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Quote1 Our destiny lies ahead, in the future--forward-facing, always... The darkness... the old ways...that's for other minds to contemplate... Everything we do from now on will be a journey into the unknown... and adventure of the imagination...an exploration of the infinite... Will you join me, Susan? Quote2
Reed Richards to Susan Storm

Appearing in "Season One"

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Synopsis for "Season One"

Sue Storm hangs out with her friends at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City. However, she has a hard time concentrating on her her friends' conversation as she remembers Reed Richards earlier inviting her to fly to space with him and Ben Grimm. Sue tells her friends that she cannot make it to their tennis tournament at Long Island because she has to leave for an "extra-special" occasion.

At the Baxter Building, Alyssa Moy questions Reed's insanity for risking his life and reputation for space tourism. Reed replies that the revenue generated by this business venture could help them with the rest of their scientific research. Alyssa warns him that she has been tracking cosmic storms in space. Reed says nothing, not willing to admit that he wants to be the first in space.

While Ben Grimm trains at Jackie's Gym, one old man does not recognize Ben until his friend points him out and says that life made him change. As Ben changes in the locker room, he remembers Reed and Sue inviting him to go on their historic space flight. Although Ben did not have a good feeling about this in his gut, he accepted it anyway.

Johnny Storm poses as a mechanic for model photographer Zoe at Ludlow's Garage. He starts flirting with her until Zoe reminds him that she has an intern. She schedules a private photo shoot and promises he can get home at a decent hour so he can get up for his flight to California in the morning.

The next day, while the rest of the world watches the latest shuttle launch from Kennedy, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben launch their rocketship from auspicious silo in Stockton, California. The four space travelers orbit the earth in silence as Reed, time, space, the universe, and their significance among it all. The silence is broken when Reed flatters Sue by telling her that he loves her as much as all the space they can see.

Suddenly, their spaceship is bombarded by cosmic rays. Ben manages to avert the ship and they start to crash land as all four travelers show signs of supernormal powers. Reed orders Alyssa to take control of the ship and get them back home. Alyssa tries finding them by flying over the forests of Ithaca, but finds the cosmic rays are distorting her navigation devices.

Sue Storm finds the seemingly pulverized body of her boyfriend, Reed Richards, but discovers that his body has actually become elastic. Surprised, Sue turns invisible and Reed starts to make a theory about the cosmic rays they just encountered. Suddenly, they remember the other two passengers and Johnny runs toward them screaming as his entire body is engulfed in flames. Johnny soon calms down, but Ben Grimm emerges sporting rock-like skin and blames Reed for his transformation. Reed urges Ben to try to will himself back to normal, but he does not listen and threatens to kill Reed. Sue separates them by creating an invisible force field.

Alyssa finds the crash site and picks up her friends and wonders if they have been infected by an interstellar contagion. She tells them that their public relations department is confusing the news media concerning the crash by feeding them conflicting stories.

At the Baxter Building that night, Reed tells Johnny and Sue that they have to go into lockdown so that he can run some tests on how their are effecting their selves. Johnny protests, instead going on a motorcycle ride in the city. As he speeds up, his flame spreads from his hair to the rest of his body until he melts the cycle and takes off flying through the air. Ben skulks down a familiar alley, reminiscing the many memories he made, and notices Johnny's flame in the sky.

Alyssa and Reed theorize on some of the possible affects of the powers on the four space travelers. Alyssa notices someone breathing in the room. Sue, using her invisibility powers, runs out of the room and decides to practice her force fields. Alyssa watches the news the next day and learns about another "site-specific" earthquake which a hobo claims came from underground "monsters".

Reed apologizes to Ben for mistreating him. Johnny rudely walks in and takes the coffee Reed had offered to Ben. Alyssa tells them via a holo-conference that a large monster has emerged from the earthquake site at Second Avenue and is heading toward the Baxter Building. The four super-powered individuals head to take care of the monster, but Reed advises Sue to stay at the Baxter Building, considering how her powers might be ineffectual on a giant monster. She resists until Ben sides with Reed. Reed, Johnny, and Ben approach the giant green monster and Johnny distracts it by flying around it with his flame.

