Fantastic Four #579
The Future Foundation
In Golden Colorado, Reed Richards is the featured speaker at the annual Singularity conference. He starts by telling them that they had grown quickly in the ten years the conference was formed. However, he points out that other than the She-Hulk's speech on the ethics and legal problems of genetic engineering, none of the other individuals that are part of this group have lived up to his expectations. After picking apart all the other papers as being thinly veiled agendas. Reed then tells them that he has figured out why this group is no longer effective: They have grown old. He explains that they have all come to fear tomorrow and that has hindered their ability to do productive work. With that, Reed announces his resignation from Singularity, as his burning passion for knowledge is taking him in newer bolder directions.
A week later, Reed goes to the roof of the Baxter Building to greet Alex Power who has agreed to come and study under him. As they descend into the Baxter Building, Alex expresses his doubts as he feels that the others Reed has brought together are going to overshadow him. Reed explains that he selected Alex because of the experiences he has had as a member of the Power Pack. Meanwhile, at Old Atlantis, the Invisible Woman is meeting with King Ul-Uhar to propose that he allow his two children to join the Fantastic Four in New York so they can be a part of the greater world. Back at the Baxter Building, the four intelligent Moloid children, Tong, Turg, Korr, and Mik mull over Reed's invitation to join them and after some debate, they decide to take Mister Fantastic up on his offer.
While on Nu-World, time continues along on it's the increased rate. At 17 years, Ted Castle has erected a time bubble to prevent himself and his equipment from being affected by the sped uptime. At 105 years he has completed construction of Moy-2114, a life-like robot based on his late wife, Alyssa. Outside of the time distortion, the Ultron Collective settles on an uninhabited moon. At 197 years, Natalie X has been enhanced enough that all living things on Nu-World become part of her massive collective brain. At 221 years, Lightwave still sits on his throne thinking of the time he was a herald of Galactus. At 326 years the Hulk begins to grow older.
At the Baxter Building, as Johnny and Ben play with Franklin, Valeria is working to upgrade the Dragon Man's artificial mind to increase his level of intelligence. While at the P.A.V.L.O.V. Metahuman Psychiatric Institute, Mister Fantastic pays a visit to the Wizard. In order to get the insane villain to become lucid enough to talk, he has the doctors give the Wizard his helmet back. Reed cuts through the Wizards insane pseudo-scientific and religious babble to tell him that prove a point to him. To prove that the Wizard wasted his opportunities by being evil, Reed is going to teach his cloned son -- Bentley Thirty-Two -- how to be an intelligent force for good.
With all of his students gathered, Mister Fantastic welcomes them to the first class of the Future Foundation, whose mandate it will be to solve everything.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Future Foundation (Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Dragon Man, Wu, Vil, Korr, Mik, Turg, Tong, Leech, Artie Maddicks, Bently-23, Alex Power), Wizard, She-Hulk, Ul-Uhar, Spider-Man, Ted Castle, Moy-2515, Alex Ultron, Natalie X, Lightwave, Hulk, Jr.
Continuity Notes
The narrative of this story states that it takes place in the year 2010. This should be considered a topical reference relative to the date of publication per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
