Deep within the recesses of this blog is an article from over a year ago, discussing the then-upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Frankly, I wasn’t all that excited about it. I haven’t necessarily come around, but I can say that I plan on seeing it this weekend, and while my hopes aren’t high I’m at least open to being pleasantly surprised. If nothing else, it seems like they’re taking a lot of cues from the Ultimate Fantastic Four series, penned by such notable names as Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, and Mike Carey. Good source material, to say the least. And above all else, despite all my complaints, I truly want this film to be good. Because Reed Richards is, hands down, my favorite character in all of comics.
I think the character of Reed Richards can be broken down into four facets. He’s a complicated man, and no doubt has more going on than that, but in my mind these concepts embody the core of what makes him both unique and wonderful in the world of comics. First and foremost, Reed is a Scientist. It’s important to bear in mind, and while he’s far from the only one on Marvel’s roster, his distinct focus on scientific progress and creation fundamentally separates him from someone like Iron Man, who’s very intelligent, but at the end of the day solves most of his problems by shooting them with lasers. Reed’s invented his fair share of laser weapons, but he tends to approach things from a more theoretical perspective, quite often because the problems he’s addressing are fundamentally bigger than can easily be resolved with applied force. It’s the scientist aspect of Reed that leads to all the wonderful toys the Four have – the Ultimate Nullifier, the Fantasticar (a wonderful piece of comic book-y lore that will sadly never see the light of day in the films), and even more modern stuff like The Bridge from Hickman’s run. These things are more often than not dangerous, but they represent a core tenant of who Reed Richards is, and more importantly how he approaches problems: when in doubt, he builds a machine.
The scientist portion of Reed is probably the most well known, and certainly gets the most press. However, it’s important to note that while he’s a nerd, Reed Richards is in no way helpless. In fact, quite the opposite; at his core, Reed is an Explorer, a man who is more than willing to take risks for the chance to expand his horizons, increase the sum total of his knowledge, and generally just to enjoy himself. The origin of the Four has always been in a state of tentative flux, as technology marches steadily forward. What rarely changes, however, are the circumstances: it’s always an exploratory expedition, and it’s always Reed’s idea. The Four are on some level astronauts (or at least have traces of that in their DNA), and it can not be overstated how incredibly demanding that job is, on multiple levels both mental and physical. None of them are stupid, and none of them are in anything approaching bad shape. It’s very easy to see Reed as the nerdy kid at the lunch table, especially in a world of muscle bound superheroes, but in many ways he’s the modern successor to characters like Doc Savage, the pulp action hero and so-called ‘perfect man’. More than that, Reed has an explorer’s courage. He’s not afraid to take risks, or to step into the unknown. And while that can get him into trouble, it’s also what makes him the man he is.
Of course, a boosted intelligence and a lack of fear can, occasionally, get someone into trouble. This leads us to our third facet: Reed Richards, for all his sentiment, is very much a Pragmatist. Now many writers tend to exaggerate this trait to the point where Reed becomes outright villainous, so let me just quickly point out that pragmatic is not evil (besides, if you wanted an Evil Reed, we’ve already got The Maker). The issue essentially comes down to this: the burden of always knowing the solution to a problem is that sometimes the solution isn’t pretty. Now, Reed is always willing to think outside the box, to try to find some way around what he sees as a terrible fate. Unfortunately, he’s also smart enough to realize that some things just can’t be avoided. By virtue of his gifts, and his status in the Marvel Universe, he’s often called on to make very hard decisions, and as such forced to choose between doing what is right and what is good. Now, as I said above, this doesn’t make Reed evil. However, it gives him a slightly less black-and-white morality than some of the heroes he finds himself working with, yet another factor that separates him from the community at large.
But he never finds himself all that separated, and moreover he can never truly walk down too dark a path, for one simple reason. Above all else, more than a Scientist, an Explorer, and a Pragmatist, Reed Richards is a Father. He’s one of the few people in the Marvel Universe with a family; his wife Susan, and their two children Franklin and Val (who are themselves two of my favorite characters and well worth talking about), and even Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm serving as odd, pseudo-brothers. The Fantastic Four are a family unit, in a way that teams like the Avengers and the X-Men could never be. That carries with it a great sense of responsibility, as well as a great sense of love. And I think it’s this simple fact that keeps Reed grounded, that pulls him back down to Earth when he’s off solving problems in some distant galaxy.
As I said above, I’m feeling open-minded about this new Fantastic Four movie. More than anything else, I’m curious to see what Miles Teller brings to Reed. He’s a complex character, with quite a bit going on, but Teller is an actor that I’ve come to enjoy quite a bit in the last few years – I thought he was excellent in the criminally underrated ‘Rabbit Hole’, and of course films like The Spectacular Now and Whiplash speak for themselves. I’m curious how he’ll incorporate Reed’s fatherhood, or at least some sense of family, seeing as the characters are so young, but then again all things have a beginning – perhaps that’s what we’ll see here. Either way, I’ll be watching.
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