Popular Culture
- In a Saturday Night Live segment called "Superman's Funeral," Mister Fantastic was one of the attendees.
- A parody of Mr. Fantastic is shown on the Adult Swim cartoon, The Venture Bros. The show features a character named Professor Richard Impossible (voiced by comedian Stephen Colbert), who attains the same powers as Mr. Fantastic. The members of his team, the Impossibles, are parodies of the Fantastic Four; his wife Sally has to concentrate to keep her skin visible (otherwise leaving her flesh and muscles visible), her mentally retarded cousin Ned is covered in a pink, calloused exoskeleton and her brother Cody bursts into flame when exposed to oxygen, causing him extreme pain. Richard himself is a neglectful father to his son (whom he suspects isn't his) and an abusive and controlling husband to Sally, who eventually leaves him when he decides that science is more important than his family.
- In a season 4 episode of Stargate Atlantis, "Travelers" Lt Col John Sheppard uses the alias Reed Richards when kidnapped.
- In The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode segment titled "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off!", there is a moment where the family is transformed to resemble members of the Fantastic Four; Bart is Mr. Fantastic. He exhibits the same ability as Stretch Dude in a previous "Treehouse of Horror" episode entitled "Desperately Xeeking Xena" in which he and Lisa are both exposed to radiation (Lisa becomes Clobber Girl).
- Mister Fantastic appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Monstourage" voiced by Seth Green.
- Norm Macdonald plays Reed Richards in a skit appearing in his comedy album Ridiculous. In it, the members of the Fantastic Four are deciding on their names; after Reed comes up with "The Thing", "The Invisible Girl" and "The Human Torch" for his teammates, he decides to call himself "Mr. Fantastic". His teammates become upset, because unlike the other names, "Mr. Fantastic" does not really describe his powers.
Read more about this topic: Mister Fantastic
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrote a letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed spinach for her, with lots of butter.... I was impressed by Shirley Temple as a little girl my age who had power: she could write a piece for the newspapers and have it printed in her own handwriting.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers another.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)