By David Ellis
Curse you, Richards.
Victor Von Doom has been known to shout this (and
several variations) a number of times, usually in
response to the latest way Reed Richards has found to
harsh Dr. Doom's (lack of) mellow.
Funny thing is, I have to agree in part with Doom's
statement, though maybe not the same way he intended
it. See, the Fantastic Four's leader is cursed
... and he brought it upon himself.
Let's back up for a moment. At first glance, Reed is
not an easy character to get to know. Most people
assume his character on the surface is the entire
package: an introverted scientist who spends most of
his time in the lab ignoring his family, and whose
only purpose in a Fantastic Four story is to provide
exposition in as many syllables as possible. Funny
thing is, they're not completely incorrect.
But the very nature of introversion is that there's a
lot of one's character buried beneath the surface.
Examine the introversion, and Reed becomes complex and
compelling.
My first exposure to the character -- aside from a
rerun of the old Hanna-Barbera FF cartoon and a
supporting role in a Silver Surfer comic that retold
the Galactus Trilogy -- was in Fantastic Four #358, the thirtieth anniversary of the characters in
1991. That issue turned out to be an excellent place
to start, as it retold the FF's origin story a few
different ways, gave extensive info on the characters
in the form of backup features (which we'd think of as
bonus material in DVDs these days), and even revealed
Stan Lee's original script for FF #1 before he'd
handed it off to Jack Kirby.
And in the main story itself was a brief scene between
Reed and Sue, in which Reed declares himself
ultimately responsible for everything that has
"happened to the Fantastic Four from the very
beginning. After all, if Reed had been more carefulwith his calculations before the infamous spaceflight,
and if he'd paid more attention to Ben Grimm's warnings, none of them would've had to become the
Fantastic Four in the first place. Just as if Victor Von Doom had paid more attention to his calculations
and Reed's warnings, his invention wouldn't have
(literally) blown up in his face. Okay, in the story
Reed didn't bring up that particular parallel, but Ifind that parallel interesting anyway.
So why did Richards staff his stolen spacecraft with his friends (only one of whom had any space
experience), and subsequently ignore any concerns they had about the risks? Some might say it's because he's
a colossal douche; I don't think it's quite that simple.
See, Reed had an encounter with Gormuu, a hostile alien from the planet Kraalo, shortly before the
spaceflight, so he knew quite well how dangerous outer space was, and how much the Earth needed to have a
defense against dangerous extraterrestrials. He couldn't convince the government of that, however, and
they cut his funding and scrubbed the launch. Desperate to prove himself, he enlisted the help of
people he knew would understand how important this mission was to him: his closest friends Ben, Sue, and
Johnny Storm. Part of his reason for downplaying their concerns about the spaceflight (and especially cosmic
radiation) was his sheer desperation. He needed the project to be a success, and he couldn't bear it
if his friends lost faith in him as the government had.
Then the accident happened, and their faith in him was shaken anyway. Especially Ben, who was the most notably resentful.
As I said, this creates a fascinating parallel between Reed and Dr. Doom, as they each spearheaded science
happened to the Fantastic Four from the very
beginning. After all, if Reed had been more careful
with his calculations before the infamous spaceflight,
and if he'd paid more attention to Ben Grimm's
warnings, none of them would've had to become the
Fantastic Four in the first place. Just as if Victor
Von Doom had paid more attention to his calculations
and Reed's warnings, his invention wouldn't have
(literally) blown up in his face. Okay, in the story
Reed didn't bring up that particular parallel, but I
find that parallel interesting anyway.
So why did Richards staff his stolen spacecraft with
his friends (only one of whom had any space
experience), and subsequently ignore any concerns they
had about the risks? Some might say it's because he's
a colossal douche; I don't think it's quite that
simple.
See, Reed had an encounter with Gormuu, a hostile
alien from the planet Kraalo, shortly before the
spaceflight, so he knew quite well how dangerous outer
space was, and how much the Earth needed to have a
defense against dangerous extraterrestrials. He
couldn't convince the government of that, however, and
they cut his funding and scrubbed the launch.
Desperate to prove himself, he enlisted the help of
people he knew would understand how important this
mission was to him: his closest friends Ben, Sue, and
Johnny Storm. Part of his reason for downplaying their
concerns about the spaceflight (and especially cosmic
radiation) was his sheer desperation. He needed the project to be a success, and he couldn't bear it
if his friends lost faith in him as the government
had.
Then the accident happened, and their faith in him was
shaken anyway. Especially Ben, who was the most
notably resentful.
As I said, this creates a fascinating parallel between
Reed and Dr. Doom, as they each spearheaded science
projects that rained violent karma upon them for
arrogantly ignoring the concerns of their colleagues.
In that way, it's not surprising that the two of them
became arch-nemeses; they're two sides of the same
coin.
The important difference between them lies in what
they each did next. After Victor discovered that his
face had been scarred (the extent is unimportant, as
he'd find even the tiniest scratch to be
unacceptable), he dropped out of college, went into
exile, studied sorcery under an order of Tibetan
monks, and (according to John Byrne), managed to frell
up his face even more by putting on an iron mask he
was too preoccupied to notice was red-hot.
Contrast this with Reed, who after the cosmic
radiation transformed himself and his friends,
arranged for them to live in the Baxter Building in
Manhattan as celebrity explorers so they wouldn't
spend the rest of their days as lab specimens.
Doom's exile would make him seem to be the more alone
of the two, but it seems to me there's something
incredibly solitary about Reed as well. Even as the
leader of a four-person team, his guilt causes him to
distance himself from the others, usually through his
constant stream of technobabble and his frequent,
extended retreats into his lab. It's also interesting
to note that Reed's teammates were apparently unaware
of his reasoning behind the creation of the FF; part
of him wants to protect them from the truth; the other
part wants to protect himself from their rejection.
It's not the most flattering picture one could paint
of Reed, but it's honest and it's human.
When writing Reed Richards, one should strive to keep
that humanity in mind. He's not perfect. He's a deeply
flawed man with insecurities that make his nickname,"Mr. Fantastic", somewhat ironic. Beneath the
technobabble and the exposition and the dull exterior
lies a character rife with pathos and potential. As
useful as he in terms of figuring out how things work,
there's more to him than that. Delve into his likes,
his dislikes, his private thoughts, and the colossal
burden of guilt that he carries around. Explore what
makes him happy as well -- exploring the unknown is a
great start for that, as he's doing exactly what he
loves to do in life (though one reason he doesn't
enjoy it more is that he has to watch out for his
teammates safety as well as his own, which forces him
to be deadly serious during missions). Give him a
cause to undertake -- a mission to complete -- and
watch how strident he becomes. Show what this man is
like, warts and all.
Few writers seem to know what to do with him, whether
in fanfiction or profiction. That's largely due to a
general lack of understanding of what makes him tick;
hopefully I've been able to combat that a bit by
showing what makes him tick. But ultimately, this
essay can only do so much. Reed is an explorer, so it
only makes sense that the best way to figure him out
is to explore the character. That's what I've done in
different FF-related fanfiction projects -- like Fantastic Four 2099UGR, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and even my own scriptment of a Fantastic
Four movie -- and I have to say it works. By exploring
the explorer, I've managed to become irrevocably
fascinated by one of the most misunderstood characters
in the Marvel Universe.
Curse you, Richards.