}}'' (1978), voiced by Mike Road
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFour'' (1994 -- 1996), voiced by Beau Weaver
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' (1998), voiced by Creator/CamClarke
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' (2006 -- 2017), voiced by Hiro Kanagawa
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow'' (2009 -- 2011), voiced by Creator/JamesMarsters
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' (2010 -- 2013), voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker
* ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'' (2013 -- 2015), voiced by Creator/RobinAtkinDownes
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Fantastic Four|2005}}'' (2005), voiced by Creator/IoanGruffudd
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' (2006), voiced by David Naughton
** ''Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2'' (2009), voiced by Robert Clotworthy
** ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder'' (added in 2020), voiced by Creator/WallyWingert
* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' (2012-2016)
* ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes'' (2013), voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker
* ''VideoGame/MarvelPuzzleQuest'' (made playable 2015)
* ''VideoGame/MarvelHeroes'' (made playable in 2016), voiced by Creator/WallyWingert
* ''VideoGame/MarvelPuzzlequest'' (made playable in 2019)
* ''VideoGame/MarvelFutureFight'' (made playable in 2019)
* ''VideoGame/MarvelContestOfChampions'' (made playable in 2019)
[[/folder]]
----
!! Mister Fantastic contains examples of:
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Sometimes extending as far as DitzyGenius. Whenever there's a BrokeEpisode, Reed is usually the culprit.
* ActionHero: He is actively involved in the battles of his heroic team.
* AesopAmnesia: He learns during the arc with the Council of Reeds and the Four Cities not to do everything alone and that he should rely on and involve people and heroes he knows who can help. He promptly ignores this while remaining a member of the Illuminati and completely forgets it during the Incursion crisis. In fact it can be said for such an intelligent man Reed consistently finds a reason to ignore the lessons he's learned to screw things up by himself for not trusting his family.
* AgeLift: In the classic Marvel Universe, Reed (and [[ComicBook/TheThing Ben Grimm]] and ComicBook/DoctorDoom) is a middle-aged man a around a decade or two Sue and Johnny's senior and the white in his hair is the result of age. Both the original ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' and the ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' film series depict him as closer in age to Sue and the latter had the white streaks by by-product of the accident that gave the Four their powers (and in the former, all of Reed's hair stayed brown). While also closer in age to Sue, ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' and ''Film/FantasticFour2015'' depict Reed (and Ben and Doom) as a teenager or in his early 20s.
* AlliterativeName: '''R'''eed '''R'''ichards.
* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: In universes when Reed is not bound by StatusQuoIsGod, he's capable of even more amazing scientific accomplishments than in the main 616 verse. Gets deconstructed in Hickman's run, where every other Reed Richards is awesome because they've either morally corrupt arseholes, or they abandoned their families in the name of the Greater Good.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Mixed with AlwaysSecondBest when it comes to Tony Stark. As Reed explains to Steve Rogers, when it comes to problem-solving a ''single'' problem, Reed is just a little bit smarter than Tony, but when it comes to multi-tasking, Tony has the advantage.
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Becomes this in the 'Perfect world' storyline. While he still has good intentions and didn't push the button himself; it doesn't change the fact (as he himself points out) that he helped murder an entire team of superheroes and destroy an inhabited planet]].
* TheAtoner: At the start of Mark Waid's run, Reed revealed to his infant daughter Valeria that he still felt guilty for the circumstances that led to the creation of the Fantastic Four, and that he made them celebrities in part to make up for robbing them of their normal lives.
* BadassBeard: Reed has begun to be consistently drawn with a full beard starting in the late 2000s, under the tenures of Slott and Hickman.
* BadassBookworm: Something that tends to get lost in many adaptations. People often forget that he's a war vet, and in his younger days he did some very ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-esque missions for the US government and, oh yeah, ''stole a rocket and tried to fly to the moon.''
* ChosenConceptionPartner: DoubleSubversion. His college sweetheart, Alyssa Moy turned him down because she believed that she should try and have children with less intelligent men to smarten up future generations. When this didn't work out, she became interested in Reed again, but by this time, he was HappilyMarried.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Recently, some artists have given Reed a resemblance to Creator/JohnKrasinski.
