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Quote1 I know that, darling. But... But I know a lot of other things now. Things I think I've been trying to put aside, to postpone... Something a lot like growing up, perhaps. The Psycho-Man did more than twist my emotions. He forced me to look into the deepest corners of my soul, forced me to confront who I am, what have I become. When we rocketed into the cosmic ray belt, when we gained our powers, we lost something. An innocence. A child-like naivety. For a long time I've tried to go on as if we're still the same people we used to be, As if I was still the same. But I'm not. Not after all that's happened to us. Not after what the Psycho-Man did to me. There is no Invisible-Girl anymore, Reed. She died when the Psycho-Man twisted her soul. From now on, I am the Invisible Woman! Quote2
Invisible Woman[src]

Dr. Susan "Sue" Richards[1] (née Storm[4]), a.k.a. the Invisible Woman,[18] is an American superpowered adventurer. She was a college student before she was exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation when boyfriend and scientist, Dr. Reed Richards, took her with her younger brother, Johnny Storm and pilot Ben Grimm, into space in the stolen rocket Marvel-1. The radiation mutated her and her friends, turning her invisible and allowing her to create forcefields.[4] Together they became the Fantastic Four, a team of adventurers who explored space, time, and alternate dimensions and saved the world along the way from science-based threats.[19]

History

This is an abridged version of Susan Storm's history. For a complete history see Susan Storm's Expanded History.

Early Years[]

Susan Storm and her younger brother, Johnny, lived uneventfully on Long Island until their mother, Mary Storm, died in an automobile accident. Their father, Franklin Storm, a doctor, failed to save her. Despondent, he began to drink and gambled away the family fortune, eventually winding up in a penitentiary for murder after accidentally killing his loan shark.[20] The children went to live with their Aunt Marygay Jewel Dinkins, who ran a boarding house. When Susan was in her late teens, she fell in love with one of her aunt's boarders, Reed Richards, who was working on his third doctorate at Empire State University.[21][22] Sue later followed Richards to California, where she halfheartedly tried to break into show business.

Reed was working on an experimental faster-than-light rocketship called the Marvel-1 that he intended to use to explore an Earthlike planet named Spyre located 44 lightyears away. When the project lost its government funding, he decided to launch the prototype, certain that the flight would succeed and attract more funding, and Sue went along for her own reasons.[4] Ben Grimm, a test pilot, took the controls. Johnny filled out the crew. When the rocket ship passed through a storm of cosmic rays, it was hit with an unexpected intensity that caused the ship to crash back to Earth. The experience gave each of them superhuman abilities, and perhaps more importantly, it forged almost unbreakable bonds between them. They became the Fantastic Four, and Storm took the name Invisible Girl.[4]

Fantastic Four[]

Susan Storm (Earth-616) Gallery Page from Fantastic Four Annual Vol 1 2

The Invisible Girl

In the early years of the Fantastic Four, Sue spent much of her time keeping the team together. Reed spent long hours in his laboratory; Grimm moped over his appearance; Johnny acted out like any teenager. Her power of invisibility had little use in battling super-villains such as Doctor Doom and Galactus, but her empathy and common sense prevented several breakups and defections. Her discontent manifested itself in an attraction to Namor,[23] who returned her affections, but the relationship effectively ended after Namor abducted Sue in an attempt to persuade her to be his queen.[24]

She soon discovered new powers: she could turn other objects (besides herself) invisible and project and manipulate powerful force fields.[25] Although unable to perform offensively on a par with the Thing, she could defend against almost any threat.

When the Super-Skrull, possessing the combined powers of the Fantastic Four, attacked the team, the Human Torch managed to trap him inside a cave,[26] but the Super-Skrull escaped and impersonated Sue's father, Franklin Storm. The Four exposed the Super-Skrull, but the Skrulls strapped a bomb to the real Franklin's chest, and Franklin sacrificed his own life to save his children.[20] A trip to the Skrull homeworld and the death of Warlord Morrat, the Skrull who authorized Franklin's murder, brought some measure of revenge.[27]

Motherhood[]

Avengers Vol 8 6 Return of the Fantastic Four Variant Textless

The FF as a seasoned team

Sue eventually married Reed in a wedding ceremony attended by most of the world's heroes.[28] A difficult pregnancy followed, during which Crystal of the Inhumans took her place on the team. At the last moment, to save the unborn child, the Fantastic Four had to visit the Negative Zone and borrow the Cosmic Control Rod of Annihilus.[29] Her son Franklin, named after her father, manifested strong and unusual powers almost immediately. When Annihilus kidnapped Franklin and triggered those powers, he turned Franklin into a living bomb and caused his powers to increase exponentially and uncontrollably, until Franklin threatened to wipe out all life in the solar system with a psychic blast. Reed was left with no choice but to inhibit Franklin's higher brain functions in order to defuse him. It was the last straw for Sue, who left Mr. Fantastic and took Franklin with her.[30]

During Sue Storm's second hiatus, the Inhuman Medusa took her place. The old bonds, though, drew Susan back to the team and led her to rekindle her relationship with Reed.[31] Franklin was restored to normal soon after, and the Richards family was back together once more.[32]

