H.E.R.B.I.E.

Real Name
Humanoid Experimental Robot B-Type Integrated Electronics

Occupation
Caregiver of Franklin and Valeria Richards; Assistant to Reed Richards

Citizenship
None

Place of Birth
Xandar (homeworld)

Known Relatives
Mister Fantastic (creator)

Group Affiliation
Fantastic Four, formerly shared consciousness with Doctor Sun

Education

Computer programming

Height
5' 4" (humanoid); 2'0" (non-humanoid)

Weight
150 lbs (humanoid); 70 lbs (non-humanoid)

Eyes
Yellow field

Hair
None

Powers
None

Abilities
H.E.R.B.I.E. was built with the ability to fly with his attached jets, interface with computers, use his own mechanisms to make complex calculations, and was later designed to fire optical neural blasts by Sun's consciousness.

Other Info
Mister Fantastic originally created H.E.R.B.I.E. with the help of Master Xar of the Xandarians, because they hoped that the robot could aid in their search for Galactus, who they sought for help in defeating the villain known as the Sphinx. What neither of the creators realized, however, was that Doctor Sun (an enemy of Master Xar) had trapped his consciousness within Xandarian computers so he was able to escape by jumping from the computer to H.E.R.B.I.E.'s body. (To learn about the above highlighted characters, and/or race, just click on their names.)

As Doctor Sun's sleeper agent, H.E.R.B.I.E. was controlled by the doctor in whenever he wished. In fact, he used H.E.R.B.I.E. to kill an alien pirate. H.E.R.B.I.E. was also used to help Blastaar escape the Negative Zone and try to kill the Fantastic Four--which ultimately failed. However, nobody expected the robot who was present in all these situations as being responsible for the acts. (To learn about Blastaar and/or the Negative Zone, just click on their highlighted names above.)

Reed Richards used H.E.R.B.I.E.'s living computer technology, to speed up calculations when he was away from the Baxter Building's computers. Mister Fantastic continued to use H.E.R.B.I.E.’s abilities although the robot often displayed mysterious signs of autonomy. (Click on the highlighted name above to learn about the Baxter Building.)

One day, Doctor Sun used H.E.R.B.I.E. to attack the Fantastic Four himself. He started with the Invisible Woman. The crafty robot appeared in Susan's bedroom which concerned her because the robot was programmed to not enter any of the Fantastic Four's private quarters. Sensing danger, the Invisible Woman put up her force field just barely in time to avoid being hit by the robot's blast. However, H.E.R.B.I.E. warned her that he knew how to push her to her breaking point. With the continual power blasts from H.E.R.B.I.E., Sue soon released it was too much to bear and she let her force field down and went invisible. The robot, however, used his infrared sensors and easily saw the fleeing woman's image and H.E.R.B.I.E. shot another power blast at her, which stunned the Invisible Woman into unconsciousness. He then tapped into the Baxter Building's own defenses and directed four large metal coils to come out of the wall and wrap tightly around Sue so she could not escape. H.E.R.B.I.E. again used the Baxter Building's security systems to trap the Human Torch. He then beat both Mister Fanstatic and the Thing with his weapons. (To learn about most of the members of the Fantastic Four, just click on their highlighted names above.)

After subduing the four, Doctor Sun uploaded himself into the Baxter Building’s computers to gain more power. However, Reed was able to shut down the building’s systems and stop the doctor. As a result, H.E.R.B.I.E. became free of the villain's influence. The robot realized that Dr. Sun could always simply return to his body though; therefore, not wanting that to ever happen again, H.E.R.B.I.E. heroically sacrificed himself by throwing himself into the computer--destroying it, Doctor Sun, and himself.

Since then, Reed Richards has used H.E.R.B.I.E.’s appearance and design in other robot creations he was built over the years. They usually served just general duties around the Baxter Building. Most notably, however, the original H.E.R.B.I.E.'s voice was used as the new Baxter Building’s computer system's voice.

More recently, a newer version of H.E.R.B.I.E. has been created, in part, to act as guardian to Franklin and Valeria Richards. (To learn about the Richards children, just click on their names above.)

To learn a tiny bit more about H.E.R.B.I.E., just click on the following link, http://marvel.com/universe/HERBIE.

A deactivated H.E.R.B.I.E. makes a cameo in the "Extended cut" of the movie, Fantastic Four. The scene shows Reed and Sue in a storage room of the Baxter Building and the deactivated H.E.R.B.I.E. is seen on a shelf.