* ConstantlyCurious: Partial justification for his ditzy, shortsighted or otherwise callous actions. Notably, one evil scientist that [[LiquidAssets stole his intellect]] began suffering SanitySlippage, as he couldn't stop questioning how things worked and how to improve them. He found being disintegrated a relief from the stress.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After the combined forces of the Fantastic Four, The Avengers and Doctor Strange prevent a starving ComicBook/{{Galactus}} from destroying the Earth, Reed Richards shows the Devourer of Worlds mercy. In exchange, Galactus calls Richards "friend" before vowing that Earth need no longer fear his hunger.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Reed's disposition varies from series to series. Sometimes he's [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold nice but a bit unnecessarily gruff]], sometimes he's a complete {{Jerkass}}, sometimes he's just absent minded.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Reed used to smoke a pipe from time to time, before the dangers of smoking became well-known.
* EnemyMine:
** Happens a lot with major antagonists for Reed, such as with ComicBook/DoctorDoom and ComicBook/{{Galactus}}.
** Notable when Reed's daughter Valeria brokered a deal with Doom. Doom will work with the Future Foundation to bring down a group of [[EvilTwin amoral alternate Reed Richards.]] In exchange, they would heal his super-intelligence [[SoapOperaDisease crippling brain damage]]. Doom upon being restored gathers a summit of the FF's most intelligent enemies to work on strategies to kill the Reeds. At the Foundation's headquarters.
* FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility: Reed's PowerPerversionPotential is known, and is considered highly attractive.
* {{Foil}}: To his brother-in-law Johnny. Reed is law-abiding hero with a sense of duty who plans things ahead for his teammates, while Johnny is a reckless LeeroyJenkins hero who has little care about laws and want to do what is right. Both Reed and Johnny also took different sides during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' events.
* HappilyMarried: To Susan.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: The first issue of the comic has him stop a fighter plane missile and save a falling Johnny's life all in a single page. The use of his somewhat less flashy powers (which, given that one member of the team creates ''invisible'' constructs, is saying something) just gets crazier and more creative from there.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It really depends on the era the book was written and [[DependingOnTheWriter who is writing it]]. In the 60's he came off as bit offish and the early 70's had him as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, Afterwards, he's been consistently portrayed as the NiceGuy.
* LickedByTheDog: By the rest of the team. Especially Sue and Ben though.
* MasterOfDisguise: Mr. Fantastic has infrequently used his stretching powers to assume a different face.
* MilitarySuperhero: An oft-overlooked in adaptations fact about Reed and Ben is that they served in the army. In the early comics, it was UsefulNotes/WorldWarII until ComicBookTime made that impossible and it spent decades dropped. In 2019, it was reinstated as part of the [[FictionalCountry Siancong]] [[GreatOffscreenWar War]].
* MyGreatestFailure: Being responsible for changing Ben into the Thing, as well as his failure in being able to reverse it, gives Reed a lot of grief. To a lesser extent, he feels like he wrecked Sue and Johnny as well, having ruined all three of their chances to live normal lives; it being his idea to steal the starship that led to the events granting them their powers. His formation of the Fantastic Four and turning the team into celebrities is his attempt to make up for it.
* NayTheist: Reed is stated to be a humanist, although he does believe in the existence of God, as he has actually ''met'' God face to face (in the form of Creator/JackKirby, incidentally) and he even brought Ben BackFromTheDead.
* NighInvulnerability: Mister Fantastic's skin is virtually impervious to laceration or punctures unless he willfully relaxes his reflexive control over small areas of his body. In that case, scalpels and ordinary needles can penetrate his skin.
** Due to the great malleability and elasticity of his molecular structure, Mister Fantastic is able to absorb the impact of any type of man-made ballistic projectile by deforming his body along the path of the projectile's trajectory at the point of initial impact. He can also contain explosions by enveloping them and allowing their force to expand him.
* NotSoDifferent: With Victor. Although they're on opposite ends of the good vs. evil thing, both Reed and Doom are insanely intelligent, somewhat condescending, and often only care about completing whatever task at hand will best benefit whatever, tossing aside everything else. They both also fall into the same spectrum in the OrderVersusChaos area (being the "lawful" type character).
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Reed is an expert in biochemistry, human and alien biology, chemistry, communications, computers, electronics, energy generation, electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, extra-dimensional travel, holography, mutations, all levels of physics, robotics, space travel, spectral analysis, synthetic polymers, time travel, transportation, and more. He's the namesake for an in-universe science award for excellence in multiple disciplines.
** This was also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the mini-series Fantastic Four: True Story, where Reed said at one point; "This will require me to create an entirely new field of scientific study. Give me a couple of days."
