The
Fantastic Four is an internationally-renowned group
of superhuman champions (often dubbed the world's
premiere super hero team or the first family of super
heroes) based in New York City and dedicated to the
betterment of the world through scientific discovery
and defense against evil.
It
all started with a rushed test flight of an experimental
spacecraft. Years before, while a student at Empire
State University, Reed Richards began working on plans
for one of the first vehicles capable interstellar
travel. His roommate and best friend, Benjamin Grimm,
jokingly promised to pilot the craft. But Reed, after
studying to be an aeronautical engineer, finally realized
his lifelong dream. Exhausting the majority of his
vast inheritance, he funded the construction and launch
of such a starship. Other financers, particularly
the U.S. government, however, were losing interest,
and they threatened to cut him off from their funding
of the project. Reed embarked on an immediate test
flight, taking Ben Grimm with him, who had become
a successful Air Force pilot. Reed's longtime sweetheart
and fiancée, Susan Storm, and her brother,
Johnny, also joined them. Ben opposed the idea, warning
that the ship's shielding might prove inadequate against
intense forms of cosmic radiation. Nevertheless, Reed
persuaded them all to accompany him, stealing into
the launch facility, boarding the starship, and blasting
off in pursuit of scientific glory. They intended
to travel to another star system and back, but a solar
flare temporarily boosted the intensity of the ionizing
radiation in Earth's Van Allen belt.
The
spaceship encountered a bombardment of cosmic radiation,
causing both the mission to be aborted and the craft
to crash. Emerging from the ruins of the spaceship,
they discovered the radiation had mutated their bodies.
Reed gained the ability to stretch his body and limbs,
Johnny was able to fly and become engulfed in flame,
and Sue was able to bend light around her body and
become invisible. Ben, on the other hand, gained incredible
strength and durability, at the cost of being severely
disfigured. All four decided to use their powers to
better humanity and founded the Fantastic Four.
