ROBERTA

Real Name: Roberta

Identity/Class: Robot

Occupation: Receptionist, executive assistant

Group Membership: Fantastic Four employee

Affiliations: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), John Byrne, Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin), Deathlok (Michael Collins), Dr. Victor von Doom, Doc Samson, H.E.R.B.I.E., H.U.B.E.R.T., Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Fin Fang Four (Elektro, Fin Fang Foom, Googam, Gorgilla), Gorgon, Penny "Petunia" Grimm, Guardians of the Galaxy (Charlie-27, Martinex, Nikki, Starhawk, Yondu), Jessica Jones, Misty Knight, Cassie Lang, Willie Lumpkin, Lyja the Laserfist (aka. Laura Green or Alicia Masters-Storm), Alicia Masters, Matt Murdock, Namor the Sub-Mariner, New York Police Department, Nova (Frankie Raye), Sergius O'Hoolihan, Bethany Palmer, Sharon Selleck, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), She-Thing (Sharon Ventura), Silhouette (Silhouette Chord), William "Slugger" Sokolowski, Raphael Suarez, Sunspot (Roberto DaCosta), Thunderbolts (Atlas/Erik Josten, Citizen V/Helmut Zemo, Jolt/Hallie Takahama, Mach-1/Abner Jenkins, Meteorite/Karla Sofen, Songbird/Melissa Gold, Techno/Norbert P. Ebersol), Kristoff Vernard, Vibraxas, Norman Webster, Makio Yakaki, Jim Young

Enemies: Awesome Android, T. Barton Burrthrop, De'Lila, Elektro (Max Dillon), Mad Thinker, Ronan the Accuser, Tim Boo Ba and his Devoktite army, Trapster (Peter Petruski), Zarrko the Tomorrow Man;
formerly Doctor Doom (Kristoff Vernard), Shadowcat (unintentionally)

Known Relatives: Elektro (significant other), Reed Richards (creator)

Aliases: 458763A

Base of Operations: Baxter Building, Manhattan, New York City, New York;
     formerly Four Freedoms Plaza (aka. Thunderbolts Plaza), Manhattan, New York City, New York

First Appearance: (Seen) Fantastic Four I#239 (February 1982); (named) Fantastic Four I#265 (April, 1984)

Powers/Abilities: Roberta was originally programmed by Reed Richards to serve as an interactive, robotic receptionist for Fantastic Four Incorporated. Initially, she was attached to her desk in the team's reception office (room 30c on the 30th floor of the original Baxter Building). She is a more than capable, courteous receptionist. In the beginning, she could only move around while mounted on a swiveling robotic arm installed beneath her desk. As time went on, Roberta received numerous upgrades that increased both her abilities and mobility. For instance, she was granted free reign when she got attached to a variety of wheeled bases, varying from tripod to large bicycle wheels. She has also used a fully humanoid body, with a more robotic, silvery appearance. In all her forms, Roberta remains connected to the Fantastic Four's advanced sensor and security systems, which give her total awareness of everything going on in the building even if she isn't physically present. Her internal sensors are advanced enough to detect and analyze body heat patterns, which helps her in identifying imposters and shapeshifters. Her robotic nature grants her superstrength (lifting 1 ton) which, combined with a basic knowledge of self-defense, makes her an unexpectedly efficient hand-to-hand combatant. She is equipped with emergency thrusters that allow her to move as fast as a high speed car for short periods of time. Roberta has full access to the various Fantastic Four facilities, courtesy of her universal pass key.

Height: 5'7" (variable)
Weight: 347 lbs. (variable)
Eyes: Blue (variable)
Hair: Blonde (variable)

History:

(Fantastic Four I#239 - BTS) - Roberta was constructed by Mr. Fantastic to fulfill the team's need for secretarial services. After finding it hard to hire someone willing to work in a potentially life threatening place, Reed Richards decided to create a robot capable of handling these tasks for Fantastic Four Incorporated. He installed her in the Fantastic Four's reception office on the 30th floor of the Baxter Building.