** Middle-lampshaded when Reed told Hank Pym he's the best biochemist in the world, so he would need weeks to be as good as him. Pym comments it's no wonder that people hate Reed.
** Has come up in other stories; Reed once went to great lengths to recruit the aid of ''Doctor Octopus'' to help during the last stages of Sue's second pregnancy (the first time around) because he recognised that Otto Octavius had superior knowledge of radiation compared to him, and in another storyline that saw the FF work with Spider-Man to deal with an alien invasion that had mutated most of the human race, Reed noted that Spider-Man was better suited to view the problem from the perspective of a biologist than Reed was.
* PapaWolf: Don't mess with his kids.
* PowerPerversionPotential: Reed can stretch any part of his body — and yes, it has come up in subtext that this is why he and Sue are so HappilyMarried.
* PowerStereotypeFlip: Reed is a stubborn and strict man. He's also a RubberMan.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The {{Trope Namer|s}}. A certified super-genius and one of the smartest people in the whole universe, he regularly invents mind-bending devices that tell physics where to shove it, but almost never devotes his considerable talents to anything other than superheroics. While Marvel has attempted to justify his lack of [[BuffySpeak world-changiness]] in various ways, including that his inventions are too expensive and that nobody else can understand them, the real reason is that allowing him to make a real difference would make the world far too different to reality. The justification being used in Jonathan Hickman's run on Fantastic Four and F.F. and by Bendis in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, is that it's his family which prevents Reed from putting all his efforts into changing the world. He has to choose between being a loving father and husband and devoting himself to advancing humanity (although why Reed can't take a middle ground has yet to be explained). It's implied that the world is ''lucky'' when Reed takes the first option since, if he doesn't or if things don't work out between him and Sue, he becomes a KnightTemplar (Hickman's books) or full on villain (the Ultimate 'verse).
** Other justifications given (making this both the {{Trope Namer|s}} and the UnbuiltTrope) is that while a lot of Reed's stuff does get patented, he avoids a lot of dangerous superhero stuff like the death rays and portals to hell that can't be trusted to the general public. Also, many companies pay him explicitly '''not''' to patent his stuff because they know they can't keep up with his inventions, which would put millions of people out of work.
** Subverted in that he does invent many things that have everyday uses. Most of them are bought by companies with competing products in order to keep them from hitting the streets and putting them out of business.
* RubberMan: He possesses the ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will. How his body's respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown. He can alter his form in a matter of seconds, often much less (depending on the complexity of the shape), and revert to his normal humanoid shape within a similar time. The greater the distance he stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes.
* ScienceHero: He uses science in the name of heroism and has always considered his mind to be his true super-power.
* SealedEvilInADuel: Tried to protect the world from Doctor Doom once and for all by trapping them both in a pocket dimension where Reed could keep watch over his one-time friend and lifelong nemesis. Forever.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: With frequent requests from Ben to dial it down a notch so everyone else can understand.
* SkunkStripe: His hair includes grey temples.
* SmallStepsHero: What originally made Reed different from Doom. While Doom believes UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, Reed will forego scientific progress if it harms too many people. Later stories, however, started to revoke this.
* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: Every other week, it seems like.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Against Doctor Doom. With no board. Finishing a game started decades before. While setting things in motion to ''thwart'' Doom. Who's basically doing the same thing.
* TheSmartGuy: Even by Marvel standards where everyone seems to have a minimum IQ of 240, Reed is recognised as the go to guy for intelligence. He is one of the most intelligent beings on the planet.
* SuperIntelligence: Often held as the standard for SuperIntelligence in the Marvel Universe. It's generally accepted that Reed is the WorldsSmartestMan. It is generally accepted that his powers really do give him this, as while he is naturally a scientific genius with an ImprobablyHighIQ without them, the fact that his brain is literally malleable gives him an intelligence boost even to that. On the rare occasions he loses his powers he sometimes gets slightly dumber - still super-smart, but not solving problems quite as easily as he could before.
* TeenGenius: Entered university at age 14, had doctorates by the age of 20.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Often finds himself in this situation, particularly in regards to Doctor Doom's DiplomaticImpunity. Unfortunately, he often ends up siding in the "lawful" in many of these situations as evident with his hesitation trying to break international law to capture Doctor Doom and the events during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' events where he sided with the Pro-Registration superheroes.
* WhatTheHellHero: Reed will usually always pick out the easiest solution, not giving any foresight to matters such as tact, emotions, feelings, practicality, or possible future consequences (such as permanently shrinking an alien race to evacuate them off a doomed planet, or turning Skrulls into cows without considering the ramifications of ingesting alien flesh or the morality of it). When this happens, Sue will usually call him out on it.
