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

Superhero Science Fiction - Becoming a Superhero!

Batman's Bulletproof Suit

Night in and night out, Batman keeps the streets of Gotham City safe from crime and villainy. One of the most extraordinary things about Batman is this: Despite the fact that he's a superhero, he doesn't actually posses any super powers. Instead of relying on unearthly abilities, Batman uses ingenuity, deception and clever gadgetry to give him an edge over Gotham's criminal element. Nothing instills fear in the hearts of Gotham's wrongdoers more than Batman's menacing appearance, and that appearance is all about the Batsuit.The Batsuit does a lot more for Batman than make him look scary.

On its own, the suit is a pretty impressive piece of technology. The Batsuit combines armor, communications and combat technologies into one state-of-the-art crime-fighting system.

The main element of the Batsuit is a modified, advanced infantry armor system called the Nomax Survival Suit."Batman Begins"

Nomex (Fireproof fabrics) are put to the test

Watch Taking the Heat on PBS. See more from NOVA.

The science behind Kevlar

Watch Making Stuff: Stronger on PBS. See more from NOVA.

Fireproof Superhero Suits!

This video shows official issue flight suits worn by all US air crews made of over 92 percent Nomex to protect them from the possibility of cockpit fires and other mishaps.

Recently, troops riding in ground vehicles have also begun wearing Nomex for added protection during tactical operations. These flightsuits provide approximately 6-10 seconds of flash fire burn protection, giving the service member increased odds of avoiding severe burns.

How might these materials aid a superhero as well? As director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury had access to some of the most advanced technology on Earth; he often wears a bulletproof, fireproof uniform of Kevlar and Beta Cloth. (see below for an explanation of Beta Cloth)

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/universe/Fury,_Nick#ixzz1gLljSy5c

Beta cloth is a type of fireproof silica fiber cloth used in the manufacture of Apollo/Skylab A7L space suits and in other specialized applications. Beta cloth consists of fine woven silica fiber, similar to fiberglass. The resulting fabric will not burn, and will melt only at temperatures exceeding 650 °C.

To reduce its tendency to crease or tear when manipulated, and to increase durability, the fibers may be coated with Teflon. Beta cloth was developed by a Manned Spacecraft Center team led by Frederick S. Dawn and including Matthew I. Radofsky working with the Dow-Corning Company.

It was implemented in NASA space suits after the deadly 1967 Apollo 1 launchpad fire; the astronauts' nylon suits melted and fused together in the fire. The fire-resistant Beta cloth was among changes to make the Apollo spacecraft and systems safer in the case of a similar situation.

Can we make a superhero spacesuit?

How does Superman survive in space? Shouldn't his blood boil?
Maybe the secret lies in his super suit.