During an extended trip to the Negative Zone, a sort of second honeymoon, she conceived another child. Seeking some peace for this pregnancy, Sue convinced Mr. Fantastic to move to the Connecticut suburbs, where they posed as the Benjamins. This unborn daughter began to give off radiation. Despite the efforts of Mr. Fantastic and several other experts, the girl was apparently stillborn.[12]

When the symbiote escaped from Baxter Building with the help of Kristoff Vernard, the symbiote tries to possess Franklin, fighting the Fantastic Four while possessing Reed's body and possessing Sue in order to get to Franklin, but Franklin was able to reject the symbiote thanks to his father and Spider-Man's help.[16]

Malice[]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 281

Sue as Malice

Psycho-Man took advantage of Sue's fragile self-control at this point and amplified her negative emotions. She became Malice, with all of the Invisible Girl's powers but none of her restraint, and attacked the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic helped her throw off Psycho-Man's influence, but she lost control again when the Fantastic Four confronted Psycho-Man; she turned his own Control Box on him, which shorted out his nervous system and nearly killed him.[33] The episode would have lasting effects: the Invisible Girl changed her name to Invisible Woman; she discovered how to use Force Objects (see Powers below); and in the long term, she lost a measure of self-confidence, knowing that Malice still lurked inside her.

Sue left the Fantastic Four again, this time with Mr. Fantastic, to spend time with Franklin, who had regained his faculties and needed full-time mentoring.[34] They worked part-time with the Avengers for a while. They also helped the Silver Surfer resuscitate Galactus, during which Sue came in contact with the Infinity Gems. Distrustful of such power, she fell prey to Malice again. The soul gem tried and failed to combine Reed's and Sue's souls, which brought forth the In-Betweener and sent Malice back to Sue's subconscious.[35]

The Fantastic Four, as always, pulled them back.[36] During the Infinity War, Sue had to confront her doppelganger and incorporate its evil into herself. That boost allowed Malice to regain control temporarily.[37] Later, claiming that Franklin's presence in this timeline would lead to destruction, Reed Richards' father Nathaniel abducted the child into the future. Nathaniel raised Franklin for years in the future, training him to be a warrior and to master his superhuman powers. The adolescent Franklin journeyed back in time, arriving in the Fantastic Four's headquarters mere moments after Nathaniel had abducted him as a child. The teenage Franklin called himself Psi-Lord, and wielded vast psionic powers, although they remained far short of his full potential.

Sue struggled against Malice's influence, inevitably losing ground. When Malice manifested again, Psi-Lord drew Malice's essence into himself.[38] Finally, however, Psi-Lord somehow was removed from the Fantastic Four's time and was replaced by the child Franklin, as he had been at the time that Nathaniel had abducted him.

Leader[]

That was only the beginning of a tumultuous period. Reed disappeared for some time, apparently killed by Victor Von Doom.[39] Sue Storm became leader of the Fantastic Four, recruited Ant-Man to take over Reed's role, and quickly grew into her new responsibilities. Effectively a widow, Sue had to fend off many potentials suitors, especially Namor. She never gave up looking for Richards, though, and after a long search, she found him stranded in the past.[40] Their reunion was bittersweet; Reed felt threatened at first by Sue's newfound competence and confidence, particularly since months trapped in isolation had left him severely traumatized, paranoid, and indecisive, although he soon realized he was foolish for thinking so.[41] After Reed's return, Namor realized he still had feelings for Sue and assaulted her in an attempt to "claim" her for himself. Reed successfully fended him off.[41]

The whole team appeared to die next, in the final battle with Onslaught, who had kidnapped Franklin. Instead they (and the Avengers) found themselves on Counter-Earth, in a pocket universe Franklin had created to save them. In a sense, they had been reborn and had to start their lives over.[42] Once the heroes on Counter-Earth realized what had happened, they returned to their original homes.[43]

Continuing Adventures[]

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An even more surprising resurrection unfolded during the team's reality-warping conflict with the cosmic being Abraxas when Franklin revealed he had used his powers to rescue Sue's seemingly stillborn second child years earlier, and that this child had been raised in an alternate future to become the Marvel Girl (Valeria Von Doom) who was now an ally of the present-day Fantastic Four. As a side-effect of Abraxas's defeat, Marvel Girl was restored to her original state, as an unborn child in Sue's womb. This time, Sue's pregnancy resulted in the birth of a healthy baby girl, christened Valeria in memory of Doctor Doom's first love. (Doom had insisted on naming the child in exchange for assisting with the difficult birth.)

To help Johnny develop responsibility, Sue forced him to become the business manager for Fantastic Four, Inc., a job he gradually grew into.

Doom's favors, as always, had strings attached. His main focus had shifted from science to sorcery, and he used his special bond with Valeria as a focus to cast spells against the Fantastic Four. He soon defeated them, captured all four, tossed Franklin into Hell, abducted Valeria, and tortured Ben, Johnny, and Sue while Reed listened helplessly. Doom's own hubris led to his downfall--his infernal patrons dragged him to the underworld of the Haazareth.[44] Prior to being dragged to Hell, however, Doom vindictively--and seemingly permanently--scarred Reed's face.

