Fantastic 4

Mister Fantastic

Real Name
Reed Richards

Aliases
Doctor Doom, Richard Reed, Invincible Man, Reed Benjamin, "Man in the Mystery Mask", Mister "Elastic"

Identity
Publicly known

Citizenship
United States of America

Place of Birth
Central City, California

College, Friendship, and Doom

One of the bravest adventurers and most brilliant scientific minds of his generation, Reed Richards was born to Evelyn Richards and her husband Nathaniel, a scientific genius whose inventions and discoveries made their family quite wealthy. Evelyn died when Reed was only seven, and Nathaniel was left to raise Reed on his own, nurturing the boy's obvious intellectual prowess and seeing to his education. Taking college-level courses at age 14, Reed attended four different universities, earning various degrees before he was out of his teens and studying under distinguished mentors such as Noah Baxter, Harmon Furmintz and Roderick van Nuys.

While attending State, Reed met fellow student Victor Von Doom, an egotistical and unstable genius who refused Reed's offer to room with him. Instead, Richards roomed with football scholarship student Ben Grimm, who became Reed's best friend. Amused by Reed's dream of someday creating a starship, Ben jokingly promised he would fly it if Reed ever built it. Reed's other notable college peers included Randolph James (Futurist), Janus the Nega-Man, and possibly Alyssa Moy. Reed's many scientific colleagues included Abe Jankovitz, Harvey Jessup (Great Coordinator), and Phillip Zolten Rambow. During his time at State, Doom pursued a rivalry with Reed, trying to prove himself the superior intellect. When Doom built a machine designed to contact the afterlife, Reed tried to warn him that his calculations were slightly off; but the proud Doom refused to listen and the device blew up in his face, leaving him badly scarred and expelled from the university.

Young Love

An early brush with the fantastic came when Reed helped expose and capture an extraterrestrial spy at college, the amnesiac Zankor of the Skrull race; young Reed turned the spy over to the super heroic First Line team, which helped them stop a subsequent full-scale Skrull invasion (albeit at the cost of many of their lives). While attending Columbia, Reed met the much younger Sue Storm, his landlady's niece, who was instantly smitten with him. Reed received her interest awkwardly at first, but they later dated steadily during Sue's own college years; Reed also befriended Sue's kid brother, Johnny. After college, Reed did military work that took him overseas, after which his old friend Alyssa Moy manipulated him into helping her rescue Asian ruler Prince Bayan from the rogue General Lao-Tse. After taking a job with Demarco Laboratories in France, Reed teamed with Alyssa and Professor Francesca Fisher on a quest for the mystical artifact known as the Claw of Bast, which they recovered despite interference from Reed's old rival, Doom. Reed shared several other adventures with Alyssa around the world, even proposing to her at one point, though they parted as friends. Returning to America and Sue, Reed secured government funding for his starship project and asked Ben-now a successful test pilot and astronaut-to fly the mission.

Out of Space and Into the Fantastic Four

When the huge energy-absorbing alien Gormuu sought to conquer Earth, Reed outwitted and destroyed the entity. Partly in response to this incident, government funding for Reed's starship project was cut. By this time, Reed's father Nathaniel had disappeared, having secretly embarked on an attempted time travel journey that took him to the alternate world Other Earth, where he resided for years. Nathaniel had left Reed two billion dollars to fund his work, but the withdrawal of government backing still threatened to kill his starship project. After the Gormuu incident, Reed was more determined than ever to further the advance of space technology, and he convinced a reluctant Ben to help him make a test flight before their project could be shut down. Sue and Johnny Storm insisted on sharing the risk with them and came along for the ride. The quartet successfully launched into space, but intense cosmic rays penetrated the ship's shielding and irradiated the crew, forcing them back to Earth. Once there, the quartet discovered that the cosmic rays had mutated them into superhumans, with Reed gaining stretching powers. As Mister Fantastic, leader of the resultant Fantastic Four, Reed used his scientific genius, remaining family fortune and the income from his patents to fund and equip the new team, establishing their high-tech headquarters in the Baxter Building.

A Forgotten Friend, Frightful Foes, and Hard Fought Love

One of Reed's earliest and closest super heroic friends was the Sentry, a supremely powerful and beloved costumed hero who predated even the FF; however, in order to neutralize the Sentry's evil counterpart, the Void, Reed was forced to erase the world's memories of the Sentry, including Reed's own memories, and the Sentry languished in forgotten obscurity for years. Reed led the FF against many foes, notably Namor the Sub-Mariner, a misguided Atlantean warrior who became Reed's rival for Sue's affections; the Wizard, an evil genius who founded his own criminal Frightful Four in envious imitation of Richards; and Reed's old college foe Victor Von Doom, who had become the armored super-villain Doctor Doom and had seized the throne of his native Latveria. Determined to conquer the world and destroy Richards, Doom quickly became the FF's most frequent and formidable opponent. Namor, meanwhile, became a valued friend and ally to the FF, though Sue ultimately married Reed regardless.

The Birth Of a Son and Well-Intentioned Meddling

Their first child, Franklin, proved to be a vastly powerful mutant whose fluctuating abilities have alternately saved or menaced both the FF and the world, forcing Reed to take steps to contain Franklin's powers; on one such occasion, Franklin's mind was temporarily shut down. An outraged Sue, already resentful of Reed at this point as she felt he did not regard her as an equal, left her husband and quit the team. She was replaced in the FF for an extended period by Medusa of the Inhumans, but Sue reclaimed her spot on the roster after she and Reed finally reconciled. After losing his powers, Reed was imprisoned and impersonated by the Brute, his then-criminally insane counterpart from the High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth, who exiled himself to the Negative Zone after he finally regained his senses.

The FF even broke up for a while, during which time Doom hypnotized Reed into capturing his former teammates as the Invincible Man. The team regrouped after Reed took a solo space flight into the Van Allen radiation belts, guided by information from colleague Stephen Beckley (later Comet Man), regaining his powers at amplified levels, and the FF foiled Doom's latest world-conquering plot. Later, seeking a more normal family life, Reed and Sue established a household in small town Belle Port, Connecticut for a while, living quietly in disguise there as the Benjamin family while continuing to serve with the FF in their original identities.