Still angry, Sue tries to vent some of her frustration on Alyssa. However, she replies that she did not have anything to do with Reed's decision and tells Sue that there is an extra hovercraft if she feels left out. Back at the fight, Ben Grimm manages crowd control, and one woman screams that Ben is one of the monster's babies. However, Ben still uses his super strength to stop the monster from crushing that woman. Reed also tries to help the crowd get out of the monster's path.

Mole Man, ruler of Subterranea, warns the "overworlders" to stop their continued acts of terrorism on his land. Mole Man is surprised when Susan Storm approaches and talks to him, unlike the others, who run and scream. Korgu, the giant green monster, slams Johnny into a water tower, dousing out his flame. Mole Man starts telling Susan about his past life as a geology student. Reed and Ben manage to trip Korgu, but it starts falling toward the crowd. Sue creates a large force field to stop it from crushing them. Mole Man orders the creature to heel, and it obeys.

Reed talks with Harvey Elder, alias the Mole Man, and offers him residence in the Baxter Building where he can work in a basement lab. Harvey declines the offer, saying he wants to live where the most glorious monsters dwell. Reed and Harvey decide on a peace treaty between their worlds, with some certain requirements.

A small news crew from the Daily Bugle interview the four heroes who saved New York from the giant monster. Ben tells the reporter Jillian Jones she should call him "a thing", but Susan clarifies that he means "The Thing", and Johnny says that it is his codename. Reed says they are making a team of adventurers, explorers, and scientists. Johnny dubs this team the "Fearsome Four", and the news media starts to consider whether they are friends or foes.

The "Thing" and Johnny debate about their team name, and Thing starts naming other more appropriate adjectives they could use that start with the letter "F" to instead of fearsome. Sue finds Reed thinking in his lab, using a thought experiment to see if he can think faster with an expanded cerebellum. After his head is back to normal size, Reed apologizes for asking Sue to stay behind, as her powers are much more powerful than he had expected. Reed says he now sees the team's destiny in the future and realizes his first impulse to lockdown was a miscalculation. He invites Sue to join him on this exploration into the unknown.

For the first step to becoming a team, Reed gives the four heroes costumes made of unstable molecules, although the Thing decides to lose the shirt. Next, Reed introduces the team to the Fantasti-Car and informs them of their new name: the Fantastic Four. The new team gathers around and discusses their code names. Ben decides to stick with the Thing and Alyssa suggests the "Invisible Woman" for Sue, and the "Human Torch" for Johnny in honor of the original Human Torch's legacy. They both agree to these code names, and Sue questions Reed about his code name, suggesting "Elastiman" and "Dr. Silly Putty".

The team debuts at a large press conference, and Alyssa introduces Reed as "Mr. Fantastic", Sue as the "Invisible Girl" (instead of "Invisible Woman" as originally planned). They are met by massive applause, but one individual in the crowd is surprised to see that his greatest enemy, the Human Torch, is seemingly alive.

Susan Storm hangs out with her friend, Nance, in the High Line Park. After signing an autograph from a crazed fan, Sue and Nance sneak away from the ogling crowd. Nance asks how things are going with Reed, and Sue replies that their relationship has changed since they became the Fantastic Four as Reed seems to be much busier with his experiments. Nance advises Sue to look for other dating opportunities.

In Clinton Park, the same individual from the crowd lives as a hobo named "Macin". He remembers his fight with the original Human Torch and jumps into the water, declaring himself the Sub-Mariner.

Ben dreams about playing fetch with a dog on the beach. The stick lands next to Susan Storm, who tells Ben to wake up. In actuality, it is Johnny who is telling Ben to wake up and meet Alyssa and Reed in their lab. Reed introduces Ben to "The Storm Chamber", which should replicate the conditions that they first gained their powers in the first place. The hope is that such conditions would return the Thing back to his normal self, and Ben decides to give it a try.

Namor goes to the bottom of the sea to find his city in ruins. Namor suspects that the humans have destroyed his city, and interrogates a poor businessman named Harold Alder. However, a family of tourists claim they were just at "Atlantis." Much to his horror, Namor finds the treasured possession of the Atlanteans on display in American Museum of Natural History.

