Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Annihilus

Annihilus

Annihilus, sometimes called the Living Death That Walks, is a Marvel Comics supervillain. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968).

Character biography

Annihilus an opponent of the Fantastic Four, who lives in the Negative Zone (another dimension) where he is monarch. Annihilus is an enemy of Blastaar, another enemy of the Fantastic Four. He is a member of an insectoid race and possesses alien technology far in advance to what is encountered on Earth. He is armed with a unique and powerful weapon, the Cosmic Control Rod. Mister Fantastic once travelled to the Negative Zone and took the Cosmic Control Rod to save the life of his unborn son, Franklin Richards. Annihilus has survived certain death on numerous occasions; while his body has been destroyed, he has been reborn again from within his original body into a smaller weaker state, one which quickly grows into his former self, complete with a new cosmic control rod. On another trip to the Negative Zone by the Fantastic Four, Annihilus was again killed, this time by Hellscout, a member of a group of pilgrims who had been sent to the Negative Zone on their crossing to America from England. The pilgrims had him confused for a demon because of his appearance. He was in an extremely weakened state and appeared to be near the end of his life when this occurred. Annihilus reappeared in the 2005 comics mini-series Fantastic Four: Foes with a duplicate who he was fighting for control of the Negative Zone. In the Blink limited series, Annihilus became involved in a brief romantic relationship with the Age of Apocalypse version of Blink. This was presumably the Age of Apocalypse Annihilus from an alternate dimension.

Powers and abilities

Annihilus is capable of self propelled flight. He can withstand the vacuum of space. He wears armor that grants him resistance to most forms of injury (extreme temperatures, ballistic force, bullets, etc.) His armor is actually an insectoid exoskeleton with some armor components. He is superhumanly strong; the upward limit of what he can lift is just under 50 tons. Annihilus wields the Cosmic Control Rod, a weapon of great power. It allows him to manipulate cosmic energy in order to manipulate the molecular structure of matter. The rod is capable of projecting destructive energy of up to 10 megatons of TNT. Continuous exposure to the cosmic energies of the rod has also retarded the aging process of its wielder. Though Annihilus has knowledge of technology centuries beyond what is known on Earth, his intelligence is only above average compared to normal humans; he is not an original thinker. Category:Fantastic Four villains

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics, (AKA Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Characters, Inc., and Marvel Enterprises, Inc.) sometimes called by the nickname The House of Ideas, is an American comic book company. Its best-known comics include The Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and X-Men. Since the 1960s, it has been one of the two largest American comics companies, along with DC Comics. rightrightright

History

Origins

right), the first comic from Marvel precursor Timely Comics. Art by Frank R. Paul]] Marvel Comics was founded by established pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman in 1939 as an eventual group of subsidiary companies under the umbrella name Timely Comics. Its first publication was Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), featuring the first appearance of Carl Burgos' android superhero, the Human Torch, and the first generally available appearance of Bill Everett's mutant anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner. The contents of that sales blockbuster were supplied by an outside packager, Funnies, Inc., but by the following year Timely had a staff in place. The company's first editor, the writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with soon-to-be industry legend Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes, Captain America, in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a major sales hit. While no other Timely character would be as successful as these "big three", some notable heroes — many continuing to appear in modern-day retcon appearances and flashbacks — include the Whizzer, Miss America, The Destroyer, the original Vision, and Paul Gustavson's The Angel. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton's best-known features, Powerhouse Pepper. Sales of all comic books declined drastically in the post-war era, and the superheroic übermensch archetype popular during the Depression and the war years went out of fashion. Like other comics companies, Timely — generally known as Atlas Comics in the 1950s — followed pop-cultural trends with a variety of genres, including funny animals, Western, horror, war, crime, humor, romance, spy fiction and even medieval adventure, all with varying degrees of success. An attempted superhero revival in 1953-54 with the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America failed. In 1957, Atlas nearly closed its doors due to the bankruptcy of its distributor, American News Service. This summer of 1957 debacle is infamously known as the "Atlas Implosion". The final comic to bear the famous Atlas Globe on its cover was Dippy Duck #1, the only "Atlas" comic with an October 1957 cover date. The Atlas "one-shots" of 1957 reveal that Martin Goodman was attempting to open a new range of "kiddies" titles just as the ax fell. Goodman switched to the distributor Independent News on constrained terms that allowed him only a limited number of titles per month. The surviving sixteen titles are sometimes referred to as the "sweet sixteen" (published bi-monthly, eight titles per month), the first of which to bear the new "Ind." label was Patsy Walker #73, ironically (like Dippy Duck) bearing an October 1957 cover date. The sixteen survivors of the summer of 1957 (the two fantasy and two war titles clearly were simply using up left over "inventory") reveal that the best selling titles were westerns (Kid Colt Outlaw starring in two titles) and girl humor (led primarily by Millie the Model along with Patsy Walker and Hedy Wolfe). The two fantasy titles (Strange Tales and World of Fantasy) clung on printing "inventory" (stories stored away in summer 1957) from late 1957 until late 1958. At the end of 1958 Martin Goodman attempted a new direction (after recently reviving Journey into Mystery) by launching a short-lived space fantasy sci-fi range of stories in six titles :Strange Worlds #1, World of Fantasy #15 , Strange Tales #67, Journey into Mystery #50, Tales of Suspense #1 and Tales to Astonish #1. The space fantasy tales were unsuccessful and faded out after less than a year, but by the end of 1959 most of these titles (Strange Worlds and World of Fantasy were both cancelled) were now sporting covers featuring great hulking monsters and featuring a line-up of Jack Kirby-drawn stories (often inked by Dick Ayers) followed by Steve Ditko's wonderful mysterious "ooky" tales and Don Heck's very atmospheric rendering of jungle/prison escapes and weird adventures. The Kirby/Ayers monster stories were riding on the coattails of popular movie trends of the time with a science fiction bent. Ind-Marvel also expanded its line of girls humor titles in 1959-61 with Kathy the Teen-Age Tornado (Oct 1959) and Linda Carter, Student Nurse (Sept 1961). This fact along with the fanstasy title expansion of late 1958 (and the addition of Amazing Adventures, cover dated June 1961 -- a title which eventually became the Lee & Ditko showpiece Amazing Adult Fantasy before becoming Amazing Fantasy #15 which in turn led to Amazing Spider-Man #1) clearly reveal that Martin Goodman and Stan Lee were looking for ways to expand their comics line.

1960s

Stan Lee), the cornerstone of Marvel and the introduction of a new style of superhero. Art by Jack Kirby.]] In the wake of DC Comics' success reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with The Justice League of America, Marvel decided to follow suit. Editor/writer Stan Lee and freelance artist Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four, vaguely reminding one of DC's adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown. The book was a success, and Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and anti-heroes as the Hulk, Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men and Daredevil, and such memorable antagonists as Doctor Doom, Magneto, Galactus, the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. The most successful new series was The Amazing Spider-Man, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Marvel's comics were noted for focusing on characterization to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them — Spider-Man in particular, its young hero suffering from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager. Marvel superheroes are often flawed, freaks, and misfits, unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books. Some of the Marvel heroes looked like villains and monsters. In time, this non-traditional approach would revolutionize comic books. Peter Sanderson, in an October 10, 2003, column for IGN.com [http://comics.ign.com/articles/595/595576p1.html], said that
"DC was the equivalent of the big Hollywood studios: After the brilliance of DC's reinvention of the superhero ... in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it had run into a creative drought by the decade's end. There was a new audience for comics, now, and it wasn't just the little kids that traditionally had read the books. The Marvel of the 1960s was in its own way the counterpart of the French New Wave.... Marvel was pioneering new methods of comics storytelling and characterization, addressing more serious themes, and in the process keeping and attracting readers in their teens and beyond. Moreover, among this new generation of readers were people who wanted to write or draw comics themselves, within the new style that Marvel had pioneered, and push the creative envelope still further."
Lee became one of the best-known names in comics, with his charming personality and relentless salesmanship of the company. The "voice" of Stan Lee is what one senses in so many of the Marvel Comics of the first half of the 1960s. His sense of humor and general light-hearted manner, and the depiction of the Bullpen (Lee's name for the staff) as one big happy family. In later years it became clear the artists often had as much to do with Marvel's product and success as Lee. Jack Kirby in particular is often credited as the creative well from which sprang many of the cosmic ideas and characters of The Fantastic Four and The Mighty Thor (such as The Watcher, The Silver Surfer and Ego the Living Planet) while Steve Ditko is recognized as the driving artistic force behind the moody atmosphere and street-level naturalism of Spider-Man and the surreal atmosphere of Dr. Strange. Lee, however, continues to deserve great credit for his well-honed skills at dialog and story sense; for his keen hand at choosing and motivating artists and in assembling creative teams; and for his uncanny ability to connect with the readers. In 1968, company founder Martin Goodman sold Marvel Comics and his other publishing businesses to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation. It grouped these businesses in a subsidiary called Magazine Management Co. Goodman remained as publisher.