The Trial of Reed Richards

After a conflict during which he mercifully spared the life of the planet-eater Galactus, Reed found himself placed on trial in an interstellar court by survivors of the many worlds Galactus had consumed; but Reed was exonerated once the last-minute testimony of Eternity proved to the court that Galactus was a necessary aspect of the cosmos. On the family front, Sue's second child was stillborn despite Reed's frantic efforts to save their unborn baby; Reed discovered that his own long-lost father Nathaniel was living a new life with a new family on Other Earth; and an embittered Thing quit the Fantastic Four, partly because a well-intentioned Reed had withheld information from him regarding the state of Ben's ability to resume human form, an ability Ben lost due in part to Reed's misinformation. Ben's hand-picked replacement, She-Hulk, served a long stint with the FF, but eventually left after Ben finally reconciled with the group and rejoined their ranks.

A New Team, A Struggling Old One

Seeking a more normal family life again, Reed and Sue retired from the FF altogether to concentrate on raising Franklin, leaving Ben in charge of the group. To replace them, Ben recruited his friend Ms. Marvel and Crystal (who had already served as Sue's FF substitute during and after Sue's first pregnancy); however, Reed and Sue's retirement was short-lived. After teaming with several Avengers to rescue a captured Franklin during the demonic Inferno invasion, Reed and Sue reluctantly agreed to join the Avengers, who were critically short-handed at the time. But Reed was too accustomed to leadership himself to serve smoothly under Captain America for long, so Reed and Sue amicably stepped down from active Avengers membership after only a few missions with the team; they later resigned their Avengers membership altogether after rejoining the Fantastic Four. They remain friends and allies with the Avengers, though.

Doom's Final Victory?/Heroes Reborn

When Reed and Doom seemingly died as a result of their conflict with the alien Hunger, they were actually spirited away by the space-time-warping Hyperstorm, mad son of an alternate-future Franklin Richards. Hyperstorm kept Doom as a tortured captive and trapped Reed in the distant past for months, during which time the world believed both Reed and Doom to be dead. In Reed's absence, Sue took over leadership of the FF and served capably in the role, recruiting Ant-Man as the team's new scientist; however, she refused to believe Reed was truly dead, and she rebuked romantic advances from her old flame, Namor. Reed was eventually rescued, but the entire FF soon appeared to die in battle with the psychic monster Onslaught, though they secretly survived in a new "Counter-Earth", parallel world created instinctively by Franklin. They eventually returned to Earth.

A Son's Meddling

An even more surprising resurrection unfolded during the team's reality-warping conflict with the cosmic being Abraxas, when Franklin revealed he had used his powers to rescue Sue's seemingly stillborn second child years earlier, and that this child had been raised in an alternate future to become the Marvel Girl (Valeria Von Doom), who was now an ally of the present-day Fantastic Four. As a side-effect of Abraxas' defeat, Marvel Girl was restored to her original state, as an unborn child in Sue's womb. This time, Sue's pregnancy resulted in the birth of a healthy baby girl, christened Valeria in memory of Doctor Doom's first love. (Doom had insisted on naming the child in exchange for assisting with the difficult birth.) Later, Doom would exploit his special bond with the child to employ her as a mystical familiar, using sorcery to mount one of his most ruthless and terrifying attacks on the FF ever.

Doom: Exit Stage Left

In the end, Doom was taken by his own demonic benefactors, but not before he hideously disfigured Reed's face as a parting gesture. Physically and emotionally scarred, Reed led the FF into Doom's now-leaderless Latveria, where he worked obsessively to dismantle Doom's regime, neutralize his arsenal, erase Doom's legacy and create a better state, becoming increasingly tyrannical himself in the process and ignoring threats of international criminal charges from the United Nations. At the same time, unknown even to his teammates, Reed was secretly plotting to retrieve Doom from Hell and place him in a specially prepared other-dimensional prison from which he could never escape; but this transfer was unwittingly interrupted by the rest of the FF, allowing Doom to escape long enough to kill the Thing.

A Tarnished Reputation, Work To Do

Devastated, the remaining FF returned to America where their standing with the authorities and their reputation with the general public had taken a terrible beating due to the Latverian controversy. The FF broke up, Reed and Sue split up, and Reed was even forced to sign over most of his patents to the government as part of a deal to escape prosecution. However, Reed was certain that Ben could be resurrected, and he convinced Sue and Johnny to join him in this quest, which ultimately led them to the gates of Heaven itself using a modified model of Doom's old afterlife machine. Persuaded it was not yet his time, Ben agreed to return to the land of the living with his friends-and the Creators allowed it, even healing Reed's facial scars as an added boon. With the FF back together, Reed lead them in trying to rebuild their reputations and their finances. For a time, he also steered the team into taking on more conventional civilian occupations as life experience; but his chief goals continue to be raising a family, protecting humanity and seeking knowledge in all corners of the universe and beyond.

Civil War

When the New Warriors' actions during a taping of their reality TV show caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent people and children, Tony Stark took the lead in a Superhero Registration initiative and Reed joined him, eager to put his scientific abilities to use in the capture and imprisonment of unregistered heroes. This created a rift between Reed and Sue that expanded when Reed spent more time working on his blueprints than visiting his brother-in-law in the hospital - after an angry mob attacked him outside of a nightclub. Sue soon left and joined the anti-Registration side, led by their mutual friend, Captain America. In the meantime, Reed designed a prison within the Negative Zone to hold the super-powered captives, but the anti-Registration forces quickly broke into the prison and released their allies, eventually bringing the fight into downtown New York. During the fight, Sue retailed against the Taskmaster when he attacked Reed. But Captain America soon withdrew when he saw the damage done by his fight and turned himself in to the authorities. Despite finding himself on the winning side, Reed has been left to put back together the pieces of a family and a team that each joined against him before surrendering to the law.

