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Invisible Woman

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This article is about the comic book character. For the 1940 film, see The Invisible Woman. For the Canadian artist Sue Richards, see Sue Richards (artist).
"Invisible Girl" redirects here. For the Buffy episode, see Out of Mind, Out of Sight.
Sue Storm Richards
File:4five.jpg
Cover for Marvel Knights Four #5.
Art by Steve McNiven
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961)
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter egoSusan Storm Richards
SpeciesHuman Mutate
Team affiliationsFantastic Four
Secret Avengers
Avengers
Fantastic Four Incorporated
Notable aliasesBaroness Von Doom, Malice, Mistress of Hate, Invisible Girl, Captain Universe, Susan Benjamin
AbilitiesInvisibility
Force Field Projection grants:
  • Ability to generate protective invisible shields
  • Ability to generate invisible power blasts
  • Ability to control and manipulate objects
  • Ability to generate powerful energy weapons

Susan Storm Richards (also known as Invisible Girl and later, Invisible Woman) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961. Like the other founding members of the Fantastic Four, Sue received her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm. Her primary power deals with light waves, allowing her to render herself and others invisible. However, she can also project powerful fields of invisible energy which she uses for a variety of offensive and defensive effects. Sue plays a central role in the lives of her brother, her husband, her children (Franklin Richards and Val Richards), and her friend, Ben Grimm.

An object of infatuation for Doctor Doom, and, most notably, Namor the Submariner, Sue's passive invisibility power translated into her frequent deployment as a damsel in distress during the team's early adventures. However, upon developing the ability to project powerful fields of energy, Sue Storm became a more powerful member of the Fantastic Four, and the team's second-in-command. While Sue operated somewhat in the shadow of her hot-headed brother, Johnny Storm, and her brilliant husband Reed Richards in the early years, she is now the soul of the Fantastic Four and one of the premiere heroes in the Marvel Universe.

The Invisible Woman is portrayed by Jessica Alba in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Publication history

Invisible Woman has primarily appeared in issues of Fantastic Four. Susan's initial power of invisibility proved to be of minor consequence in the team's early missions, especially compared to the abilities of the others in the group. Eventually, the creators expanded Sue's abilities, giving her the power to render other objects and people invisible and create strong force fields and psionic blasts. Despite her enhanced abilities, Susan served primarily as an assistant and second-in-command to Reed. This changed when John Byrne began his run on the title. Under his authorship, Sue became more confident and assertive in her abilities which became more versatile and impressive. For instance, she found she could use her force field abilities to manipulate matter through the air, immobilize enemies, or administer long-range attacks. Susan changed her nom de guerre to Invisible Woman, and is now recognized as one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel Universe.

Fictional character biography

As detailed in The Marvel Saga: Official History of The Marvel Universe #16, Susan Storm, and her younger brother, Jonathan grew up in the town of Glenville, Long Island, children of a physician named Franklin and a woman named Mary. The parents left their kids alone one night to travel to a dinner honoring Dr. Storm. On the way, a tire blew out but only Mary was injured. Franklin escaped injury and insisted on operating on his wife. He was unable to save her and she passed away. After his wife's death, Dr. Franklin Storm became a gambler and a drunk, losing his medical practice, which led him to the accidental killing of a loan shark. Franklin did not defend himself in court, because he still felt guilty over Mary's death. With their father in prison, Susan had to become a mother figure for her younger brother.

While living with her aunt, Susan, at the young age of 12, met her future husband, Reed Richards, a house guest who was attending college. When she graduated high school as the award-winning captain of her Girls' Varsity Swim Team, she moved to California to attend college, where she pursued an acting career and encountered Richards again. They began to become romantically involved with each other.