1970s

Martin Goodman). Art by Gene Colan and Steve Leialoha]]In 1972, Goodman retired as publisher and was succeeded by Lee, who stepped aside from running day-to-day operations at Marvel. A series of new editors-in-chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and achieved moderate success with titles themed to horror (Tomb of Dracula), martial arts, (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu), sword-and-sorcery (Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja), satire (Howard the Duck) and science fiction ("Killraven" in Amazing Adventures). Some of these were published in larger-sized black-and-white magazines, targeted for mature readers. Marvel was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of the previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Even more importantly, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux, Marvel captured a significant piece of DC's market share by offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor discount. In 1973, Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation changed its name to Cadence Industries, which in turn renamed Magazine Management Co. as Marvel Comics Group. Goodman, now completely disconnected from Marvel, created a new company called Atlas/Seaboard Comics in 1974, reviving Marvel's old Atlas name, but this project lasted only a year-and-a-half. In the mid-1970s, Marvel was affected by a decline of the newsstand distribution network. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck were the victims of the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact they were being resold at a later date in the first specialty comic-book stores. An attempt by Marvel to buy DC was frustrated by DC's refusal to sell its entire library of characters (wanting to retain control of Superman and Batman), and DC was sold to Warner Communications instead. By the end of the decade, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to the rise of direct-market distribution (selling through those same comics-specialty stores instead of newsstands) and the sales increase of previously borderline books — such as the canceled '60s title The Uncanny X-Men, revived to become a hit series under team of writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, or the more naturalistic, urban-crime superhero comic Daredevil, by writer/artist Frank Miller.

1980s

Frank Miller). Art by Mike Zeck]]By the 1980s, one-time wunderkind Jim Shooter was Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Although a controversial personality, Shooter cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel (including repeatedly missed deadlines) and oversaw a creative renaissance at the company. This renaissance included institutionalizing creator royalties, starting the Epic imprint for creator-owned material, and launching a brand-new (albeit ultimately unsuccessful) line named New Universe, to commemorate Marvel's 25th anniversary, in 1986. However, Shooter was responsible for the introduction of the company-wide crossover (Contest of Champions, Secret Wars) and was accused by many creators, especially near the end of his tenure, of exercising his job in a draconian manner and interfering with the writers' creative process. In 1981 Marvel purchased the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises animation studio from famed Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng and his business partner David H. DePatie. The company was renamed Marvel Productions Ltd. and it produced well known animated TV series such as G.I. Joe, The Transformers and Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Dungeons & Dragons and movies based on the G.I. Joe and The Transformers TV series. Following the acquisition of Marvel by Ronald Perelman, Marvel Productions sold its back catalog to Saban Entertainment and Marvel management permanently closed the animation studio opting to have its animation projects contracted out to third party production companies. In 1982, Marvel launched its creator-owned imprint Epic Comics, specifically for the "direct market," the emerging retail phenomenon of comic-book stores. In 1988, Marvel was bought by investor/entrepreneur Ronald Perelman, who made Marvel a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and oversaw a great increase in the number of titles published by the company.

1990s

New York Stock Exchange), one of many spin-offs of The Amazing Spider Man. Art by Todd McFarlane]] Marvel earned a great deal of money and recognition during the early decade's comic-book boom, launching the highly successful 2099 line of comics set in the future (Spider-Man 2099 etc.) and the creatively daring though commercially unsuccessful Razorline imprint of superhero comics created by novelist and filmmaker Clive Barker. Yet by the middle of the decade, the industry had slumped and Marvel filed for bankruptcy amidst accusations that Perelman had strip-mined the company for his own gain. The casualties included the comic-book distribution industry in 1994, when Marvel announced it was acquiring Heroes World to use as its exclusive distributor. As the industry's other major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other companies, the loss of the industry's largest companies threw the majority of the comic book distributors out of business. Although Marvel's plan failed, only Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. now exists as the major distributor of comic books in North America, a development many comic retailers believe profoundly damaged the business status of the industry. Investor Carl Icahn attempted to take control of Marvel, but after protracted legal battles, in 1997 control of the company landed in the hands of Isaac Perlmutter, owner of the Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz. With his business partner Avi Arad and publisher Bill Jemas and editor-in-chief Bob Harras, Perlmutter helped Marvel back on its feet. In addition to Marvel revitalizing its comics line, several of its properties have been licensed to become hit movies, most notably X-Men and Spider-Man. Creatively and commercially, the '90s were dominated by the use of gimmickry to boost sales, such as variant covers, cover enhancements and regular company-wide crossovers that threw the universe's continuity into disarray. In 1996, Marvel had almost all its titles participate in the Onslaught Saga, a crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters, such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, in the Heroes Reborn universe, in which Marvel defectors Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld were given permission to revamp the properties from scratch. After an initial sales bump, sales quickly declined below expected levels, and Marvel killed the experiment after its planned one-year run; the characters returned to the Marvel Universe proper. In 1998, the company launched the imprint Marvel Knights, taking place within Marvel continuity; helmed by soon-to-become editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, and featuring tough, gritty stories showcasing such characters as the Inhumans and Daredevil, it achieved substantial success.

2000s

With the new millennium, Marvel Comics escaped from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own Marvel Ratings System for comics. It also created new imprints, such as MAX, a line intended for mature readers, and Marvel Age, developed for younger audiences, including children. In addition to this is the highly successful Ultimate Marvel imprint, which allowed Marvel to reboot their major titles by deconstructing and updating their major superhero and villian characters to introduce to a new generation. This imprint exists in a universe parallel to the proper Marvel continuity, which allowed the writers freedom from the characters' convoluted history and the ability to redesign them, and to maintain their other ongoing series without replacing the established continuity. This also allowed Marvel to capitalize on an influx of new readers who were not familiar with comics but became familiar with their characters through their film franchises, making it easier for a mainstream audience to follow. The company has also revamped its graphic novel division, establishing a bigger presence in the bookstore market. Marvel remains a key publisher in the comics business, even as the industry has dwindled to a fraction of its peak size decades earlier. Stan Lee is no longer officially connected to the company, save for the title of "Chairman Emeritus," but remains a visible face in the industry and occasionally remarks on his fondness for the characters. In 2002, he sued successfully for a share of income related to movies and merchandising of Marvel characters, based on a contract between Lee and Marvel from the late 1990s; according to court documents, Marvel had used "Hollywood accounting" to claim that those projects' "earnings" were not profits. Regardless, Marvel has also become a key player in Hollywood, with many of its characters being turned into successful film franchises, with perhaps the best examples being X-Men starting in 2000, and Spider-Man beginning in 2002.

Editors-in-chief

The Marvel editor-in-chief has great power and oversees many creative decisions taken within the company. The position evolved sporadically. In the earliest years the company had a single editor overseeing the entire line, but as the company grew it became increasingly common for individual titles to be overseen separately. The concept of the "writer-editor" evolved, stemming from the days when Stan Lee wrote and oversaw most of the line's output. Overseeing the line in the 1970s were a series of chief editors, though the titles were used intermittently. Confusing matters further some appear to have been appointed merely by extending their existing editorial duties. By the time of the appointment of Jim Shooter in 1978 the post of editor-in-chief was clearly defined. In 1994, Marvel briefly abolished the position, replacing Tom DeFalco with five "group editors", though they each held the title "editor-in-chief" and had some editors underneath them. It reinstated the position later in the year, installing Bob Harras.
- Joe Simon (1939-1941)
- Stan Lee (1941-1942)
- Vincent Fago (acting editor during Stan Lee's military service) (1942-1945)
- Stan Lee (1945-1972)
- Roy Thomas (1972-1974)
- Len Wein (1974-1975)
- Marv Wolfman (B&W magazines 1974-1975, entire line 1975-1976)
- Gerry Conway (1976)
- Archie Goodwin (1976-1978)
- Jim Shooter (1978-1987)
- Tom DeFalco (1987-1994)
- No overall editor-in-chief (1994-1995)
- Bob Harras (1995-2000)
- Joe Quesada (2000-) Sources: [http://www.newkadia.com/MarvelComics.html], [http://www.manwithoutfear.com/interviews/ddINTWolfman.shtml], [http://www.geocities.com/marvel80s/mrv_hist.html].