Invisible Woman

Real Name
Susan Storm Richards

Aliases
Baroness Von Doom, Stormy Sue, Malice, Mistress of Hate, Susan Benjamin, Invisible Girl, Mrs.Fantastic, Invisible Woman

Identity
Publicly known

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Glenville, Long Island, New York

The Early Years

Long the least visible member of the Fantastic Four in more ways than one, the once-passive Sue Richards has matured into a formidable and commanding heroine over the years-but it is still her warmly maternal presence that binds the team together. Born Susan Storm, Sue and her brother Johnny had a happy childhood until their mother Mary died in a car crash. Their father, celebrated surgeon Doctor Franklin Storm, survived the accident without injury but was unable to save his wife despite his best medical efforts. His spirit broken, Dr. Storm abandoned his practice, becoming a gambler and a drunk, and eventually went to prison after he accidentally killed an underworld loan shark during a struggle. Sue became more like a mother than a sister to Johnny thereafter, though both were soon placed in the custody of their loving aunt Marygay. While she was still quite young, Sue became smitten with her aunt's handsome and brilliant tenant, science prodigy Reed Richards, then a university student.

The young Storms lived a relatively normal life with their aunt for several years, interrupted by the discovery of the mystical Amulet of Zarathos, which had been unearthed by local archaeologist Professor Henry Brandeis. Working together, Johnny, Sue, family friend Max Parrish and the Professor's daughter Cam managed to prevent the amulet from falling into the hands of vampire lord Dracula; during the conflict, Max used the amulet to become a demonic Ghost Rider, though Johnny helped Max prevent this transformation from becoming permanent. During her own college years, Sue began doing some minor acting and modeling work and renewed her contact with Reed, dating him steadily for some time. Reed's old friend Ben Grimm took an interest in Sue as well, though she remained loyal to Reed.

Out of Space and Into the Fantastic Four

When a sudden loss of funding threatened to derail Reed's experimental starship project, Reed urged his pilot, Ben, to join him in making an unauthorized test flight before the project shut down. Grimm was reluctant, but accepted the challenge after Sue questioned his courage. Sue and her brother Johnny insisted on coming along as well, wishing to share the risk. The quartet successfully launched into space, but intense cosmic rays penetrated the ship's shielding and irradiated the crew, forcing them back to Earth. On landing, they discovered they had mutated into superhumans, and Sue became the Invisible Girl. Dedicating their new powers to super-heroics and scientific exploration, the quartet became the Fantastic Four. Sue's relatively static invisibility power made her seem like a weak link in the team at first, but she soon discovered that she also had the ability to project and manipulate invisible force fields, making her a more effective combatant.

Conflicted Love and the Death of Franklin Storm

While team leader and financier Reed provided the FF with a Manhattan headquarters in the Baxter Building, Johnny and Sue maintained a suburban home in their native Glenville for some time. Johnny also tried to moonlight as a solo super hero, and his sister sometimes aided him against foes such as the Wizard, who would become one of the FF's most relentless enemies. One of the FF's earliest foes was misguided Atlantean warrior Namor the Sub-Mariner, who was strongly attracted to Sue and vied with Reed for her affections. Sue was drawn to Namor, who eventually became a valued friend and ally to the FF, but she remained true to Reed. When Sue was gravely injured during a battle with the Mole Man, her father-who had just recently escaped from prison-came out of hiding to operate on her, saving her life and reconciling with his children before he willingly returned to jail. This attracted the attention of the Super-Skrull (Kl'rt), who abducted Dr. Storm, impersonated him and attacked the FF as the Invincible Man; but in the end, the Super-Skrull was defeated and the real Dr. Storm sacrificed his life to save the FF from a Skrull booby trap, dying secure in the belief that he had redeemed himself at last.

Matrimony and Motherhood - Super Powered

Reed and Sue were finally married-despite a small army of super-villains dispatched to attack their wedding by Reed's old enemy Doctor Doom, who had become the FF's foremost foe. Sue soon became pregnant with her first child and stepped down from active FF duty, replaced by Inhuman elemental Crystal (then Johnny's girlfriend). Sue's cosmic-irradiated physiology complicated the pregnancy, but Reed ensured the child's safe delivery via a Cosmic Control Rod taken from Annihilus. The baby, christened Franklin after Sue's late father, proved to be a vastly powerful mutant whose fluctuating abilities have alternately saved or menaced both the FF and the world over the years. During a period where Franklin's powers were raging out of control, Reed was forced to shut down his son's mind for a time. Appalled by this, and frustrated by her growing belief that Reed did not regard her as an equal, Sue separated from Reed and quit the FF, taking Franklin with her. Medusa of the Inhumans took Sue's place in the FF for an extended period, but Sue reclaimed her spot on the roster after she and Reed finally reconciled-with the aid of Namor, ironically enough. The FF broke up altogether for a time when Reed temporarily lost his powers, but they soon regrouped. Sue became pregnant a second time. Seeking a more normal family life, Reed and Sue established a household in smalltown Belle Port, Connecticut for a time, living quietly in disguise there as the Benjamin family while continuing to serve with the FF in their original identities. This baby had been conceived during a stay in the Negative Zone, exposing Sue to radiation that made this pregnancy even more complicated and dangerous than the previous one, finally resulting in a stillbirth.

The Rise of Malice and a Name Change

Still traumatized and bitter, Sue was easy prey for the Psycho-Man and his Hate-Monger android, who used their emotion-manipulating powers to amplify Susan's darker impulses, changing her into the mad villainess Malice and turning her against the FF. Freed from their influence by Reed, Sue exacted a chilling revenge on Psycho-Man by subjecting him to his own emotion-warping technology (the Hate-Monger, meanwhile, had been slain by the vigilante Scourge). Sobered by these events, Sue changed her costumed alias to the more mature Invisible Woman, the code-name she uses to this day.

Avengers Assemble, Fantastic Four Reconfigure

Seeking a more normal family life again, Reed and Sue retired from the FF altogether to concentrate on raising Franklin, leaving Ben in charge of regrouping; however, Reed and Sue's retirement was short-lived. After teaming with several Avengers to rescue Franklin during the demonic Inferno invasion, Reed and Sue reluctantly agreed to join the Avengers, who were critically short-handed at the time. Reed and Sue amicably stepped down from active Avengers membership before long, later resigning their Avengers membership altogether after they rejoined the Fantastic Four. The FF remain staunch allies to the Avengers regardless, and Sue is friendly with various Avengers members, notably the size-changing socialite Wasp and the super-strong She-Hulk, who had served a lengthy stint with the FF during a period when Ben was estranged from the team.