Reed Richards, working in the field of Aerospace engineering, was designing a spacecraft for interstellar travel. Everything was going well until the government stopped funding of his project. Richards, wanting to see his project through, decided to make an unscheduled test flight. Originally, it was only going to be Reed and his best friend, Ben Grimm, involved, but Susan was instrumental in persuading Reed in letting her brother and herself join them on the dangerous space mission. In space, the quartet was exposed to massive amounts of cosmic radiation. As a result, they had to abort the mission and return to Earth. After the crash landing, they realized that they gained superhuman powers; hers was the ability to become invisible at will. Realizing the potential use of their abilities, the four of them became the Fantastic Four, for the benefit of mankind.[1]

Invisible Girl

File:SueFF27.jpg
One of the Sub-Mariner's many attempts to win Sue's affections. Art by Jack Kirby.

As the Fantastic Four, the team found themselves setting up their first headquarters in the Baxter Building in Manhattan. The first supervillain they battled was the Mole Man,[2] followed soon after that by the Skrulls.[3] The Fantastic Four encountered many villains in the early part of their career, but none of them contended for Susan's affections more than Namor the Sub-Mariner. Sue felt an amount of attraction to Namor, but her heart belonged with Reed.[4] Soon after that, the Fantastic Four encountered Doctor Doom for the first time.[5]

Initially, her powers were limited to making herself invisible. However, before long Sue discovered she could make other things invisible as well as create force fields of invisible energy. [6] Susan later found herself getting injured in battle with the Mole Man. Her father escaped from prison and operated on her to save her life. Franklin made amends with his children before returning to prison; however, the Super-Skrull found a way to kidnap Dr. Storm, mimic his appearance, and then fight the Fantastic Four as the Invincible Man. In the process of defeating the Super-Skrull, Dr. Storm sacrificed his own life to protect the Fantastic Four from a Skrull booby trap.

File:SueFF106.jpg
Sue in trouble on the cover of Fantastic Four #106, art by John Romita, Sr. and Joe Sinnott

Reed and Sue's relationship progressed, with the two of them deciding to get married. The wedding was the event of the century, with several of New York City's preeminent superheroes in attendance. Even several supervillains wanted to attend, even if it was only for the chance to attack the Fantastic Four.[7] Not long after that, Susan and the Fantastic Four encountered Galactus and the Silver Surfer for the first time.[8] Sue later became pregnant with her first child.[9] As a result, she was unable to remain an active member of the team. Johnny's then-girlfriend, the Inhuman elementalist known simply as Crystal, joined the team, taking over Susan's roster spot.[10][11]

Susan's cosmic irradiated blood cells served as an obstacle for her in carrying the unborn child to term. Knowing this, Reed, Johnny, and Ben journeyed into the Negative Zone to acquire the Cosmic Control Rod from Annihilus. Effectively utilizing the device, the baby was safely delivered and was named Franklin, in memory of Susan's father.[12] Due to the genetically altered structure of his parents, Franklin was born a mutant, possessing vast powers of the highest possible potential. Seeking to use the boy's talents for his own sadistic purposes, Annihilus returned and successfully triggered a premature full release of Franklin's latent abilities, which were already in the process of gradual emergence. Fearing that his son could very well release enough psionic energy to eliminate all life on Earth, Reed was forced to shut Franklin's mind down, feeling there was no immediate alternative. Angry with Reed for not seeking her input in the matter, Susan left the Fantastic Four and had a marital separation from Reed.[13] Taking her roster spot was Medusa, of the Inhumans. With the help of Namor, Susan reconciled with Reed and returned to the Fantastic Four accompanied by Franklin.[14]

Invisible Woman

File:Fantasticfour281.GIF
Sue possessed by Malice. Art by John Byrne.

Susan eventually became pregnant for a second time. However, the trauma brought by her first pregnancy paled in comparison to that of her second for several reasons. This second child was birthed stillborn due to Susan having been exposed to radiation inside the Negative Zone on a previous trip.[15] A depressed Susan was later manipulated by events set into motion by Psycho-Man into becoming Malice. Susan, with this new identity and emotions as Malice, attacked her friends and family in the Fantastic Four. She effortlessly defeated She-Hulk and Human Torch; luckily, Reed was able to save Susan by forcing her to hate him legitimately.[16] Broken free of Psycho-Man's influence, Susan (off-panel) did something to Psycho-Man, causing him to let out a terrifying scream.[17] After she rejoined her teammates, Susan stated that Psycho-Man would never hurt anyone ever again. Susan found herself a changed person after these events and because of this, changed her codename to the Invisible Woman. Along with Reed, she briefly left the Fantastic Four.[18] Finding a life outside the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue were invited into the membership of the Avengers.[19] The two of them were Avengers briefly, and rejoined the Fantastic Four before long.[20]