Johnny takes the photographer Zoe to the top of the "flame" on the Statue of Liberty and asks her if she could take his picture for his cover picture on Esquire. Susan calls in Johnny to help her take care of "some lunatic in a speedo" who took an Atlantean musical instrument from a museum and flew through the roof.

The "Storm Chamber" experiments seems to work, as Ben Grimm resumes his normal self again. Alyssa receives the news that the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch are dealing with a superhuman situation. There, Namor considers taking Sue as a princess of Atlantis, and Sue becomes taken aback by Namor's "hypnotic" eyes. However, Namor attacks the Human Torch and prepares to drown him, but Susan creates a force field bubble to stop him. Johnny goes super-nova on Namor, only to discover that Namor is only moderately harmed by the attack. Susan releases the force field and Namor attacks her, severely damaging the Fantasti-Car.

While Reed travels to the battle site and Sue swims to save her brother, Alyssa and Ben Grimm monitor the situation from the situation and detect a large specimen heading toward Manhattan which Mole Man identifies as the Leviathan, the guardian of Atlantis. Ben wants to join the fight, but Alyssa urges him to stay now that he has his human form. Ben decides he wants to change back into the Thing so that he can join the fight, and Mole Man volunteers to help.

Mr. Fantastic confronts Namor for drowning Susan and Johnny Storm and tries to strangle him. However, Sue, having now recovered her brother, separates them and threatens to kill Namor. Reed informs her that they need to keep Namor alive in order for them to call of the Leviathan. The Invisible Woman procures the Trumpet of Glaucus, a.k.a. the Horn of Proteus, which she explains she found while looking for Johnny.

While the Leviathan attacks Battery Park, the Thing confronts it with Korgu. Both monsters attack each other until the Human Torch flies in blowing the trumpet and calls the Leviathan back to the sea. Later, they have Namor imprisoned in the Baxter Building lab. The Thing explains to Reed that he figures they acquired these powers for a reason and that he should stick with the team.

Appearing in "Solve Everything: Part One"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #570

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

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Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "Solve Everything: Part One"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #570

Once upon a time, a young boy stood about to jump out of a treehouse, but was afraid. His father, standing below, said he understood his fear, but if the boy would not even try, then he was a coward. Promising to do his best, the boy jumped into his father's arms.

Today, the boy is Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, and his home is under attack by a quartet of giant robots designed to attack each member of the group. By swapping robotic partners, the Fantastic Four beats them and realizes that each robot is controlled by an artificial man created using the DNA of The Wizard. Quickly capturing all four artificial men, Richards tracks the signal they are generating back to the Wizard's lab using a translocator device which teleports him there. He finds the Wizard has been making other such people, and notices a small boy being ignored in the corner. When the Wizard starts raving that "Gods make mistakes", Richards captures him for the authorities.

Later that night, Richards is telling his children about the adventure he had that day. Valeria does not worry about it, but Franklin asks about the little boy in the Wizard's lab, asking if Richards will help him, saying "You have to try, right?"

Afterwards, the Human Torch convinces the Thing to come to Nu-Earth with him at some point in the future. The Invisible Woman is amazed at how intelligent Valeria is becoming, but Richards keeps thinking about something the Wizard said before he was taken away: according to his math, the world is going to tear itself apart and they can not stop it. As his team-mates go to bed, Richards goes down to a secret area in his lab to look at the Psychohistory room. He look through the Damien Sharpe List, containing one hundred ideas on how to make the world a better place. However, his list has run out, leaving only Idea Vol 1 101: Solve everything.

To fulfill it, he resolves on using The Bridge, a device for traversing the universe and glimpse parallel realities. Here, he is met a mysterious trio - and they are all Reed Richards. They have come to invite him to join the Council, a mysterious group that meets outside of time and space to do great things. It is an organization composed entirely of alternate versions of himself.

As the majority of the Council departs to deal with a Galactus incursion on Earth-2012, the founders of the Council - three versions of Reed Richards who each bear their universe's Infinity Gauntlet - inform the Reed from Earth-616 that it is time for him to fulfill his potential.

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