WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #32 by Dan Slott, R.B. Silva, Jesus Aburtov, and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
The Fantastic Four, more than anything else, are a family. This takes precedence over their roles as explorers, scientists, and superheroes. But despite being Marvel's First Family and having a relatively healthy dynamic with one another, no family is perfect. There are always messy parts that tend to come, especially one of those parts is an alien ex-wife who masqueraded as another member of the family for years. But Lyja the Lazerfist's return to Earth has been stirring up a lot of negative emotions within the FF and may end up pushing Alicia Grimm past her own moral breaking point as she taps into the powers of her villainous father.
It's really no surprise that Lyja evokes feelings of anger and bitterness when she's near the Fantastic Four. She not only lied to them for years, but also meddled in the love lives of the Human Torch and the Thing, interrupting a once happy relationship between Ben and Alicia in order to seduce Johnny. Lyja ended up exposed and she and Johnny parted, but the awkwardness of her deception still lingered and now it has come back in full force.
With her return to Earth, Lyja has already disrupted Johnny's current relationship, but more than that, she reminds Alicia of a terrible experience. She replaced Alicia for years, living her life while Alicia was asleep in a stasis cell. It may not have been a personal attack, but Alicia was robbed of a significant amount of time and the Skrull's presence is clearly causing her family distress.
When she showed up to try to once again tamper with Johnny's love life, Alicia directed her family away before a fight broke out. Once she was away from her family, Alicia used the gifts taught to her by her step-father, Phillip Masters, AKA the Puppet Master. She used a radioactive clay doll to manipulate Lyja into leaving Earth for good, making sure that she never returned. With the deed done, she returned to her family, once again being the doting wife and mother.
It's not surprising that Alicia has the ability to use the her step-father's powers. It's not actually a genetically inherited trait, it just requires a special kind of clay molded in the likeness of the person she wishes to control. But it is the fact that Alicia had this clay on hand that is concerning. It suggests that she has more of it hidden away somewhere in case of emergencies. It's understandable why she would use it on Lyja, as she is a painful reminder of a dark chapter in her family's life, but now she has a husband and children to protect, people she would do anything for, even use a power that takes away someone's control of their own mind and body.
But that kind of power can be intoxicating. If Alicia is willing to use it now, using her family's security as justification for it, it's possible that she will use it again in the future with yet another justification. There is also the question of if she has used the clay before in the past...and why. Alicia Masters has revealed a hidden dark side, and only time will tell how deep that darkness runs.