During the Infinity War, Susan was forced to face off against Malice, who had reemerged in Sue's subconscious. After defeating Malice, Susan absorbed Malice into her own consciousness. Subsequently, Susan's personality was influenced by Malice, causing her to become more aggressive in battle, even creating invisible razor-like force fields she used to slice enemies. She also took to wearing a more revealing costume, which included a cut-out "4" in the chest, showing her cleavage. Her son Franklin, who had traveled forth and back in time, had become the adult hero Psi-Lord, and he was able to free his mother and absorb the influence of Malice into himself. He eventually destroyed Malice by projecting her into the mind of an enemy, who died soon after.

After the apparent death of Reed, Susan found herself becoming a capable leader. Around this time, Susan, who felt Reed was still alive, kept searching for him, even with romantic advances from her old flame, Namor the Sub-Mariner. The Fantastic Four eventually rescued the time-displaced Reed, who found himself temporarily losing confidence in his leadership skills, since Susan was also a capable leader.

Following their return to their Earth of origin, The Fantastic Four encountered Valeria Von Doom. This new Marvel Girl came from an alternate future, where she was the child of Susan and Doctor Doom. Susan eventually came to accept the young girl as a friend. During a conflict with Abraxas, Franklin revealed that he used his abilities to save Susan's original stillborn child and placed it in another alternate future. After the ordeal involving Abraxas, Marvel Girl was restored to a baby again inside Susan's womb.

This time around, Susan, yet again, had a difficult birthing. Due to the help of Doctor Doom, Susan was able to give birth to a healthy baby girl, which Doom named Valeria, his price for helping Sue, or so she thought. Doom placed a spell on the baby, which made her his familiar spirit, to be used against the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four wrestled Valeria free from Doom's control, defeated him, and sent him to Hell.

Around this time, Sue underwent martial arts training with Iron Fist.

Due to their actions involving the country of Latveria, the Fantastic Four separated temporarily. The remaining members banded together to bring Ben back from Heaven.

Sue, the Human Torch

Zius, leader of a group of Galactus refugees, kidnaps Susan. His intent was to use her powers to hide planets from Galactus. Reed finds a way to fool Zius, by switching Susan and Johnny's powers. Susan assists in an adventure where Johnny becomes a herald of Galactus. Wielding a cosmic version of her powers, Johnny is able to see through people to the very cores of their personality.

Both Sue and Johnny gain a newfound respect for each other and how they deal with their powers. Soon, Reed tries to switch the powers back. The entire FF's powers are granted to four random civilians before being restored to their rightful wielders.

This parallels an earlier torture by Doom, where Sue was given an extremely painful version of Johnny's pyrokinetic ability.

Marriage problems

Sue's brother Johnny, enjoying a night on the town with a date, is beaten up in front of a nightclub by locals angered because his superhero/celebrity status affords him easy entry into the club while they are forced to wait in line.

Although Sue was initially part of the pro-Registration force supporting the Superhuman Registration Act, she defects after the Thor Clone, created by her husband Mister Fantastic and Tony Stark, kills famed superhero Bill Foster. In the midst of the battle, Sue arrives and creates an invisible force shield around Captain America's Secret Avengers, protecting them from Thor's lightning blasts and allowing them to escape whilst she held him off - developing a nose bleed in the process.

Later that night, Sue leaves the Baxter Building and meets Johnny. She has left a note for the sleeping Reed, informing him that the children are entirely in his care, since she intends to go underground and join Captain America's resistance forces. Her final injunction to her husband is a heartfelt request: "Please fix this."

The Storm siblings narrowly escape a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents bent on capturing them in Civil War #5. The two further elude detection by operating under fake husband and wife identities provided by Nick Fury, becoming members of Captain America's Secret Avengers.

