basics

reed nathaniel richards. thirty six years old. born november 1st. scorpio. six foot two. one hundred seventy pounds. caucasian. brown hair, graying on the sides. brownish hazel eyes. full scruffy beard and mustache, also graying a little. tends to wear dress pants and long sleeved button up shirts, or dress pants with a long sleeved shirt and sweater, and his classic white lab coat. other possible wardrobe choices are jeans, non-graphic t-shirts, pajama pants, and his fantastic four uniform. first impression is quiet, distracted, a little anxious, a little closed off. always carries a deep brown colored messenger bag for his belongings, which include notebooks, loose pens and pencils, voice recorder, his wallet, special identification card on a lanyard to allow himself access into labs, and additional card that is pinned to the front breast pocket of his lab coat. other items include mints, candy, loose cash and change, daily newspaper, science magazines, crossword and other brain puzzles. has and carries a smart phone, but does not keep it on his person, and constantly leaves it laying around while forgetting where he's placed it, therefore the generic ringtone is set rather loud. has also discovered over the years that he is panromantic and demisexual, meaning gender is not a factor for him when it comes to love, but he must be close and have a connection with the other person to sleep with them.

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history

birthplace: central city, california
father: nathaniel richards, famed physicist, disappeared
mother: evelyn richards, scientist, passed away when reed was seven years old

early childhood: reed displayed the same level of knowledge and interest in science as his parents, and his father supported this interest, nurturing his son to explore education in those respective fields. reed's keen intellect caused him to skip several grades, eventually graduating high school in central city by the time he was thirteen.

educational years and pre-fantastic four: by reed's fourteenth birthday, he was attending college at cal tech university, majoring in mathematics, physics and mechanical engineering. those great strides brought him across the country to harvard university and the massachusetts institute of technology, where he furthered his studies in science, also spending some time abroad to study at the university of vienna in austria. when he returned at the age of eighteen, reed shifted his studies to state university in new york, working on his fifth degree.

by then, he'd received bachelor's and master's degrees in physics and mechanical engineering, and state university gave him his ph.d. by the time he turned twenty two, reed had finished his education, also completing two years as a military scientist. he spent the next three years working for the army in communications, while continuing his personal work on the lifelong dream he had since he began his university years - building a starship for interstellar travel. it was during this time that reed's father mysteriously disappeared, but not before leaving his son two billion dollars.

reed's starship project and creation of the fantastic four: though reed was heartbroken over his father's disappearance, he moved forward, using his inheritance money and government funding to back his starship project. he spent the next three years building it, and by the time he was twenty eight years old, the government informed him they were going to shut the project down. reed's encounter and victory over an alien named gormuu from the planet kraalo pushed him to want to succeed in his starship project, but the government did not share the sentiment.

reed recruited his friend ben grimm to pilot the starship before the government could take away funding. ben warned reed that the protective shields on the ship may not be strong enough, but reed countered ben's worry, and the pair, along with their friends sue storm and her brother johnny, went into space. as ben predicted, the ship's protective shields did not meet the standards needed to be safe, and they were forced to return back to earth. but before they could make it, the high levels of cosmic radiation from the unexpected solar flare they'd encountered caused irreparable changes to their bodies.

upon their return to earth, the four realized the solar flare had given them each unique abilities, and once reed convinced the other three to use their abilities for good, the teammates became the fantastic four. reed himself also convinced his team to create superhero personas and give themselves a team name in order for the public to embrace them more easily; he knew they would be feared if they didn't have a good public image. this would make it easier for them to protect civilians - and help other superheroes.

avengers: infinity war + the snap + the snap reversal: during the events of infinity war and the snap, reed agreed to stay local in central city, california, having signed the sokovia accords and sided with the registration act. like tony stark, reed sided with the government. "reed's true motive for supporting the registration act was due to his development of a working version of isaac asimov's (fictional) psychohistory concept. his application of this science indicated to him that billions would die in escalating conflicts without the presence of the act." (marvel wiki) for fear of billions of people dying, reed sided with the act, only for his fear to come true later on - with the snap. while he had no blood family among the fallen, he lost many of his fellow superhero family, and while that left him distraught, it was the fact that half the universe had been obliterated that really broke him. the guilt and depression set in afterwards, reed constantly telling himself that there had to have been more he could have done to stop the snap from happening, only to remember that it had - and it was too late.

reed struggled and spent majority of his time trying to find a way to fix things, searching for some loop in science that could magically bring everyone back, only to hear about the avengers' plan to travel back through time. it was something reed hadn't thought of, despite his knowledgeable strides in time travel; the distress from the situation caused a glitch in his scientific thought process. along with everyone else on the team, reed hoped the time travel idea would work, and when it did, and everyone returned back to their rightful place, reed was one of the billions who were more than happy to have them home. and like many others, it took some time for reed to re-adjust, but soon things were seemingly back to normal - and reed returned to his regular work, whether it was in the lab at central city or out being a superhero. however, since the snap was reversed, reed has built a lab in new york near the avengers compound, so he can stay close to the team in case a joint effort is ever needed. besides, one can never have too many backup science labs, correct?

