Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)

Brute
Name	Reed Richards
Current Alias	Brute
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Formerly Frightful Four
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′1″ (1.85 m) (Reed), 8′ (2.44 m) (Brute)
Weight	180 lbs (81.65 kg) (Reed), 900 lbs (408.23 kg) (Brute)
Eyes	Irises: Brown (Reed) Red (Brute)
Hair	Brown (Reed), No Hair At All (Brute)
Skin	Purple (Brute)
Origin and Living Status
Origin	One of the beings that was born through the natural evolution of the High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth; later mutated through exposure to cosmic rays
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Central City, California
Personal Information
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Scientist, Super-villain; former President
Base of Operations	Mobile throughout Earth of Earth-616 Formerly Earth-1123, Counter-Earth, Negative Zone
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Roy Thomas, Mike Friedrich
First	Marvel Premiere #2 (February, 1972)
First	Marvel Premiere #2 (February, 1972)

History

Originating from the High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth, this version of Reed Richards lived a life similar to his Earth-616 counterpart. In his university days he attended the University of California along with Victor von Doom. When one of Doom's experiments blew up in his face, horribly scarring him, Reed stood by his friend and convinced him to continue his scientific studies. Reed later hijacked a space shuttle with his world's versions of Ben Grimm, Sue Storm and her brother Johnny. Through the machinations of the Man-Beast, only Reed was mutated by a Cosmic Ray storm that the ship flew through. Ben and Johnny only suffered minor injuries due to their exposure, but Sue remained in a coma for many years. Reed Richards continued his research, choosing to lose himself in his work so that he could forget his loss of Sue.

During a full moon, Reed Richards found that the cosmic rays he was exposed to caused him to transform into a creature that he dubbed the Brute. Eventually, Richards gained control over this and learned how to trigger the transformation through force of will. Richards was then tracked down by the Man-Beast, who sent him to San Francisco to track down and destroy Man-Beast's nemesis Adam Warlock who was operating in the area. During the course of the battle, the Brute nearly drowned Warlock. However the battle ended with Warlock using his Soul Gem to cure Richards of being the Brute.

The Man-Beast recaptured Richards and restored Richard's ability to transform into the Brute, then sent him after Warlock a second time. This time having full access to his powers, the Brute soon found he hungered for more energy and stole his old colleague Victor von Doom's earth-borer device in order to absorb Counter-Earth's geothermal energy, threatening to cause the planet to enter an ice age. When Warlock failed to stop the Brute alone, von Doom turned Counter-Earth's radiation shield into a radiation absorber, causing it to absorb the Brute's energies reverting him back into Reed Richards. This also caused the earth-borer to explode, killing von Doom in the process.

Richards relocated to Florida where he worked closely with the military. He chanced to be on hand to witness the battle between the High Evolutionary and Galactus when the latter was attempting to consume Counter-Earth. During the struggle between Galactus and Earth-616's Fantastic Four (led by Reed's Earth-616 counterpart), Counter-Earth's Reed piloted a rocket out to the High Evolutionary's ship, and was bombarded with Cosmic Rays again, restoring his Brute powers; he also suffered a blow to the head that turned him evil. When the FF defeated Galactus they returned to Earth, unaware that the Counter-Earth version of their leader had stowed away on their ship.

Arriving on Earth, Counter-Earth Reed Richards came across a newspaper ad by the Frightful Four who had taken over the Baxter Building and were seeking to recruit a new fourth member onto their team. Despite interference from Tigra and Thundra, the Brute helped the Frightful Four defeat the heroes and take them captive. However, despite efforts to ransom off the FF, the Frightful Four's plot fell apart due to the Impossible Man's interference with the Baxter Building's electrical systems, freeing the FF and their comrades. While the other members of the Frightful Four were soundly defeated, the Brute defeated Mr. Fantastic in one-on-one combat, switched their costumes and tossed his counterpart into the Negative Zone, then impersonated him.

