WARNING! This article contains spoilers for The New Avengers #1.Reed Richards, the leader of The Fantastic Four, is usually a beacon of scientific brilliance and heroism. However, a terrifying new version of Mr. Fantastic just debuted, casting him in a truly distorted light. This haunting redesign turns Reed Richards into one of the most unsettling villains in recent Marvel Comics.

In the brand new The New Avengers #1, written by Sam Humphries with art by Ton Lima, the cloned version of Reed and other heroes, including Iron Man, Professor X, Black Panther, and Namor, go head-to-head with the titular team.

The story plunges readers into a dangerous mission in Russia, where a makeshift team of heroes, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Laura Kinney (X-23), and Namor, are attempting to rescue innocent people who are subject to horrific experiments. Their efforts are interrupted by Jackal, who unleashes an army of monstrous clones; most disturbingly, Reed Richards.

The Reed Fans Know And Love Becomes A Twisted Picture Of A Once Brilliant Mind

The New Avengers #1, Written By Sam Humphries With Art By Ton Lima

The redesigned Reed Richards is a grotesque spectacle, a far cry from the classic and familiar leader of The Fantastic Four. The clone’s face is elongated and contorted, stretched into a perpetually pained snarl and his skin is a pale, almost cadaverous blue-grey. Instead of the clean, contained elasticity of his powers, his body seems to be in a constant state of uncontrolled flux, with sinews and tendrils of his stretched form coiling and writhing around him. This version of Reed is more than a stretched-out hero; he’s a living embodiment of flesh warped beyond recognition.

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His eyes, sunken and dark, are empty, lacking the spark of intellect or compassion that defines the original Reed. This is not the Reed who leads and has been a staple of Marvel Comics for decades, but one who haunts; a stark image of a genius thoroughly corrupted. The unsettling nature of his appearance perfectly sets the stage for the dread he instills, proving that some villains don’t need sharp teeth to be terrifying.

This Terrifying Redesign Is A Callback To The MCU

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Created A Blueprint For The New Avengers Reed

The horror of this evil Reed Richards resonates deeply, drawing parallels to another tragic, albeit brief, appearance of a doomed Reed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Earth-838’s Reed Richards, played by John Krasinski, met his grizzly end at the hands of the Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In that chilling scene, Wanda Maximoff’s telekinetic powers brutally unraveled Reed’s elastic form, twisting and snapping his limbs into grotesque shapes before finally exploding his head. The horror of that moment finds a disturbing echo in New Avengers #1 with Reed’s redesigned clone.

This cloned Reed, with his distorted and stretched body, captures the essence of that brutal MCU death, as if he is forever frozen in a moment of excruciating transformation. His powers and elasticity turn into an inescapable, agonizing prison rather than a power. This callback, intentional or not, increases the clone’s fear factor, reminding readers of a beloved character’s grim fate and turning a hero into a walking nightmare. The sheer horror cements this Reed Richards as a truly unforgettable, and deeply disturbing, villain.

New Avengers #1 is available now.