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Superhero Blog
A superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility, who usually has a colorful name and costume and who possesses abilities beyond those of normal human beings. |
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July 14, 2003 | |
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Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four (sometimes called the FF) are a Marvel Comics superhero group. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (1961).Although the Fantastic Four membership has occasionally changed temporarily, the team usually consists of four friends who gained superpowers after being exposed to cosmic rays: Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the leader of the group, a scientist who can stretch his body. The Invisible Woman (Susan Richards, née Storm; originally the Invisible Girl), his wife, the second-in-command of the group who can become invisible at will and create transparent force fields. The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), her brother, who can surround himself in flames and fly. The Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy friend, who possesses superior strength and whose body is made of craggy orange rock. Since their introduction, the Fantastic Four has been portrayed as a dysfunctional superhero family of sorts. They squabble and even hold some deep animosity towards one another, but ultimately truly love and care for one another. The team launched the revival of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, giving them pivotal place in the history of American comic books. They have remained more or less popular since and have been adapted into other media. The Fantastic Four acquired their superhuman abilities after an experimental rocket designed by the scientist Reed Richards passed through a storm of cosmic rays on its test flight. Upon crash landing back on Earth, the four occupants of the craft found themselves transformed and possessed of bizarre new abilities. Richards, who took the name Mister Fantastic, was now able to stretch his body into nearly any shape he could imagine (similar to the earlier Plastic Man). His fiancee, Susan Storm, gained the ability to become invisible at will and named herself the Invisible Girl (later the Invisible Woman). She later developed the ability to project force fields, create invisible objects, and turn other objects visible/invisible. Her younger brother, Johnny Storm, was possessed with the incendiary powers of the Human Torch, enabling him to control fire, project burning bolts of flame from his body, and fly. Finally, pilot Ben Grimm was transformed into an orange-skinned craggy monster with incredible strength and a nearly invulnerable hide. Filled with self loathing and self pity, he dubbed himself the Thing. The four characters were all modelled after the four classical Greek elements--earth (The Thing), fire (The Human Torch), wind (The Invisible Girl) and water (the pliable and ductile Mr. Fantastic). These same four elements also inspired Jack Kirby's earlier creations, the Challengers of the Unknown. The team of adventurers have used their fantastic abilities to protect humanity, the earth and the universe from a number of threats. Propelled, for the main part, by Richards' innate scientific curiosity the team have explored space, the Negative Zone, the Microverse, other dimensions and nearly every hidden valley, nation, and lost civilization on the planet. They have had a number of headquarters, most notably the Baxter Building in New York city. The Baxter Building was replaced by Four Freedoms Plaza, built at the same location, after the Baxter Building's destruction at the hands of Kristoff Vernard, adopted son of the Fantastic Four's seminal villan Doctor Doom (and rumored half-brother of Mr. Fantastic). Pier 4, a warehouse on the New York waterfront, served as a temporary headquarters for the group after Four Freedoms Plaza was condemned, due to the actions of another superhero team, the Thunderbolts. Most recently, an orbiting satellite version of the Baxter Building has been used. |
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| MARVEL, SPIDER-MAN, DOCTOR OCTOPUS and all MARVEL character names and distinctive likenesses thereof: TM & © 2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. MARVEL and SPIDER-MAN: Trademarks registered in the USA and certain other countries. © 2003 Sony Pictures Digital Inc. All rights reserved. |