Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics' flagship superhero team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuting in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). more...

Although the group's membership has occasionally changed temporarily, it almost always consists of these four core friends and family-members, who gained superpowers after being exposed to cosmic rays during an outer space science mission:

• Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the leader of the group, a genius-level scientist who can stretch his body.
• The Invisible Woman (Susan Richards, née Storm; originally the Invisible Girl), Reed Richards' wife, and the team's second-in-command, who can become invisible at will and create invisible force fields.
• The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Sue's brother, who can surround himself with flames and fly.
• The Thing (Ben Grimm), their grumpy friend with a heart of gold, who possesses superhuman strength and durability, but with a monstrous, craggy exterior that looks as if made of orange scales or plates (often mistakenly referred to as "rocks").

Since its introduction — in which the groundbreaking team did not even adhere to the convention of superhero costumes its first two issues — the Fantastic Four has been portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional yet loving family. Uniquely at the time, and also breaking convention with comic-book archetypes, its members would squabble and even hold animosities both deep and petty toward one another at times, though ultimately truly caring for and supporting each other.

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