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Reed Richards just gained a major power boost in Fantastic Four: Reckoning War #1 that could ultimately lead to him descending down a very dark road.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fantastic Four: Reckoning War #1, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
Although they’re often defined more by their adventurous qualities than their raw power, the Fantastic Four are among Marvel’s most dangerous beings. When unleashed against the world, they can become nearly unstoppable threats. This especially extends to the leader of the team, Reed Richards, who might have just started down a very dark path.
Fantastic Four: The Reckoning War #1 (by Dan Slott, Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Carlod Magno, Guru-eFX, and VC’s Joe Caramagna) sets up a wild upgrade for Richards, empowering him with the full scope of the Watcher’s knowledge. However, given the history of his variants becoming unstable when given that kind of power, things might take a dark turn sooner rather than later for Mister Fantastic.
“The Reckoning War” has long been teased as a game-changing event for the Marvel Universe. Ancient secrets are set to be exposed, with Uatu’s full knowledge of the mysterious race known as the Reckoning finally coming back to haunt the universe. Using a mysterious device to sound the “Clarion Call,” Uatu tried to summon Watchers from across all of space and time. But a sneak attack against the Moon seemingly killed the Watcher, leaving his ally Nick Fury alone with a device that contained all of the Watcher’s collected knowledge. Despite Fury’s warnings, Reed Richards uses the device, which is revealed to be the Cyclopedia Universum, a collection of all information. But while he discovers some useful truths, Reed is also seemingly overwhelmed by the knowledge he has now gained.
After being exposed to the cosmic power, Reed turns back to his wife with glowing eyes and an apparent lack of concern for the safety of his loved ones. However, exposing someone like Richards to that amount of knowledge comes with a caveat. Over the years, countless variants of Reed Richards have given in to ambition and have become serious threats upon acquiring too much knowledge. The Maker from the Ultimate Universe, the demented Reed who recently confronted Kang the Conqueror in Timeless, and the numerous ruthless variants who composed the Council of Reeds each showed how terrible an overpowered Mister Fantastic can become.
This new wealth of knowledge might help in the short run against the Reckoning, but it could also be the key to unleashing Reed’s darkest impulses. It’s long been established that his love for his family is a guiding light for the leader of the Fantastic Four in troubled times. But if the Cyclopedia Universum has overridden that empathy with an excess of knowledge, this new version of Richards might be more dangerous than any intergalactic enemy. Reed’s unleashed intellect might even be the death of him, as Reckoning War has teased that Ben Grimm will be placed in the position of having to go up against his longtime best friend.
Even if the Reckoning themselves are stopped, Reed Richards has set the stage to become one of Marvel’s most dangerous figures. It could even fall to his longtime enemy Doctor Doom to step up and stop Reed from doing something horrible. The appearance of the TVA and their surprise at the circumstances surrounding the impending conflict suggests that things will take a turn for the worst as the event continues. But if Reed’s mind has truly been expanded to a place it’s never been before, he could end up becoming more of a hindrance than a help to the other heroes.
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