(Fantastic Four I#239) - Roberta was experiencing minor malfunctions and was in need of some touch up welding. When the Human Torch was busy working on her under the desk, Roberta warmly greeted the visiting Penny Grimm who was a little confused when the receptionist vacantly kept repeating herself. The Torch then announced her presence, explaining the situation to his startled guest.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#17) - Roberta answered Sharon Selleck's frantic distress call, coming in on the FF's toll free number. Selleck, a friend of the Human Torch's, had been stranded in the tiny village of King's Crossing. Before Roberta could direct her call to Johnny or another FF member, Sharon was kidnapped by the mysterious townsfolk she had been running from. They turned out to be pseudo-Skrulls, who were mutated after drinking the milk from the three Skrulls Mr. Fantastic hypnotised into becoming cows a few years earlier.

(Thing I#4) - The Thing called the Baxter Building, hoping to reach Mr. Fantastic so he could help him deal with the plight of Lucas Jackson, a young mutant boy who was hounded by the local community. Unfortunately for Ben, Roberta answered the call. She informed him all his teammates were out, forcing him to fend for himself.

(Fantastic Four I#262) - Pressured by a rapidly approaching deadline, writer-artist John Byrne repeatedly called Fantastic Four Incorporated. Byrne needed to get an account of the team's most recent exploits to serve as the basis for the latest issue of their licensed Marvel Comic. However, the FF had been out for some time, a fact Roberta kept reminding Byrne of. She also didn't know where they were, but promised the annoyed creator she would tell them he'd called.

(Uncanny X-Men I#178) - When the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants left Colossus frozen in his metallic form, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) remembered reading an article by Reed Richards on a portable, high energy heat source he had just invented. Figuring the device was exactly what Colossus needed, she went to the nearest payphone to call the FF for help. Roberta answered however, and informed Kitty the FF were out. Not taking "no" for an answer, she took a taxi to the Baxter Building and went up to the reception area. There, she phased through the secretary, temporarily disrupting the robot's systems. However, she quickly recovered and initiated a stage one security alert. By that time, Kitty had already found the device and was on her way out.

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#89) - Roberta received a call from the Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) who was looking for the Fantastic Four. The team was out, and Black Cat angrily hung up on the receptionist. Later that day, Felicia snuck into the Baxter Building just as the FF were returning from their mission. She approached the team, requesting they help her gain actual super powers so she could be of more help to her lover Spider-Man. The FF refused her request, considering it too dangerous to do on purpose.

(Marvel Team Up I#148) - After Spider-Man located the hidden base of the Black Abbott under a boardwalk on New York's upper west side, he decided he should send for back-up before going in. He asked a little boy called Danny to phone the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and inform them of the situation. To make sure they believed Danny's story, Spider-Man shared two anecdotes with him that were supposed to convince the teams the tale was legit. Unfortunately, by the time Danny reached a phone, he had mixed the facts up. That's why Jarvis didn't believe him when Danny claimed Spider-Man and the Avengers had a secret meeting place on top of the Statue of Liberty and Roberta had no record of Spider-Man sneaking along on a recent FF mission against the Lava Men. Roberta said she would log Danny's call, but she couldn't give it priority due to the obvious inaccuracies.

(New Mutants I#15) - Roberta answered the call of the New Mutant Sunspot (Roberto DaCosta), who wanted to enlist the FF's aid in freeing Kitty Pryde from the White Queen (Emma Frost). She regretfully informed him the team wasn't in residence at the moment, but did offer to take a message.

(Fantastic Four I#265) - When the Trapster (Peter Petruski) managed to gain access to the Baxter Building in the FF's absence, the advanced security systems tied into Roberta immediately identified the villain. He was automatically denied access to the most sensitive areas of the building, his weapons were remotely jammed and an increasingly nervous Trapster was unknowingly guided towards Roberta in the reception area. Not realizing she was a robot, Trapster tried to take Roberta hostage. When he grabbed her, the super strong automaton flung him across the room like a rag doll, knocking him out in the process. Roberta then called the local police to arrange for Petruski's pick-up.