Imprints


- Current
  - Marvel Next
  - Icon Comics
  - Marvel Age
  - Marvel Knights
  - MAX
  - Ultimate Marvel
- Defunct
  - Curtis Magazines
  - Epic Comics
  - Marvel 2099
  - Marvel Music
  - Tsunami
  - MC2 (only Spider Girl remains)
  - Marvel UK
  - Malibu Comics
  - New Universe
  - Paramount Comics
  - Razorline
  - Star Comics

See also


- List of Marvel Comics characters
- List of Marvel Comics publications
- List of Marvel Comics people
- List of Marvel Comics movies
- List of Marvel cosmic beings
- Marvel Universe
- Toy Biz v. United States, which ruled that action figures of certain Marvel characters are legally toys, not dolls

External links


- [http://www.marvelpics.co.uk Official Marvel Picture site]
- [http://www.marvel.com Marvel Comics official site]
- [http://www.marvel.co.uk Official UK Marvel Site]
- [http://www.marvelstore.co.uk Official UK Marvel Store]
- [http://www.marveldatabase.com Marvel Database Project]
- [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/ The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe]
- [http://www.marveldirectory.com/ Marvel Directory]
- [http://www.comicboards.com/marvelguide Marvel Guide: An Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe]
- [http://www.comics-db.com/comics/page.cgi?g=Marvel_Comics%2F Big Comic Book DataBase: Marvel Comics]
- [http://www.comicartville.com/bellmanpg2.htm A Timely Talk with Allen Bellman]
- [http://www.atlastales.com/ Atlas Tales]
- [http://www.timely-atlas.comics.org/ Timely Atlas Cover Gallery]
- [http://www.samcci.comics.org/index.html Nick Simon's Silver-Age Marvel Comics Cover Index]
- [http://collectedcomicslibrary.blogspot.com/ Collected Comics Library] Category:Comic book publishers (companies)
- Category:Companies based in New York City ja:マーヴェル・コミック simple:Marvel Comics

Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four is a Marvel Comics superhero group. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 (1961). Although the group’s membership has occasionally changed temporarily, the team usually consists of four friends who gained superpowers after being exposed to cosmic rays:
- Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the leader of the group, a scientist who can stretch his body.
- The Invisible Woman (Susan Richards, née Storm; originally the Invisible Girl), his wife, the second-in-command of the group who can become invisible at will and create invisible force fields.
- The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), her brother, who can surround himself in flames and fly.
- The Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy friend with a heart of gold, who possesses superior strength and whose body is made of craggy orange rock. Since their introduction, the group has been portrayed as a dysfunctional superhero family of sorts. They squabble and even hold some deep animosity towards one another, but ultimately truly love and care for each other. The team launched the revival of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, giving them a pivotal place in the history of American comic books. They have remained more or less popular since and have been adapted into other media, including three somewhat successful cartoon series and a big-budget 2005 film.

Publication history

film Legend has it that in 1961, longtime magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman was playing a round of golf with rival publisher Jack Liebowitz of DC Comics. Liebowitz told Goodman about the success DC had been having with the superhero team the Justice League of America, which had debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28 (Feb. 1960) before going on to its own hit title. Whether or not this mythic meeting actually occurred, Goodman, a publishing trend-follower aware of the JLA's sales success, directed his comics editor and head writer Stan Lee to begin publishing a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. Lee, who'd served as Timely's second editor and had run Goodman's comic-book division for two decades, had by now found the medium restrictive. Intending to leave after completing this assignment, Lee teamed with artist Jack Kirby to produce a groundbreaking series featuring a family of superheroes who were fallible and more human than anything seen in comics. To forestall possibly upsetting DC (which, in addition to being a competing publisher, also owned Marvel's distributor), Lee and Kirby deliberately avoided making the new book look like a competing superhero comic; the new characters appeared on the cover without costumes and had no secret identities. Lee's intended swan song became phenomenally successful, and Lee and Kirby stayed together on the book and began launching other titles from which the Marvel Universe grew. Through the lengthy run of the creators' involvement, the series produced many acclaimed stories and characters that have become central to the Marvel Universe, including Doctor Doom, The Silver Surfer, Galactus, The Watcher, The Inhumans and The Black Panther. After Kirby's departure from Marvel in the early 1970s, the title continued with less distinguished results until the 1980s, when writer-artist John Byrne created the most hailed acclaimed run since Lee and Kirby's. Among his contributions was the modernization of the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman — a self-confident and dynamic character whose newfound control of her abilities made her the most powerful member of the team. In February, 2004, Marvel launched Ultimate Fantastic Four, a version of the group in the Ultimate universe. Marvel launched Marvel Knights 4, a more adult version of the Fantastic Four, in April, 2004

Character history

The Fantastic Four acquired their superhuman abilities after an experimental rocket designed by the scientist Reed Richards passed through a storm of cosmic rays on its test flight. Upon crash landing back on Earth, the four occupants of the craft found themselves transformed and possessed of bizarre new abilities. Richards, who took the name Mister Fantastic, was now able to stretch his body into nearly any shape he could imagine (similar to the earlier Plastic Man). His fiancée, Susan Storm, gained the ability to become invisible at will and named herself the Invisible Girl (later the Invisible Woman). She later developed the ability to project force fields, create invisible objects, and turn other objects visible or invisible. Her younger brother, Johnny Storm, possessed the incendiary powers of the Human Torch, enabling him to control fire, project burning bolts of flame from his body, and fly. Finally, pilot Ben Grimm was transformed into a craggy, orange-skinned monster with incredible strength and a nearly invulnerable hide. Filled with self loathing and self pity, he dubbed himself the Thing, a term which was Susan's initial reaction to his transformation. The four characters were modeled after the four classical Greek elements: earth (The Thing), fire (The Human Torch), wind (The Invisible Girl) and water (the pliable and ductile Mr. Fantastic). They also appear inspired by co-creator Kirby's DC Comics team the Challengers of the Unknown. The team of adventurers have used their fantastic abilities to protect humanity, the earth and the universe from a number of threats. Propelled mainly by Richards' innate scientific curiosity, the team have explored space, the Negative Zone, the Microverse, other dimensions and nearly every hidden valley, nation and lost civilization on the planet. They have had a number of headquarters, most notably the Baxter Building in New York City. The Baxter Building was replaced by Four Freedoms Plaza, built at the same location, after the Baxter Building's destruction at the hands of Kristoff Vernard, adopted son of the Fantastic Four's seminal villain (and rumored half-brother of Mr. Fantastic) Doctor Doom. Pier 4, a warehouse on the New York waterfront, served as a temporary headquarters for the group after Four Freedoms Plaza was condemned, due to the actions of another superhero team, the Thunderbolts. Most recently, an orbiting satellite version of the Baxter Building has been used. The comic has typically emphasized that the Fantastic Four, unlike most superhero teams, are truly a family. Three of the four members are directly related, with The Thing being the exception. Although not strictly related, The Thing's role is that of the beloved Dutch uncle, and his relationship with Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch is nonetheless quite sibling-like. The children of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards, are also regulars in the series. Unlike most superheroes, the Fantastic Four's identities are not secret and they maintain a high public profile, enjoying celebrity status for their scientific and heroic contributions to society. Recent issues have revealed that this is a deliberate move by Reed Richards, who works to keep the team highly visible and well-regarded out of guilt for causing their mutations.
- List of Fantastic Four members

Characters

Heroes


- Mister Fantastic - real name Reed Richards
- The Thing - real name Benjamin Jacob Grimm
- Invisible Girl (later renamed Invisible Woman) - real name Susan Storm (later Susan Richards)
- The Human Torch - real name Johnny Storm

Temporary Replacement Members


- Medusa - An Inhuman; filled-in for the pregnant Invisible Girl
- Crystal - An Inhuman and Johnny Storm's girlfriend at the time; left due to pollution allergies
- Luke Cage - Power Man - Replacement during the Thing's brief absence
- Nova - Mutant Frankie Raye; later became herald to Galactus
- She-Hulk - Jennifer Walters, first cousin of Bruce Banner, the Hulk; replacement for the Thing
- Ms. Marvel - Former wrestler Sharon Ventura; gained powers and appearance similar to the Thing's
- Lyja - An undercover Skrull whom Johnny Storm married, believing her to be Alicia Masters
- Ant Man II - Scott Lang, reformed thief utilizing Henry Pym's shrinking particles; briefly hired when Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic was missing and presumed dead
- Kristoff - Doctor Doom's protege, mind-conditioned to behave as Doom. Attracted to Ant Man's daughter, joined team in last issues of series I
- The Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider have together served as a complete replacement Fantastic Four on occasion. In the main Marvel Universe, they stepped in to temporarily replace the team when the Four had been kidnapped by an enemy, while in the Ages of Apocalypse timeline, they remained in the roles more permanently.