The Fantastic Four were left reeling, both mentally and physically, after Doom's vicious attack. Sue struggled to help heal her son, who was so traumatized by his time being tortured in Hell that he shut down emotionally and lost the ability to speak.[45]

With Doom gone, Richards claimed Latveria in the name of the Fantastic Four and began dismantling Doom's arsenal.[46] The international community saw it as a test of sovereignty and protested. It resulted that Reed's invasion of Latveria was part of a plan to defeat Doom permanently and thus ensure his family's safety. Doom returned to find himself in an inescapable trap of Reed's making, which Reed had constructed in order to ensure Doom could no longer harm his family. Unaware of his plans, the rest of the Fantastic Four burst in to rescue Reed, and, in an attempt to escape, Doom possessed Sue, then Ben. While in a possessed Ben's body, Doom grabbed Johnny and vindictively threatened to break him in two if Reed did not murder his best friend. Ben temporarily broke free of Doom's control long enough to beg Reed to kill him, since he had no desire to be even indirectly responsible for Johnny's death, and Reed, left with no other choice, complied.[47] While Johnny wept and Sue comforted him, Reed spent the next hour frantically trying to resuscitate his best friend but did not succeed.[48]

Sue did her best to comfort her husband, but he was too lost in his grief and guilt to forgive himself for what Doom had forced him to do.[49] She attempted to mend fences between Reed and Johnny, who was struggling to forgive Reed for Ben's death, despite the fact that Johnny's failure to follow Reed's orders had led directly to Doom's possession of Ben and Ben's subsequent death. Reed convinced Sue and Johnny to follow him to Heaven, where they succeeded in returning Grimm to life.[50]

To avoid charges of treason for his invasion of Latveria, Reed gave up most of his patents and thus most of his income. He later took a job working for a top secret military project in an attempt to restore their lost fortune.[51]

Later, an unscrupulous business manager swindled the Fantastic Four out of their fortunes, and, penniless once more, they took regular jobs and lived in regular homes. Sue became a teacher.[52] She was forced to fend off Namor when he arrived and attempted to carry her off to Atlantis once again, although Reed soon arrived to help defend her.[53] She also trained in martial arts under Iron Fist. Reed eventually revealed that he had allowed the loss of their fortune to occur because he wanted to give them back the normal lives he believed they lost because of his failure to protect them. With few regrets, they returned to their former lives.

A game of musical powers ensued. A band of aliens, survivors of Galactus, came to Earth to neutralize Susan. They had developed a planetary cloaking device, and only Susan could help Galactus bypass their device. Reed Richards used another device that, as far as the aliens could tell, removed her powers; instead, it traded Sue's and Johnny's powers. The immediate threat over, Reed reversed the trade. As a "reward" for derailing the cloak project, Galactus made Johnny his new herald for a short time. An aftereffect of Johnny's power cosmic removed everyone's powers temporarily.[54]

Civil War[]

The Civil War split the team once again. Mr. Fantastic supported the Superhuman Registration Act, while Sue and Johnny joined the resistance, horrified over how the Thor clone killed to Goliath. Nick Fury provided both of them fake IDs as a husband and wife, much to their chagrin. During the final battle,[55] however, Mr. Fantastic shielded Sue from a bullet fired by the Taskmaster and was severely wounded. She retaliated by using a force field to pound Taskmaster into the ground. Sue helped clean up New York in the aftermath of the war and, along with the other Secret Avengers, was granted amnesty. She reconciled with Reed and together they took a short hiatus from the team to work on their marriage.[56]

Back to Action[]

Reed and Sue's vacation was over after the Frightful Four attacked them, then they returned to the team. During World War Hulk, Sue protected Reed but was subdued by the Green Goliath. Sometime after, the Richards family hired a new nanny for their kids, Tabitha Deneuve. At the same time, a mysterious new group, calling themselves the New Defenders, committed robberies, and one of their members, Psionics, started a relationship with Johnny. After a bad break-up, Johnny was kidnapped by the Defenders, along with Doctor Doom and Galactus, to power a massive machine that was designed to apparently save the people of the future 500 years in the future, a plan orchestrated by Tabitha, who was revealed to be Susan Richards from 500 years in the future. Eventually, the modern-day Fantastic Four were able to save both the present Earth and the future Earth by sending the future inhabitants to the Earth Trust's private duplicate Nu-Earth, but after freeing Doctor Doom, the future Sue went to apologize to him and was electrocuted by Doom. As a means to honor her, Susan and the rest of the Fantastic Four held a funeral in honor of Susan and the family moved on.[57]

Secret Invasion[]

While Susan was on a lecture tour in Vancouver, a Skrull posing as Mister Fantastic ambushed her, applying pressure to her skull with an invisible force field and knocking her out cold. Then, another Skrull infiltrated the Baxter Building in the guise of Susan and opened 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 was later revealed to be Johnny's ex-wife Lyja, who once infiltrated the Fantastic Four by impersonating Ben Grimm's love interest Alicia Masters. The real Susan Richards was recovered alive from a downed Skrull ship after the final battle of the invasion.[58]

The Bridge[]

