Genius Reed Richards used his fortune to pursue his dream of advancing humanity’s spaceflight capabilities. He launched a prototype spacecraft employing an experimental drive and shielding. Exposure to cosmic rays on the flight caused Reed and his crew to develop superhuman abilities. Since that time they have become known as the Fantastic Four, some of Earth’s best-known heroes, with Reed leading the team as ‘Mister Fantastic’.

Richards visited the Kyln in order to consult with Omega Core staff about boosting its power output, just as a staggeringly large and powerful armada came through the Crunch from the Negative Zone. After escaping back to Earth, Richards and Tony Stark built a Negative Zone portal, and decided to accompany the Super-Skrull through it. They returned with a virus that destroyed the Annihilation Wave’s most powerful weapon, the Harvester of Sorrow. Reed has now returned to Earth, but continues to monitor the situation in space.

Reed Richards is driven by a limitless scientific curiosity – he’s always learning, always inventing, always exploring new avenues of research. Guilt over the failure of his prototype spacecraft makes him overly protective of his family and pushes him harder into tireless scientific exploration; he wants to expand his knowledge of everything so he never makes such a mistake again.