Allies/Supporting Characters


- Alicia Masters
- The Inhumans
  - Black Bolt
  - Crystal (former member)
  - Medusa (former member)
  - Gorgon
  - Karnak
  - Triton
- Namor the Sub-Mariner
- Silver Surfer
- The Watcher
- Postal worker Willie Lumpkin
- Wyatt Wingfoot

Antagonists


- Air-Walker
- Annihilus
- Blastaar
- Devos (The Destroyer)
- Diablo
- Doctor Doom
- Dragon Man
- Frightful Four
- Galactus
- Hydro-Man
- Impossible Man
- Kang the Conqueror/Rama-Tut/Immortus
- Klaw
- Mad Thinker
- Mephisto
- Mole Man
- Molecule Man
- Overmind
- Puppet Master
- Red Ghost
- Skrulls
- Super-Skrull
- Thanos
- Terrax
- The Sandman
- Thundra
- Trapster
- Wizard

Comic book within a comic book

Some early issues of The Fantastic Four established the conceit of the characters having been adapted to comic books within the context of the Marvel Universe, with the Fantastic Four having sold Marvel a license to use their likenesses. One early Doctor Doom story included Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as characters. It was again used in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #262. The issue depicted writer/artist John Byrne being asked by editor Michael Higgins for the latest issue, since it was almost late. Byrne explained that he had been unable to contact the Fantastic Four for the latest story, since they were away. He was about to make up a story when the Watcher whisked him away to take part in the Fantastic Four's latest adventure. At the end of the issue, Byrne submitted his story. Such self-reference faded out as the Marvel Universe developed, but was occasionally revived, most notably with the character She-Hulk in the 1990s, again written by John Byrne. Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four (2000) was a mockup of what the comic book published in the Marvel Universe might have looked like, and was (within the fictional context of the story) produced with the official approval of Fantastic Four, Inc.

Other media

Over the years, there have been three short-lived TV animated series and two feature-length film adaptations (though one was never released, and is only available in bootleg) of the Fantastic Four comic book series. Currently, there is a new animated series being planned for 2006 (estimated). The Fantastic Four also guest-starred in the "Secret Wars" story arc of the 1990's Spider-Man animated series.

1967 Animated Series

The first series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions (with character designs by Alex Toth) and aired on ABC from 1967 to 1969. It lasted for 20 episodes, and it is favorably remembered as one of the better cartoon adaptations of a Marvel comic book series. This Fantastic Four series was rerun as part of the continuing series Hanna-Barbera's World of Super Adventure.

1967 Fantastic Four animated series cast


- Gerald Mohr - Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) (voice)
- Jo Ann Pflug - Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards) (voice)
- Jack Flounders - The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) (voice)
- Paul Frees - The Thing (Benjamin J. Grimm)/The Watcher/Additional Voices (voice)

1967 Fantastic Four animated series episode guide

#Klaws #Menace Of The Mole Men #Diablo #The Red Ghost #Invasion Of The Super Skrulls #Three Predictions Of Dr. Doom #The Way It All Began #Behold A Distant Star #Prisoners Of Planet X #The Mysterious Molecule Man #Danger In The Depths #Demon Of The Deep #Return Of The Mole Man #It Started On Yancy Street #Galactus #The Micro World Of Dr. Doom #Blastarr #The Terrible Tribunal #Rama-Tut #The Deadly Director

1978 Animated Series

The second series was produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (who would ironically become known as Marvel Productions, Ltd. in 1980) in the mid-1970s. It is infamous for starting a long-running urban legend that persists in comic book and animation fandom to the present day. The 1970s Fantastic Four series replaced the character of the Human Torch with a "cute" (and "annoying" by many Four fans) robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. A long-lasting rumor persisted that this change was made by the TV network (NBC) because they supposedly did not want young viewers to imitate the Human Torch by setting themselves on fire. However, this rumor was false; the true reason for the change was because of merchandising concerns. (A movie featuring the Human Torch was in the early stages of production at the time, though the film was never completed.) movie

1978 Fantastic Four animated series cast


- Ted Cassidy - Thing/Benjamin J. 'Ben' Grimm (voice)
- Mike Road - Mr. Fantastic/Prof. Reed Richards (voice)
- Dick Tufeld - Opening Narrator
- Ginny Tyler-Hilton - Invisible Girl/Susan 'Sue' Richards (voice)
- Frank Welker - H.E.R.B.I.E. (voice)

1978 Fantastic Four animated series opening narration

"It was the world's strangest accident. While testing a new rocket ship, our heroes were bombarded by mysterious cosmic rays from outer space. Though they crash-landed safely, the strange and powerful rays had changed each one of them. Transforming their leader, Reed Richards, into the plastic-skinned Mr. Fantastic; Sue Richards into the "now you see her, now you don't" Invisible Girl; and Ben Grimm into a mighty-muscled powerhouse called The Thing. Now together with H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot, the newest member of the group, they have become the greatest team of superheroes the world has ever known. The NEW Fantastic Four!"

1978 Fantastic Four episode guide

#A Monster Among Us! #The Menace Of Magneto #The Phantom Of Film City #Medusa And The Inhumans #The Diamond Of Doom #The Mole Man #The Olympics Of Space #The Frightful Four #Calamity On The Campus! #The Impossible Man #Meet Doctor Doom #The Final Victory Of Doctor Doom

1994-96 Animated Series

In the mid-1990s, Marvel Productions syndicated a new Fantastic Four animated series as part of the "Marvel Action Hour". The first half of the hour was an episode of Iron Man; the second half an episode of Fantastic Four (many episodes of which were direct recreations of episodes from the original 1960s series). During the first season, Stan Lee was featured speaking before each show about characters in the following episode and what had inspired him to create them. Both Fantastic Four and Iron Man were radically retooled in their second seasons, sporting new opening sequences, improved animation and more mature writing, though noticeably missing the introductions by Stan Lee. The "Marvel Action Hour" lasted two seasons before being cancelled. Recently, the entire 94-95 series was released on DVD, now featuring new introductions by Stan Lee for all 26 episodes.

1994 Fantastic Four animated series cast


- Beau Weaver - Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards
- Lori Alan - Invisible Woman/Susan Storm Richards
- Quinton Flynn - Human Torch/Johnny Storm (season 2)
- Chuck McCann - The Thing/Benjamin J. Grimm
- Brian Austin Green - Human Torch/Johnny Storm (season 1)

1994 Fantastic Four animated series theme song (Season 1)

Opening lyrics: :On an outer space adventure :They got hit by cosmic rays :And the four were changed forever :In some most fantastic ways :No need to fear they're here :Just call the Four :Fantastic Four :Don't need no more :Reed Richards is elastic :Sue can fade from sight :Johnny is the Human Torch :The Thing just loves to fight :Call the four :Fantastic Four :Fantastic Four Closing lyrics: :There's Galactus looking hungry :And ol' Doctor Doom is near :Here come the Skrulls invading :Do you run and hide in fear? :No way, no way, no way :Just call the Four :Fantastic Four :That's all, no more :Reed Richards is elastic :Sue can fade from sight :Johnny is the Human Torch :The Thing just loves to fight :Call the four :Fantastic Four :Fantastic Four