(Marvel 1985#5) - After a legion of supervillains from Earth-616 crossed the dimensional borders and invaded a small town on Earth-1219, young Toby Goodman travelled to Earth-616 to enlist the aid of his real life comic book heroes. However, Avengers butler Edwin Jarvis didn't believe Toby and sent him to the Fantastic Four, claiming situations with parallel worlds allegedly fell under their jurisdiction. Toby then visited the Baxter Building where he was impressed to see Roberta sitting behind her reception desk. She happily accepted Toby's story about being from a parallel Earth. But, seeing as the FF were out and there were already three people with emergencies sitting in the waiting room, all Roberta could do was ask he filled out some forms detailing the nature of the emergency.

(Fantastic Four I#278 - BTS) - Roberta, along with the entire Baxter Building, was lifted into orbit by Kristoff Vernard (believing himself to be Doctor Doom at the time). Vernard then blew up the building, destroying Roberta in the process.

(Fantastic Four I#311 - BTS) - Reed Richards eventually rebuilt Roberta and restored her memories and personality, most likely through a backup file. Seemingly none the worse for wear, she resumed her secretarial duties as part of the team's new Four Freedoms Plaza headquarters.

(Fantastic Four I#311) - Roberta looked on as FF member Crystal nervously awaited the arrival of Norman Webster, the New Jersey realtor she once had an affair with. When he arrived, Crystal greeted him warmly. Unaware Roberta was a robot, he initially worried about showing too much affection in front of Roberta. But Crystal happily showed an astounded Norman she was in fact, just a machine.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#21) - Roberta greeted the Fantastic Four after they returned home from an extensive mission. She then wanted to hand the Thing a rather huge number of inbound calls he had to return. Ben asked her to hold on to them a while longer, because the FF were about to depart for the Negative Zone, in search for the Beyonders. He then filled Roberta in on the team's latest adventures that started in the Mole Man's tunnels but eventually took them across time and space. Worried, Roberta asked if he shouldn't call in Reed Richards but Ben cheerfully told her there was no need for that, after all the team was doing fine.

(Fantastic Four I#318) - Despite her well rounded programming, Roberta found herself at a loss for words when Doctor Doom and Alicia Masters-Storm (Lyja) showed up in the reception area of Four Freedoms Plaza. Roberta piped the footage of the two of them through to the FF and asked them what she should do. Immediately jumping to the conclusion Doom had taken Alicia hostage, the team raced to the lobby to fight Doom. Alicia eventually managed to calm everyone down and told the FF she had been approached by Doom with the request to speak with the team.

(Marvel Fanfare I#46) - When the Mad Thinker inadvertently got his mind stuck inside the body of his Awesome Android, he desperately went to the Fantastic Four for help. When he entered Four Freedoms Plaza, he encountered Roberta. Desperate and near insanity given his plight, the Thinker used the Android's might to rip her robotic body from its swiveling base. Cut off from her power supply, Roberta went offline before being able to call for help.

(Power Pack I#57) - Roberta greeted a recently depowered Frankie Raye, who had come to Four Freedoms Plaza to seek Reed Richards' help in restoring her Nova powers. When Roberta told her that Mr. Fantastic was out, Frankie decided to go look for the super power restoring Activator herself. Roberta confirmed her identity by matching Nova's voice to Frankie Raye's old vocal imprint. Roberta granted the powerless herald of Galactus access to the building.

(Fantastic Four I#348) - After the Skrull thief De'Lila had disguised herself as the Invisible Woman, she knocked out all the members of the FF, leaving them tied up in an elevator. She then forced Mr. Fantastic to help her locate and obtain the invaluable dormant Inorganic Techno Troid (ITT) that had crashed somewhere on Earth. Reed complied, out of concern for his family. He soon learned of a sighting matching De'Lila's description reported in the Catskill Mountains and joined her in investigating the incident. As they were leaving, Roberta asked Reed if anything was wrong, because she had picked up strange energy readings from various parts of his laboratory. Reed assured her it was just casual maintance. He then told her that he and "Sue" were merely taking a little day trip, adding that Roberta, in view of the national emergency, should be sure to inform "all her friends in the marines" about it.