Reed created a device called The Bridge to explore alternate realities. Meanwhile, Johnny, Sue, and Ben fought off the agents of H.A.M.M.E.R. Reed's machine sent Johnny, Ben and Sue to a different reality where a super hero civil war was happening sometime in the Hyborian Age. Reed continued to study parallel worlds where the Civil War ended differently to find the reason his reality had become the way it was while Ben, Sue, and Johnny traveled throughout collapsed space-time. When Reed shut down the Bridge and the others returned, Sue told Reed to destroy The Bridge. He did so, but then secretly put it back together, and met beings from another reality who told him how he could fix things.[59]

Three[]

While serving as a negotiator between both Old and New Atlantis, the King of Old Atlantis was assassinated by Namor, and Sue was, in accordance with Uhari tradition, subsequently made regent to the throne of Old Atlantis. Susan became the guardian of Vil and Wu, the heirs of the Uhari throne at The Peak. Sue returned to Baxter Building, so Uhari gave her a device to contact with her. At the same time, Johnny was fighting his last stand.[60] Sue was devastated to learn of her brother's unexpected death.

Future Foundation[]

Future Foundation (Earth-616) from FF Vol 1 13 cover

The Future Foundation

Following the death of Johnny Storm, the rest of the team renamed themselves the Future Foundation, along with Spider-Man taking the place of the Human Torch. After one of the Reed Richards of another universe who came to Earth-616 by The Bridge destroyed The Peak, Susan returned to Baxter Building while the other part of the team was battling another Richards in High Evolutionary's city. After returning from battle, Reed reunited the Future Foundation, the Avengers, the New Avengers and many other heroes to attack Attilan, who were also participating in this war. At the moment the heroes were leaving the Baxter Building, a Kree army attacked New York City. Using her power and Iron Man's armor, Sue created a force field over Manhattan but was knocked down when the force field was broken. At the same time, the Cult of the Negative Zone entered the Baxter Building and opened the Negative Zone portal after Spider-Man failed to stop them. The portal revealed a living Johnny Storm with a enslaved Annihilus.[61]

Then Johnny gathered the team drawing with fire the symbolic "4" at the sky above the Baxter Building. Reed, Sue, Ben and Peter boarded one of the Annihilation Wave's ships controlled by Johnny, who used the rest of the ships to battle the Kree army until the Inhumans asked to finish them by their own hand.[62] Meanwhile the other heroes on Earth where dealing with the scraps of the battle which could damage the Earth, Reed and Sue summons Galactus, who destroys completely the Kree army. That moment, the Mad Celestials appeared to destroy this universe. Although the team tried to use the Hub (a weapon of mass destruction created by the Reeds), they couldn't defeat the Mad Celestials. Then, a future version of Franklin and Valeria appeared as part of Nathaniel Richards's plan.[63] The Future Franklin used his power to heal Galactus and destroy the Mad Celestials, saving the day.[64] Later, the Baxter Building was easily rebuilt, Mr. Fantastic showed a new secondary headquarters called Foundation and new costumes were given to the members of the Future Foundation, as part of the reformation of the Fantastic Four.[65]

Fall of the Fantastic Four[]

After a portal to the Counter-Earth was somehow opened, an invasion of monsters in New York resulted not only in the Human Torch losing his powers,[66] but also the Fantastic Four being evicted from the Baxter Building, and the children of the Future Foundation being taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[67] Soon after finding out years ago Johnny had ruined an opportunity for becoming normal, The Thing was arrested after being found next to the corpse of the Puppet Master.[68] Additionally, Sue started becoming more violent,[69] Johnny lost track on his life,[70] and Reed started becoming erratic.[71] After concluding that somebody was behind their misfortune, the Fantastic Four decided to go to the bottom of it, and find Reed, who had recently disappeared, actually having being kidnapped by the man pulling the strings, the villain known as the Quiet Man.[72]

The Fantastic Four were reunited when Johnny was brought to his senses,[71] he and Sue helped free The Thing from the Power House,[72] and Reed escaped from the Quiet Man.[73] While the Quiet Man unleashed an invasion of creatures from the Counter-Earth, the FF enlisted the help of the Sleepwalker in order to find the source of the monstrosities that came from it by exploring Franklin's subconsciousness, who was revealed to be the Psycho-Man.[74]

Back in his headquarters, the Quiet Man tried to activate the code that would shut off the portals from the Counter-Earth and render the invading forces inert, to make himself look like the hero, however, the Psycho-Man had betrayed him and created a defense wall so he could then control both the Counter-Earth and the Earth with his monstrous army. Mister Fantastic and Valeria came with a solution to finally shut down the creatures and save the world, meanwhile, as he was helping his allies escape from the Counter-Earth, Johnny recovered his powers due to the resulting radiation caused by the closing of one of the portals.[75]

Secret Wars[]

When Steve Rogers rallied the Avengers to capture the Illuminati; Reed being one of the members of this cabal, Sue joined forces with S.H.I.E.L.D. to allegedly help them capture the fugitive team.[76] However, Sue was instead helping Reed, using information from S.H.I.E.L.D. to help her husband and the Illuminati evade capture.[77]

