Warning: SPOILERS for Fantastic Four (2022) #2
Marvel Comics has given My Hero Academia. Just like Mezo Shoji, the hero known as Tentacole, Reed can now manipulate his body to create gross-looking tentacles with eyeballs.
Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, apparently has the least impressive set of powers among the Fantastic Four. Reed's ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will, however, actually has a lot of applications. One of the most complex ones is Reed's ability to change the shape of his body. Mr. Fantastic usually uses this power to attack, shaping his hands into blunt weapons, or transforming his body into a variety of useful tools, such as a parachute, a glider, or a slingshot. However, Reed never displayed such a disgusting use of his abilities before now.
In Fantastic Four (2022) #2, by Ryan North, Iban Coello, and Jesus Aburtov, Reed and Sue are trying to solve a mystery in a small town that appears to be completely populated by Doombots in disguise. They track the source of the mystery to an elderly lady called Mary, who gave Victor Von Doom food and shelter when he was still a young student in America. After finding out that Mary is actually dead, and her body is encased in a Doombot shell, Reed performs an impromptu autopsy by turning his fingers into elongated tentacles and moving his eyeballs to the top of them, so he can peer inside the body. It's a brand-new use of Mr. Fantastic's powers, and a pretty disturbing one to watch. However, it is also remarkably similar to the abilities of one of the characters from My Hero Academia, Mezo Shoji.
Mr. Fantastic Now Has The Same Gross Power As My Hero Academia's Tentacole
Shoji, whose hero name is Tentacole, is a student at U.A. High, an academy for young professional heroes in training. In the world of My Hero Academia, more than 80% of the world population has a supernatural ability, called "Quirks" in the series. Shoji is part of a subgroup called Heteromorphs, whose Quirks visibly alter their outside appearance, often to monstrous results. Shoji's Quirk, Dupli-Arms, grants him a set of tentacles alongside his arms. He can transform the tips of these tentacles to replicate other parts of his body, including his eyes. The final result looks exactly like Reed's "tentacle-fingers" in Fantastic Four #2. The two characters, however, also share a keen mind, collected behavior, and relentless desire to help others that motivates them to be great heroes.
Moving his eyes around makes sense because Reed has complete control over his body structure, so he could do the same with any other organ or appendix. However, the scene is still pretty disturbing, considering that it also shows Reed's empty eye sockets, besides his disgusting eye-tentacle-fingers. Considering how popular My Hero Academia is, it's entirely possible that the authors of Fantastic Four took inspiration from Tentacole to give Reed Richards a new, disgusting power.
Fantastic Four (2022) #2 is available from Marvel Comics.