(Fantastic Four I#349) - Unsure what Mr. Fantastic meant by his remark about her friends in the marines, Roberta used her sensors to scan Four Freedoms Plaza. She discovered Franklin sound asleep in his room. The young boy helped Roberta free the other FF members. Roberta then told the team she had tracked Reed's position and discovered he was on Monster Island. As the FF took off to rescue their leader, Ben praised Roberta by saying he should thank Reed for making such a smart receptionist droid.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#24) - Roberta greeted the time travelling Guardians of the Galaxy, who had come from the future to seek the Fantastic Four's aid. She let them into Four Freedoms Plaza and guided the team to the FF who were working in one of Reed's laboratories. Mr. Fantastic told the Guardians his sensors had picked up their arrival and apologized for not coming out in person, seeing as he and the others were right in the middle of some rather delicate technical work.

(Deathlok II#3) - Roberta was a little startled when Deathlok (Collins) appeared unannounced in the lobby of Four Freedoms Plaza, carrying the unconscious form of Misty Knight. Her cybernetic arm had just been destroyed by a Doombot working for Mechadoom and Deathlok sought out Mr. Fantastic's assistance in repairing the damage. Once Roberta checked with Reed, she allowed Deathlok and Misty access.

(Fantastic Four I#361) - Roberta alerted Ben Grimm that he had a visitor: William "Slugger" Sokolowski from his old neigborhood had come to see him. Roberta looked on as the old friends from Yancy Street reunited.

(New Warriors Annual I#2/5) - After discovering her costume was created using unstable molecules illegally obtained from Reed Richards, New Warriors member Silhouette went to Four Freedoms Plaza to return it and apologize. She encountered Roberta who was clearly malfunctioning and kept repeating herself. Mr. Fantastic showed up to switch her off, explaining Thing and the Torch must have damaged the team's robotic receptionist during their usual horseplay.

(Fantastic Four I#371) - Roberta reminded the Thing he had a visitor: his former lover and FF member Sharon Ventura, who he was supposed to meet for lunch.

(Fantastic Four I#372) - Roberta was present in the lobby when the Invisible Woman expelled Code: Blue from Four Freedoms Plaza.

(Fantastic Four I#373) - Roberta was on the phone in the lobby when Matt Murdock and Makio Yakaki, the Fantastic Four's lawyers, left the building after a talk with the Invisible Woman regarding a lawsuit against her brother Johnny Storm.

(Fantastic Four I#376) - Roberta used the intercom to inform the FF that their lawyers Matt Murdock and Makio Yakaki had arrived, thereby interrupting a tense discussion between Reed and his father Nathaniel Richards regarding the dystopian, Sentinels filled future Reed would inadvertently bring about once he'd lose control of his patents.

(Cage#19) - Controlled by the Bogey Man (Douglas Carmody) Luke Cage ran his car into the lobby of Four Freedoms Plaza and passed right by Roberta in the lobby.

(Cage#20) - Roberta witnessed the Thing being beaten up by the mind-controlled Luke Cage in the FFP's lobby.

(Fantastic Four I#384) - Roberta announced the arrival of Scott Lang, who was sent over by Tony Stark to serve as the team's technical advisor in the wake of Mr. Fantastic's apparent demise.

(Namor the Sub-Mariner#50) - Namor visited Four Freedoms Plaza after Reed's apparent death to deliver a present to Susan. Roberta welcomed him to the building, but gave him some trouble because he didn't have an appointment. She called Susan to ask for permission to let Namor through. Namor was angered by the way Roberta treated him.

(Spider-Man Unlimited I#5) - After New York got hit by numerous, unexplained spontaneous small fires, two police men visited Four Freedoms Plaza looking for the Human Torch. Roberta informed them they had just missed him and that Johnny was out for the rest of the evening.

(Fantastic Four I#389) - Roberta interrupted a discussion between the Human Torch and Lyja to tell them of the arrival of Raphael Suarez, who worked at the hospital where Lyja had recently given birth. The Torch figured Suarez was probably out for a donation and was about to tell Roberta to get rid of him when the sudden arrival of the Collector caused a massive power black out. The Elder of the Universe had come to Earth to add Lyja's baby, an alledged Skrull/human hybrid, to his collection. Roberta went offline as well, which convinced Suarez that the FF might be in trouble and could use his help.

(Fantastic Four I#394 - BTS) - After his face was disfigured by Wolverine, the Thing became so insecure about his appearance that he wanted to avoid seeing his on again/of again girlfriend Alicia Masters. He instructed Roberta to refuse Alicia admittance under any circumstances, a request she immediately obeyed.