During the final incursion that threatened the existence of the universe, Sue and the rest of the Future Foundation worked on a life raft to escape the death of the universe. The raft's hull was breached at the last moment, costing the lives of the Invisible Woman and the rest of Reed's family.[78] Following an adventure in Battleworld, a patchwork planet comprised of the remnants of the final realities to be destroyed that was ruled with an iron fist by Doctor Doom, Reed gained the power of the Beyonders, and used it to resurrect his family, including Susan. The Future Foundation was reunited, and they began a journey to rebuild the entire Multiverse.[79] Back on the Fantastic Four's native universe, the entire world believed the Richards and the Future Foundation to be dead, having allegedly sacrificed themselves to stop the final incursion.[80] Only Ben and Johnny were active on Earth, having been left behind by Reed to keep an eye on Doctor Doom.[81]

The Fate of the Four[]

Years into the Future Foundation's multiversal adventures, Franklin became depleted of his ability to create entirely new realities. At this moment the team was confronted by an abstract entity called the Griever at the End of All Things who repudiated their mission of creating new universes. She caused the collapse of the hundreds of universes charted by the Future Foundation, forcing the team to make a final stand. The Fantastic Four were reunited when Mister Fantastic tricked the Griever into giving them the chance to summon the remaining members of the Fantastic Four for backup. In addition to teleporting Ben and Johnny, Reed also brought every superhero who had been part of the team at one point in order to defeat the new foe.[1] After the Griever was driven away, the Future Foundation continued their multiveral travels, but Sue, Reed, Franklin and Valeria returned with Ben and Johnny to Earth, where only months had passed since the Foundation's years-long journey.[82]

After the return of the Fantastic Four, one of the team's first missions consisted in resuming their original flight whose failure granted them their powers.[83] When the Fantastic Four reached their original destination, the planet Spyre, they faced a group of superpowered protectors named the Unparalleled, who had been imbued with cosmic radiation to face the Fantastic Four. Spyricans had been aware of the team's initial failed attempt to reach their planet and had prepared for a second try.[84] The Fantastic Four initially became at odds with the patriarch of Spyre, the Overseer, after discovering that he had been responsible for the cosmic ray storm that gave them powers during their first flight due to an attempt to scuttle their mission.[85] After making peace with the Spyricans, the Fantastic Four returned to Earth.[86]

Return to Espionage[]

When her former partner Agent Aidan Tintreach was captured by the Moravian government during a mission, Sue decided to free her friend much to the C.I.A.'s disapproval. She arrived at Madripoor where she was joined by Black Widow.[87] They tried to gather information about the location of Aidan, but were assaulted by some assassins. Despite this they were able to gather some valuable information.[6]

After getting some information from Aidan's "wife" Colleen O'Connor, she went to Rome to gather more information from Octavia Vetivier. However, she was ambushed and captured by Octavia and Aidan.[88] Using a device they had implanted within Sue which blocked her sight the duo tried to blackmail her to help them retrieve the "Li-Fi" technology which was in the property of Demosthenes Nox. Sue surprised them by bypassing the device's effects and regain her sight; however, she complied with them anyway, since they threatened the lives of the American students who were stuck in Moravia. She and Aidan entered and retrieved the technology, but were ambushed by Maria Hill.[89]

Sue tried to explain everything to Maria, but Aidan managed to ran away. After explaining the situation to Maria, the two tried to get to the plane of the hostages via Hill's plane in order save them from a bomb. Sue was able to enter the plane and throw the bomb; however, Aidan took over Hill's plane and threatened to crash the plane into hers. Sue warned him that she would use her fields to protect her plane which would also kill Aidan. He kept on and crashed into the force field, killing him. After everything was over a saddened Sue returned to her superhero life.[90]

Fantastic Four No More[]

During an invasion of aliens from the Negative Zone on the Baxter Building, Reed decided to teleport the building one year into the future, causing the aliens to be stranded in space since by that Earth along with the solar system would have moved through space. However, Reed and Sue's children, Franklin and Valeria remained inside the Baxter Building alongside Ben's adopted children Jo-Venn and N'Kalla, meaning that the kids would be gone for an entire year. Although heartbroken by this decision, Sue stayed by her husband's side, but their teammates were infuriated over Reed's calmness, and coupled with the scorn the public had for the Fantastic Four, the team disbanded.[91]

Attempting to make things right, Sue and her husband tried to find Ben and Alicia. One day, they found themselves in a town that at first appeared to be normal, but soon found that it was solely inhabited by Doombots masquerading as normal human citizens. Investigating the town, the couple came across the only actual human, an elder lady named Mary Ann Davis. Reed first introduced himself to her, learning that back when Doctor Doom first arrived in America when he was younger Mary Ann gave him hospitality and was determined to repay the favor. Reed deduced that Doom had first created the Doombots to keep Mary Ann company as she had felt alone for most of her life. However, when Sue came to meet her she discovered that Mary Ann was actually a Doombot herself which contained the remains of the real Mary Ann. After temporarily disabling all of the Doombots, the couple properly buried Mary Ann's remains and decided to reprogram the Doombots to live as normal humans in their own accord without being concerned about Davis' anymore.[92]