Before storming the Negative Zone prison, Sue visits Namor to plead for assistance. He refuses and indicates she is still attracted to him, an accusation she does not deny.

During the final battle depicted in Civil War #7, as Susan is about to be shot by Taskmaster, Reed Richards jumps in front of her and takes the brunt of the attack, sustaining a major injury. Outraged, Susan beats Taskmaster into the ground, leaving a large circular indentation in the Earth. Following the end of the war, Susan helps with the clean-up of New York City. She, along with the other Secret Avengers, has been granted amnesty, and she returns home to Reed. Seeking to repair the damage done to their marriage as a result of the war, Sue and Reed take time off from the Fantastic Four, but ask Storm and the Black Panther to take their places in the meantime.

World War Hulk

In the second issue of World War Hulk, the Fantastic Four confront the Hulk. Reed has designed a machine that recreates the Sentry's aura. The Hulk, only momentarily calmed, discovers the ruse. Sue deploys her force fields to defend Reed against the Hulk, who shatters her protective fields with such force that she collapses, leaving Reed vulnerable. Reed suffers a vicious beating at the hands of the Hulk; Sue telephones the Sentry for help.

The Hulk transforms Madison Square Garden into a gladiatorial arena. Sue and the other defeated heroes are held captive in a lower level. The heroes are outfitted with the same obedience disks that were used to suppress the Hulk's powers and force him to fight his companions on Sakaar.

Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four

While Susan is on a lecture tour in Vancouver, B.C., a Skrull posing as Mister Fantastic ambushes her, applying pressure to her skull with an invisible force field and knocking her out cold. Then, a Skrull infiltrates the Baxter Building disguised as Susan and opens a portal into the Negative Zone, forcing the top three floors of the building into the Negative Zone, and in turn trapping herself, Johnny, Ben, and the two Richards children there. The Skrull impersonating her is later revealed to be Lyja.[21]

The Invisible Woman (presumably Sue, due to Lyja still being in the Negative) is confirmed by Brian Micheal Bendis as appearing in Secret Invasion #5[22]

Powers and abilities

The Invisible Woman, as her name suggests, has the power to render herself invisible at will, as a result of the mutagenic effects of exposure to cosmic radiation. She has the psionic ability to manipulate ambient cosmic energy to mentally bend all wavelengths of light (including infrared and ultraviolet radiation) around her body without causing any visible distortion; she also somehow directs enough undistorted light to her eyes to retain her sight while invisible. Her body cells produce an unknown form of energy that she can mentally project around other people or objects, rendering them invisible. She can also use this energy to render visible, persons or objects rendered invisible by other means, and energy that is normally invisible.

Although invisibility is her namesake power, she also has the psionic ability to manipulate ambient cosmic energy to produce psionic force in relatively simple forms (rectangular planes, globes, cylinders, cones, domes, etc.). She can mentally generate and project force fields of tremendous strength, which she manipulates for a variety of effects. The fields are able to repel solid objects, even those of great mass and momentum, and can repel all but the very strongest energy attacks. She can generate these fields at a distance of several hundred feet. It has never been specified whether her fields are related to gravity, to electromagnetism, or to some other fundamental force. It may be the case that her invisibility and her force fields are two aspects of the same power, although the precise manner in which these aspects are related is not clear.

Sue can shape her force fields into invisible 'constructs,' usually simple shapes such as barriers, columns, cones, cylinders, darts, discs, domes, platforms, rams, ramps, slides, and spheres. By generating additional force behind her constructs, she can turn them into offensive weapons, ranging from massive invisible battering rams to small projectiles such as spears and darts. She can generate force constructs as small as a marble or as large as 100 feet (30 m) in diameter, and her hollow projections such as domes can extend up to several miles in area. By forming one of her force fields within an object and expanding the field, Sue can cause the object to explode. She can also simulate telekinesis, by projecting her energy into a beam out of her hand that connects to the object or victim, and can manipulate the field to move it around. Her force field generating ability makes the Invisible Woman (arguably) the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four and one of the most powerful Marvel characters, and their deadliest enemy Doctor Doom has commented on many occasions that Sue is the most dangerous of the foursome.