** One of the interesting common threads in alternate-universe Marvel stories is that in the event something terrible happens to Sue, Franklin, and/or Valeria, Reed will ''immediately'' go straight off the deep end. [[MoralityChain He's relying so heavily upon his family to keep him in check]] that if the unthinkable happens, he rapidly goes through all the stages of grief and right into insanity. This can be seen most clearly in the ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' where Sue died while giving birth to Franklin; Reed ignores the baby in favor of going on a suicide run against Annihilus. In more modern stories, Reed goes instantly nuts in the ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' universe when Franklin and Valeria are killed.
** Made a plot-point in Jonathan Hickman's run. Reed is faced with two choices. One: [[ForScience run off and join an interdimensional Council of Reeds]] from different universes committed to making creation itself a better place--ahem, by any means necessary, up to and including murdering Beyonders, killing Galactuses and carving up solar systems. The other choice is to stay at home in the 616 with his loving family and [[WhenYouComingHomeDad be the father to Franklin that Nathaniel never was to Reed]]. The Council of Reeds is ''by far'' the more logical choice--Valeria and even Nathaniel (a little) call him out on it--but Reed stalwartly refuses. Why? One reason: [[PhysicalGod Franklin.]] The one thing our Reed created that all those other Reeds, with all their science and vast machinery and good intentions [[EvilCannotComprehendGood never could.]]
* WorldsSmartestMan: Reed Richards is usually recognized as the smartest man in the Marvel Universe, being the most esteemed mind in the scientific community. In fact he himself [[ScienceHero considers his intellect]] to be [[SuperIntelligence his real superpower]] rather than his elasticity.
----

to:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_fantastic.jpg]]

-> ''"I've '''done''' it! I'm drifting into a world of limitless dimensions!! It's the '''crossroads''' of '''infinity''' -- the junction to '''everywhere'''!"''
-->-- '''Reed Richards''', ''Fantastic Four #51'', "This Man, This Monster", written by Creator/StanLee

Reed Richards, better known as '''Mister Fantastic''', is a Creator/MarvelComics character created by Creator/JackKirby and Creator/StanLee, first appearing in ''The ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #1 (dated Nov. 1961).

Dubbed one of the smartest people in the MarvelUniverse, Reed was a mild-mannered scientist who --alongside his girlfriend [[ComicBook/InvisibleWoman Sue Storm]], best friend [[ComicBook/TheThing Benjamin Grimm]], and Sue's younger brother [[ComicBook/HumanTorch Johnny]]-- gained fantastic powers and abilities together while on a mission in outer space. In a classic example of [[PowerStereotypeFlip superhero irony]], the accident turned obstinate, rigid Reed into a RubberMan with super-flexibility.

In the years since becoming Mister Fantastic, Reed has married Sue, became a father, joined ComicBook/TheIlluminati, and reconstructed the {{multiverse}} with his family. In many ways, he's the father of the MarvelUniverse, and is perhaps the most well-known superhero dad in all of fiction.

While far from a {{joke character}} in the truest sense, Reed has a reputation of being somewhat ineffectual, and is the {{trope namer}} of ReedRichardsIsUseless. By contrast, he's also the namer of AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome, which is references the popular opinion that {{alternate universe}} versions of himself (such as the villainous [[ComicBook/TheMaker Maker]] of ComicBook/UltimateMarvel) are superior to the original.

As one of the first true Marvel characters, Reed has appeared quite often in other media. In the ''Fantastic Four'' films, he has been portrayed by Alex Hyde-White, Creator/IoanGruffudd, and Creator/MilesTeller.

