Reed and Sue Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are known in New York as the First Family of Superheroes and as the last Ultimate-powered individuals to join SHAFT. Although the Fantastic Four's financial obligations to the U.S. government (see the August 2002 edition of the SHAFT NewsWire) are usually cited as the reason for their having declined Nick Fury's invitation to become founding members of the anarchist agency, the truth of the matter is, at that point in time, they were the lamest superteam on the planet.
Indeed, the Fantastic Four were once the very embodiment of conservative America. As an upstanding white "traditional" family unit, they were the ideal spokesgroup for the nation's right-wing Republicans. The birth of Reed and Sue's son Franklin Richards only strengthened their Norman Rockwell image and solidified their standing in the Family Values crowd. So naturally they were horrified when their fellow superheroes began flocking to the progressive SHAFT Agency and rallying behind its radical African-American founder. The original lame Fantastic Four.
The Fantastic Four continued to side with the jackbooted thugs of SHIELD until their lives were changed forever in the aftermath of the battle with Ultimate Onslaught. Ready to sacrifice themselves in order to save the human race from this psionic supervillain, they hurled themselves into the energy field that formed Ultimate Onslaught's body. The energy being dissolved, and to all of the New Yorkers watching the titanic struggle in Central Park, it appeared that the Fantastic Four were vaporized along with it.

SHAFT Agents defend the citizens of New York

 In actuality, the heroes had been transported to a pocket universe (which Franklin Richards had created with his mutant powers) where they were reborn as younger, hipper, and sexier versions of their former selves. Upon returning to our universe, they enlisted in SHAFT as the Fantastic Four Resistance Cell. Their headquarters is located in Four Freedoms Plaza.

See Also: 

The Thing's SHAFT File

DOCTOR DOOM

Reed Richards' professional rival is Doctor Victor Von Doom, CEO of Von Doom Industries, monarch of Latveria, member of the international Legion of Terror, Despot General of the United States, and former contestant on the Fox network's Ultimate Armor Wars. Doom blames Richards for everything that has ever gone wrong in his life.

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