She can also travel atop constructs such as ramps, stairs, slides, columns, and stepping discs, enabling her to simulate a limited approximation of levitation or 'flight.' She is capable of generating and manipulating multiple force fields simultaneously. This power is only limited by her concentration; once she stops concentrating on a field, it immediately ceases to exist.

She is also able to make shapes which capture ambient light to use as a lantern.

Formerly, she could not use her invisibility and force field powers simultaneously. She formerly could not render herself and a person or object not in contact with her invisible simultaneously.

Susan is a fair hand-to-hand combatant, having been coached by both the Thing and She-Hulk. She possesses leadership qualities, and usually acts as the Fantastic Four leader in Mister Fantastic's absence. Sue is also a talented actress.

Other versions

1602

In the miniseries Marvel 1602, Susan Storm is a member of the Four from the Fantastick, in reference to the ship upon which she and three others gained their powers in the Sargasso Sea. Unlike in the Marvel Universe, she is weightless and cannot become visible. She is related to the alchemical element of air as stated by Neil Gaiman.

At the start of Marvel 1602: Fantastick Four, Susan is visibly pregnant with Sir Richard Reed's child. He forbids her to join him in his pursuit of Otto von Doom while in this condition, but she goes anyway. Much to Miss Doris Evans' shock, Sir Richard and Susan are not married.

Exiles

Sue has appeared many times in the pages of Exiles. First, she was married to Black Bolt and helped him defeat that reality's tyrannical dictator Iron Man.[23]. More recently[24], another version of Sue has appeared as Madame Hydra, controller of Captain America, Longshot, and Wolverine. She has even developed romantic feelings for Wolverine. This version of Sue has killed billions and plans to move onto other Earths. Along with the Exiles, she is opposed by this reality's Reed Richards and Elektra.

Marvel Mangaverse

In the alternate universe of the Marvel Mangaverse, the Invisible Girl is Sioux Storm, half-sister of Jonathan Storm. Sioux has near psychosis-level emotional detachment and may suffer from Borderline personality disorder. In order to get her to fight — or show any interest in what is going on — Reed has her suit dump near-overdoses of battle stimulants and aggressor hormones into her bloodstream. She is a member of the Megascale Metatalent Response Team Fantastic Four. The team uses power packs that allow them to manifest at mecha-sized levels. Sioux projects a 200 ft (61 m) tall "invisible friend" constructed from her invisible force fields. The team fights Godzilla-sized monsters from various alien xenocultures that attack Earth in order to put an end to experiments that endanger all of reality. In Mangaverse volume 1 the team destroys a mecha-like Annihilus.

In New Mangaverse Sioux is murdered by ninja assassins dispatched by the Hand.

Marvel Zombies

The Marvel Zombies universe's version of Reed Richards deliberately infected his team, including Sue, with the zombie virus, following madness from the murder of their children at the hands of a zombified She-Hulk. The Zombie FF subsequently made contact with their Ultimate counterparts, attempting to escape into the Ultimate Marvel universe. However, Zombie Reed was neutralized when the Ultimate Invisible Girl practically destroyed a chunk of his brain. After a brief period of imprisonment, the zombie FF were returned to their universe.

MC2

In the MC2 universe, Sue and Reed recently returned from space, where Sue had been holding back a rift in reality. Sue was instrumental in battling Galactus during the Last Planet Standing miniseries in which she deployed her force fields to prevent a tsunami from leveling New York.

Mutant X

In this darker reality, little is known about Susan, except that she has had an affair with that reality's Havok.

Planetary

In the Wildstorm series Planetary, written by Warren Ellis, the main adversaries of the eponymous team of superpowered investigators are an evil version of Marvel's Fantastic Four called The Four. The Sue Storm analogue is Kim Suskind, who has exactly the same powers as the original, except that she has to wear a pair of goggles in order to see while invisible. The daughter of a Nazi scientist and lover of The Four's leader, Randall Dowling, Suskind destroys her opponents by rapidly expanding a force field inside their heads, triggering a fatal explosion.