----
!! Mister Fantastic has appeared in:
[[folder: Notable Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' (various runs):
** vol. 1 (1961 -- 1996, 2002 -- 2012, 2015)
** vol. 2 (1996 -- 1997)
** vol. 3 (1998 -- 2003)
** vol. 4 (2013 -- 2014)
** vol. 5 (2014 -- 2015)
** vol. 6 (2018 -- present)
* ''ComicBook/{{FF}}'' vol. 1 (2011 -- 2012)
* ''[[ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers New Avengers]]'' vol. 3 (2013 -- 2015)
* ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|2015}}'' vol. 2 (2015 -- 2016)
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' (1994), portrayed by Alex Hyde-White
* ''Film/{{Fantastic Four|2005}}'' (2005), portrayed by Creator/IoanGruffudd
** ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'' (2007)
* ''Film/{{Fantastic Four|2015}}'' (2015), portrayed by Creator/MilesTeller
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Fantastic Four|1967}}'' (1967 -- 1968), voiced by Gerald Mohr
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Fantastic Four|1978}}'' (1978), voiced by Mike Road
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFour'' (1994 -- 1996), voiced by Beau Weaver
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' (1998), voiced by Creator/CamClarke
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' (2006 -- 2017), voiced by Hiro Kanagawa
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow'' (2009 -- 2011), voiced by Creator/JamesMarsters
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' (2010 -- 2013), voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker
* ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'' (2013 -- 2015), voiced by Creator/RobinAtkinDownes
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Fantastic Four|2005}}'' (2005), voiced by Creator/IoanGruffudd
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' (2006), voiced by David Naughton
** ''Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2'' (2009), voiced by Robert Clotworthy
** ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder'' (added in 2020), voiced by Creator/WallyWingert
* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' (2012-2016)
* ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes'' (2013), voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker
* ''VideoGame/MarvelPuzzleQuest'' (made playable 2015)
* ''VideoGame/MarvelHeroes'' (made playable in 2016), voiced by Creator/WallyWingert
* ''VideoGame/MarvelPuzzlequest'' (made playable in 2019)
* ''VideoGame/MarvelFutureFight'' (made playable in 2019)
* ''VideoGame/MarvelContestOfChampions'' (made playable in 2019)
[[/folder]]
----
!! Mister Fantastic contains examples of:
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Sometimes extending as far as DitzyGenius. Whenever there's a BrokeEpisode, Reed is usually the culprit.
* ActionHero: He is actively involved in the battles of his heroic team.
* AesopAmnesia: He learns during the arc with the Council of Reeds and the Four Cities not to do everything alone and that he should rely on and involve people and heroes he knows who can help. He promptly ignores this while remaining a member of the Illuminati and completely forgets it during the Incursion crisis. In fact it can be said for such an intelligent man Reed consistently finds a reason to ignore the lessons he's learned to screw things up by himself for not trusting his family.
* AgeLift: In the classic Marvel Universe, Reed (and [[ComicBook/TheThing Ben Grimm]] and ComicBook/DoctorDoom) is a middle-aged man a around a decade or two Sue and Johnny's senior and the white in his hair is the result of age. Both the original ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' and the ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' film series depict him as closer in age to Sue and the latter had the white streaks by by-product of the accident that gave the Four their powers (and in the former, all of Reed's hair stayed brown). While also closer in age to Sue, ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' and ''Film/FantasticFour2015'' depict Reed (and Ben and Doom) as a teenager or in his early 20s.
* AlliterativeName: '''R'''eed '''R'''ichards.
* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: In universes when Reed is not bound by StatusQuoIsGod, he's capable of even more amazing scientific accomplishments than in the main 616 verse. Gets deconstructed in Hickman's run, where every other Reed Richards is awesome because they've either morally corrupt arseholes, or they abandoned their families in the name of the Greater Good.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Mixed with AlwaysSecondBest when it comes to Tony Stark. As Reed explains to Steve Rogers, when it comes to problem-solving a ''single'' problem, Reed is just a little bit smarter than Tony, but when it comes to multi-tasking, Tony has the advantage.
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Becomes this in the 'Perfect world' storyline. While he still has good intentions and didn't push the button himself; it doesn't change the fact (as he himself points out) that he helped murder an entire team of superheroes and destroy an inhabited planet]].
* TheAtoner: At the start of Mark Waid's run, Reed revealed to his infant daughter Valeria that he still felt guilty for the circumstances that led to the creation of the Fantastic Four, and that he made them celebrities in part to make up for robbing them of their normal lives.
* BadassBeard: Reed has begun to be consistently drawn with a full beard starting in the late 2000s, under the tenures of Slott and Hickman.
* BadassBookworm: Something that tends to get lost in many adaptations. People often forget that he's a war vet, and in his younger days he did some very ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-esque missions for the US government and, oh yeah, ''stole a rocket and tried to fly to the moon.''
* ChosenConceptionPartner: DoubleSubversion. His college sweetheart, Alyssa Moy turned him down because she believed that she should try and have children with less intelligent men to smarten up future generations. When this didn't work out, she became interested in Reed again, but by this time, he was HappilyMarried.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Recently, some artists have given Reed a resemblance to Creator/JohnKrasinski.
