History:

Reed Richards was a child genius. The child genius. He cracked inter-dimensional travel before he'd graduated from high school. That's not to say that high school was any easier for Reed than anybody else. Without the protection of Benjamin Grimm he would never have made it through. Ben Grimm was from the wrong side of the tracks, growing up on Yancy Street in New York, and rarely attended his classes through high school because he had a college budding football career waiting for him. When an injury cut that short he opted for the United States Air Force instead. The Air Forced turned Grimm from a boy into a man and taught him discipline. For Sue Storm discipline had never been the problem - she had practically raised her brother Johnny after their mother had passed away and their father turned to drink. She too was an excellent student in her own right. Yet she spent most of her time trying to repair the damage her younger brother caused. Broken hearts, broken windows, and broken down cars were never far behind Johnny Storm. He seemed to have a knack for finding himself in bad situations.

And some might say that Reed's space expedition was one. Fortune would bring Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Sue on an explorative mission into space in search of the origin of a green meteor rock that SHIELD had uncovered. External pressure placed on Reed by Fury and SHIELD would lead to a miscalculation in the ship's outer coating and the four of them would be bombarded with cosmic rays that ought to have killed them. Instead the four of them developed incredible powers - Reed the ability to contort his body into any shape imaginable, Johnny literally became a Human Torch, Sue could turn invisible and project hard light construct, and Ben was gifted with incredible strength, though it came at great consequence. Though their ship was stranded in Space for what seemed like a few days, eighteen months passed on Earth and Fury was forced to resign for his part in the expedition.

Upon their return the four were kept under wraps by SHIELD for a time whilst their powers were tested and their radiation levels normalised. An attack on then President-elect would force SHIELD's hand into sending the four of them into the field. They would aid Superman and the others in the battle against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants and in doing so find instant fame. "The Fantastic Four," they would be dubbed by the media, and from there on out the four of them would set about using their powers for good.

Supporting Cast:

The Spider-Men - Johnny considers Peter to be one of his closest friends, along with The Flash, and as such Peter is an honorary member of the Fantastic Four and is often present on their on-world adventures. Ben finds Peter's presence aggravating so now that there are two Spider-Men his patience is even shorter when the pair of them are around.

Nick Fury - Former Director of SHIELD. Fury was the one that signed off on Reed's space expedition. When Reed and co. disappeared Fury was forced to resign his position and went underground. It is unclear whether Fury is aware of their return given that nobody has heard from him since he resigned but Reed has an inkling that Fury is out there keeping busy.

The Justice League of America – The Fantastic Four work closely beside the Justice League. Though Reed and co. often adventure off world and in the Negative Zone, the two super teams run into one another in the field often enough. Reed is particularly intrigued by Lex’s intellect, Sue considers Captain Marvel to be an inspiration, Johnny is close friends with The Flash, whilst Ben is deeply suspicious of Lex and he and Thor have a friendly rivalry of sorts.

Professor Charles Xavier - A close personal friend of Reed Richards. Though Reed considers Tony Stark, Lex Luthor, and Bruce Wayne to be his intellectual rivals, it is Charles Xavier that he admires most of all the New Frontier world's visionaries. The Fantastic Four turn a blind eye to unregistered mutants in spite of the Kelly Act, due in part to Reed's admiration of Charles.

Dr. Doom - Reed's old colleague lab partner and his sworn enemy - therefore the sworn enemy of Sue, Johnny, and Ben by extension. Doom has recently become sovereign of Latveria and as such his attentions have been directed there, rather than exacting his revenge on Richards, and thus the team have had time to adventure, rather than fight off Doom-bots.

Annihilus - Ruler of the Negative Zone. The Fantastic Four bested him whilst adventuring there and ever since Annihilus has lusted after revenge. Unknown to the team, Annihilus is currently plotting his revenge, gathering troops, and planning an invasion of Frontier Earth.

How (if at all) does the Frontier version of your character differ from the original?:

It was on a SHIELD-sanctined space expedition that the Fantastic Four gained their powers. Outside of that, the team's origin is all but the same. There are no substantial changes to Reed, Johnny, Sue, or Ben. They may have slightly different friends (Johnny's friendship with the Flash, for one) but other than that not much has changed. At this point there is no Franklin or Valeria and though Reed and Sue are engaged Reed has pushed the wedding back so many times - all in the name of science, of course - that there are some that think the pair might never wed.

Post References:

When does a reference stop being a reference...
And start becoming a shameless, shameless plug?
Do yourselves a solid and read Pickett County, you sons of bitches. It's good shit.