1994 Fantastic Four animated series episode guide

Season 1
#The Origin Of The Fantastic Four - Part 1 #The Origin Of The Fantastic Four - Part 2 #Now Comes The Sub-Mariner #Incursion Of The Skrulls #The Silver Surfer & The Coming Of Galactus - Pt 1 #The Silver Surfer & The Coming Of Galactus - Pt 2 #Super Skrull #The Mask of Doom - Pt 1 #The Mask of Doom - Pt 2 #The Mask of Doom - Pt 3 #Mole Man #Behold The Negative Zone #The Silver Surfer & The Return of Galactus
Season 2
Brian Austin Green #And A Blind Man Shall Lead Them (guest starring Daredevil) #Inhumans Saga Pt 1: And The Wind Cries Medusa #Inhumans Saga Pt 2: The Inhumans Among Us #Inhumans Saga Pt 3: Beware The Hidden Land #Worlds Within Worlds #To Battle The Living Planet (guest starring Thor) #Prey Of The Black Panther #When Calls Galactus (guest starring Ghost Rider and Thor) #Nightmare In Green (guest starring the Incredible Hulk) #Behold, A Distant Star #Hopelessly Impossible #The Sentry Sinister #Doomsday

Video Games

In 1998 a side-scrolling video game was released for the PlayStation based on the Fantastic Four characters. In the game you and a friend could pick among the Fantastic Four characters, along with the She-Hulk and battle your way through various levels until you meet up with Doctor Doom. The game was widely panned by critics for having a weak storyline, and handling of the characters powers. The Fantastic Four also appeared in the Super NES and Sega Genesis video game based on the 1990's Spider-Man animated series, and inevitably, they starred in their own multiplatform games based on their 2005 movie.

Movies

PlayStation, Jessica Alba, and Ioan Gruffudd.]] A movie adaptation of The Fantastic Four was completed in 1994 by famed b-movie director/producer Roger Corman. While this movie was never released to theaters or video, it has been made available from various bootleg video distributors. The film was made on a shoestring budget and is largely mocked by fans of the comic book foursome for what they see as poor acting and disappointing special effects (at one point, The Human Torch turns into an obvious cartoon). It was ultimately revealed by Stan Lee that unbeknownst to the cast and crew, this movie was never intended to be released in the first place. It was only because the studio who owned the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie would have lost the rights if they did not begin production by a certain date. Another feature film adaptation of The Fantastic Four was released July 8 2005, directed by Tim Story. Fantastic Four opened in 3602 Theaters and despite predominately poor reviews has generated US$154M+ & $329M+ Worldwide, making a sequel probable. It stars Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom, with Stan Lee making a cameo appearance as Willie Lumpkin, the mailman.

Parodies and references


- The cartoon series The Tick featured in several episodes an obvious Fantastic Four parody known as The Civic Minded Five, which included team members Four-Legged Man, Captain Mucilage, The Carpeted Man, Jungle Janet, and Feral Boy.
- On an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Jimmy and his friends pass through a raidiation belt that gives them super powers. The only person to get a Fantastic Four power is Libby. She gets all the powers of Invisible Woman and calls herself "Invisible Sister".
- An episode of the animated series The Venture Bros., titled Ice Station Impossible, involved an obvious parody of the Fantastic Four.
- An early episode of Batman Beyond, called "Heroes," features a trio of superheroes who closely resemble The Fantastic Four.
- The SpongeBob SquarePants episode Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V had a parody of the Fantastic Four, although SpongeBob's powers were a parody of The Flash and not of a particular Fantastic Four member.
- The hit cartoon show The Simpsons has also poked fun at the Fantastic Four.
  - In The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror X episode, Bart and Lisa are exposed to radiation and transformed into 'Stretch Dude' and 'Clobber Girl'
  - In The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XIV episode, Bart discovers a magic stopwatch; near the end of the episode he gives it to Lisa, who presses the button repeatedly — at one point briefly turning the family into the Fantastic Four.
  - In another episode of The Simpsons entitled "I Am Furious, Yellow" guest-starring Stan Lee, a boy in the comic book shop wants to buy a Batman action figure, but Stan tries to sell the boy an action figure of The Thing instead.
- The universe of writer Kurt Busiek's various Astro City comics includes a Fantastic Four-like group called The First Family.
- The 2004 Disney/Pixar animated feature The Incredibles is built around a family of superheroes whose powers include stretching, super strength, invisibility/force field, and, to a more briefly seen extent, flame. (Another family-member has superspeed.) Indeed, Marvel Studios chairperson Avi Arad told Entertainment Weekly that, "In the words of Stan Lee, when someone asked him about The Incredibles, he said, ‘You know, it feels like I wrote it.’'"
  - Source: EW 7-1-05, "Fantastic' Voyage?: Fantastic Four has incredible trouble -- The would-be blockbuster had a tough time getting released" by Scott Brown at http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1078809_1_0_,00.html
- An episode of "The Mask" animated series featured four stones that granted the exact same powers as those of the Fantastic Four. Only the invisibility stone was used, however.
- An episode of "Atomic Betty", featured three Betty clones possessing the powers of the Torch, Mr. Fantastic, and the Thing, including their traditional colors.
- The Wildstorm comic series Planetary has as its main villains a group called simply The Four. They are counterparts to the Fantastic Four in many ways, mostly in their powers and in the relationships between the analogs to Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
- The animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers featured a villain named Duke Nukem, who had rocky skin similar to that of the Thing. Similarly, Duke Nukem's condition was brought about due to radioactive exposure.
- In issues 29-30 of the 1989 Legion of Super-Heroes series, a team of four villains (Elasti-Kid 5, Ghost 6, Flare and Alloy 12) had powers based on those of the Fantastic Four.
- In issues 50-52 of Power Pack, a quartet of Kymellian heroes called Force 4 (Teamleader, Ghostmare, Firemane and Thunderhoof) was based in powers (though Teamleader's power was only his superior intelligence, and not any variation of Mister Fantastic's stretching power) and in name (with the exception of Ghostmare, the real names of these heroes was a Pig Latin version of their Fantastic Four counterparts') on the Fantastic Four. Ghostmare was later renamed Matriarch, paralleling the Invisible Woman's role in the Fantastic Four family as well.
- The opening of a Garfield Sunday strip parodied the opening of a FF comic book. Garfield was the Thing, Odie was Mr. Fantastic, Nermal was the Human Torch (who was trying to blow out his flaming tail), and Arlene was the Invisible Woman. The name of the comics company that turns out Garfield was placed instead of Marvel Comics, as Paws Comics Group.
- In Family Guy, in the episode "Petarded", Peter Griffin refers to Fantastic Four while playing Trivial Pursuit

See also


- Bibliography of Fantastic Four titles
- Ultimate Fantastic Four
- Ultimate Marvel
- The Four
- Maximum Fantastic Four

External links


- [http://www.marvelpics.co.uk Official Marvel Picture site]
- [http://www.fantasticfourmovie.com Official Fantastic Four movie webpage]
- [http://www.ffplaza.com/ The Fantastic Four @ FFPlaza.com]
- [http://www.fantasticfourheadquarters.com/ A site looking at the critical history and media of the Fantastic Four]
- [http://www.knightmare6.com/faq/fantastic_four Knightmare6.com, Fantastic Four]
- [http://members.aol.com/drg4/ffx.html DRG4's Fantastic Four the Animated Series Page]
- [http://marvel.toonzone.net/fanfourtas/ Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1994-5) @ Marvel Animation Age]
- [http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/1999-11-19/screens_video.html A review of the 1994 FF Film]
- [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120667/ The IMDb entry on the 2005 feature]
- [http://dialbforblog.com/archives/49/ Dial B for Blog: Secret Origins of the Fantastic Four]
- [http://www.teako170.com/ffmovie.html The Fantastic Four-Gotten: In-depth article of the 1994 film - includes cast/crew comments, interviews, photos] Category:Fantastic Four Category:Marvel Comics superhero teams Category:Marvel Comics titles Fantastic Four, The Category:1960s TV shows in the United States Category:1970s TV shows in the United States Category:1990s TV shows in the United States Category:NBC network shows Category:ABC network shows Category:Fictional families simple:The Fantastic Four