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personality

reed's focus in life has always been his studies and his work. it's been said that he focuses on it so much that he forgets other things, which is true, and this is due to his un-diagnosed mild level autism. this causes him to not recognize social cues, have problems with social interaction in general, and have issues focusing. he did so well in school due to his advanced knowledge and intellect, and his focus was on his studies, however, his interaction with others has always been limited. he is not a social butterfly by any means, and tends to prefer time alone, or with a chosen few he knows he can trust.

interacting with reed means you will see him distracted by things other than your conversation, repeating things you have said as a way of understanding and processing, not seeing how certain things could be considered right or wrong, missing the bigger picture, etc. he is unable to piece together things the way most people do, so while the fantastic four may be trying to defeat a villain, reed's focus may be on why the villain turned out that way, and how to redeem them and negotiate. reed's first thought is not violence, but rather negotiation and solving problems, even going so far as to help an enemy who is suffering - despite the fact that they are an enemy.

reed does deal with frustration, guilt and depression when he can't solve things in his respective fields, but when it comes to other fields of interest that he doesn't have that much intellect in, it doesn't affect him in the same way. for instance, if someone were to bake a cake and become upset that they "ruined" it, reed wouldn't see it that way - nor would he understand how they "ruined" it in the first place. it would be then that his non-sympathetic view can be seen as cold and hurtful, when it reality, he simply doesn't understand. he has trouble connecting with emotions, especially emotions of others, which makes relationships even more difficult.

this is not to say that he doesn't care about people, because he does; he is close to his loved ones and cares for their well being, and strives to protect humankind and assist others who do the same. his process of being social is just different. he has heart and soul, but displaying it can be a challenge. he is science-based, which is where he defaults. he also has issues with structure, schedule and diet, needing things to be relatively the same during day-to-day, though he's gotten a little looser on this over the years due to his role as a superhero.

he also cannot stand certain food textures, and tends to snack throughout the day instead of eating proper meals to keep healthy, and sometimes forgets to eat at all. sleeping can also be a problem if his brain and his thoughts don't quiet down enough, as he often strives to continue his work and forgets that he needs sleep to function well. reminders are good for reed, since he has trouble on his own, so his smart phone has a variety of reminder alerts set so he doesn't forget things - like cleaning his house, going grocery shopping, paying bills, doing laundry, etc.

more information on autism is located here: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20352928

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powers & equipment

● plasticity
● dense flesh
● contain explosions, return/redirect projectiles
● elongation
● grappling/restraining
● stretching at a fast pace
● wide variety of shape changing, tiny to large
● semi solid liquid state
● super genius intelligence
● hypnotism

fantasi-flare
● shoots the fiery "4" symbol in the sky to alert the team of each other's locations

uniform
● specially made uniform molded to fit and move with reed's abilities. protects against electrical attacks. uniform itself is a "wearable computer", which can detect reed's health, his location, his surroundings. can also be uploaded to other computers.

universal translator
● detects and translates all languages, including alien/extraterrestrial.

fantasi-car
● a car as well as a mode of air transportation. can separate into four separate pods if needed.

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trivia

● failed his driving test four times.
● has won a number of nobel prizes.
● has patents that keep his work and the fantastic four funded for a long time to come.
● master of electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, electronics, chemistry, physics and human + alien biology.
● has made many intelligent strides in space travel, time travel, extra-dimensional travel, biochemistry, robotics, computers, synthetic polymers, communications, mutations, transportation, holography, energy generation, spectral analysis.
● one of the top experts on alien races/civilizations, alien languages and travel to other dimensions.
● spends time rewriting the work of stephen hawking.
● identifies as agnostic.
● agrees that magic clearly exists, but doesn't quite understand how it works yet.
● when reed sleeps, parts of his body are known to relax so much that they "sag", given the nature of his skin-related abilities.

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