Reed Richards (Ultimate Marvel)

Reed Richards (alias The Maker, and formerly Mr. Fantastic) is a fallen superhero-turned supervillain in the Ultimate Marvel universe. Unlike most of his counterparts from different universes, this version of Mr. Fantastic is an idealist who makes a deal with an alien empire to attack and conquer the Earth in order to improve what he sees as a flawed species. He has his entire family killed (including his baby siblings) so that he can fake his death and avoid suspicion. He later leads an advanced society of superhumans called the Children of Tomorrow. Under his rule, the Children of Tomorrow absorb entire cities into their base, wipe out most of the Asgardian gods, and completely destroy Washington. Throughout all this, Mr. Fantastic is fully aware of what he is doing, and feels no remorse for exterminating a species that he perceives as inferior.

Childhood
Twenty-one years ago, Gary Richards and his wife gave birth to their first child, a son named Reed. Almost immediately, the Richards suspected that there was something special about Reed, who displayed his curiosity from the day he was born. As a child, he demonstrated remarkable intelligence, well ahead of that of his peers. While other children engaged in sports or played games, Reed devoted himself to the sciences. His father often found him cannibalizing household appliances in an effort to create something never before seen by man - an act that often earned him his father's ire.

Reed's heightened intellect naturally made him the subject of ridicule at his school. Fortunately, he managed to become friends with the school's star linebacker, Ben Grimm. Ben generally associated with Reed in order to get help with his trigonometry homework, but he valued him enough to help him against the school bullies.

When Reed was only ten years old he began developing schematics for a device that could transmit matter across the dimensional plane. He displayed his work at the Midtown Middle School Science Fair, where he successfully teleported a toy car into an alternate dimension. This garnered him the attention of the Director of Mainland Technology Development.

An agent named Lieutenant Lumpkin (who was present for Reed's Science Fair experiment), recommended him for induction into a special government think tank - a program that recruited young geniuses in the hopes of creating the scientific leaders of the future. Lumpkin approached Reed's parents for their permission, and explained that the government would pay them a nominal fee for allowing them to take Reed under their care.

Think Tank
Lumpkin brought Reed to the Baxter Building, the central hub for the Mainland Technology Development consortium. He began working under the auspices of noted scientist Dr. Franklin Storm. Storm introduced Reed to his "greatest achievements", his daughter, Susan, and her younger brother, Johnny.

Reed's father was relieved to get rid of him, so Reed rarely saw his family thereafter. His only close contacts were his fellow students and his dog Einstein. Missing his family, Reed covertly constructed a "Fantasti-Car," a fuel free vehicle with the capacity to fly at MACH-7, but never used it.

For the next several years, Reed continued to work on his teleportation technology. The Baxter Building provided him with all of the resources at their disposal and they even developed an oscillating window that could peer into an otherworldly plane of reality known as the N-Zone.

During this time, Reed met a fellow student named Victor van Damme. Victor was a brash and arrogant student, known for his enmity toward his fellow students. One day, Reed caught Victor in his room rifling through his notes. Victor had taken it upon himself to read Reed's research, adjusting various calculations along the way. Reed was furious, but soon discovered that Victor was equally brilliant. He invited him to work alongside him on the N-Zone project. Over the next five years Van Damme helped Reed with his N-Zone math, while Reed aided Victor's work in miniaturized robotics.

The Fantastic Four
By the time they reached adulthood, the young geniuses were ready to test their N-Zone transmitter technology on biological matter. The think tank erected a large platform in the Nevada desert for their first major testing phase. Reed's old school chum, Ben Grimm, showed up at the testing site to visit him. He was on college holiday and wanted to see how his childhood pal was getting along.

Accompanied by a bevy of military officers and scientists, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Victor Van Damme stood at the control panels of the transmit platform. What the other four didn't realize however, was that Victor had surreptitiously altered the coordinates on the transmitter device. They activated the machine hoping to teleport an apple into the N-Zone. Instead, they tore open a dimensional breach in space and all five disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

Reed awakened several yards away. As he rose to his feet, he discovered that he now possessed the ability to stretch and remold his body into any variety of shapes. Ben, Sue, and Johnny had also developed powers of their own. They soon encountered the clay-based creations of Dr. Molekevic, subsequently foiling his plot.

Only one member of the group affected by the N-Zone accident remained unaccounted for: Victor Van Damme, the man responsible for the Fantastic Four's failed assassination. Victor established a small community in Denmark under his control using neural implants, and when the foursome arrived he took down each of them until only Reed stood in his way.

Reed fought Victor, winning until he unleashed his "subjects" upon them. Unable to convince Van Damme to help him reverse the changes, and unable to force him as he had diplomatic immunity, Reed returned his focus to science by perfecting his N-Zone transporter and adapting it to both time travel and accessing parallel dimensions.

