Invisible Woman
The Invisible Woman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1. Susan Storm is a founding member of the Fantastic Four and was the first female superhero published by Marvel during the Silver Age of Comic Books.
Dr. Susan "Sue" Storm received her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm, and was known as the Invisible Girl during her early years with the team. After being brainwashed at some point, she decides to change her identity from then onward to reflect a more confident version of herself. As a human mutate, she possesses two powers: invisibility and force fields. Her invisibility power deals with bending light waves and allows her to render herself and other objects invisible. She can also project powerful fields of invisible psionic, hyperspace-based energy that she uses for a variety of offensive and defensive effects, including shields, blasts, explosions, and levitation. Sue plays a central role in the lives of her hot-headed younger brother Johnny Storm, her brilliant husband Reed Richards, her close friend Ben Grimm, and her children. She was also romantically attracted to Namor the Sub-Mariner for a time.
Invisible Woman has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female heroes.
Invisible Woman was portrayed by Rebecca Staab in the unreleased 1994 film The Fantastic Four, Jessica Alba in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Kate Mara in the 2015 film Fantastic Four, and Vanessa Kirby in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, who will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Publication history
Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1.Since Stan Lee wanted The Fantastic Four to be driven by familial connections rather than action, the primary impetus for Susan Storm's creation was to not only be a full member of the team, but also the female lead of the series. He eventually emphasized this to readers explicitly, with a story in which the Fantastic Four read fan mail denigrating the Invisible Girl's value to the team, and respond by enumerating some of the occasions on which she played a key role in their victories. Teammate Johnny Storm a.k.a. the Human Torch being Sue's little brother became one of several sources of tension within the group, and she also served as the center of a love triangle with Reed and the Fantastic Four's sometime ally, sometime enemy Namor. Sue was initially presented as the sole reason for Ben Grimm, a bad guy, remaining on the group, which was significantly toned down in the published series.
Lee did not want Sue to have super strength, "to be Wonder Woman and punch people", so eventually he came to invisibility, inspired by works such as Universal Pictures' The Invisible Man. His original two-page plot summary for the first issue of The Fantastic Four, reprinted in the Marvel Masterworks and Marvel Epic Collection editions of the first ten issues, handled Susan's powers similarly to The Invisible Man, which required her to take off her clothes, but noting concern that that might be "too sexy" for a comic book. It also noted that she could not turn visible again, and would wear a mask recreating her face when she wanted to be seen. By the time the first issue was written and drawn, both elements had changed: Susan could turn invisible and visible at will, and doing so affected the visibility of whatever clothing she was wearing.
Invisible Woman has primarily appeared in issues of Fantastic Four. In issue 22, the creators expanded Sue's abilities, giving her the powers to render other objects and people invisible and create strong force fields and psionic blasts. Under John Byrne's authorship, Sue became more confident and assertive in her abilities, which became more versatile and impressive. She finds she can 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.
In April 2019, Marvel Comics announced that it would publish Sue Storm's first solo miniseries, Invisible Woman. It was written by Mark Waid, drawn by Mattia De Iulis with covers by Adam Hughes. It was later confirmed by Tom Brevoort, editor at Marvel Comics, that the miniseries was produced for trademark purposes.
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 the physician Franklin Storm and his wife Mary. The parents left their kids alone one night to travel to a dinner honoring Dr. Storm. On the way, a tire blew out and Mary was injured. Franklin escaped injury and insisted on operating on his wife. He was unable to save her. 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 17, met her future husband, Reed Richards, a house guest who was attending college. When she graduated from 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 the funding of his project. Richards, wanting to see his project through, decided to make an unscheduled test flight. 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. Susan adopted the code name Invisible Girl.
Invisible Girl
As the Fantastic Four, the team set up their first headquarters in the Baxter Building in Manhattan. The Fantastic Four encounter many villains in the early part of their career, but none of them contend for Susan's affections more than Namor the Sub-Mariner. Sue feels an amount of attraction to Namor, but her heart belongs with Reed, a situation that has been called the Marvel Universe's first love triangle.Initially, her powers are limited to making herself invisible. However, before long Sue discovers she can make other things invisible as well as create force fields of invisible energy. After Susan is injured in battle with the Mole Man, her father escapes from prison and operates on her to save her life. Franklin makes amends with his children before returning to prison; however, the Super-Skrull finds 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 sacrifices his own life to protect the Fantastic Four from a Skrull booby trap.