Sue and Reed, eventually regrouped with their teammates when they were forced to fight a parasitic alien. During the battle, the Four relived the painful moment of the Baxter Building's disappearance, but despite this they were able to overcome the influence and defeat it. From this battle, the Four realized that Reed was also suffering the loss of his children and faked being calm in the first place since this was what it was expected of him. Reconciling with each other, the Fantastic Four was reformed.[91]

Attributes

Power Grid[134]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Some Training:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Long Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Learned

Powers

The Invisible Woman received her powers when cosmic rays bombarded her body. Mr. Fantastic theorizes that Sue Storm's powers are vibrational energy from the higher dimension of Hyperspace (home of the Celestials).[93] As yet, the only limit seems to be her own reserve; she is reluctant to stretch her powers until absolutely necessary. Hyperstorm stated that Sue barely scratches the surface of her true potential powers;[94]she is capable of creation and destruction.[95]

Invisibility/Light Manipulation: The Invisible Woman has the mental ability to manipulate ambient cosmic energy for a variety of effects, including the rendering of herself and other objects invisible, and the construction of solid, invisible force fields. In an as yet unknown manner, cosmic energy interacts with the cells of her entire body in such a way as to produce a new form of energy with unusual properties. By a simple act of concentration, she can cause all wavelengths of visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light to bend around her without distortion; she also somehow directs enough undistorted light to her eyes to retain her full range of vision while invisible. An observer, unaware of the peculiar path light takes around her body, would have the sensation of seeing through her. The Invisible Woman can also mentally project the invisible energy produced within the cells of her body in order to render other people or objects invisible. The largest volume she can as yet turn invisible at a single time is approximately 40,000 cubic feet of volume (1,133 cubic meters), equivalent to a small swimming pool. While trapped inside Human Torch's body, Sue was able to make an invisible hole equivalent to the size of the moon on his body, noting she was shrinking in size.[96]Sue is also shown to be able to turn an entire negative's zone planet invisible for an extended period of time.[97] Sue once tried to killed dimensional parasitic bacterias by bending the sunlight away across multiple states of America, deprived them from the heat and lights of Sun for three days simultaneously which leads to an accidental mass extinction event.[98] She has sufficient control over her power that she can turn parts of her body selectively invisible. She is also able to make objects that have been turned invisible by other sources visible by letting her own energy projection interfere with that other method of invisibility. Further, she can make energy that is not in the visual portion of the electromagnetic spectrum visible by a similar interaction. Sue can detect people or objects made invisible by means other than her own powers, and can restore those targets to a visible state at will. Sue is naturally and effortlessly invisible to radar equivalents.[99]

  • E.M. Spectrums Manipulation: Sue can manipulate electromagnetic spectrums to achieve certain effects, such as invisibility, changing the frequencies of reflected lights, disrupting light-based illusions, bending the sunlight or to evade EM spectrum-based sensors.
  • Transparency: Sue can allow light to pass through the objects unimpeded; with the ability, she can turn objects invisible layer by layer, revealing objects behind.[100][101]
  • Blindness Inducement: By turning optic nerves, retinas invisible, Sue can make others temporarily blind.[102][103][104]
  • Color Manipulation: Sue can also apply her ability to manipulate the interactions of light waves to seemingly change the color of objects, for example altering her hair color or turning the Thing pink.[88]Sue has incredible control of the ability that she can simulate third-degree burn injuries by darkening spectrum of her muscle and blood selectively.[100]
S.H.I.E.L.D

Sue in her state of invisibility

Psionic Hyperspace Force Fields: While the cells of the Invisible Woman's body produce a certain energy manifestation, the cells of her brain produce a different, more potent manifestation. Through concentration, she is able to project an invisible field of psionic force drawn from Hyperspace, which she can manipulate into a number of relatively simple forms: rectangular planes, cylinders, globes, domes, cones, etc. The complexity of the shape is limited by her ability to imagine (mentally visualize) a particular form and keep it in sharp mental focus. The size of a given psionic force projection is also limited by her ability to imagine. The smallest force projection she can visualize and maintain is approximately 1 mm in diameter, sufficient to block blood vessels or press on nerves without damaging the surrounding tissue; the largest solid force projection she can visualize and maintain is about 100 feet in diameter. She can project larger force-objects if they are hollow. For instance, she could visualize and project a dome 1 foot thick about a mile in diameter (5,280 feet) and a dome 1 inch in thickness she can project for about 3.2 miles. Small objects at high speeds become missiles; large objects at slow speeds become rams. She can make these objects grow or shrink as desired. At times, Sue is able to project a force field large enough to cover an entire negative zone's planet for an extended period of time. She can also create more complex constructs out of her force fields, such as stairs, weapons, and other complex objects. Sue can see her force fields through the interaction of ambient cosmic rays in the atmosphere with her unique optic structure, which also allows her to perceive objects rendered invisible by any method.[89]

The Invisible Woman is able to use the projection of her psionic force to travel through the air. By projecting a basic geometric shape under her feet or surrounding herself in a spherical field and moving it under concentration, she can affect levitation with her force fields, as well as creating static pathways for her to walk on.[105] These fields can easily support a hundred times the weight of three people plus the Thing.[106] She is able to reach an average speed of about 25 miles per hour in levitation, until she becomes fatigued by the concentration, after about 4 hours.

