TheTragic Tale Of Dr Fantastic

Reed Richards was a promising post doc at Empire State University….until a tragic accident changed his life forever. Rescuing his rival Victor Von doom from his own miscalculation, Reed was horrifically scarred, his face mutilated beyond repair. Catching his reflection in a piece of shattered glass, he was traumatized, determined never to let anyone look upon the unspeakable damage. An enraged Von Doom accused Richards of sabotaging his equipment but was expelled in disgrace for unnecessary risks.

During the long months of recovery, the only ones to stand beside Reed were his best and truest friend Ben Grimm and his potential lover Susan Storm. While welcoming Ben’s support, Reed grew distant from Sue, too afraid to allow her close for fear of his appearance driving her away. He donned a metallic mask to hide the damage and became further reclusive, throwing himself further and further into the pursuit of knowledge. He gained the nickname ‘Dr Fantastic’ after he started developing his own private inventions. He and Ben spent several years in a special ops unit of the United States Military where, among other things, they rescued kidnapped billionaire Tony Stark, saved scientist Bruce Banner from an attempted sabotage of his gamma bomb project (helping to create the hero Gamma Man when Stark used the same technology that had kept him alive from a shrapnel wound to turn Banner’s gamma poisoning into the power source for a suit of advanced armour) and helped Professor Charles Xavier stop the evil alien Lucifer, saving him from being crippled in the process.

Several more years followed before the two friends wound up in Korea, helping Xavier once again as they chased down his step brother Cain Marko. The four stumbled upon an ancient temple where Marko tried to steal a mysterious red ruby that promised him incredible powers. Ben struggled with Marko, the stone held between them, before the temple started to collapse. Marko perished while Grimm survived…imbued with the powers the gem and turned into the ever lovin’ Juggernaut!

The two became a famous superhero duo, managing to prevent an underground invasion by the mysterious Mole Man and rescuing Cape Canaveral from Xavier’s former friend and ally Magneto. This act of heroism gave them enough pull to schedule a deep space mission to examine a cosmic anomaly…something that became awkward when their project director and back up pilot turned out to be Sue Storm.

Awkward feelings aside the three man crew managed to make their flight window and in the process stop a scheme to conquer the world by the alien race the Kree and the Eric the Red. Unfortunately while escaping the defeated aliens, the ship was caught in an energy storm upon re-entry. The Juggernaut managed to save himself and Dr Fantastic by diving out the cockpit window, proving tough enough to survive the extreme temperature and impact while at the same time sheltering his friend. Sue was left behind as the ship fell apart, but miraculously survived…becoming the new host to the incredibly powerful Phoenix Force! While overjoyed that she had survived, Reed would always carry the guilt that Sue had almost died because of his scientific curiosity.

The only person more happy than Reed and Ben to hear Sue survived was her kid brother, Johnny Strom. He was even more amazed when he found out about her new super powers, spending days day dreaming about some day gaining his own super powers. This daydreaming inevitably affected his school work to the point that he was forced to cover a science exhibition on radiation to gain extra credit. There he was bitten by, of all things, a radioactive spider! Dawning a home made costume and a mask to keep his exploits secret from his disapproving sister, who wanted to keep Johnny out of the superhero life, he became the self proclaimed Amazing Spider-Man, the most media successful superhero in history! He would later reveal his identity to the public and his friends because no matter which reality your in that’s what Johnny Storm would do, but still kept the disguise, playing superhero for the masses. He acquired his own little rouges gallery of small time cons like Paste Pot Pete and the Shocker, but still proved him self when it came to the big league super threats.

The four united under the name the Fantastic Four, electing Reed as their leader despite his protests. Deciding he’d been granted a second chance at life after his accident, Reed dedicate himself to making his friends lives as fruitful as possible and making them a world worth living in. Together the Fantastic Four stood together against threats such as the Molecule Man, Namor the Submariner, Annihilus and Blastaar, the warring rulers of the Negative Zone, the Puppet Master, step father to Ben Grimm’s lover Alicia Masters, the Wizard and his Frightful Four, and the world devouring Galactus and his herald the Silver Surfer, who grew to hate the Four for possessing the power to truly change their barbaric world, but refusing to. They wouldn’t have to do so alone, as Gamma joined a group of other heroes to form the Avengers and Charles Xavier formed his X Men team in the hope of furthering mutant rights, something the Juggernaut strongly supported. Other heroes seemed to grow up around them, such as the Canadian super team Alpha Flight led by the mysterious but feisty Wolverine, Luke Cage and Iron Fist the heroes for hire, Daredevil, the man without fear, and the resurrected legend of World War Two, Captain America. Perhaps the oddest and closets of these heroes was Peter Parker…the Green Goblin!