* ConstantlyCurious: Partial justification for his ditzy, shortsighted or otherwise callous actions. Notably, one evil scientist that [[LiquidAssets stole his intellect]] began suffering SanitySlippage, as he couldn't stop questioning how things worked and how to improve them. He found being disintegrated a relief from the stress.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After the combined forces of the Fantastic Four, The Avengers and Doctor Strange prevent a starving ComicBook/{{Galactus}} from destroying the Earth, Reed Richards shows the Devourer of Worlds mercy. In exchange, Galactus calls Richards "friend" before vowing that Earth need no longer fear his hunger.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Reed's disposition varies from series to series. Sometimes he's [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold nice but a bit unnecessarily gruff]], sometimes he's a complete {{Jerkass}}, sometimes he's just absent minded.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Reed used to smoke a pipe from time to time, before the dangers of smoking became well-known.
* EnemyMine:
** Happens a lot with major antagonists for Reed, such as with ComicBook/DoctorDoom and ComicBook/{{Galactus}}.
** Notable when Reed's daughter Valeria brokered a deal with Doom. Doom will work with the Future Foundation to bring down a group of [[EvilTwin amoral alternate Reed Richards.]] In exchange, they would heal his super-intelligence [[SoapOperaDisease crippling brain damage]]. Doom upon being restored gathers a summit of the FF's most intelligent enemies to work on strategies to kill the Reeds. At the Foundation's headquarters.
* FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility: Reed's PowerPerversionPotential is known, and is considered highly attractive.
* {{Foil}}: To his brother-in-law Johnny. Reed is law-abiding hero with a sense of duty who plans things ahead for his teammates, while Johnny is a reckless LeeroyJenkins hero who has little care about laws and want to do what is right. Both Reed and Johnny also took different sides during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' events.
* HappilyMarried: To Susan.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: The first issue of the comic has him stop a fighter plane missile and save a falling Johnny's life all in a single page. The use of his somewhat less flashy powers (which, given that one member of the team creates ''invisible'' constructs, is saying something) just gets crazier and more creative from there.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It really depends on the era the book was written and [[DependingOnTheWriter who is writing it]]. In the 60's he came off as bit offish and the early 70's had him as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, Afterwards, he's been consistently portrayed as the NiceGuy.
* LickedByTheDog: By the rest of the team. Especially Sue and Ben though.
* MasterOfDisguise: Mr. Fantastic has infrequently used his stretching powers to assume a different face.
* MilitarySuperhero: An oft-overlooked in adaptations fact about Reed and Ben is that they served in the army. In the early comics, it was UsefulNotes/WorldWarII until ComicBookTime made that impossible and it spent decades dropped. In 2019, it was reinstated as part of the [[FictionalCountry Siancong]] [[GreatOffscreenWar War]].
* MyGreatestFailure: Being responsible for changing Ben into the Thing, as well as his failure in being able to reverse it, gives Reed a lot of grief. To a lesser extent, he feels like he wrecked Sue and Johnny as well, having ruined all three of their chances to live normal lives; it being his idea to steal the starship that led to the events granting them their powers. His formation of the Fantastic Four and turning the team into celebrities is his attempt to make up for it.
* NayTheist: Reed is stated to be a humanist, although he does believe in the existence of God, as he has actually ''met'' God face to face (in the form of Creator/JackKirby, incidentally) and he even brought Ben BackFromTheDead.
* NighInvulnerability: Mister Fantastic's skin is virtually impervious to laceration or punctures unless he willfully relaxes his reflexive control over small areas of his body. In that case, scalpels and ordinary needles can penetrate his skin.
** Due to the great malleability and elasticity of his molecular structure, Mister Fantastic is able to absorb the impact of any type of man-made ballistic projectile by deforming his body along the path of the projectile's trajectory at the point of initial impact. He can also contain explosions by enveloping them and allowing their force to expand him.
* NotSoDifferent: With Victor. Although they're on opposite ends of the good vs. evil thing, both Reed and Doom are insanely intelligent, somewhat condescending, and often only care about completing whatever task at hand will best benefit whatever, tossing aside everything else. They both also fall into the same spectrum in the OrderVersusChaos area (being the "lawful" type character).
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Reed is an expert in biochemistry, human and alien biology, chemistry, communications, computers, electronics, energy generation, electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, extra-dimensional travel, holography, mutations, all levels of physics, robotics, space travel, spectral analysis, synthetic polymers, time travel, transportation, and more. He's the namesake for an in-universe science award for excellence in multiple disciplines.