Negative Zone

The Negative Zone is a fictional alternate universe or dimension in Marvel Comics that contains antimatter. It is a forbidding, hostile place, consisting of rocks, some large enough to be habitable, scattered throughout empty space. Throughout the Negative Zone are many hostile, aggressive, and monstrous creatures. A few Marvel Universe villains are residents of the Negative Zone, including Blastaar, Annihilus and Stygorr. For a number of years, Captain Mar-Vell and Rick Jones were bonded to each other. At any given moment, one of them would be floating free at the Negative Zone while the other would be in the regular universe. They exchanged places by clasping their special bracelets or automatically after a few hours. The Negative Zone is often visited by the Fantastic Four. The Age of Apocalypse version of Blink also visited the place once. Spider-Man visited there, and had acquired a costume that allows him to merge with shadows and become practically invisible. When he was framed by Norman Osborn a few weeks later, he used the costume to become the dark, mysterious Dusk (one of his four new superhero identities). A few months later after Spider-Man's name was cleared, Cassie St. Commons was given the guise of Dusk and joined the Slingers. In Ultimate Marvel, the Negative Zone is called the N-Zone. Category:Marvel Comics locations

Mister Fantastic

Mister Fantastic is a Marvel Comics superhero who is the leader of the Fantastic Four. He has the ability to manipulate his body by stretching and shaping it to any shape he desires. As scientist and inventor Reed Richards, he is widely acknowledged as a super-genius and one of the most intelligent people on Earth. Born in Central City, California, Reed is the son of Nathaniel and Evelyn Richards. Nathaniel was a scientific genius, and Reed inherited the same level of intellect. A child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics, Reed Richards had enrolled in college by the time he was fourteen, attending such prestigious universities as the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, and State University in Hegeman, New York. At Empire State University, he met and became roommate of Benjamin J. Grimm. Reed had already begun designing a starship capable of traveling in hyperspace. Sharing his plans with his new roommate, Grimm jokingly volunteered to pilot the craft. When Reed continued his education by attending Columbia University in Manhattan, he rented a room in a boarding house owned by the aunt of a young girl named Susan Storm. To his embarrassment, the young girl instantly fell in love with him. Even though Reed had to move on, they continued to carry a torch for each other. Also while at Columbia, he met a brilliant fellow student, Victor Von Doom. In Richards, Doom had met the first person who could rival him intellectually; regarding Richards as his ultimate rival, Doom became increasingly jealous of Richards. Determined to prove he was better, Doom conducted reckless experiments which eventually scarred his face and would lead him to become Doctor Doom. Moving on to Harvard, Reed earned Ph.D.s in both physics and electrical engineering, all this by the age of 22. After spending six years in the military, Reed began using his inheritance, along with government funding, to finance his research. Determined to reach the stars, the fateful project began, based in Central City. Susan Storm, now an adult, moved into the area and within a short time found herself engaged to Reed. Likewise, Reed’s old college roommate, Grimm, had gone on to become a successful test pilot and astronaut and was indeed slated to pilot the craft. All seemed well: however, when the government threatened to cut funding and cancel the project, Reed, Ben, Sue and her younger brother Johnny, all decided to sneak aboard the starship and take it up immediately. They knew they had not completed all the testing that had been planned but Reed was confident they would be safe. It was on Reed's initiative that the fateful mission which had Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm accompanying him into space took place. However, when their ship passed through the Van Allen belt they found their cockpit bombarded with nearly lethal doses of cosmic radiation. Reed had somehow neglected to account for the abnormal radiation levels in the atmosphere. The cosmic rays wreaked havoc on the starship’s insufficient shielding and they were forced to return to earth immediately. When they crash-landed they found that their bodies were changed dramatically. Reed found that his skin was malleable and that he could elongate any portion of his body at will. It was Mister Fantastic's suggestion that they decided to use their new abilities to serve mankind as the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic was chosen to lead the group. cosmic radiation To that end, he created numerous exotic devices and vehicles for the team to use such as clothing made of 'unstable molecules' so that it can be used with their powers safely. Furthermore, he often leads the team into daring expeditions such as into the Negative Zone in addition to opposing evil. In addition, he has felt personally responsible for Ben Grimm's grotesque change and has laboured off and on to reverse it permanently. Under his guidance, the team went on to become Earth’s most celebrated band of heroes. Together, they would save the world countless times. Ever driven by his the quest for knowledge, Reed is believed by most to be the Earth’s foremost intelligence. There is little he cannot create, fix, or understand given time. The patents and royalties on his inventions alone have funded the group over the years. Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to his association with the team. Chief among them is the team's violent encounters with Doctor Doom, who believes irrationally that Reed was responsible for the accident that scarred him. Several alternate versions of Mr. Fantastic have been encountered by the Fantastic Four. The Counter-Earth version of Reed Richards was exposed to cosmic rays that gave him the ability to transform into a purple-skinned behemoth called the Brute. The Brute made his way to Earth, where he trapped Mr. Fantastic in the Negative Zone and replaced him. He managed to trap the Human Torch and the Thing shortly thereafter, but was found out by the Invisible Woman, who rescued her teammates and left the Brute trapped in their place. Another alternate Reed Richards was driven mad when he failed to save his reality's Earth from Galactus. Taking the identity of the Dark Raider, he travelled from reality to reality on a quest to destroy every possible version of himself. The Fantastic Four first encountered him when they travelled to an alternate past and saw younger versions of themselves die at his hands. When the Dark Raider came to the Fantastic Four's reality, he attempted to activate the Ultimate Nullifier but was destroyed by Uatu. After countless adventures as the Fantastic Four, Reed married Sue, and before they knew it Sue had a child, young Franklin Benjamin Richards. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Franklin appears to have power that can rival Galactus, the power of a living god in the body of a small child. At one point, Reed appeared to have been killed by Doctor Doom. However, unknown to his teammates at the time, he was actually thrown back into the time of barbarians and onto an alien world by a being called Hyperstorm, so far into the past, and with no technology, that even his brilliant mind couldn’t find a way back home. As a result, Reed wandered aimlessly for about a year. A while later, the remaining members of the FF along with the Sub-Mariner, Lyja and the Ant-Man found themselves trapped in the same era. With some luck they found Reed but faced a new problem; during his time alone Reed had resigned himself to the belief that it was impossible for his old friends to return and attacked them. Upon realizing that these truly were his friends, he sought out Galactus as he was the only being in the Universe who could defeat Hyperstorm. Upon Hyperstorm’s defeat, the FF returned to the present day where they continued their lives, not only as a team but as a family. Shortly after their return, the FF were encountered by a being called Onslaught. This demon spawn took control of an army of Sentinels and invaded New York city, hunting down every mutant being he could find. Onslaught wished to add the abilities of the godlike Franklin Richards to his own. Only through the apparent sacrifice of the Fantastic Four’s own lives and that of many of the heroes in the Marvel universe was Onslaught finally vanquished. The heroes would have died then and there if not for Franklin, who created an alternate reality for them to reside in. Completely oblivious to what had taken place, Reed and his compatriots relived most of their lives. In their absence the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Four Freedoms Plaza, was annihilated by a super villain group called the Masters of Evil, posing as heroes, The Thunderbolts. One-year later, Franklin returned with his family along with the other heroes from the parallel reality. Reed was overjoyed to see his son again, but he and the rest of the FF found themselves without a home, moving into Reed’s storage warehouse on Pier 4, overlooking the East River. Making this their home, the Fantastic Four continued with their lives. Along with his penchant for inventing, Dr. Richards is often known to rewrite works of Stephen Hawking and decode alien languages. Mr. Fantastic is played by Ioan Gruffudd in the feature film. In Neil Gaiman's 1602, his power is associated with the classical element of water. The association to the element of water was also brought up in Ultimate Fantastic Four.

Education

Ph.D.s in Physics and Electrical Engineering, Harvard University

Vital Stats


- Profile: Mister Fantastic
- Alter Ego: Reed Richards
- Occupation: Scientist, Professional Adventurer
- Place of Birth: Central City, California
- Base of Operations: Baxter Building II, New York City
- Costume: Dark blue bodysuit. White "V" neck, gloves, boots, & belt. Circle on left side of chest with a "4" insignia. (Made of unstable molecules).
- Identity: Publicly known
- Nickname: "Stretcho"
- Age: Early to mid thirties
-
- Height: 6'1"
- Weight: 160 lbs. (73 kg)
- Eye Color: Brown
- Hair Color: Brown (graying at the temples) :A note on Reed Richards' Age: An ubiquitous trend in superhero comics is that towards retarding the age of characters. The Marvel convention is that roughly ten years have passed since Fantastic Four #1. Reed's gray temples don't imply that he's in middle age, because one story revealed that he went gray at the age of nineteen. In the days before the longevity of Marvel's properties necessitated time compression, Reed graduated from university as a teenager, and he met Sue, a few years his junior, for the first time. Ben was a few years older than Reed, thus making him in his late thirties/early forties today. Therefore, Reed was at least in his early to mid twenties as of his first appearance. He is estimated to be approximately thirty four.