Despite their many adventures Reed could still never make that final push and admit his feelings for Phoenix. Little did they know that despite their many triumphs their greatest threat was waiting in the shadows.

Something began to slowly break the Four apart, Ben becoming more distant, Johnny more arrogant, and Sue more frustrated with Reed’s inability to admit to his feelings. The breaking point was when the Storm Twins finally left the team. Despite Ben’s condolences Reed threw himself back into his work…discovering evidence of possible magical manipulations within the team.

Returning home, Ben Grimm was horrified and enraged to find Alicia had been murdered. The apparent attacker, a hooded man in a green cloak and robes, somehow separated Ben from his powerful jewel and teleported him to the Nevada desert…just as a newly built Gamma Bomb exploded, mutating Ben into an enraged hulking brute that began a bloody rampage across the mid west and back towards New York.
Responding to an apparent distress call from his best friend, the Green Goblin arrived at their usual meeting place expecting Johnny Storm…but instead was attacked by an fanged alien creature in a mockery of Spider-Man’s costume, calling itself Venom!
After crippling the Goblin by impaling him on his own glider, Venom began draining New York citizens of their adrenaline and causing general havoc, revealing it it’s power!

Reed prepared to face his two friends after hearing news reports of the Hulk defeating the Avengers just outside New York, before the Baxter Building was attacked by a familiar bird shaped entity…Sue! But not the Sue he remembered. Escorted by a green hooded magic user, this Sue was a vindictive woman who’d been leading a secret life as the Black Queen of the Masters of evil…led by none other then Victor Von Doom, Sorcerer Supreme!

After he was expelled all those years ago Doom spent many years wondering the earth, becoming skilled in the mystic arts. Hearing of Richard’s near constant success, Doom grew mad with jealousy, finally trading his soul to Mephisto to trick his way into the tutelage of the Ancient One, murdering Stephen Strange and Baron Mordo in the process. Powerful beyond belief, Doom had manipulated the team for months, studying the effects of gamma radiation in regards to the psyche, seeking out suitably aggressive alien symbiotes, and secretly breaking loose Sue’s dark side. The act of murdering Alicia Masters had unleashed all of Ben Grimm’s inner fury, personified by the gamma rays. Johnny had been secretly exposed to the symbiote for months, and Sue now believe herself to be power mad and in love with Victor. All this just to break Richard’s spirit.

And all he could do was laugh.

Managing to escape with the Fantasticar, Reed managed to free both Ben and Johnny from their own personal hells and unite them and every other hero on the planet against the Masters of Evil: Loki, Enchantress, Executioner and Ultron. The real challenge was the Black Queen. She shrugged off everything…until she finally had to confront Reed.
Unable to deliver the killing stroke, she vanished into the stars, leaving behind a physically and emotionally exhausted Fantastic Four. Then Doom struck.

Easily defeating what was left of the heroes, Doom snidely commented that if all Reed could do when facing him was laugh then he should fid dying slowly at his hands quiet amusing. Reed explained that the thought had crossed his mind…but in reality, what he was honestly laughing at was the fact that despite it all…he was happy. He then revealed his trump card…a miniature version of the after life portal device Von Doom had wrongly constructed at ESU, the perfect knife through all counter spells protecting Doom from Mephisto. Horrified, Doom unleashed a magical bolt straight into Reed’s heart…but not before Dr Fantastic opened a portal to the after life. A gloating Mephisto reached through and dragged a screaming Doom to living damnation.

The damage was done. Dr Fantastic died, his body vanishing in a bird shaped flash of light. Johnny and Ben re-built their lives as best they could, working as part of the Initiative, training a better form of hero for the new generation. And somewhere out in deep space, planets and stars were save from destruction by a gestalt Phoenix entity, always leaving behind a brief constellation shaped like a man and a woman in an eternal embrace. While none could make out the man’s face…it was clear that both were eternally content.

(So…cool What If…? enough to warrant an actual story?)