Growth and Maturity, Good and Bad

Like the other FF founders, Sue has participated in many mass super-hero gatherings over the years-notably the original Contest of Champions, during which she teamed with Iron Fist and Sunfire as pawns of an unknown entity to battle the Grandmaster's pawns Daredevil, Darkstar and Australian hero Talisman, ultimately teaming with Talisman to unmask the Grandmaster's opponent as Death itself. Later, during the cosmic conflict known as the Infinity War, Sue absorbed her own evil doppelganger (a creature from the Dimension of Manifestations, controlled by Adam Warlock's dark side, the Magus), which had been dispatched against her in the form of Malice. This led to a gradual revival of Sue's Malice persona (which had been temporarily released by the cosmic In-Betweener once before), but Franklin, temporarily transformed into the teen hero Psi-Lord, forced Malice out of his mother and absorbed the entity, apparently destroying his mother's dark counterpart. Sue never fully accepted Psi-Lord, perhaps resenting the notion of a Franklin who grew up without her as Psi-Lord did.

The Death of Reed Richards/Heroes Reborn

When Reed was seemingly killed in action, Sue took over leadership of the FF and served capably in the role, recruiting Ant-Man (Scott Lang) as the team's new scientist; however, she refused to believe Reed was truly dead, leading an ongoing search for her husband and rejecting romantic advances from her old flame, Namor. As it turned out, Reed had been abducted and time-displaced by the villain Hyperstorm. Once the FF finally rescued Reed, it took him some time to regain his confidence, especially since Sue had become such an effective team leader in his absence. Shortly thereafter, the entire FF seemingly died in battle with the psychic monster Onslaught, though they secretly survived in a new "Counter-Earth" parallel world created instinctively by Franklin, and they eventually returned to their own world after a series of adventures in this alternate-reality.

A Bouncing, Baby Girl...From the Future

Soon after their return, the FF befriended the new Marvel Girl, Valeria Von Doom, who came from an alternate future where she believed herself to be the offspring of Sue and a benevolent incarnation of Doctor Doom. Reluctant to trust or believe the girl at first, Sue gradually came to regard Valeria as a friend, even forming a familial bond with her. Later, during the team's reality-warping conflict with the cosmic being Abraxas, Franklin revealed he had used his powers to rescue Sue's seemingly stillborn second child years earlier, and that this child had been raised in an alternate future to become the Marvel Girl they now knew. As a side-effect of Abraxas' defeat, Marvel Girl was restored to her original state, as an unborn child in Sue's womb. Yet again, it was a risky and complicated pregnancy; but Sue finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl, thanks largely to the assistance of Doctor Doom, who was allowed to name the infant after his childhood sweetheart Valeria in exchange for his services. Later, Doom used Valeria as his mystical familiar in sorcerous attacks on the FF, but was ultimately defeated and cast into Hell.

Hard Times For the First Family

Reed led the FF in dismantling Doom's Latverian regime despite international condemnation of his actions, which hurt their public image and their standing with the authorities. The FF broke up, Reed and Sue split up, and Reed signed over most of his patents to the government as part of a deal to escape prosecution; however, Reed convinced Sue and Johnny to join him in a quest to resurrect Ben, returning him from the gates of Heaven itself. While the FF work to rebuild their reputations and their finances, they have recently dabbled in more conventional fields of employment, such as teaching.

Power Switch

Sue was recently captured by Zius, leader of a group of survivors from worlds consumed by Galactus. Knowing Sue's power could overcome a device designed to hide planets from Galactus, Zius intended to execute her; but Reed used a device to swap Johnny and Sue's powers, duping Zius into thinking the invisibility powers had been completely neutralized. These powers were enhanced by Galactus, who claimed Johnny as his herald; but Johnny's new cosmic state helped facilitate Galactus' defeat, and Sue regained her original powers-though she also gained new respect for Johnny regarding his ability to control his dangerous fire power. Sue currently moonlights as a substitute teacher while juggling her roles as wife, mother and celebrity adventurer.

Civil War

When the government of the United States instituted a Superhero Registration in light of a schoolyard tragedy in Stamford, Connecticut, Reed joined alongside Tony Stark, using his scientific genius to work against unregistered heroes. Sue disagreed with his decision, and the tension between them grew after a crowd outside a nightclub - enraged by the paranoia surrounding the country - attacked Johnny and put him into a coma. While Sue visited him daily, Reed brushed it off and lost himself in his work for the government. The tension finally came to a head and Sue left Reed in a spectacular exit that blew a hole through the ceiling and floor of the building, and joined the anti-Registration side led by Captain America. But the Captain soon turned himself in after an all-out battle in downtown New York that devastated the people he meant to protect. Afterwards, Sue was left to pick up the pieces of her team and her marriage to Reed.

Human Torch (Johnny Storm)

Real Name
Jonathan Lowell Spencer "Johnny" Storm

Aliases
Matchstick Johnny, Doug Brown

Identity
Publicly known

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Glenville, Long Island, New York

 

The Early Years

Growing up in suburban Glenville, Johnny Storm was drawn to automobiles despite his mother's death in a car accident, and became quite a mechanic at a young age. While still a teenager he selflessly rescued two of his friends from a burning building. No stranger to adventure, Johnny-son of famous doctor and infamous criminal Franklin Storm-was nearly chosen as the human host of the demonic Zarathos, the Ghost Rider, and was attacked by the legendary St. Germaine, who sought the power for himself. Johnny escaped the lure of Zarathos with the help of archeologist Max Parrish, the uncle of Cammy Brandeis, on whom Johnny had a bit of a crush.

Out of Space and Into the Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four caught in cosmic radiation.

Following his sister, Sue, Johnny joined Reed Richards' crew in a space flight. Riddled with cosmic radiation, Johnny transformed into a flaming monster when the flight crashed back to earth. Calling himself Human Torch in tribute to the World War II era hero of the same name, the youthful Johnny found new adventure as part of the Fantastic Four, proving to be an invaluable if somewhat volatile member of the team. Falling out with his teammates after a battle with the Miracle Man, Johnny left the group and encountered amnesiac World War II hero Namor the Sub-Mariner. Recognizing Namor from comic books, Johnny dropped him into the sea, hoping to restore his memory. The plan worked, but after Namor found Atlantis in ruins, he declared war on humanity. Johnny rejoined the FF and they drove Namor off. The immature Johnny again considered quitting the Fantastic Four, this time to join his cousin Bones' circus, but quickly returned to the team.

