MOLECULE MAN

 

MOLECULE MAN

Real Name: Owen Reece

First Appearance: Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #20, November 1963

Powers: Owen Reece received his powers when an industrial accident briefly opened a rift into the dimension of the Beyonders, where the energy of a Cosmic Cube first develops. Owen absorbed half of this energy, and gained the power to mentally manipulate matter and energy on a grand scale as a result. He can affect matter on both atomic and sub-atomic levels, as when he transmutes one substance into another; and on the molecular level, as when he mentally manipulates an object's shape. The Molecule Man can levitate and move himself and other matter to a tremendous degree -- following the Secret Wars, he transported an entire suburb of Denver through space at near-light speeds, maintaining atmosphere, temperature, and gravity for the occupants of the land mass.

He can transmute elements in order to change any substance into any other substance. The Molecule Man can also animate matter, such as causing trees to wrap their limbs around his opponents or immobilizing someone by causing the concrete of a street to rise up and entomb them. He has even artificially created life from nothing. Once the Molecule Man effects a change in matter, it remains in its altered state until he consciously changes it back. Even if he's rendered unconscious, the matter remains in its new form.

Reece's face was scarred in a lightning-like pattern by energies of his initial mutation, but he can remove them at will. Owen initially tried to subconsciously restrain his powers, placing psychic blocks that prevented him from affecting organic molecules, and convincing himself he needed a metal wand to focus his powers. For a time, the Molecule Man was actually dead and existing as nothing more than a disembodied consciousness in his wand, possessing the bodies of anyone who picked it up. He eventually reconstructed his own body out of raw materials and transferred his consciousness from the wand into it.