(Fantastic Four I#394) - Roberta politely gave Alicia Masters the brush off when she came to see him. When Alicia sarcastically "thanked" her for her assistance, a cheerfully chipper Roberta told her she was welcome. Scott Lang watched from a distance and thought to himself that the robotic receptionist was incapable of grasping the subtler nuances of sarcasm.

(Thunderstrike I#13/2) - When a damaged Doombot ran amok and started randomly destroying parts of Lower Manhattan, Code: Blue leader Lt. Stone was ready to move out. Mayoral assistant Jim Young, concerned with Code: Blue's ever increasing budget, feared their intervention would be overly costly to the city. Instead, he decided to call in the Fantastic Four. Young lost his cool when Roberta answered and told him the FF had disbanded. Before he hung up, she chided him for using such foul language.

(Fantastic Four I#403) - Roberta contacted Scott Lang, who was in the physical mechanics lab with Kristoff Vernard. She informed him his daughter Cassie Lang had arrived. Scott met his daughter in the lobby and officially introduced her to Roberta. Amazed, the young girl asked the receptionist if she was a robot. Roberta informed Cassie that she prefered to think of herself as a "mechanized human".

(Fantastic Four I#404) - Namor had little patience with Roberta when she tried to explain to him that the Invisible Woman was unavailable at the moment. Despite her pleading to remain calm, Namor ripped open the doors of the FF elevator and flew up to their headquarters under his own power.

(Fantastic Four I#405) - Returning home from a mission in the Brazilian jungle, the FF found themselves under attack by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man who used his time displacement dial to yank an assortment of heroes and villains from across time and space to assault the FF. Among them where the Whizzer (Bob Frank), Omega the Unknown, the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn), Blackout (Marcus Daniels), Skurge the Executioner, Blizzard, Snowbird (Narya), Union Jack (Montgomery Falsworth), the Melter (Bruno Horgan) and Iron Man of Earth-8410 (Arno Stark). Suspecting a temporal incursion, the Invisible Woman contacted Roberta via the intercom and explained to her this was a priority red-48 emergency. Sue wanted her to locate every stable humanoid lifesign in the entire building. Roberta came up with three patterns. Two of them belonged to Scott Lang and his daughter, while the third was Zarrko's who, thanks to Roberta's scans, could be found and defeated.

(Fantastic Four I#410) - Roberta was on duty when Cassie Lang met her classmate Donny in the lobby for a playdate. They were joined by Kristoff Vernard. Later, Roberta put in an emergency summons to the Invisible Woman when the Inhuman Gorgon entered the reception area and collapsed from exhaustion. Gorgon had come to ask the FF's assistance in helping the Inhuman Royal Family locate and restrain Black Bolt, who had been driven temporarily insane.

(Fantastic Four Unplugged#4) - Due to her bodyheat sensors Roberta recognized Laura Green as the Skrull Lyja and kept calling her by her real name even though Laura insisted she was not Lyja. Roberta called Johnny Storm for his date with Laura, who asked Roberta to keep her true identity a secret. Robera did as she was asked.

(Avengers Unplugged#4) - The FF were called upon to help the Avengers deal with a huge number of supervillains (among them the Brothers Grimm, Stilt Man and the Wrecking Crew) that had descended on New York to attend the wedding of the Absorbing Man (Carl "Crusher" Creel) and Titania (Mary "Skeeter" McPherran). However, with the team out of town, Roberta had no choice but to deny the request for assistance.

(Fantastic Four I#415) - Moments after the Fantastic Four returned from their fight against Hyperstorm, Roberta called Mr. Fantastic to inform him that Professor Charles Xavier was waiting for him in the lobby, while the Avengers were also trying to reach him on a priority channel. Scott Lang went to answer the call, leaving Xavier to Reed. When it became obvious Xavier had been taken over by Onslaught and was after Franklin, Reed tried to reach Roberta so she could pinpoint the location of both Franklin and Xavier. Unfortunately, Onslaught had already taken the internal communi-links offline.

