"Mister Fantastic" is without doubt the strangest named hero in the early Marvel canon. The Human Torch, the Invisible Girl and even the Thing are all more illustrative names than "Mister Fantastic". By all rights he should be "Stretching Man" or "Pliable Person" or something like that. But instead we get "Mister Fantastic", a name which doesn't tell us anything except he might qualify for a job in the Trump administration as communications director.
Perhaps it speaks to the fact that despite his highly visually interesting super powers, it's his intellectual prowess which is his real addition to the Fab 4. Whatever the case Reed Richards is a wonderful character with a wonky name. So as he says, "Keep Smiling".
Rip Off
It's a tenuous speculation I know, but maybe Stan had intended to call him Mr. Elastic, then thought Fantastic sounded better - and it rhymed (with elastic). Or maybe it's just because he could bend himself into fantastic shapes. Will we ever find out? Who knows.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute - maybe it's because the group's name is the Fantastic Four, and as Reed is the leader, he's naturally called Mr. Fantastic (to denote his status). Best I can do.
DeleteIt's the latter I suspect and the notion that coming up with names for stretching heroes is difficult. Plastic Man is great, Elastic Lad is marginal, Mister Fantastic is generic.
DeleteRip Off
Norm MacDonald has an entire bit based on this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDzBVvhbtIw
Hilarious! Thanks for the link.
DeleteRip Off