The Fantastic Four were easily fooled as the Brute's deception came at a time when Reed had lost his powers; they found Reed's behavior unusual but dismissed it as stress from "losing his powers". Now presented with an alternate version of his true love, the Richards of Counter-Earth sought to romance Sue. However, after sharing a kiss, Sue became convinced that the man she was kissing was not her husband, but his evil counterpart from Counter-Earth. She turned to Alicia Masters to confirm this, but while there Agatha Harkness kidnapped Sue's son Franklin.

When Thing brought the recently defeated Metalloid to the Baxter Building, Counter-Reed sent FF allies Thundra, Tigra and Impossible Man back to the battle site to investigate, and tricked Ben and Johnny into going into the Negative Zone, trapping them there as well. When Sue confronted Counter-Reed with news of Franklin's abduction, his lack of concern convinced her that he was not her husband. With his cover blown, Reed changed into the Brute once more and tossed Sue out of one of the windows to the ground below. Sue was rescued by Tigra, Impossible Man and Thundra, and the three women went after the Brute. The Brute found his hands full as the Scavenger android traveled from the Negative Zone on summons from the Mad Thinker, with Reed, Johnny and Ben not far behind seeking to reclaim Annihilus' Cosmic Control Rod. Seeing the powerless Reed fighting to save his wife, the Counter-Reed regained his sanity and seemingly sacrificed his life plunging into the Negative Zone to return to Cosmic Control Rod to Annihilus.

The Brute abandoned the Cosmic Control Rod and floated near the Negative Zone's Distortion Area, where, instead of being destroyed, he was rescued by the Tyannans, creatures that were long thought extinct in the Negative Zone. His evil ways returning, the Brute tried to control the Tyannans and attempted to take over the Negative Zone and open a portal between the positive and negative matter universes. This plot was foiled by the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four, Annihilus and Blastaar. The FF returned home and left the two Negative Zone rulers to deal with the Brute.

Surviving, the Brute was somehow pulled from the Negative Zone to Earth-1123 by that reality's Fantastic Four. Trapping them in the Negative Zone, the Brute Richards posed as that reality's Reed Richards, using his counterpart's fame to become the President of the United States, and clashing with Wolverine of Earth-811 and Spider-Girl of Earth-1122 who had come to warn him of the threat posed by the Celestial embryo growing in the core of that Earth. They were rescued by Namor and Susan McKenzie leading to the Brute vowing to get revenge against Atlantis for this attack.

Brute later appeared as an inmate of Pleasant Hill.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Cosmic Ray Transformation: The Brute has the ability to transform into a purple-skinned creature, causing him to grow almost two feet in height and nearly 700 pounds of fortified tissue. This transformation give him the following powers:
  • Superhuman Strength: The Brute possesses a great deal of superhuman strength, allowing him to hold his own against other superhumanly strong being like the Thing.
  • Superhuman Durability: The Brute's bodily tissues are substantially harder and more resistant to injury than the tissues of an ordinary human, allowing him to withstand attacks that normally kill an average person. He was also able to survive floating the Negative Zone's Distortion Zone.

Former Powers

While on Counter-Earth, the Brute absorbed a very large amount of geothermal energy, increasing his other powers to an unknown extent. He was also able to fire blasts of blasts of energy, presumably either cosmic rays or geothermal energy.

Abilities

• Genius Intelligence: Like his counterpart on Earth, the Brute possesses a great intellect and is an expert in many fields of science. Even when in his Brute form, he retains this intellect.
• Skilled Manipulator: The Brute is skilled in manipulating others especially others into thinking he is the Reed Richards of their respective reality.

Weaknesses

Split Personality: Brute has a shifting mental state causing him to either become good or evil depending on the circumstances.

See Also

• 17 appearance(s) of Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)
• 5 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) of Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)
• 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)
• 12 image(s) of Reed Richards (Counter-Earth) (Earth-616)

Links and References

• www.marvunapp.com
• The Brute's page on Wikipedia