There aresomany heroes in the Marvel Universe, but there’s one specific hero that has always stood out to me as having incredibly dark potential. While readers have seen variants of evil Wolverine and Daredevil across the Multiverse, there’s one hero who has consistently appeared as evil again and again across the Multiverse. WhileThe Fantastic Fourare undeniable heroes in 616, I’m not so sure about the rest of the universe.
There’s no denying that Reed Richards is one of the kindest and most helpful characters on Earth. Granted, he’s a little weird and his stretchy powers can be pretty freaky, but at the end of the day Reed Richards is a bonafide hero. He has fought to save the world several times and has used his intelligence to make the world a better place as best as he can. But there’s just something about him that I’ve never been able to get over. While there are always evil versions of characters in the Multiverse, Reed has been pretty consistently evil.
There have been several alternate universes where Mister Fantastic became a villain and often aided in the downfall of his world. It’s a pretty strange thing to see, considering Mister Fantastic is such a hero in the 616 universe. While there are always evil versions of characters, it’s not usually so consistent. There aren’t nearly as many evil versions of Peter Parker as there are Reed Richards, which I’ve always found odd. While it could just be writers continually reusing Reed to tell the story they want, there could also be something deeper going on.
During the events ofMarvel Zombies: Dead Days, a terrifying infection broke loose on Earth. Anyone who came into contact with the virus wasimmediately transformed into a bloodthirsty zombie, but they retained all of their intelligence. This meant that superpowered zombies were practically impossible, as they still had full control over their powers and knowledge. Naturally, the world’s greatest minds immediately started looking for a cure, but not Reed Richards. Instead, he became obsessed with studying the zombies directly.
Marvel Zombies Officially Assembles the Darkest Avengers Team Yet
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While studying the zombies, Reed’s mind broke. I think it was most likely due to the death of his children, but Reed clearly went insane. Instead of helping to find a cure for this zombie infection, Reed ended up believing that zombies were the next level of human evolution. He then used his scientific knowledge to extract the virus from the zombie he was studying and used it to infect The Fantastic Four. Because of Reed Richards, Nick Fury and Iron Man were killed shortly after when the zombified Fantastic Four attacked them.
Reed Richards Was Possibly Responsible For The Zombie Outbreak
He Certainly Didn’t Help Prevent It, That’s For Sure
Reed even ended up trying to build a device that would allow the zombies to escape their universe, making the entire multiverse their feeding ground. It’s a truly horrific look at whatReed could accomplish as a villainand this one version of him nearly destroyedmultipleuniverses. He had already helped destroy his own, and he nearly infected the Ultimate Universe of 1610 when he tricked their Reed Richards into making contact with him. While some might argue this was only due to the zombie infection, there are plenty of other Reeds who destroyed their world in different ways.
Over in the universe of Earth-10011, readers got to see another very different version of Reed Richards. In this universe, the beloved Mar-Vell was dying of cancer. With no way to cure him, he struck a deal with the Many-Angled Ones. This resulted in him corrupting the majority of heroes around him, including Reed Richards. Reed then went on to persuade The Fantastic Four into allowing themselves to be corrupted as well, becoming the Ftaghn Four instead. This even included offering up his son, Franklin Richards, as a host for several of the Many-Angled Ones to inhabit.
Reed Richards Could Be The Ultimate Marvel Villain
But by far, the biggest and most villainous version of Reed Richards is that of Universe-1610. In this world, Reed Richards tried to be a hero as Mister Fantastic. He truly tried to save the world, just like his 616 counterpart, but due to tragedy after tragedy, he eventually broke. It was here thatReed took on the new identity of the Maker, one of Marvel’s most dangerous villains. The Maker has been a consistent threat all over the Multiverse and has even created his own universe with Universe-6160.
I know that evil versions of good characters are a very popular trope, but for whatever reason, I just can’t shake the feeling that Reed Richards was meant to become a villain, and only due to some fluke was he able to avoid it in the 616 universe. There are so many different versions of him across the multiverse that have ended up evil, it’s happened way more consistently than with most characters. The Maker was most like the Reed Richards of 616 and still became a villain. WhileMister Fantasticis a hero… maybe he wasn’t supposed to be.