(Tales of the Marvel Universe#1) - Roberta welcomed Mr. Burrthrop, who had an assigment with Nathaniel Richards, and the military at Four Freedoms Plaza. Burrthrop wanted to take possession of everything, including Roberta, for the US government, but Matt Murdock explained that Roberta and everything in the reception area of the building was specifically excluded from Reed Richards' agreement with the US government. Roberta was allowed to continue forwarding all messages sent to the Fantastic Four to appropriate recipients.

(Thunderbolts I#3 - BTS) - After the city of New York donated Four Freedoms Plaza to the Thunderbolts, Roberta received a slight redesign before resuming her activities as receptionist for the new Thunderbolts Plaza.

(Fantastic Four III#14) - After Ronan the Accuser had transported both the FF and their former headquarters Four Freedom Plaza to the Moon, he ordered a band of Kree soldiers to hunt down the team. Reed created a diversion by activating the many different iterations of Roberta. Among the Robertas on panel were iteration 3.2, assigned to Thunderbolts Plaza, 2.1, a raven haired Roberta assigned to Four Freedoms Plaza, and an even earlier version from the old Baxter Building. All of them were blasted to bits by the Kree, who in turn got ambushed and knocked out by the Thing.

(Black Panther III#25) - Vibraxas called the Baxter Building, but only got Roberta on the phone because the Fantastic Four were not available at the time. She offered him to leave a message, but Vibraxas had no time to do so when the phone was shot out of his hand. Not knowing what had happened Roberta politely wished him a nice day.

(Fantastic Four III#40 - BTS) - After Noah Baxter's newly constructed Baxter Building went operational, a rebuilt Roberta resumed her secretarial duties.

(Alias#8) - Jessica Jones and a guy posing as "Rick Jones" went to the Baxter Building to ask for help with "Jones" supposed problems with extraterrestrials. Roberta welcomed them, but couldn't let them through to Reed Richards because they didn't have an appointment with him. She stopped responding when she detected a fluctuation (he was lying) in "Jones'" voice and told Jessica and "Rick" to call the appointment receptionist.

(Pulse#11) - Roberta welcomed Jessica Jones at the Baxter Building and sent her to elevator four because she was already awaited on Level 38 by Susan Richards.

(Marvel Knights: Four#23 - BTS) - Reed Richards gave Roberta a complete redesign, giving her a fully humanoid, but silvery metallic form. Wired magazine published an article on the receptionist's new look that was read by Marvel writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

(Marvel Knights: Four#23) - Working behind her desk, Roberta met newly appointed Fantastic Four writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa who tried to bluff his way inside the building by claiming he had a dinner date with the team. When Roberta told him she couldn't find his alledged appointment on any of the FF's agendas, she then informed the writer to hold on while she contacted security. Aguirre-Sacasa initially figured she thought he was a stalker, but she politely explained it was to deal with the horde of Impossible Men and Women that had suddenly invaded the Baxter Building. Roberta then called the Invisible Woman to inform her of the situation. Sue ordered Roberta to evacuate the building and stay clear of the invading shapeshifting aliens. Roberta hid herself and Aguirre-Sarcasa by staying under her desk.

(Marvel Knights: Four#28) - Roberta assisted Susan Richards in dealing with the daily business affairs of Fantastic Enterprises. Roberta handed Sue several documents that needed her signature, while simultaneously drafting a letter of rejection in response to Martha Stewart's request to incorporate unstable molecules into her latest line of K-Mart clothing. Roberta also reminded Sue of an appointment she had with Bethany Palmer, one of the company's lawyers. In a private meeting, Bethany revealed to Sue her husband Jeff was a drinker who had been abusing her for four years. Despite the fact the FF received thousands of letters a day with similar cries for help, Sue decided she couldn't ignore Bethany's plight. Sue and Roberta drove Bethany home and while the secretary waited downstairs by the car, Sue went up to confront Bethany's husband. After the Invisible Woman set the abusive man straight, she and Roberta took Bethany back to the Baxter Building.

(Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four#1) - Roberta was romanced by Elektro, formerly a killer robot who was working as a mail man at the Baxter Building. Elektro, along with other monstrous menaces like Gorgilla, Fin Fang Foom and Googam, were serving out a commuted sentence by working at the Baxter Building under supervision of Mr. Fantastic. With a little help from the Thing, the shy and reserved Elektro overcame his insecurities and asked Roberta out on a date. She happily accepted and after a romantic walk through Central Park, she kissed him. Their date was cut short when Roberta picked up a Code 12 distress signal from the Baxter Building, which meant a laboraty break-in was in progress. Roberta picked up Elektro and activated her emergency jet thrusters to return them to FF headquarters post haste. There, they learned that Googam had been tricked by the subatomic despot Tim Boo Ba into unleashing him and his armies. Fin Fang Foom and Gorgilla were already present and planned to stop the invasion, but the lab was sealed off. Luckily, Roberta's universal passkey gave them access. After a brief altercation, Tim Boo Ba escaped the building and Roberta lent Foom and the others the FF's old Fantasticar to give chase. As he said goodbye to her, Elektro handed Roberta a copy of his memory files in case anything should happen to him. She wistfully saw "her big lug" and the others off and was overjoyed to see them return safe and sound.

(Fin Fang Four Return!#1/4 - BTS) - The romance between Roberta and Elektro blossomed into a full blown relationship and the two even started living together in Roberta's own appartment away from the Baxter Building.

(Giant-Size Avengers II#1/9/Fin Fang Four Return!#1/1) - Roberta led Doc Samson to the Fin Fang Four, who needed his psychiatric counselling. Elektro talked about his dream of a beautiful life with Roberta as his wife.

(Fin Fang Four Return!#1/4) - When the electrically charged supercriminal Electro (Max Dillon) went on a crimespree, the cops mistook Roberta's boyfriend Elektro for the culprit. With Elektro behind bars, his 32 kilobyte memory insufficient to deal with the situation, Roberta succesfully set out to prove her man's innocence.

(Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot#2) - Roberta greets Jackpot ("Sara Ehret") and states her patent number (458763A). After looking Jackpot in the eyes to perform a retinal scan and ascertain her identity, the autonomous android schedules a meeting with Reed Richards in six weeks. Dismayed, Jackpot asks Roberta to tell Dr. Richards that she has a unique biological specimen he would probably like to analyze. Richards grants Jackpot an immediate appointment.

Comments: Created by John Byrne.

It's nice to see the development of Roberta as a character. Starting out as little more than an animatronic answering machine with big glasses, she slowly evolved into a permanent fixture in the FF's lives. Seeing her grow from being an inconsequential appliance in the 80s to slowly gaining a sense of self during the DeFalco "mechanized human" days, culminating in her current status quo as a fully independent Robot American...she has come a long way. And still, she remains so delightfully courteous...

Roberta received entries in Marvel Encylopedia: Fantastic Four and FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1.

Profile by Norvo. with a little help from Markus Raymond

CLARIFICATIONS:
Roberta has no known connections to

• Any other robot or character with a similar name

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images: (without ads)
Fifty Fantastic Years, Roberta entry (main image)
Fantastic Four I#239, p3, pan1/2 (first appearance)
Fantastic Four I#265, p11, pan1/2 (knocks out the Trapster)
Fantastic Four I#311, p7, pan6 (doesn't matter)
Fantastic Four I#403, p4, pan2 (cassie lang)
Fantastic Four III#14, p17, pan5-11 (many faces)
Marvel Knights: Four#28, p1, pan2 (metallic)