** This was also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the mini-series Fantastic Four: True Story, where Reed said at one point; "This will require me to create an entirely new field of scientific study. Give me a couple of days."
** Middle-lampshaded when Reed told Hank Pym he's the best biochemist in the world, so he would need weeks to be as good as him. Pym comments it's no wonder that people hate Reed.
** Has come up in other stories; Reed once went to great lengths to recruit the aid of ''Doctor Octopus'' to help during the last stages of Sue's second pregnancy (the first time around) because he recognised that Otto Octavius had superior knowledge of radiation compared to him, and in another storyline that saw the FF work with Spider-Man to deal with an alien invasion that had mutated most of the human race, Reed noted that Spider-Man was better suited to view the problem from the perspective of a biologist than Reed was.
* PapaWolf: Don't mess with his kids.
* PowerPerversionPotential: Reed can stretch any part of his body — and yes, it has come up in subtext that this is why he and Sue are so HappilyMarried.
* PowerStereotypeFlip: Reed is a stubborn and strict man. He's also a RubberMan.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The {{Trope Namer|s}}. A certified super-genius and one of the smartest people in the whole universe, he regularly invents mind-bending devices that tell physics where to shove it, but almost never devotes his considerable talents to anything other than superheroics. While Marvel has attempted to justify his lack of [[BuffySpeak world-changiness]] in various ways, including that his inventions are too expensive and that nobody else can understand them, the real reason is that allowing him to make a real difference would make the world far too different to reality. The justification being used in Jonathan Hickman's run on Fantastic Four and F.F. and by Bendis in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, is that it's his family which prevents Reed from putting all his efforts into changing the world. He has to choose between being a loving father and husband and devoting himself to advancing humanity (although why Reed can't take a middle ground has yet to be explained). It's implied that the world is ''lucky'' when Reed takes the first option since, if he doesn't or if things don't work out between him and Sue, he becomes a KnightTemplar (Hickman's books) or full on villain (the Ultimate 'verse).
** Other justifications given (making this both the {{Trope Namer|s}} and the UnbuiltTrope) is that while a lot of Reed's stuff does get patented, he avoids a lot of dangerous superhero stuff like the death rays and portals to hell that can't be trusted to the general public. Also, many companies pay him explicitly '''not''' to patent his stuff because they know they can't keep up with his inventions, which would put millions of people out of work.
** Subverted in that he does invent many things that have everyday uses. Most of them are bought by companies with competing products in order to keep them from hitting the streets and putting them out of business.
* RubberMan: He possesses the ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will. How his body's respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown. He can alter his form in a matter of seconds, often much less (depending on the complexity of the shape), and revert to his normal humanoid shape within a similar time. The greater the distance he stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes.
* ScienceHero: He uses science in the name of heroism and has always considered his mind to be his true super-power.
* SealedEvilInADuel: Tried to protect the world from Doctor Doom once and for all by trapping them both in a pocket dimension where Reed could keep watch over his one-time friend and lifelong nemesis. Forever.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: With frequent requests from Ben to dial it down a notch so everyone else can understand.
* SkunkStripe: His hair includes grey temples.
* SmallStepsHero: What originally made Reed different from Doom. While Doom believes UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, Reed will forego scientific progress if it harms too many people. Later stories, however, started to revoke this.
* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: Every other week, it seems like.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Against Doctor Doom. With no board. Finishing a game started decades before. While setting things in motion to ''thwart'' Doom. Who's basically doing the same thing.
* TheSmartGuy: Even by Marvel standards where everyone seems to have a minimum IQ of 240, Reed is recognised as the go to guy for intelligence. He is one of the most intelligent beings on the planet.
* SuperIntelligence: Often held as the standard for SuperIntelligence in the Marvel Universe. It's generally accepted that Reed is the WorldsSmartestMan. It is generally accepted that his powers really do give him this, as while he is naturally a scientific genius with an ImprobablyHighIQ without them, the fact that his brain is literally malleable gives him an intelligence boost even to that. On the rare occasions he loses his powers he sometimes gets slightly dumber - still super-smart, but not solving problems quite as easily as he could before.
* TeenGenius: Entered university at age 14, had doctorates by the age of 20.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Often finds himself in this situation, particularly in regards to Doctor Doom's DiplomaticImpunity. Unfortunately, he often ends up siding in the "lawful" in many of these situations as evident with his hesitation trying to break international law to capture Doctor Doom and the events during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' events where he sided with the Pro-Registration superheroes.