After the team went public battling the alien Nihil in Las Vegas, Reed began craving the public approval of being a super hero, perhaps compensating for his father's disapproval. He balanced his obsessive love of science against his romantic relationship with Susan Storm and his new celebrity hero status.

When the Ultimatum Wave hit New York, Reed soon realized that Victor would continue to destroy the world if he wasn't stopped, and prompted the Thing to go to Latveria and kill him. After the funeral of Franklin Storm, Reed Richards' marriage proposal was rejected by Sue, and the Fantastic Four disbanded. Reed moved back in with his biological family as he pondered what to do next.

Ultimate Enemy
Reed's worldview began to change drastically. Six months later, Reed faked his death and had the Richards home blown apart, killing his family. Reed arranged attacks by alien creatures on the Baxter Building, the Triskelion, Roxxon, and Peter Parker's home.

Sue and Nova (Rick Jones) discovered that Project Pegasus had been broken into and all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents posted there had been killed. There, Reed was caught controlling the alien creatures responsible for the earlier attacks, hauling objects that Project Pegasus was keeping safe into a portal. Sue, angered about the attacks and his faked death, attempted to kill Reed, but he was able to neutralize her and subjected her to extreme pain. Nova hit Reed with a projectile attack, but missed and ended up destabilizing the portal causing it to suck objects in with a strong vacuum effect. Reed was pulled in as Sue tried to hold him out with what little of her strength she had left, but her efforts were futile as she let go in time for the portal to close with no sign of Reed remaining.

Reed, busy planning his endgame from his new lair in the Negative Zone, was later confronted by the heroes of Earth. They defeated him and his alien minions with little effort, giving him a chance to explain his actions. Johnny unleashed a massive flame attack on Richards out of revenge for hurting his sister, disfiguring the right side of Reed's face. Reed lost functionality of his right arm, causing it to hang lifelessly elongated at his side. While the heroes were busy destroying his lair, Reed was flung from the ground and was left floating aimlessly about the Negative Zone.

Children of Tomorrow
Richards found a way of returning to Earth and founded a group called the Children of Tomorrow, whose aim is to conquer the world. Their base was built in Northern Germany and was called the Dome. The Dome's interior time passes at an accelerated rate compared to the outside world. Over 900 years passed inside the Dome, so their inhabitants evolved to perfect super-humans. Recently, the EUSS sent Captain Britain, Captain Italy, and Captain Spain, along with Thor, to attack the Dome. The Children proved to be formidable opponents, who defeated the heroes.

Searching for the source of power of Thor, the Children killed all the Asgardians and drained their power, leaving Thor powerless, who was saved by Iron Man, while the Captains where captured. Thor, using an upgraded version of his hammer and belt, teleported himself inside the City, rescued Captain Britain and faced the Maker, the new alias of Richards. After being defeated again by the Children, it was revealed to Thor that the Maker was Reed Richards. Reed left Thor alive and allowed him to escape along with Captain Britain to deliver the message about Richards' newest plans.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. convinced Zorn and the Hulk to attack the Children (but the latter convinced to help them), the Maker deployed an anti-matter attack on Washington, D.C., killing the President, his Cabinet and the Congress, with only Secretary of Energy Howard surviving and becoming the next President. After Tony Stark contacted the new President to make a plan against the Children, Stark was provided as a prisoner for the Children to seal a pact of peace.

When Richards was about to vivisect Stark, Tony's self-conscious technology interfacer brain tumor named Anthony convinced the City to rebel against the Maker because of his master's counter-evolutionary acts of war and allowed Anthony to create a giant Iron Man Armor and use it against Richards and become the new leader of the Children. Richards defended himself using a Giant-Man serum on the Hulk, but he was finally defeated by Sue Storm and presumably handed over to S.H.I.E.L.D..

Ultimates Disassembled
Richards was freed by the mysterious woman called Kang, who wanted him to gather the Infinity Gems from the Ultimates, for which he asked Quicksilver to get one of remaining in the ruins of the Dome. He claimed before the Ultimates to use the gems to rebuild the world. The heroes barely escaped, but Captain America decided to be left behind in order to stop the villains, although he was defeated.

Using numerous H.E.R.B.I.E. Trons, Reed forced global powers to negotiate peace, undid global patents and copyright standards (making any scientific progress to the public domain), liberated all Stark, Roxxon, Hammer and Osborn technology, removed financial blockage by attacking the World Bank headquarters, distributed Utopia's sentient seed, and deployed hybrid zero emission energy technology.

The seventh gem was revealed to be located in Tony Stark's brain, who was kidnapped by Quicksilver. The Maker performed a surgery on Stark's brain while his H.E.R.B.I.E. Trons were trying to reach the Earth's core in order to acquire the final gem. Richards finally got the last gem, and left Tony Stark to die.