Powers

Reed Richards’ powers are those of elasticity itself. He has complete mental control of seemingly every molecule in his body. He has been observed as being able to utilize his stretching form in a variety of offensive and defensive manners. He can twist or reshape his body or stretch roughly three miles, and as thin as a single molecule. Because of his elastic nature, Mr. Fantastic cannot be harmed by bullets or other projectile weapons, including knives, missiles, darts, etc, and all projectiles rebound to the attacker. Reed cannot be physically hit/cut, his skin simply reforms and “rolls with the punch”. Since obtaining his powers, Reed's blood has never been drawn. Not even Wolverine’s adamantium claws, nor Terrax’s Cosmic Powered Protonic Axe are able to pierce/wound Mr. Fantastic’s malleable body. Reed can neither be grasped nor held, as his body can become slippery as an eel. However Reed is vulnerable to types of energy weapons. Reed can alter his physical makeup. He can, for instance, extend spikes from his body or make a giant fist; all of these feats can be performed within milliseconds. Another ability Reed has is that he can increase his size and mass density, which in turn increases his strength, in effect bulking his malleable body to “Thing” - like proportions, being almost as strong. Mr. Fantastic also has a degree of immunity to psychic attacks; his mind is as pliable and resilient as his body. Mind control is rarely effective on him. When it does work, it wears off sooner than it would a normal person. Despite this, Richards' strength comes more from the powers of his mind than the powers of his body. He is the unquestioned supreme scientific intellect on the earth, his closest rival being the mind of Doctor Doom. Not only has Reed proven himself to be a genius in practically every science on earth, he has shown himself to be more knowledgable than even some of the most highly advanced alien civilizations in the known universe. He has been known to turn scraps of machinery into deadly weaponry within seconds. To say that his chosen codename indicates a sense of arrogance would be erroneous. In fact, to call the man fantastic would be nothing short of modesty. Doctor Doom

Equipment and Technology

Although the Fantastic Four have numerous devices, crafts, and weapons, this is what Reed carries on him at all times: Fantastiflare: Launches a fiery “4” into the sky that is used during combat situations to let other members of the group know their location. Uniform Computer: Like all the FF’s costumes and the rest of Reed’s wardrobe, his suit is made of “unstable molecules”. This means that the suit is attuned to his powers, which is why Johnny’s costume doesn’t burn when he “flames on”, Sue’s costume turns invisible when she does, and Reed’s costume stretches with him. The costume also insulates them from electrical assaults. In addition, the team's uniforms are also, in essence, wearable computers. Their costumes have a complete data processing and telemetry system woven into the material of the uniform on a molecular level. This forms a network with the entire team, providing a constant, real time uplink of everyone’s physical condition as well as their location and current situation. The suit is capable of displaying data and touch-pad controls on the gauntlets. Its sensors can track all of the team’s uniforms and provide a picture of their immediate vicinity. The suit has an intricate scanner system which can detect things around the wearer, from how many people are in the next room to what dimension or planet they are on. Reed can also up-link the bodysuit to any computer by stretching his fingertips to filament size and plugging them in to an I/O data-port. With this Reed can establish a fairly comprehensive database of any computer’s cybernetic protocols and encryption algorithms. Fantastic Fantastic Fantastic Fantastic Fantastic Fantastic Fantastic

Age of Apocalypse

The Age of Apocalypse was a comic book storyline. It was a major event in the Marvel Universe, mostly affecting mutant titles like the X-Men. X-Men

Storyline

Legion (David Haller), an extremely powerful psionic mutant and the son of Professor Charles Xavier and Israeli diplomat Gabrielle Haller, traveled back in time with the intention of killing Magneto, who was once Xavier's best friend but had become the greatest nemesis of the X-Men. However, when Legion was on the point of killing Magneto, Xavier interspaced himself between the two of them, and Legion killed Xavier instead. Consequently, Legion ceased to exist, since his father, Xavier, died before Legion was fathered. Because of Xavier's sacrifice, Magneto came to believe in his dead friend's dream of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. However, Apocalypse, a mutant alive for centuries who believed in "survival of the fittest," monitored the fight between Legion, Magneto, and Xavier and began his genetic war ten years before he did so in the real timeline. Thus, by the time that Magneto founded the X-Men in this timeline, Apocalypse had already established himself as a major power. Apocalypse would come to rule all of North America; New York City was renamed Apocalypse Island and the Statue of Liberty was replaced by a statue of Apocalypse. He also initiated a worldwide genocidal campaign of "cullings" in which millions of humans died; the surviving humans lived on in the parts of Europe and Africa which weren't devastated by nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the disturbance of the timeline has led to a crystallization wave of the M'Kraan Crystal that is heading toward Earth...

Characters and affiliations

Mutant heroes


- X-Men: led by Magneto out of the ruined Xavier mansion, which never became a school in this universe; divided into two teams:
  - Astonishing X-Men (Uncanny X-Men in normal continuity): Rogue (leader), Morph (Changeling in normal continuity), Blink, Sunfire, Sabretooth, Wild Child
  - Amazing X-Men (X-Men in normal continuity): Quicksilver (leader), Iceman, Exodus, Dazzler, Storm, Banshee
  - former X-Men include Jean Grey, Weapon X (Wolverine in normal continuity), and the deceased Scarlet Witch
  - X-Men allies: Bishop, Charles Lehnsherr (infant son of Magneto and Rogue), and Nanny, Charles' robotic babysitter
- X-Ternals (X-Force in normal continuity): Gambit (leader), Lila Cheney, Jubilee, Strong Guy, Sunspot
- X-Calibre (Excalibur in normal continuity): Nightcrawler, Mystique, Switchback (no counterpart in normal continuity) and Damask (the Black Queen of London's Hellfire Club in normal continuity).
- Generation Next (Generation X in normal continuity): Shadowcat and Colossus (leaders), Husk, Chamber, Skin, Know-It-All (M in normal continuity), Mondo, Vincente
- The Outcasts: Forge, X-Man, (alleged son of Scott Summers & Jean Grey, Sinister had forged the DNA of Scott & Jean to conceive Nate) (Cable in normal continuity), Toad, Soaron (Sauron in normal continuity), Brute (Sunder in normal continuity), Mastermind, Sonique (Siryn in normal continuity)

Other anti-Apocalypse forces


- Human High Council: Emma Frost, Bolivar Trask, Moira MacTaggert-Trask, Brian Braddock (Captain Britain in normal continuity), Mariko Yashida, General Thunderbolt Ross
  - Gateway and Carol Danvers (the Council's allies/agents)
- Human High Council Agents: Ben Grimm and Suzie Storm (Thing and Invisible Woman in normal continuity), Tony Stark (Iron Man in normal continuity), Donald Blake (Thor in normal continuity), Clint Barton (Hawkeye in normal continuity), Gwen Stacy, Victor Von Doom (Doctor Doom in normal continuity)
  - Sentinels

Apocalypse's agents


- Four Horsemen of Apocalypse: Holocaust/Nemesis, Abyss, Mikhail Rasputin (brother of Colossus), Sinister
  - Former Horsemen: Death I, Bastion, War, Candra, Gideon, Death II (Maximus the Mad in normal continuity), War III (Bruce Banner/The Thing (Hulk in normal continuity))
- Elite Mutant Force: Cyclops, Havok, Beast (known later as "Dark Beast" to delinate him from "our" Beast), Northstar, Aurora, the Bedlam Brothers, Cannonball, Amazon, Emplate and the Monets
- The Madri (duplicates of Jamie Madrox, who is the Multiple Man in normal continuity)
- The Brotherhood of Chaos (Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in normal continuity): Arclight, Box (Madison Jeffries), Copycat, Spyne, Yeti
- Domino and her bounty hunters, Grizzly and Caliban
- Pale Riders: Danielle Moonstar, Damask (the Black Queen of London's Hellfire Club in normal continuity), Dead Man Wade (Deadpool in normal continuity)
- Shadow King
- Sebastian Shaw
- The Infinites, a genetically engineered army created by Sinister and the Beast, some of which are led by Mudir Rictor, Prelate Unus, Prelate Delgado and the Vanisher
- Wolverine (not the same as Wolverine in normal continuity, who is called Weapon X here. Possibly a mutated Fabian Cortez)
- Sugar Man, Quietus, and the enslavers of the Seattle Core:
- Reavers, humans enhanced by Apocalypse's techno-organic virus: Donald Pierce, Slocum, Mangle, Dead-Eye and Vultura.
- Diablo and the Absorbing Man, two wardens in Apocalypse's prisoner camps in Mexico.
- Rex, Apocalypse's majordomo
- Stryfe Force: Mikhail's Rasputin personal army, formed by the best from his Upscale Program.
- Bruce Banner/The Thing (The Incredible Hulk in normal continuity)
- Keeper Murdock (Daredevil in normal continuity)