High School Days

Though a member of the world-famous Fantastic Four, Johnny was still a teenage Glenville High student - albeit one who regularly clashed with super-powered menaces. Johnny even tried to conceal his dual identity from most of the locals at first, though this soon proved futile (the true identities of all four FF founders being widely known almost from the start). In solo action, he fought the communist Destroyer (Charles Stanton) and Rabble Rouser; the Wizard (born Bentley Wittman); Zemu, Warlord of the 5th Dimension; Paste-Pot Pete; Acrobat (Carl Zante); Vilhelm von Vile, the enigmatic Painter of 1000 Perils; the Sorcerer of Glenville Woods; the Asbestos Man (Orson Kasloff); the Eel (Leopold Stryke); the Plantman; modern-day pirate Captain Barracuda, whom Johnny defeated in the first of several team-ups with his super-heroic opposite number Iceman; and the Terrible Trio.

Super-villains, however, weren't Johnny's only rivals. Mike Snow, a member of the Glenville High wrestling squad, bullied Johnny until an accidental flare-up of the Torch's powers scarred Snow's face. Despite their animosity, Snow concealed the incident, blaming the injuries on a prank gone wrong and maintaining that Johnny had actually saved his life that night by flying him to the hospital. While Mike tried to move on with his life, Johnny did the same, dating fellow student Dorrie Evans, although she eventually grew tired of his constant disappearances and broke it off. Johnny met another teenage hero, Spider-Man, who broke into theBaxter Building hoping to impress the FF. Despite their early misunderstandings, the Torch and Spider-Man eventually became good friends.

The Skrulls and the Death of Franklin Storm

When the Super-Skrull (Kl’rt), possessing the combined powers of the Fantastic Four, attacked the team, the Human Torch managed to trap him inside a cave, but the Super-Skrull escaped and impersonated Franklin Storm. The Four exposed the Super-Skrull, but the Skrulls strapped a bomb to the real Franklin's chest, and Franklin sacrificed his own life to save his children. A trip to the Skrull homeworld and the death of Warlord Morrat, the Skrull who authorized Franklin's murder, brought some measure of revenge, but this was not the last time the Skrulls would interfere in Johnny's life.

Off to College, Falling in Love

After graduating high school, Johnny enrolled in Metro College, where he befriended his roommate, Wyatt Wingfoot. Wyatt joined Johnny and the Fantastic Four on a trip to Wakanda, where they first encountered the Black Panther and helped him defeat Klaw. Around this time, Johnny met the young Inhuman Crystal. It was love at first sight, and Johnny, along with the rest of the FF, helped her overthrow the mad Inhuman prince Maximus. Their love was passionate but short-lived, as Crystal returned to Attilan and married Quicksilver, the son of Magneto - eventually bearing his child. Johnny was crushed, but tried to move on. Hoping to catch up on old times with Dorrie Evans, he found that she had married and had two kids since they had broken up. Despite dropping out of Metro U, Johnny remained friends with Wyatt, who often participated in the Fantastic Four's adventures and was later romantically linked to the She-Hulk. When Johnny's sister Sue and her husband Reed were separated, Johnny joined the Thing, Medusa and Thundra in a staged battle against the rehabilitated Namor in an effort to bring the couple back together. Their ploy worked, and Sue and Reed patched things up for good. Seeking direction in his life, Johnny was tricked into attending the high-class Security College, a front for the Monocle, an agent of the megalomaniacal Enclave, who used him to steal top-secret high-tech weapons. Spider-Man broke the Monocle's control of the Torch. Johnny then joined the rest of the FF in space, where they helped the Champions of Xandar against the invading Skrulls. When Johnny's teammates were dying from a Skrull aging ray, Johnny destroyed the robotic assassin Skrull X, allowing the infirm Reed to use his weapon to reverse the aging.

New Flames

Hearing of the execution of David George Munson, his former high school classmate, Johnny helped the NYPD clear his name and nabbed several leading members of the Maggia criminal organization, including Hammerhead. After a brief relationship with auto mechanic Lorrie Melton, Johnny fell for Frankie Raye, a woman desperately afraid of his flames. Frankie eventually discovered that her pyrophobia stemmed from being hypnotized by her late stepfather, Phineas Horton (creator of the android Human Torch), into forgetting that he had accidentally given her flame powers of her own. Johnny helped Frankie adjust to her rediscovered powers as their relationship blossomed, but when Galactus returned to Earth, Frankie agreed to follow him into space as his new herald, Nova. Distraught, Johnny was comforted by Frankie's former roommate, Julie Angel, and began to have feelings for her. Confusing matters further, Julie's friend, Sharon Selleck, had a crush on Johnny. Julie eventually moved to California to continue her acting career and nothing came of Sharon's crush.

Johnny was briefly abducted by agents of the Messiah (Alden Maas) in his mad plot to expand the Earth by super-heating its core. Brought to Battleworld by the Beyonder and forced to battle various super-villains, Johnny met and was healed by Zsaji, a native of the planet. Physically but not emotionally attracted to Zsaji, Johnny found an unlikely rival in Colossus (Peter Rasputin), who fell in love with the healer. Although Zsaji returned Johnny's affection at first, she eventually chose Colossus over the Torch, but then sacrificed her own life to rescue several dying heroes. Johnny returned to Earth, where he found himself drawn to Alicia Masters, longtime girlfriend of Johnny's then-absent FF teammate, the Thing. Johnny and Alicia's romance helped estrange the Thing from the FF for a lengthy period. Johnny hit his lowest point when Tommy Hanson, a young fan of his, set himself on fire in an attempt to be more like his hero. Hearing of the boy's death, Johnny considered retiring as the Human Torch, but the Beyonder managed to talk him out of it. Eventually Johnny married Alicia, but a jealous Thing offered a spot in the Fantastic Four to Crystal, who was separated from Quicksilver at the time. Johnny's old feelings for Crystal slowly returned, but his love for Alicia enabled him to resist temptation, and Crystal eventually left the team.

