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