Sue's force field is not a form of matter as it is not composed of particles, atoms, or molecules, Therefore unaffected by matter manipulation.[107][108][109] Making it impossible for intangible/density ability to pass through the field.[110][111] When Sue projects her force field around the Red Ghost when he is in an intangible state, he automatically becomes solid.[112] Sue's force field can be made airtight by her to either provide life support or suffocate her targets. While the field naturally interacts with matter forms, it is also able to interact with non-matter forms. The force fields are able to nullify the effects of psychic ability. This was shown when she used a force field around herself to keep Jean Grey's telekinesis from affecting her. [113] The force field made it impossible for Jean to attack her with telekinesis. When Sue put a force field around Jean, her telekinetic attack on various other people in the immediate vicinity ceased. Sue also demonstrated a similar ability when facing Psi-Lord, a grown version of her son Franklin. [114] He was unable to read her mind while her force field was up. Redirect psychic attack with her force field, directed it back to its user. Using her force field to bend light to catch ambient visible light to create a makeshift low-intensity torch or flashlight composed of suspended light, this ability extends to bending sunlight's invisible ultraviolet rays with a force field an inch before they reach her skin, rendering her immune to sunburn.[115][116] Deflect and contain magic-based such spell or pure cosmic energies with her force field. Sue can create field of vacuum to reduce heat transfer to the field, that can also be weaponized to create vacuum inside the lungs of person as Susan stated.[117][100] Despite naturally permeable to soundwave sue can keep the vibration around the outer side of field thus make the force field to be soundproof. This is useful enough to block high-frequency sounds such as ultrasonic.[118]

Sue's force field also able to interact with other field of forces such as gravity, an full enclosed force field of Sue able to nullify gravity's effect.[111] sensing electromagnetic fields as small as its produced by brains.[92] Sue can also sense force fields made by other means outside of her power, bypassed and cancelled them. By allowing her own psionic energy field to interact with other psionic energy fields, Sue can track psionic energy sources over great distances or snare and redirect psionic energies active in her general vicinity.[115] Sue can increase the amount of force used in an object while simultaneously decreasing its field, which is strong enough to pull the objects towards its center that eventually collapse into a singularity.[104]

Since her power is an extension of her mind and body, the Invisible Woman is affected by inertial forces acting upon her projections. Thus if a car traveling at 60 miles per hour hit a wall of her force that was 6 inches thick, unless she generated a bracing shape against a sufficiently sturdy object, she would be affected as though she were hit by the car directly. The Invisible Woman is able to control the surface of the fields rigidity to a certain extent. She can cause the surface of the field to be very hard, depending on its thickness (steel-like at about 2.5 feet), or as resilient as foam rubber. By making the field more resilient she is able to absorb more of the inertia of impacts within the field without having them transmitted to her body. She is also, through training, able to alter the shapes she creates while utilizing those shapes, often to absorb or deflect the force of impacts. When she creates objects of fields that are at the limit of her ability to mentally visualize, they tend to be resilient rather than rigid. As she has grown in the use of her powers. Currently these fields can withstand impacts of Class 100 strength, a literally astronomical level: the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, and Annihilus once survived passage through a black hole by using these fields (and some help from the Cosmic Control Rod).[119] She is capable of generating and manipulating multiple psionic force fields simultaneously. The fields are capable of briefly enduring blasts from the Mad Celestials[63] and Galactus.[120]

  • Shock Waves: Sue is capable of using her force fields as shock waves hitting her opponent with the force field capable of hurting Titania.
  • Radar: By emitting low-level waves of invisible force pulsing outward from her body, Sue can detect and locate nearby people or objects in radar-like fashion even if her vision has been compromised.[121]
  • Internal Damage: Sue can render people unconscious or induce more serious physical distress by forming force fields within their bodies. Sue states that she can give an instant embolism from a hundred yards out, crush windpipes, fill lungs, and drive force spikes through their hearts without blinking. She once threatened Wizard to give him a thrombosis heart attack by blocking his three main coronary arteries. Sue has precision control that she can affect small parts of the nervous system, compressing M.O.D.O.K's brainstem with a pound of force field, pressing nerves in Spot's face, forcing air bubbles into the bloodstream, placing force fields in the brains of her targets, causing headaches or may brain-dead. Although she generally avoids using this application of her power in seriously harmful ways.
  • Explosion: By projecting force field within an object and expanding the field, Sue can cause her target to explode.

Cosmic Ray Awareness: Sue's retinas are interpolated shapes based on reflected cosmic rays, which are always present in the atmosphere. This allows her to perceive her own invisible force fields and other invisible objects and, with concentration, can also provide her with a limited form of vision, allowing her to "see" even if blinded.[122][89]

Abilities

  • Amateur Actress: Sue has some modest experience and ability in the field of acting.
  • Expert Sailor: Sue was a champion sailor as a youth, having already won major competitions by the time she was in her early teens.[124]
  • Proficient Martial Artist: She is a capable unarmed combatant and regularly trains with the other members of the Fantastic Four. She underwent weeks of intensive training by Iron Fist and became skilled in using bojutsu by manifesting an invisible staff for combat.[105]

Weaknesses

Concentration: The size, number, and movements of these objects are limited only by her powers of concentration. Once she stops concentrating on an object, it ceases to exist.