Reed and Sue's relationship progresses, with the two of them deciding to get married. The wedding is the event of the century, with several of New York City's preeminent superheroes in attendance. Not long after that, Sue and the Fantastic Four encounter Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Sue later becomes pregnant with her first child. As a result, she takes time off as an active member of the team. Johnny's girlfriend, the Inhuman elementalist Crystal, joins the team, taking over Susan's roster spot.
Susan's cosmic ray irradiated blood cells serve as an obstacle for her in carrying the unborn child to term. Knowing this, Reed, Johnny, and Ben journey into the Negative Zone to acquire the Cosmic Control Rod from Annihilus. Effectively utilizing the device, the baby is safely delivered and is named Franklin, in memory of Susan and Johnny's father. Due to the genetically altered structure of his parents, Franklin is a mutant, possessing vast powers. Seeking to use the boy's talents for his own sadistic purposes, Annihilus triggers a premature full release of Franklin's latent abilities, which were already in the process of gradual emergence. Fearing that his son could release enough psionic energy to eliminate all life on Earth, Reed shuts down Franklin's mind. Angry with Reed for not seeking her input in the matter, Susan leaves the Fantastic Four and has a marital separation from Reed. Medusa of the Inhumans takes her roster spot. With the help of Namor, Susan reconciles with Reed and returns to the Fantastic Four accompanied by Franklin.
Invisible Woman
Susan eventually becomes pregnant for a second time. However, this second child is stillborn due to Susan having been exposed to radiation inside the Negative Zone. A depressed Susan is manipulated by Psycho-Man into becoming Malice. As Malice, Susan attacks her friends and family in the Fantastic Four, utilizing her abilities at power levels she had never displayed previously. Reed saves Susan by forcing her to hate him legitimately. Susan does something to Psycho-Man, causing him to let out a terrifying scream. After she rejoins her teammates, Susan states that Psycho-Man will never hurt anyone ever again. Susan is profoundly affected by the entire episode, and changes her code name from "Invisible Girl" to "Invisible Woman". Along with Reed, she briefly leaves the Fantastic Four and joins the Avengers. The two of them rejoin the Fantastic Four before long.During the Infinity War, Susan faces off against Malice, who has reemerged in her subconscious. Susan absorbs Malice into her own consciousness. Subsequently, Susan's personality is influenced by Malice, causing her to become more aggressive in battle, even creating invisible razor-like force fields she uses to slice enemies. Her son Franklin, who has traveled forward and back in time, becomes the adult hero Psi-Lord, frees his mother, and absorbs the influence of Malice into himself. He eventually defeats Malice by projecting her into the mind of the Dark Raider, an insane alternate universe counterpart of Reed Richards who later dies in the Negative Zone.
After the apparent death of Reed, Susan becomes a capable leader. Susan keeps searching for Reed, feeling he is still alive, despite romantic advances from her old flame, Namor the Sub-Mariner. The Fantastic Four eventually rescue the time-displaced Reed, who finds himself temporarily losing confidence in his leadership skills, since Susan is also a capable leader.
Following their return to their Earth of origin, the Fantastic Four encounter Valeria von Doom. This new Marvel Girl came from an alternate future, where she was the child of Susan and Doctor Doom. Susan eventually comes to accept the young girl as a friend. During a conflict with Abraxas, Franklin reveals that he used his abilities to save Susan's original stillborn child and place it in another alternate future. After the ordeal involving Abraxas, Marvel Girl is restored to a baby again inside Susan's womb. Susan again has a difficult birthing. Due to the help of Doctor Doom, Susan gives birth to a healthy baby girl, which Doom names Valeria, his price for helping Sue. Doom places a spell on the baby, which makes her his familiar spirit, to be used against the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four wrestle Valeria free from Doom's control and defeat him.