The Imposter Revealed

Despite their long and intimate relationship, Johnny was horrified to discover that the Alicia he loved and married was not the true Alicia Masters, but a Skrull imposter named Lyja. Originally sent to infiltrate and destroy the Fantastic Four, Lyja truly fell in love with Johnny, and joined the Fantastic Four in confronting Paibok, the Skrull who had kidnapped the real Alicia. Lyja seemingly sacrificed her life to protect Johnny, but her former lover Paibok nursed her back to health. Trying to move on from yet another failed relationship, Johnny enrolled at Empire State University; but Devos, Paibok and even Lyja attacked Johnny at ESU, forcing him to go nova, burning down a large section of the campus. Johnny briefly became a fugitive, chased after by Silver Sable's Wild Pack, until Reed agreed to sell some of his patents to pay for the damages. Lyja returned to Johnny's life again, tricking him into believing she was carrying his baby. When this proved a lie as well, Johnny left her again.

Uncle Johnny to the Rescue/Heroes Reborn

Johnny briefly joined his nephew Franklin's Fantastic Force team, where he battled his virtually omnipotent extra-dimensional counterpart Vangaard (formerly Gaard), convincing him to abandon his mission of eliminating redundant realities by showing him the hero he could become. Lyja posed as student Laura Green and dated Johnny to stay close to him; Johnny recognized her when they kissed though he didn't share this until later, but the two never had the chance to explore their true feelings. After Franklin Richards created his Counter-Earth and rescued the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and several other heroes from death at the hands ofOnslaught (entity), Roma deemed Franklin too powerful to ignore, and sent the Technet and the (Captain Britain) Corps to retrieve him. The Human Torch convinced Roma that Franklin's family, the Fantastic Four, would be able to nurture him so that he would not grow up to be a danger to the Omniverse.

The Four Fractured

While the rest of the Fantastic Four battled the Gideon Trust and Annihilus in the Negative Zone, Johnny was forced to recruit a temporary FF team consisting of Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Johnny's on-and-off girlfriend Namorita (Namor's cousin), and the She-Hulk, who battled the Gideon Trust on Earth. When the cosmic entityAbraxas came to Earth-616, Johnny teamed with an extra-dimensional version of the now-deceased Frankie Raye to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier, a weapon powerful enough to destroy Abraxas. This Nova betrayed Johnny and gave the Nullifier to her master, Abraxas, but even that couldn't save Abraxas after Galactus joined the fight. Following the battle, Susan found herself pregnant again, and, with Reed off battling the Hidden Ones, Johnny was forced to seek help from Dr. Doom when problems with the pregnancy threatened Sue's life. Doom saved both Sue and her daughter, Valeria.

New Jobs and Failed Careers

Seeking an acting career, Johnny was cast as the Rawhide Kid in a summer blockbuster; but it was eventually decided he wasn't ready for the role, which was given to Lon Zelig (actually the Super-Skrull). Johnny 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 psychotic arsonist and seemingly died, Johnny left the job (though he later returned to the profession during a period when the FF was short on cash). Sick of her brother's directionless life, Sue forced him to take a job as the Chief Financial Officer for Fantastic Four, Inc. Although initially in over his head, Johnny was able to stop a manufacturer from stealing the secret of Reed's Unstable Molecule suits, and began to warm up to both the job and his co-worker, Jian Fetta.

Financial Troubles and Falling Fame

Unfortunately, after a major battle with Doom, Reed attempted to claim Latveria for the Fantastic Four, an act that turned the United States government against them. To escape trial, the group was forced to sell many of their patents and holdings to the government, which left Johnny's wallet much emptier than usual and sent his popularity plummeting. Seeking help from the least popular person he could think of, Johnny contacted Spider-Man, who tried to cheer Johnny up by bringing him to a water park, where they were attacked by Hydro-Man. Easily defeating the villain and rescuing the park's popular mascot, Johnny found his popularity rising once more. Johnny also began to converse with a new girl over the internet, and hit it off when he finally met her. This girl, Cole, turned out to be the daughter of one of Johnny's oldest enemies, the Wizard; but although she was sent to trick the FF, Cole actually helped lead them to the Wizard's hideout, where they battled him and his new Frightful Four. The Wizard escaped and took Cole with him, but Johnny remained hopeful about meeting her again.

Herald of Galactus

Recently, an alien named Zius came to Earth, the location of the one being in the universe who could nullify his Galactus-proof planet-cloaking invisibility shield, Susan Richards. Zius threatened to destroy the planet if Sue did not sacrifice herself, but Reed used his power gun to switch her powers with Johnny's and tricked Zius into leaving the planet. As he left orbit, Galactus destroyed Zius' spaceship and claimed Johnny as his new Herald. Unwilling to lead Galactus to populated worlds, Johnny used his new powers to analyze Galactus and, with the help of the FF and Quasar, managed to transform Galactus back into humanoid form. Johnny's power cosmic faded, but during Reed's subsequent efforts to reverse Sue and Johnny's power switch, a remnant of the power caused a flare-up that temporarily sent the FF's powers into four random New Yorkers.

Civil War

In the wake of the tragedy at Stanford, Connecticut, Johnny found himself a victim of the declining public view of super heroes when an angry mob attacked him outside of a New York nightclub. Storm was hospitalized in a coma for a time. After regaining consciousness, Johnny left the Fantastic Four along with his sister. They worked alonside the underground against the forces of the Registration Act until a battle in downtown New York that forced Captain America to stand down and turn himself in. With the official resistance over, Johnny and Sue returned to the team to attempt to rebuild.