* WhatTheHellHero: Reed will usually always pick out the easiest solution, not giving any foresight to matters such as tact, emotions, feelings, practicality, or possible future consequences (such as permanently shrinking an alien race to evacuate them off a doomed planet, or turning Skrulls into cows without considering the ramifications of ingesting alien flesh or the morality of it). When this happens, Sue will usually call him out on it.
** One of the interesting common threads in alternate-universe Marvel stories is that in the event something terrible happens to Sue, Franklin, and/or Valeria, Reed will ''immediately'' go straight off the deep end. [[MoralityChain He's relying so heavily upon his family to keep him in check]] that if the unthinkable happens, he rapidly goes through all the stages of grief and right into insanity. This can be seen most clearly in the ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' where Sue died while giving birth to Franklin; Reed ignores the baby in favor of going on a suicide run against Annihilus. In more modern stories, Reed goes instantly nuts in the ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' universe when Franklin and Valeria are killed.
** Made a plot-point in Jonathan Hickman's run. Reed is faced with two choices. One: [[ForScience run off and join an interdimensional Council of Reeds]] from different universes committed to making creation itself a better place--ahem, by any means necessary, up to and including murdering Beyonders, killing Galactuses and carving up solar systems. The other choice is to stay at home in the 616 with his loving family and [[WhenYouComingHomeDad be the father to Franklin that Nathaniel never was to Reed]]. The Council of Reeds is ''by far'' the more logical choice--Valeria and even Nathaniel (a little) call him out on it--but Reed stalwartly refuses. Why? One reason: [[PhysicalGod Franklin.]] The one thing our Reed created that all those other Reeds, with all their science and vast machinery and good intentions [[EvilCannotComprehendGood never could.]]
* WorldsSmartestMan: Reed Richards is usually recognized as the smartest man in the Marvel Universe, being the most esteemed mind in the scientific community. In fact he himself [[ScienceHero considers his intellect]] to be [[SuperIntelligence his real superpower]] rather than his elasticity.
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[[redirect:Characters/MarvelComicsMisterFantastic]]
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* NayTheist: Reed is stated to be a humanist, although he does believe in the existence of God. Helps that Reed and the others have all actually ''met'' [[Creator/JackKirby God]] face to face ([[Creator/JackKirby in the form of Jack Kirby, incidentally]]) and he even brought Ben BackFromTheDead. What kind of pathetic excuse for a scientist would he have to be to meet [[Creator/JackKirby God]] in person and reject the scientific evidence that he exists? It doesn't mean the experience would have to change his philosophy though, which is why Reed still identifies as humanist.

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* NayTheist: Reed is stated to be a humanist, although he does believe in the existence of God. Helps that Reed and the others have all God, as he has actually ''met'' [[Creator/JackKirby God]] God face to face ([[Creator/JackKirby in (in the form of Jack Kirby, incidentally]]) Creator/JackKirby, incidentally) and he even brought Ben BackFromTheDead. What kind of pathetic excuse for a scientist would he have to be to meet [[Creator/JackKirby God]] in person and reject the scientific evidence that he exists? It doesn't mean the experience would have to change his philosophy though, which is why Reed still identifies as humanist.BackFromTheDead.
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* AgeLift: In the classic Marvel Universe, Reed (and [[ComicBook/TheThing Ben Grimm]] and ComicBook/DoctorDoom) is a middle-aged man a around a decade or two Sue and Johnny's senior and the white in his hair is the result of age. Both the original ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' and the ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' film series depict him as closer in age to Sue and the latter had the white streaks by by-product of the accident that gave the Four their powers (and in the former, all of Reed's hair stayed brown). While also closer in age to Sue, ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' and ''Film/FantasticFour2015'' depict Reed as a teenager or in his early 20s.

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* AgeLift: In the classic Marvel Universe, Reed (and [[ComicBook/TheThing Ben Grimm]] and ComicBook/DoctorDoom) is a middle-aged man a around a decade or two Sue and Johnny's senior and the white in his hair is the result of age. Both the original ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' and the ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' film series depict him as closer in age to Sue and the latter had the white streaks by by-product of the accident that gave the Four their powers (and in the former, all of Reed's hair stayed brown). While also closer in age to Sue, ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' and ''Film/FantasticFour2015'' depict Reed (and Ben and Doom) as a teenager or in his early 20s.

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