Neutrals


- Avalon (the Savage Land in normal continuity): inhabitants include Destiny, Cain (Juggernaut in normal continuity) and Douglas Ramsey (Cypher in normal continuity)
- Heaven: A nightclub run by Angel whose employees include Karma and Scarlett MacKenzie
- John Proudstar (Thunderbird in normal continuity)
- Newell (Stingray in normal continuity)
- Polaris, Avalanche, Artemis (Fatale in normal continuity), Pyro, Phantazia, Newt (Toad-in-Training in normal continuity), some of the prisoners in Sinister's Breeding Pens
- Rossovich (Omega Red in normal continuity) The only major mutant character missing in the original Age of Apocalypse was Psylocke. Fans speculated that she was likely either killed in one of Apocalypse's cullings or one of the members of the Brain Trust keeping control over the pens. However, when the Age of Apocalypse was revisited a decade later, she appeared in X-Men Age of Apocalypse #4 (May 2005). Her origin story remains unknown, however, and there is no explanation of what exactly she was doing during the original Age of Apocalypse. At the end of the Age of Apocalypse story arc, Bishop traveled backwards in time to prevent the Age of Apocalypse from ever occurring. This occurred simultaneously with a nuclear exchange between the Human High Council and Apocalypse. Most characters were killed by the nukes, but the fate of the remaining survivors is unclear: presumably, they were erased from existence. However, some characters escaped the Age of Apocalypse into the Earth 616 continuity. Nate Grey (an alternate version of Cable), Holocaust (one of Apocalypse's horsemen), Beast, Sugar Man, and Blink survived. Nate Grey joined the X-Men for several years, but later "died" by disseminating into every life on the planet, and Holocaust remained at large in the main Marvel Universe until Hyperion killed him in Exiles #62. Beast and Sugar Man, however, were sent 20 years into Earth 616's past. This allowed for major retconning that explained that Beast had a hand in the creation of the Morlocks and why Mr. Sinister initiated the Mutant Massacre. Sugar Man gave genetic technology secrets to the Genegineer of Genosha, allowing this small nation to become powerful by enslaving mutants. Blink escaped into the multiverse itself: she joined and leads the reality-hopping team of heroes known as the Exiles. Her counterpart on Earth 616 has been dead since the Phalanx Covenant story arc. Sabretooth also survived along the same means as Blink. He joined a team of reality-hopping super beings known as Weapon X. During one mission, he opted to stay behind on a world to raise a child. Eventually, he was brought back into action, joining the Exiles. They have since visited the Age of Apocalypse, surprising Blink and Sabretooth with the fact that it survived.

Tenth-year anniversary

In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and mini-series to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the popular event. The one-shot features stories set before the events of the crossover, similar in focus to the Chronicles of the Age of Apocalypse issues: the one-shot contains the story of how Colossus and Shadowcat left the X-Men to train Generation Next, how Sabretooth met Wild Child, the first appearance of the Silver Samurai, and that the world survived the Human High Council's nuclear attack. In the mini-series, we are introduced to several characters who weren't in the original storyline. Long time characters Psylocke, Cloak, Dagger, and Wolfsbane are introduced. Newer characters X-23, Beak and Icarus are seen, along with the concept of Xorn. X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse, released the same year, was heavily influenced by the AoA storyline, including several characters and concepts from the storyline. And The Earth of "Age of Apocalypse" is now designated as Earth-295 as referred in Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005. See Age of Apocalypse (limited series) for details of the mini-series.

External links


- [http://www.snikt.com/COTA/Age_of_Apocalypse/FAQ.htm Age of Apocalypse FAQ]
- [http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/time/showfaq.asp?fldAuto=13 UncannyXmen.Net's look at the Age of Apocalypse]
- [http://www.telebyte.nl/~vlemming/aoamain.html Age of Apocalypse role-playing game]
- [http://www.me.mtu.edu/~pipik/aoa_faq.html Age of Apocalypse summary]
- [http://aoa.confusticated.com It Only Hurts When I Sing: The Age of Apocalypse Resource Center] Category:X-Men storylines

Blink (comics)

Blink (Clarice Ferguson) is a Marvel Comics superheroine featured in various X-Men-related series. Created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira, she first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #317 (1994). Blink has made one of the most impressive transitions from throwaway character to star heroine in comic book history. A mysterious, unstable mutant with the ability to teleport, Blink died within a month of her first appearance in 1994. However, Lobdell and Madureira redefined Blink as a more confident and assertive character in the parallel universe storyline "Age of Apocalypse" (1995). After that storyline, Blink became a fan favorite and readers wrote thousands of letters, requesting that the character return. Eventually, Marvel launched the outlandish parallel world series Exiles in 2001, which has featured Blink prominently.

Original Blink

2001 In the primary Earth-616 continuity of the Marvel Universe, Blink was first introduced in the "Phalanx Covenant" storyline, in which the extraterrestrially-derived techno-organic beings called the Phalanx captured her and several other young mutants to assimilate their powers. This version of Blink was tense and panicky and frightened of her powers (having "woken up in a pool of blood" after her first use of them). She eventually used her abilities to “cut-up” Harvest, a Phalanx entity guarding her and her peers but apparently died in the process. Because of her sacrifice, the remaining captives were set free and became the X-Men junior team Generation X. This Blink made a brief return in the pages of an issue of What If.

Age of Apocalypse/Exiles Blink

What If] In the Age of Apocalypse storyline, Professor X was killed years before he ever formed the X-Men. An alternate reality unfolded into which the 2,000-year old super mutant Apocalypse gained control of North America and implemented a genocide campaign against regular humans. Clarise Ferguson was born in Cartusia, Bahamas. Her purple skin complexion revealed her to be a mutant at birth. Her parents accepted this fact but feared their daughter would not be accepted by the local population. When Clarice was four, the Fergusons moved to Miami, Florida, United States. They hoped Miami would be home to a mutant population where an older Clarice would be able to socialize. Clarice was a child when Apocalypse took over Miami. Blink was discovered by one of Apocalypse's scientists, Dark Beast, who experimented on her, refining her powers (thus explaining the differences in the abilities of the regular Marvel Universe Blink and her Age of Apocalypse counterpart). However, Sabretooth and Weapon X, of the resistance force, the X-Men, raided Beast's laboratories and rescued Blink. She then became the adopted daughter of Sabretooth (This relationship may explain why the Age of Apocalypse version of Sabretooth is much less villainous than the regular Marvel Universe version). Blink grew into adulthood with the X-Men. She was impulsive and not always willing to follow orders, but became an important X-Man. Eventually, the X-Men encountered the time traveling X-Man Bishop, who set a course of events that prevented the death of Professor X, eliminating the Age of Apocalypse reality. Before it ended, however, Blink was mysteriously transported to a strange desert plateau, where she met a group of other mutants from various realities who had been unstuck in time. A cosmic monitor called the Timebroker explained that each had become "unstuck" in reality and their new mission was to visit various parallel worlds and "correct wrongs." Blink became the leader of this group of Exiles and has formed a relationship with her teammate Mimic. They went to many worlds, fighting the Hulk, Galactus, Weapon X, Mojo, and the Vi-Locks. On the world where the Legacy Virus was taking over, Blink was infected by it. She was later cured, however. They were celebrating when the Timebroker appeared, saying that Blink was going home. She was replaced by Magik. When Sunfire was killed, Blink came back. In that reality, they fought Hyperion and Weapon X. While fighting Hyperion, Blink teleported Hyperion's laser attack back at him. Then,