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Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#239 (February, 1982) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Jim Salicrup, Lance Tooks (editors)
Fantastic Four Annual I#17 (September, 1983) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Thing I#4 (October, 1983) - John Byrne (writer), Ron Wilson (pencils), Hilary Barta (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)
Fantastic Four I#262 (January, 1984) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#178 (February, 1984) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Bob Wiacek, Brett Breeding (inkers), Louise Jones (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#89 (April, 1984) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Marvel Team-Up I#148 (December, 1984) - Cary Burkett (writer), Greg LaRocque (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
New Mutants I#15 (May, 1984) - Chris Claremont (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Tom Mandrake (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Fantastic Four I#265 (April, 1984) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Michael Higgins, Bob Budiansky (editors)
Fantastic Four I#311 (February, 1988) - Steve Englehart (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four Annual I#21 (September, 1989) - Steve Englehart (writer), Kieron Dwyer (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#318 (September, 1988) - Steve Englehart (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#46 (October, 1989) - Mike W. Barr (writer), Louis Williams (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Power Pack I#57 (July, 1990) - Michael Higgins (writer), Tom Morgan (pencils), Tom Morgan, Andy Mushynsky (inks) Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Fantastic Four I#348 (January, 1991) - Walt Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams, Gracine Tanaka (pencils), Art Tribert, Al Milgrom (inkers), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#349 (February, 1991) - Walt Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams, Gracine Tanaka (pencils), Art Tribert, Al Milgrom (inkers), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four Annual I#24 (July, 1991) - Al Milgrom (writer, pencils, inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Deathlok II#3 (September, 1990) - Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Denys Cowan (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), Tom Brevoort, Bob Budiansky, Sara Mossoff (editors)
Fantastic Four I#361 (February, 1992) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Bill Oakley (editor)
New Warriors Annual I#2/5 (June, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Steve Buccellato (pencils, inks), Chris Eliopoulos (editor)
Fantastic Four I#371-373 (December, 1992 - February, 1993) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#376 (May, 1993) - Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan (writers), Paul Ryan (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio, Pat Garrahy (editors)
Cage#19 (October, 1993) - Marc McLaurin (writer), Brian Pelletier (pencils), Frank Turner (inks), Chris Cooper (editor)
Cage#20 (November, 1993) - Marc McLaurin (writer), Scott Benefiel (pencils), Frank Turner (inks), Chris Cooper (editor)
Fantastic Four I#384 (January, 1994) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Dave Sharpe (editor)
Namor the Sub-Mariner#50 (May, 1994) - Glenn Herdling (writer), Geof Isherwood (artist), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Spider-Man Unlimited I#5 (May, 1994) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Danny Fingeroth, Mark Bernardo (editors)
Fantastic Four I#389 (June, 1994) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Steve Dutro (editor)
Fantastic Four I#394 (November, 1994) - Mike Lackey (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Thunderstrike I#13/2 (October, 1994) - Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier (writers), Larry Alexander (pencils), Charles Barnett (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Fantastic Four I#403 (August, 1995) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Fantastic Four I#404 (September, 1995) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Fantastic Four I#405 (October, 1995) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Jim Novak (editor)
Fantastic Four I#410 (March, 1996) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Fantastic Four Unplugged#4 (March, 1996) - Mike Lackey (writer), Adriana Melo (pencils), Tim Dzon (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Avengers Unplugged#4 (April, 1996) - Glenn Herdling (writer), John Statema (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks), Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio (editors)
Fantastic Four I#415 (August, 1996) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)
Tales of the Marvel Universe#1 (February, 1997) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Vince Russel (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Fantastic Four III#14 (February, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Black Panther III#25 (December, 2000) - Christopher Priest (writer), Sal Velluto (pencils), Bob Almond (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Fantastic Four III#40 (April, 2001) - Carlos Pacheco (co-plotter/pencils), Rafael Marin (co-plotter), Jeph Loeb (dialogue), Jesus Merino (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Alias#8 (June, 2002) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Gaydos (artist), Stuart Moore (editor)
Pulse#11 (November, 2005) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Gaydos (artist), Andy Schmidt (editor)
Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four#1 (December, 2005) - Scott Gray (writer), Roger Langridge (writer, pencils, inks), John Barber (editor)
Marvel Knights: Four#23 (December, 2005) - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Mizuki Sakakibara (pencils, inks), Warren Simons (editor)
Marvel Knights: Four#28 (May, 2006) - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Mizuki Sakakibara (pencils, inks), Warren Simons (editor)
Giant-Size Avengers#1 (February, 2008) - Scott Gray (writer), Roger Langridge (pencils), John Barber (editor)
Marvel 1985#5 (November, 2008) - Mark Millar (writer), Tommy Lee Edwards (pencils, inks), Jody Leheup, John Barber (editors)
Fin Fang Four Return!#1/4 (July, 2009) - Scott Gray (writer), Roger Langridge (pencils), John Barber (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot#2 (April, 2010) - Marc Guggenheim (writer), Adriana Melo (pencils), Mariah Benes (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)

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First Posted: 09/30/2013
Last updated: 09/30/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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