Susan Storm (Earth-616) from Thunderbolts Vol 1 12 001

Sound Constructs: Invisible Woman's force fields are permeable to sound waves, thus Songbird was able to manifest a sound construct inside of the force field to knock her out.[125]

Fantastic Four Power Synergism: The original members of the Fantastic Four are tethered to each other, and act as as their own conduits of power. They can be apart within their own universe and retain a connection, but prolonged periods cut off from each other in other universes result in a gradual decline in power levels. If they spend too much time separated this way, they would eventually become powerless.[126]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Fantastic Four Uniforms

Sue's clothes are made from unstable molecules so that they turn invisible along with her. Woven into the cloth is an electronic network of transceivers and sensors that tracks her location, condition, and other data. The network relays this information to the rest of the team. A keypad and screen on one glove allow Sue Storm to call up and view the same information from anyone else.

Fantasti-Flare

Main article: Fantasti-Flare

This small flare gun fires shells that produce a burning 4 symbol. It doubles as an incendiary weapon.

Universal Translator

Main article: Universal Translator

Sue has a Universal Translator that can decipher and interpret languages, both alien and terrestrial, into the native language of the user.[127]

Transportation

Notes

  • Susan was once turned into a mutant-hunting Hound by Ahab.[129]
  • Sue Storm is one of the few beings able to pierce Celestial's armor; one of the few beings who had killed Celestial.

Trivia

  • Her creator Jack Kirby named the Invisible Girl after his daughter Susan.[130]
  • The Invisible Girl was one of the characters featured in Series A of the Marvel Value Stamps issued in the 1970s.
Invisible Girl Marvel Value Stamp

Marvel Value Stamp #33

  • It has been retconned in Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #4 that in her youth, Sue Storm wasn't a model, in order "not be bound by the social mores of the 1960s when the character was created", and that she obtained a doctorate.[131]
  • The powers of all of the Fantastic Four are based on one of the four elements, with Susan's element being air.[citation needed]
  • Sue is renowned for her changing hairstyles (once said to match the Wasp's changing costumes).[citation needed]
  • Sue was deeply religious, although she kept it to herself.[132]
  • Her favorite movie was West Side Story.[133]

See Also

Links and References

References

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  2. Fantastic Four #283
  3. Captain Universe: Invisible Woman #1
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Fantastic Four #1
  5. Fantastic Four #280
  6. 6.0 6.1 Invisible Woman #2
  7. Captain America (Vol. 9) #11
  8. Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #27
  9. Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #25
  10. Civil War #5
  11. Sentry (Vol. 2) #7
  12. 12.0 12.1 Fantastic Four #268
  13. North, Ryan (4 March 2023) Ryan North on Twitter: "CBR has a five page preview of FANTASTIC FOUR #5, coming out this Wednesday March 8! It features a super cool car AND Ben calling Sue 'Boss' because she's the leader of the FF. Please enjoy!!" Twitter. Retrieved on 27 May 2023.
  14. Fantastic Four #558
  15. FF #1
  16. 16.0 16.1 Spider-Man / Fantastic Four #2
  17. Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #12
  18. Fantastic Four #284
  19. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #7
  20. 20.0 20.1 Fantastic Four #32
  21. Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #4
  22. Thing #2
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  25. Fantastic Four #22
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  27. Fantastic Four #37
  28. Fantastic Four Annual #3
  29. Fantastic Four Annual #6
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  31. Fantastic Four #149
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  76. Avengers (Vol. 5) #35
  77. Avengers (Vol. 5) #37
  78. Secret Wars #1
  79. Secret Wars #9
  80. Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #1
  81. Marvel 2-In-One Annual #1
  82. Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #3
  83. Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #14
  84. Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #15
  85. Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #17
  86. Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #19
  87. Invisible Woman #1
  88. 88.0 88.1 Invisible Woman #3
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  90. Invisible Woman #5
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  96. Fantastic Four Annual #32
  97. Annihilation - Scourge Omega #1
  98. Fantastic Four (Vol. 7) #6
  99. Empyre #1
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  102. Wolverine (Vol. 3) #22
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  109. Fantastic Four Annual #25
  110. Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #2
  111. 111.0 111.1 Fantastic Four: ¡Isla de la Muerte! #1
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  122. Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #62
  123. Fantastic Four: Antithesis #3
  124. Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #23
  125. Thunderbolts #12
  126. Marvel 2-In-One #3
  127. Fantastic Four #237
  128. Fantastic Four #557
  129. X-Men Annual #14
  130. MacDonald, Heidi (19 June 2023) Jack Kirby’s family sets the record straight after “informercial” Stan Lee documentary Comics Beat. Retrieved on 26 June 2023.
  131. Tom Brevoort - FormSpring.me
  132. Infinity Crusade #1
  133. Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
  134. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5
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