Summary

• Fantastic Four #17 presents the team with a time travel mystery, as they discover an ancient skeleton that turns out to be the Invisible Woman.
• The issue also reveals some of Reed Richards' biology, showcasing his 'stretchy' skeleton.
• The wild detail raises questions about the weirder aspects of his powers, and deviates from past details about his body.

As the Reed Richards' biology. After a turbulent period, the team is finally back together, once again working to discover the impossible secrets of the Marvel Universe – including the limits of their own powers.

In a preview of Fantastic Four #17, the Invisible Woman uses her recently revealed doctorate in archeology to investigate an unusual find – the skeleton of a modern human who somehow died in the Stone Age. The team naturally assumes they're dealing with time travel, before making an even more alarming discovery – the skeleton is Sue Storm's.

Discovering a piece of Reed Richards' unstable molecule cloth, Sue begins inspecting the bones in more detail, using her powers to turn the other heroes' skin and muscle invisible. The move allows Sue to identify her own skeleton as the one they've discovered but also reveals that despite his incredible stretching powers, Reed Richards has a human skeleton.

Mister Fantastic Has a Skeleton (Despite Barely Being Human)

Reed Richards' Biology Is an Ambitious Mystery in Fantastic Four Lore

While it seems like a minor reveal, it's incredibly surprising that Reed has such recognizable biology, given the feats his powers have achieved in the past. After being bombarded with cosmic radiation, Mister Fantastic developed the ability to stretch his body almost without limit. Reed can shape his body into unique forms, flatten himself to the thickness of a piece of paper, and shift his form around (for example, moving his eyes down to his fingertips.)

In fact, several stories have hinted that Reed no longer finds his human form natural – that he appears human to comfort his family and allies, but settles into the shape of a ball or puddle when alone.

Reed's incredible flexibility, ability to form multiple new limbs, and skill at manipulating his body to enhance his abilities (for instance, extending his eye into a telescope, or bulking up to a superstrong form) would seem to suggest a totally unique biology. Indeed, that's the route Marvel has taken in the past.

The Fantastic Four's Powers Are Cooler When They're Hard Sci-Fi

Marvel's First Family Are Far Weirder Than They Seem

Marvel's Ultimate Fantastic Four took an ambitious approach to the team's abilities in the modernized Ultimate Universe continuity. In that world, the team gained their powers by carrying out an experiment that allowed the multiverse to flow through their bodies, leaving them with forms that are only possible in other realities. Each was essentially no longer human, and Reed's biology was a creepy mystery.

In issue 7 (from Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen) Sue Storm's experiments confirm Reed no longer has human organs but rather survives thanks to a bacterial sack that means he doesn't need to eat. Most importantly, his brain continued to grow over time, contributing to a dark twist that saw the character become the multiversal villain known as the Maker (still an ongoing threat in Marvel's main canon).

Fantastic Four #7 released May 17, 2023 from Marvel Comics.

That's not to say that the current volume of Fantastic Four isn't interested in the team's sci-fi potential, but it does take a different approach. The current Fantastic Four vol. 7 takes the team's powers as read, then explores the sci-fi possibilities they open up for interacting with the world – for instance, the Invisible Woman turning the Sun invisible, and what that would actually mean for Earth.

The comic is adept at posing scientific puzzles, such as dropping the Thing down a bottomless hole with perfectly smooth sides, then depicting how he manages to survive. That's exactly what Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four are facing in the case of Invisible Woman's mysterious skeleton – a case that their wild powers will surely hold the key to cracking.

Fantastic Four #17 is available February 7, 2024 from Marvel Comics.