Ultimate Sue Storm

The Ultimate version of Susan Storm is similar in appearance and ability to the 616 universe's Sue Storm. She is a young adult - at least 19 - biophysics prodigy who has grown up in the Baxter Building in the gifted and talented program supervised by her father. She is romantically involved with Reed Richards.

In other media

File:Invisibewoman.jpg
Susan Storm in the 2006 animated series.

Television

  • The Invisible Woman was voiced by Ginny Tyler-Hilton in the 1978 Fantastic Four TV series .
  • The Invisible Woman appeared in the 1994 animated series, voiced by Lori Alan.
  • The Invisible Woman appears toward the end of the 1994 Spider-Man TV series in the "Secret Wars" storyline voiced by Gail Matthius. She and the Fantastic Four are among the heroes Spider-Man summons to a planet to help him against the villains the Beyonder brought there.

Film

Fantastic Four (2005 Film)

File:Normal InvisibleWoman.jpg
Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four.

Sue is portrayed by Jessica Alba in the 2005 film The Fantastic Four. Sue, a brilliant scientist, leads Victor Von Doom's Department of Genetic Research. She is dating Von Doom at the beginning of the film. Immediately prior to the arrival of the cosmic storm which grants her the ability to manipulate light (allowing her to disappear and generate semi-visible force fields), Victor proposes to her: she turns him down. Unlike in other media, Sue was not able to render her normal clothes invisible (her radiated spacesuit can become invisible with her, though). Although her powers are influenced by her emotions, she manages to control her abilities during the team's climactic battle with Von Doom. Sue accepts Richards' proposal of marriage at the end of the film.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007 film)

In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Sue Storm's wedding to Mister Fantastic is interrupted by the arrival of the Silver Surfer. Sue reminds the Silver Surfer of the woman he loved back on his homeworld. This association, and the friendship with Sue which follows, leads the Surfer to turn against his master, Galactus.

While attempting to shield the Silver Surfer with a force field, Sue is stabbed through the chest by a spear created by a cosmic-powered Dr. Doom, and she dies in Reed's arms. However, Silver Surfer uses his cosmic powers to heal Sue, tarnishing himself in the process. Before leaving to confront Galactus, Silver Surfer tells Reed to treasure every moment with Sue.

Reed and a kimono-clad Sue are married in ceremony in Japan at the end of the film, moments before jetting off with Ben and Johnny to save Venice from sinking.

Video games

  • Sue Storm has appeared in numerous video games, usually accompanied by her brother and fellow teammates, being one of the most important the 1998 video game of her team, which was for the original PlayStation.
  • She appeared as a playable character in the video games based on the films. She was voiced by Jessica Alba in the first one, and Erin Matthews in the sequel.
  • Sue Storm is also set to appear in the 2009 game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion. She is seen creating a telekinetic field with Iron Man overloading it with energy, effectively creating a bomb.

References

  1. ^ Fantastic Four #1
  2. ^ Fantastic Four #2
  3. ^ Fantastic Four #2
  4. ^ Fantastic Four #4
  5. ^ Fantastic Four #5
  6. ^ Fantastic Four #22 "Return of the Moleman"
  7. ^ Fantastic Four Annual #3
  8. ^ Fantastic Four #48-50
  9. ^ Fantastic Four Annual #5
  10. ^ Invisible Woman - Marvel Universe: The definitive online source for Marvel super hero bios
  11. ^ Fantastic Four # 83 - 100
  12. ^ Fantastic Four Annual #6
  13. ^ Fantastic Four #130
  14. ^ Fantastic Four #149
  15. ^ Fantastic Four #267-268
  16. ^ Fantastic Four #280-281
  17. ^ Fantastic Four #283
  18. ^ Fantastic Four #304-307
  19. ^ Avengers Vol. 1 #300
  20. ^ Fantastic Four #326
  21. ^ Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
  22. ^ CBR News SPOILERS OF WAR: Secret Invasion #4
  23. ^ Exiles #21-23
  24. ^ Exiles #91-94

See also


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