Thing (Benjamin Grimm)

Real Name
Benjamin Jacob Grimm

Aliases
Bashful Benjy, Uncle Benjy, The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing, Idol of Millions (self-proclaimed), Grim Ben, Dr. Josiah Verpoorteen, Blackbeard the Pirate

Identity
Publicly known

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Manhattan, New York

 

Early Years On Yancy Street

Ben Grimm grew up in poverty at 7135 Yancy Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. His drunken father couldn't hold down a job, so much of their family's income came from Ben's older brother Dan, who led the Yancy Street Gang. Ben idolized his brother, and when Dan was killed in a gang fight, Ben grew increasingly bitter-especially after his aunt Sophie died of cancer that same year. Ben joined the Yancy Street Gang himself, eventually becoming its leader; however, when his parents were killed in an accident, the teenage Ben was forced to move uptown to live with his new guardians, his Uncle Jake and Aunt Alyce. The Yancy Street Gang denounced Ben as a sellout after he moved away, developing an enduring grudge against their former leader. A respected medical doctor, Jake had pulled himself up from the Yancy Street slums and hoped he could help Ben make something of himself as well. Jake and Alyce were tough but loving parents, and while Ben resisted them at first, their unconditional affection gradually won him over. Ben finished high school, discovering his natural football talent along the way, and won a full-ride sports scholarship to State University.

Off to College, New Friends, and Heartbreak

Ben roomed with Reed Richards, who dreamed of someday building a starship; Grimm jokingly promised that if Reed ever built it, he would fly it. Ben became a star quarterback at State, and spent much of his time trying to coax his more socially awkward roommate out of his shell. Outgoing and popular, Ben soon found a steady girlfriend in Alynn Cambers, his first true love. When Alynn abruptly dropped out of school, Ben tracked her down and proposed marriage. Though she loved Ben, Alynn wanted a Hollywood acting career, which left no room for a serious relationship. She rejected the heartbroken Ben's proposal, eventually becoming a star as she had planned.

The Jock Takes to the Air

After finishing college, Ben joined the U.S. military to continue his education and pursue his longtime dream of becoming a pilot. After training in a series of military operations, he shifted from combat duty to become a test pilot, one of the best in the Air Force. He formed close friendships with fellow pilots Desmond Pitt and Mick Clancy and found new love with scientist Dr. Linda McGill. As a test pilot, Ben undertook dangerous assignments on occasion, notably when the Pentagon recruited him to fly government agents Carol Danvers and Logan into Russia, supposedly to test a series of radio transmitters. The trio were shot down but managed to fight their way out of Russia while Logan completed his true mission, capturing the Russian Project: Red Storm. Ben eventually moved into the astronaut training program, where his colleagues included fellow pilot John Jameson.

Out of Space, Into the Fantastic Four

Reed had begun to build his starship and asked his old friend Ben to be its pilot. When the government abruptly cut off their funding, Reed asked Ben to help him make an unauthorized test flight before the project could be shut down. Ben feared that the ship might not be adequately shielded against cosmic radiation; but Reed's girlfriend Sue Storm -to whom Ben was somewhat attracted-played on Ben's machismo and he acquiesced. Joined by Sue and her kid brother Johnny Storm, they successfully launched the ship into space, but cosmic rays penetrated their shielding and forced them to crash-land back on Earth. The radiation had mutated them into superhuman beings-unluckily for Grimm, who transformed into the grotesque, scaly-hided strongman dubbed the Thing. The quartet decided to use their powers for the betterment of humanity as the Fantastic Four.

Severing Old Ties

Wandering the streets of New York shortly after his transformation, Ben was attacked by a terrified group of Yancy Street Gang members and fled into the sewers, where an encounter with some wretched tunnel-dwellers helped give Ben the determination to cope with his own situation. Returning home, Ben met his girlfriend Linda, who fled in fear of Ben's monstrous appearance. She soon sought Ben out again, trying to comfort him and expressing a willingness to continue their relationship; but he felt she would be better off without him, so he feigned an insane rage and threatened her, scaring her away. They never reconciled, and Dr. McGill went on to marry another man, raising a family and continuing her scientific career.

Fighting the Monster

Ben built a new life for himself as part of the FF; one notable early foe was the Impossible Man, a mischievous alien who later became a friend to the FF in general and Ben in particular. The super-strong Namor and the Hulk would encounter Ben repeatedly as both allies and enemies over the years, and the Hulk would become one of Ben's toughest recurring opponents. The Thing often partnered with the Human Torch to fight foes such as the Beetle, the Terrible Trio, Professor Jack and Kang. Initially, Ben spontaneously reverted to his human form for random intervals; but he always returned to his Thing form, and his mutation eventually stabilized in a more rock-like appearance.

Early on, Ben was so unhappy with his condition that it sometimes compromised his loyalty to the team: for instance, when Doctor Doom forced the FF to undertake a time travel quest, Ben found a new life in the past as the legendary Blackbeard the Pirate and very nearly abandoned his teammates to remain in the 18th century; later, Ben briefly agreed to serve Diablo in exchange for a possible cure for his mutation, though he soon turned on the evil alchemist to save the FF. Over time, Ben came to accept his new form, albeit somewhat bitterly. An immense help in this regard was the Puppet Master's stepdaughter Alicia Masters, a blind sculptress who claimed she could see the inner beauty of Ben's soul. Alicia and Ben fell in love and dated for years, though the insecure Ben was never entirely sure if he was worthy of Alicia and feared she would eventually abandon him. Other women in Ben's life included the alternate future Femizon named Thundra (an admirer) and the cat-woman Tigra(a good friend).

Poker Buddies and Fighting Friends

For years Ben and Avengers butler Edwin Jarvis have organized a series of floating super-hero poker games, attended by players such as Nick Fury, Wolverine, Blake Tower, Doctor Strange, Beast, Human Torch, She-Hulk, Black Cat, Archangel, Spider-Man and many of the Avengers. Ben has also teamed up in action with a dizzying array of super heroes over the years, ranging from icons like Captain America and Iron Man to fringe figures such as Son of Satan, Straw Man, Brother Voodoo, Jack of Hearts, Stingray, Blue Diamond and the Living Mummy. Ben even befriended his longtime enemySandman when the villain reformed. One special ally was the orphaned alien man-child Wundarr, who came to regard his "Uncle Benjy" with a familial affection that lingered even after he evolved into the enlightened Aquarian. When Wundarr was housed at the high-tech research facility Project: PEGASUS for study, the Thing joined their security staff to keep a closer eye on him. During his association with the Project, Ben helped protect PEGASUS from menaces such as the Grapplers and the Nth Man (both sponsored by Roxxon Oil), and he formed close friendships with fellow PEGASUS staffers Quasar (Wendell Vaughn) and Bill Foster.

