Reed Richards was an outlaw in the year 2099, when a young man named Chad Channing stumbled upon his hideout, giving him another partner to fight crime with, after so many years. After the Mutant Registration Act had galvanized the world’s superheroes to fight against the government and their Sentinels, and they failed, Reed was forced into hiding. Using his scientific expertise, Reed salvaged his brain and kept it sealed in a container, which he attached to various robot bodies, for various uses. When he fought crime alongside Chad, Reed used a robot resembling the Thing to utilize his super strength and durability. But the body itself made it hard for Richards to think and encouraged him to use his fists to solve problems. So that Richards used a plain, four-limbed robot to house his brain the rest of the time.
One day, Chad came to him as he usually did after school, but this time he was suffering under a series of personal issues, and complained to Richards that perhaps the government was right when they suppressed all superhuman, physical abilities; that perhaps the world was better with Sentinels patrolling the streets instead of super-powered humans. Richards explained that they helped the city only when the city needed them, and that he foresaw an eventual collapse of the system and its Sentinel protectors. Chad didn’t listen to him, and stormed out. But when Richards responded to a situation he saw via the News Stream, he found Chad saving a group of citizens from the destructive, policing methods a pair of Sentinels had used on a rampaging robot. Realizing that the city needed empathetic, human savors, and not just robotic policemen, Chad took back his complaints.
Shortly afterwards, Chad returned to Richards’ hideout and announced that his personal issues were not as desperate as he had thought, and that he really could keep fighting crime and live a normal life, as well. And so, together with Chad, Richards continued his long-time fight to protect the city and the world.
