Warning: SPOILERS for Fantastic Four #48The Fantastic Four's leader Reed Richards presents a unique problem for the MCU - and it's the same exact problem he's presented to the comics for decades now. Mr. Fantastic is widely considered to be the smartest man on Earth, and he proves himself again and again with bleeding-edge inventions and breakthrough discoveries that regularly save lives. But Fantastic Four #48 also reveals that Reed Richards' genius doesn't expand stories, but limits them - and writers "solve" this problem by locking him up.
Reed Richards attended multiple universities and obtained over 18 doctorates - all before he turned 30. He has an IQ of 267, and is considered a "level twelve intellect" by Tony Stark (another genius in the Marvel Universe, and one who freely admits that Reed is smarter). The flying FantastiCar, the dimension-spanning Forever Gate, and the teleporter to the Negative Zone are all inventions created by Reed, and he routinely creates more esoteric devices seemingly every other issue. Unfortunately, his genius severely impacts the conflicts within stories.
In Fantastic Four #48, written by David Pepose with art by Juann Cabal, Reed Richards locks himself in a vault within the Baxter Building to eliminate all distractions; he plans to think of a plan to prevent the Progenitor Celestial (the villain of the ongoing Judgment Day event) from destroying the world. As Sue, Johnny and Ben protect the building and the vault from enemies, Reed ponders the threat - thus removing him from the Judgment Day storyline altogether. When the vault finally opens, Reed realizes the Celestial was testing him and gave him a choice: to waste time thinking of a solution or to spend his few remaining days with his family. It is admittedly a warm moment, but the Celestial didn't force Reed into the vault - his writers did.
Reed Richards' Genius Can Ruin Plots In Minutes
Reed's genius is dangerous for the Marvel Universe; his intelligence constantly threatens to end large Marvel events before they even begin. Storm of the X-Men had the same problem in the 80s and 90s: the character was so powerful that her weather-controlling abilities could defeat supervillains in seconds. X-Men writers often wrote Storm out of stories as soon as possible as a result, either by sending her on a mission elsewhere, granting the villain a perfect anti-Storm weapon, or simply removing her from an issue without an explanation. Reed's mere existence could torpedo MCU plots in the first act, and therein lies the danger.
Reed therefore must be smart enough to please comic fans who appreciate his intelligence, but not smarter than the threat of any comic or film. The Fantastic Four's fearless leader mustn't be locked away in a vault just to write him out of the story - but neither should he destroy the villain of the week by inventing a device in his sleep. Fans of the MCU may eagerly await the coming of Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four, but his inclusion presents a unique problem.