In Love With the Monster

Over the years, Reed and others sought various cures for Ben's condition, some of which were temporarily successful. During a period where Ben had made a seemingly permanent reversion to his human form, the FF hired super-mercenary Luke Cage to serve as Ben's replacement; however, Ben soon rejoined the FF after Reed provided Ben with a suit of strength-enhancing armor that outwardly resembled his Thing form. Before long, Ben had transformed into the Thing again; but over time, Reed began to suspect that Ben's inability to assume human form was a strictly psychological limitation tied to Ben's relationship with Alicia, who had fallen in love with him in his Thing form. Reed theorized that Ben's fear of losing Alicia was the only thing preventing him from resuming his human form at will, but he was unsure of this theory and kept it to himself, not wanting to undermine Ben's romance. When the FF were among the many super heroes forced to fight in the Secret War on the Beyonder's Battleworld, Ben discovered that he could resume his human form at will-probably due in part to his prolonged separation from Alicia, though Ben assumed it was caused by some strange properties of the planet Battleworld itself. When the war ended, Ben decided to remain behind, recruiting She-Hulk to take his place in the FF. Ben had a series of strange encounters, unaware they were mostly formed from his own subconscious-including Tarianna, an idealized warrior woman with whom Ben fell in love, and the sorcerer Grimm, an evil mystical personification of Ben's human side. Tarianna and Grimm eventually killed each other, leaving Ben unable to retake human form. Returning to Earth, Ben learned too late of Reed's theory that his transformations had been psychologically-based, and also discovered that Alicia had apparently left him for Johnny in his absence.

In Pursuit of Identity

Feeling bitter and betrayed, Ben quit the FF altogether and hit the road, trying to find himself. He briefly joined the motorcycle stunt-riding Thunderiders, where he met and became smitten with champion sportswoman Sharon Ventura, a virtual twin of Tarianna. During his travels, Ben became a friend and mentor to the troubled young mutant runaway Vance Astrovik. Ben, Vance and Sharon all became involved in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, a professional wrestling league for super-humans (Sharon having become a superhuman and taking the codename Ms. Marvel). Ben befriended fellow wrestler Demolition Dunphy and began associating with the new western roster of the Avengers, whose leader Hawkeye worked relentlessly to recruit him. Ben was the reigning UCWF champion for some time, but personal concerns (including his growing awareness of corruption in the sport) led him to purposely throw an exhibition match and quit the league. He finally accepted Avengers membership, but resigned and went into seclusion the very next day after mutating into an even more monstrous form. He found sanctuary and acceptance in the subterranean realm of his old foe the Mole Man, who was planning to raise a new continent where his subjects could live above ground; but when the FF revealed that this process would cause devastating killer earthquakes, the Thing reluctantly sided with them and helped thwart the Mole Man's plans. Having nowhere else to go, and having reverted to his standard Thing form by then, Ben rejoined the FF.

Mutated, False, and Lost Loves

When Reed and Sue retired from active FF duty to focus on raising their son, they left Ben in charge. He recruited Crystal and Ms. Marvel to replace them and served capably as team leader, starting a romance with Sharon that deepened after new cosmic radiation exposure further mutated them both, turning Sharon into a sort of "She-Thing" and Ben into an even stronger, more hideous spiky-hided Thing. Their romance continued through several more changes of form (with Ben eventually settling back into his classic Thing form), even after Reed and Sue rejoined the group; but they were estranged after Sharon accepted Doctor Doom's aid in regaining human form. Ben has not yet had a serious relationship since his split with Sharon, though he has flirted with Reed's old friend Alyssa Moy and briefly dated Damage Control executive Kathleen O'Meara. When the Alicia who had eventually married Johnny was revealed to be the shape-shifting Skrull spy Lyja, the FF found and rescued the real Alicia, but she and Ben have remained only good friends.

Back To Roots

Ben has maintained a bizarre enmity with the Yancy Street Gang, his former peers having passed down their resentment of Grimm to the next generation of Yancy punks. Over the years, the gang has perpetrated a seemingly endless series of practical jokes, verbal abuse and petty assaults on Grimm, though many of the practical jokes credited to the Yancy crowd were actually played by a sneaky Johnny Storm. At the same time, the Yancy Streeters take a perverse pride in their distinguished alumnus, and have been known to come to Ben's aid on occasion-they seem to think only they have the right to abuse him. Though estranged from the gang, Ben has remained friendly with some of his childhood chums from Yancy Street, including Cholly (now owner of the Yancy Street Bar and Grill), helicopter pilot Hopper Hertnecky and old high school buddy "Slugger" Sokolowski. Ben has also kept in touch with his uncle Jake, who married a new wife-the much younger Petunia "Penny" Grimm-after Alyce died. Ben took a great liking to Petunia, whom he often jokingly described as a little old lady until the FF actually got to meet the beautiful Mrs. Grimm in person. Alynn Cambers also renewed her friendship with Ben (though not their romance), seeking his guidance and support after a stroke left her disfigured and partially crippled.

Death and Family

The Fantastic Four are not just Ben's friends; they have become his surrogate family, and he is like a beloved uncle to Reed and Sue's children, Franklin and Valeria. When he was killed during a recent battle with Doctor Doom, the rest of the FF followed his spirit to the gates of Heaven itself, where the heavenly Creator restored Ben to life. The Thing remains the big-hearted, brick-hided backbone of the FF to this day, ready to rattle evildoers with his Sunday punch and his eternal battle cry: "It's Clobberin' Time!"

Civil War

But even the strong bonds of friendship between the members were tested when a tragedy in Stamford, Connecticut led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people near a schoolyard and pushed forward a Superhero Registration Act. While Johnny was attacked and beaten into a coma by a group of angry New York citizens, Reed and Sue broke up after Reed spent more time working with the Registration forces and their leader, Tony Stark, then being concerned for Johnny's pain. In frustration and a refusal to pick either side - each being distasteful to him in some way - Ben quit the country and moved to France. After a very short career alongside the French super team Les Heroes de Paris, Ben soon found himself drawn back to America and joined the majority of his team against the Registration forces. Though their leader, Captain America, soon turned himself in after an epic battle in downtown New York that ended up doing more damage than the help he had imagined. And in the aftermath, the Fantastic Four were left to decide what to do with their fractured relationships and team.