This article contains images of blood and gore.

Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic, is one of the most recognizable faces of the Marvel Universe. With his stretchy powers and super-genius mind, Mister Fantastic's position as the leader of the Fantastic Four has cemented him as a favorite among fans and a significant hero.

In typical Marvel fashion, he is not without fault. Reed Richard's famous flaw is his obsession with his work; his dedication to his scientific studies sometimes comes at the expense of his family life, him either neglecting them or exposing them to dangers. Of course, in the end, he always comes back to the people that he loves despite the hurt he caused. However, in a Marvel horror one-shot, this addiction to work is taken to a maddening new extreme, and it causes the destruction of both Reed's family and the world.

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Reed Richards Has a Tragic Marvel Zombies Story

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Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips) depicts the beginning of the zombie apocalypse on Earth-2149, aptly called the "Zombieverse". The one-shot is full of bloody and disturbing imagery as heroes such as Spider-Man and Wolverine are transformed into flesh-eating monsters. There's tragedy at every point in the comic, but one of the most tragic involves the Fantastic Four. Halfway through the comic, it's revealed that despite being locked away in Reed's laboratory, Reed Richards and Sue Storm's two children, Franklin and Valeria, were devoured by a corrupted She-Hulk. This understandably devastates the team and becomes the driving point for the group to help the remaining heroes.

It's heavily implied that the death of his children drove Reed Richards insane; after he is assigned to help find a cure, he becomes obsessed with dissecting and studying the zombies. He begins to believe that the zombie virus is actually an evolutionary advancement, and this leads to him infecting his own family. The team then bites into a blissful and grateful Reed Richards. He becomes the leader of the zombies, and destroys the rest of the uninfected heroes, leaving no hope for any type of salvation for the universe.

RELATED: Mister Fantastic May Have Destroyed His Oldest Friendship

Why Reed Richards' Role in Marvel Zombie Makes Sense

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In Dead Days, Robert Kirkman flips the role of multiple Marvel characters from either villain to hero or hero to villain. But, this switch is not without basis in the character's matured. For example, Magneto, who acts as the leader of the uninflected resistance, has always wanted to protect his people from harm. This is true in the one-shot but instead of fighting against all humans, he's fighting against zombies. With Reed Richards, Kirkman takes his preexisting hubris to a terrifying extreme. The existence of this version of Mr. Fantastic shows the potential danger of a deranged scientist rather than the flawed intellectual fans know and love.

What's further horrifying about this version of Reed Richards is that his counterpart has come close to this type of corruption. Despite his best intentions, he has done manipulative and horrible things in his time as a scientist. The most notable example is in Civil War (by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven), when Reed's secret scientific invention killed Goliath. Reed assumed that his newest innovation was necessary and controllable and that cost him a close friend and almost cost him his marriage with Sue. Reed Richards has a capacity to hurt people, and Kirkman exploits that fact in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days. The thing with Marvel alternative universes is that they always have a glimmer of possibility to them. Down the road, Reed may yet get to this diabolical point in the 616-universe. Even if the chance is small, Marvel's superheroes should further scrutinize Reed Richards in the future. They may identify the warning signs before it's too late.