Alternate versions of Mr. Fantastic

Mr. Fantastic is a Marvel comic book character, who has had many alternate versions through various media.

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In Neil Gaiman's Marvel Universe set in the 17th century, Reed (apparently called Sir Richard Reed, although he is often addressed as "Sir Reed" or "Master Richards") is the leader of 'The Four from the Fantastick', and his pliability is compared to water. Sharing the genius of his counterpart, he has devised uses for electrical force, categorized the sciences, and speculated as to whether light has a speed.

According to Peter David, who is writing a Marvel 1602 miniseries about the Four, Gaiman describes Sir Richard as even more pedantic than the mainstream Mr. Fantastic.

Bullet Points

In "Bullet Points" Dr. Reed Richards is drafted by the government to act as technical support to Steve Rogers, who in this reality is Iron Man. Along with Sue, Ben and Johnny, he later attempts the rocket flight that in the mainstream continuity saw the creation of the Fantastic Four, but the flight is sabotaged and the rocket crashes, killing everyone aboard except Reed. He thus never develops superpowers, and following the tragedy, he accepts the position as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Having lost his eye in the rocket crash and taken to wearing an eyepatch, he bears a strong resemblance to Nick Fury.

Counter Earth

The Counter-Earth version of Reed Richards is from a world created by the High Evolutionary. He was exposed to cosmic rays that gave him the ability to transform into a savage purple-skinned behemoth called the Brute. The Brute made his way to Earth, where he trapped Mister 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. The Brute was later a member of the Frightful Four.

Dark Raider

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 traveled from reality to reality on a quest to destroy every possible version of himself. The Fantastic Four first encountered him when they traveled 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 apparently destroyed by Uatu. This appearance of Uatu was later revealed to be Aron, the Rogue Watcher, who had simply teleported the Raider away. The Dark Raider returned, and was finally killed by the Invisible Woman in the Negative Zone.

Earth-A

In this reality, only Reed and Ben Grimm go up in the experimental spacecraft. Reed is transformed by cosmic radiation into The Thing.

Marvel Mangaverse

In the Marvel Mangaverse comics, Reed Richards leads the Megascale Metatalent Response Team Fantastic Four as a commander, not a field operative like Jonatha, Sioux, and Benjamin. In Mangaverse, Richards has been re-imagined as a long-haired intellectual with a laid-back attitude. The other members of the team often describe him as a "smartass". His team used power packs in order to manifest their talents on mecha-sized levels so that they may fight the Godzilla-sized monsters from alien cultures that attack Earth for performing experiments which endanger all of reality. Along with assigning battle tactics, Richards okayed the amount of power his team was allowed to use. He has stretching talents which he considered "near useless" except for stretching his neurons, allowing him to brainstorm new ideas. In New Mangaverse, Richards (along with the rest of the Fantastic Four with the exception of the Human Torch) was murdered by ninja assassins.

Marvel Zombies

This version of Reed Richards deliberately infected his team and thus himself with the zombie virus, following madness from the murder of his children at the hands of a zombified She-Hulk. Reed assists his fellow zombies in tracking down several Latverian human survivors; they escape to alternate dimensions but Doctor Doom does not. Reed subsequently makes contact with his Ultimate counterpart, the Zombie FF attempting to escape into the Ultimate Marvel universe, but he was neutralized when the Ultimate Invisible Girl practically destroyed a chunk of his brain. After a brief period of imprisonment, the zombie FF were defeated by Ultimate Reed Richards (in Doctor Doom's body) and their bodies returned to their universe.

MC2

In the MC2 continuity, Reed Richards was badly scarred and he designed a small robot into which he claims to have transferred his brain when his body was damaged; in reality, Richards' injuries are minor, and he controls the robot remotely from an outpost in the Negative Zone. This robot, called Big Brain, is a member of the Fantastic Five, and is capable of projecting force fields and can hover or fly. When Reed solves the problem keeping Susan in stasis in the Negative Zone, the mental block preventing his scars from healing dissolves, and his appearance returns to normal.

Later, when Dr. Doom returns, Reed is forced into a mental duel with the villain, which ends in a tie that banishes both their minds to the Crossroads of Infinity. He is currently in Latveria, under the care of his wife.

Mutant X

In the alternate universe visited by Alex Summers, a.k.a. Havok, the Fantastic Four seemingly had no powers, though Reed still had his genius level intelligence. Reed generally wore a battle suit with two extra arms. In his first appearance, he was attempting to build a machine that would allow the Goblin Queen to summon demons from another dimension. When the Goblin Queen made her play to conquer the world, Reed was right at her side. In the final issue of the series, Reed joined a makeshift team of villains and heroes in order to stop the Goblin Queen's threat against the entire multiverse. He was interrupted in his work by Dracula, who sliced open his throat, killing him.

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Reed Richards is brought closer to the stereotypical scientist; he is as brilliant as his original counterpart (with an IQ of 267)Fact|date=March 2008, but he is somewhat awkward, younger, and wears glasses. He becomes part of a "think tank" with other advanced youths, their headquarters being the Baxter Building. This is where he is mentored by Professor Storm and he meets Johnny, and Sue Storm. As in the normal universe, Ultimate Reed Richards is romantically involved with Sue Storm. Ben Grimm was his only friend and protector, but there was one bully not even Ben could help him with, Reed's own father. Reed's father hated the fact he had a weakling for a son - if he wasn't the first to put Reed's head in the toilet, he'd have done something worse. In his way, he hated his father.

In issues 21 through 23 of "Ultimate Fantastic Four", Reed Richards was able to establish a link to what readers believed was the normal Marvel Universe, communicating with a projection of the original Reed Richards via a special device. When he attempted to travel to the alternate universe, however, he arrived in a world infested by zombies, including a zombified Fantastic Four. Ultimate Reed Richard's conversations with the false projection of his regular counterpart suggest that in the Ultimate universe, Mr. Fantastic is less skilled and has much less experience than the Zombie Mr. Fantastic, if the false projection is to be believed.

While it is still questionable as to whether or not the intelligence of the Mister Fantastic of the Mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616) was affected by the Cosmic Rays, "this" version of Mister Fantastic definitely experienced an increase in his intellect from the accident that empowered him, making his "mind as flexible as his body," and "getting smarter every day", and has shown a reduced need for sleep due to the hyper-efficient workings of his brain (as revealed in "UFF" #25).

According to "Ultimate FF" #7, Ultimate Reed's body has been radically transformed, and his only internal organ is a "bacterial stack" that generates energy (presumably from air) to fuel his body. This would obviate the need to explain, for example, how his circulatory system could pump his blood when his body is stretched the length of a football field; he simply has none. Lacking a digestive system, he has no need to eat or drink. Similarly, because he has no lungs, Ultimate Reed doesn't need to breathe in any conventional human sense and can survive in environments lacking oxygen; however, during his time in the N-Zone, where the atmosphere was essentially acid, he was unable to breath the air there, suggesting that he still requires air to a certain degree.

It does appear that Ultimate Mr. Fantastic does have a limit to the length he can stretch to. In "Ultimate FF" #44 he is able to catch a falling Carol Danvers after she is dropped by the Silver Surfer, and upon setting her down, he admits that it hurt him to stretch that far.