Stark's consciousness was revealed to have survived electronically, and he rescued the Ultimates from the Negative Zone after infiltrating Reed's network. Reed used a brainwashed Human Torch to retrieve the final gem, which was used by Kang to come to the aid of Richards when he was being outnumbered by the Ultimates.

During a furious battle, Iron Man managed to get the Gems, but before any of the Dark Ultimates could retrieve them, an immense flux of energy echoed through time and space. Kang alerted that it was too late to prevent what she came to stop and vanished, stating she had to go back further in time, abandoning Reed, who was imprisoned in the Cube.

Cataclysm
When Galactus came from another universe to this one, Reed Richards decided to escape custody and try to put differences aside with the Ultimates in order to stop Galactus, who arrived at Earth, from consuming the planet. As the Ultimates tried to use a interdimensional portal to seek help on how to stop Galactus from the Reed Richards from Galactus' universe, Richards convinced them to let him go to that Earth, as he would still be able to access the other Richards' files even if his counterpart wasn't available at the moment to help them.

Richards convinced the Ultimates to let him go, but he had to be accompanied by Miles Morales. Both him and Miles used the portal and arrived to Earth-616. At the Baxter Building, Reed discovered his Earth-616 counterpart had a happy life along with Sue, and even had children. Upon gathering the information necessary about Galactus, Reed and Miles were approached by Valeria Richards the daughter of Earth-616's Reed and Sue, who activated an override protocol of an army of H.E.R.B.I.E.s to attack the intruders. Reed and Miles managed to escape and return to Earth-1610, with the information needed. Reed then apologized to Susan for all of his wrongdoings, as Valeria proved there was still hope for them, even if it was Earth-616.

For Richards' plan to be carried out, the presence of Kitty Pryde was needed. She would be injected with the Giant-Man serum in order to use her phasing powers to short circuit Galactus' machine, which would turn all the matter of Earth into compatible energy, and her super density powers would cause sufficient damage to Galactus. When the plan was carried out, Reed used Kitty Pryde merely as a distraction to open a portal to the Negative Zone and send Galactus to it. The plan was a success and Earth was saved.

FF
Reed later started using the remains of the Baxter Building to continue his work, and claimed that discovering the future he could've had with Sue made him feel remorse for his past actions. When a Spider-Ham from an alternate universe arrived to Earth-1610 to warn its heroes about the impeing doom, only able to be fixed by the offspring of Sue and Reed, he Invisible Woman visited the Baxter Building, willing to get back with Reed, even if she didn't want to. However, he managed to convince her to seek another path. Sue and Reed raided a S.H.I.E.L.D. lab from where they gathered genetic material from Ben Grimm, and artificially impregnated Sue with a female child.

Time Runs Out
While S.H.I.E.L.D. was being reconstructed after it was disbanded following Galactus' attack, Nick Fury offered Reed a position in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. to think of every possible threat and prepare a countermeasure, which he accepted. However, Reed's redemption had been a façade. He secretly continued his operations as The Maker in underground Manhattan, also taking the City to help him after the Children of Tomorrow were lost and Reed decided not to remade them as the world wasn't ready yet. At some point, he became aware of the Incursions and began destroying alternate Earths to protect his own. He also built a Bridge to see alternative realities to observe other Incursions, in the following months, he destroyed sixty-seven Earths. While going to destroy a Mapmaker dead world, he saw as the Earth was destroyed not by him, and witnessed the arrival of Earth-616's Cabal, who had escaped from it.

Powers
Pliable Bacterial Stacks: Reed's cells have been replaced with "pliable bacterial stacks," single cells which duplicate most of the larger functions of the human body. This allows Reed to stretch his body in myriad ways without disrupting the necessary functions of internal organs such as the kidneys, lungs, or even brain. Reed can stretch any or all of his body parts long distances, even assuming non-human shapes such as a sphere or parachute. Sue's mother revealed that she knows that Reed's abilities allow him to stretch his brain in order to accommodate and solve almost any problem, thus making him effectively a human computer. Reed's altered biology also prevents cellular decay, allowing him to spend one thousand years inside the Dome while showing no signs of physical aging.

Abilities
Above Genius Intellect: Reed Richards is a child prodigy and possesses a keen scientific intellect, decades ahead of his time. This intelligence has recently been augmented by his new powers. Reed holds multiple doctoral level degrees in theoretical and applied physics fields.

Equipment

 * Impact Suit: Reed, like the rest of the Fantastic Four, wears an impact suit that can adjust itself to his abilities. To this end, whenever Reed stretches or compresses himself, the suit takes on the same malleability his body possesses.

As he was once a lead scientist at the Baxter Building, Reed had access to enormous governmental resources. He has developed technology such as:
 * the N-Zone Transporter
 * Fantasticars; Flying vehicles powered by zero-point generators.
 * A NASA Space Shuttle uniquely modified for interdimensional travel
 * Chrono-tunnel enabling time travel.

Transportation

 * None; formerly Fantasti-Car