DC Comics' Plastic Man - The Power of Elasticity

Plastic Man is a super-hero whose unique completely malleable body chemistry allows him to stretch to great lengths and contort himself into any position imaginable. Originally a criminal nick-named "Eel" O'Brian, an accident in a chemical factory gave him his ability and he reformed to fight against crime. Woozy Winks is his bumbling best friend and side-kick. Despite being one of the most powerful entities on the planet because of the limitless nature of his powers, he has a care-free and humorous attitude towards life, leading many to not take him seriously. He has been a member of the Justice League, the All-Star Squadron and the Freedom Fighters. Plastic Man was created by Jack Cole, first appearing in Police Comics #1. (1941)


Malleable Physiology: Plastic Man's powers are derived from an accident in which his body was bathed in an unknown industrial chemical mixture that also entered into his bloodstream through a gunshot wound. This caused a body-wide mutagenic process that transformed his physiology. Eel exists in a fluid state, neither entirely liquid or solid. Plastic Man has complete control over his entire molecular structure.

• Elasticity/Plasticity: He can stretch his limbs and body to superhuman lengths and sizes. There is no known limit to how far he can stretch his body.

• Size Alteration: He can shrink himself down to a few inches tall (posed as one of Batman's utility belt pockets) or become a titan (the size of skyscrapers).

• Shape-Shifting: He can contort his body into various positions and sizes impossible for ordinary humans, such as being entirely flat so that he can slip under a door or using his fingers to pick conventional locks. He can also use it for disguise by changing the shape of his face and body. In addition, he can alter his bodily mass and physical constitution at will, there is virtually no limit to the sizes and shapes he can contort himself into.

• Superhuman Agility: These stretching powers grant Plastic Man heightened agility enabling him flexibility and coordination that is extraordinarily beyond the natural limits of the human body.

• Superhuman Strength: He can alter his strength by growing or adding more muscle.

• Color Change: The only limitation he has relates to color, which he cannot change without intense concentration. He generally does not use this ability and sticks to his red and yellow colored uniform. 

Source:  http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Plastic_Man

Meet Mr. Fantastic!

Powers and Abilities

Reed Richards gained the power of elasticity from irradiation by cosmic rays. He has the ability to convert his entire body into a highly malleable state at will, allowing him to stretch, deform, and reform himself into virtually any shape. Reed Richards has been observed as being able to utilize his stretching form in a variety of offensive and defensive manners, such as compressing himself into a ball and ricocheting into enemies or flattening himself into a trampoline or a parachute to rescue a teammate. Reed is also able to shape his hands into hammer and mace style weapons, and concentrate his mass into his fist. All of these feats used to require extreme concentration; however, due to mental and physical training, he can now perform these feats at will. The most extreme demonstration of Reed's powers is when at one point he was able to increase his size and mass to Thing-like proportions which also increased his physical strength.

Despite this, Reed Richards' strength comes more from the powers of his mind than the powers of his body; indeed, he once told Spider-Man that he considers his stretching powers to be expendable compared to his intellect (although it has been implied that Reed's intellect may be a result of his powers, as he once visited an alternate universe where his other self had never been exposed to cosmic rays and was notably less intelligent than him). For virtually his entire publication history, Richards has been depicted as the most intelligent human in the Marvel Universe. A visionary theoretician and an inspired machine smith, he has made breakthroughs in such varied fields as space travel, time travel, extra-dimensional travel, biochemistry, robotics, computers, synthetic polymers, communications, mutations, transportation, holography, energy generation, spectral analysis and more. However, he is never afraid to admit when others have greater expertise in certain fields than him (such as recognizing that Doctor Octopus possesses greater knowledge of radiation, that Hank Pym is a superior biochemist, or that Spider-Man can think of a problem from a biology perspective where he would be unable to do so, since his expertise is in physics.). Richards has earned Ph.D.s in mathematics, physics, and engineering. His patents are so valuable that he is able to bankroll the Fantastic Four, Inc., without any undue financial stress. Mind control is rarely effective on him and when it does work, it wears off sooner than it would a normal person, due to what he describes as an "elastic consciousness".
Richards is also an accomplished fighter due to his years of combat experience with the Fantastic Four, and has earned a black belt in judo.

Equipment and technology

Although the Fantastic Four have numerous devices, crafts, and weapons, there are some items that Reed Richards carries with him at all times.

Fantastiflare: Launches a fiery "4" into the sky that is used during combat situations to let other members of the group know their location.


Uniform Computer: Like all the Fantastic Four's costumes and the rest of Reed's wardrobe, his suit is made of "unstable molecules". This means that the suit is attuned to his powers, which is why Johnny's costume doesn't burn when he "flames on", Sue's costume turns invisible when she does, and Reed's costume stretches with him. The costume also insulates them from electrical assaults. In addition, the team's uniforms are also, in essence, wearable computers. Their costumes have a complete data processing and telemetry system woven into the material of the uniform on a molecular level. This forms a network with the entire team, providing a constant, real-time uplink of everyone's physical condition as well as their location and current situation. The suit is capable of displaying data and touch-pad controls on the gauntlets. Its sensors can track all of the team's uniforms and provide a picture of their immediate vicinity. The suit has an intricate scanner system which can detect things around the wearer, from how many people are in the next room to what dimension or planet they are on. Reed can also up-link the bodysuit to any computer by stretching his fingertips to filament size and plugging them into an I/O data-port. With this, Reed can establish a fairly comprehensive database of any computer's cybernetic protocols and encryption algorithms.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Fantastic