Susan Storm Richards, the Invisible Woman, is arguably the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four. Sue Storm was created in Fantastic Four #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961. She began as the Invisible Girl and as her powers and maturity grew, she changed her “hero” name.
While many see Ben Grimm as the heart of the team, Sue is the soul. She is the glue that has held the team together. She is incredibly loyal and patient with her brilliant but absent-minded husband Reed Richards. Sue is deeply loving to her brother Johnny and best friend Ben and she is a ferocious protector of her children, Franklin and Valeria.
10 Sue Storm The Early Years
Sue Storm and her brother Johnny lived happily on Long Island with her successful surgeon father Franklin and mother Mary until she died in a car accident. Franklin became despondent and fell into alcoholism and racked up multiple gambling debts. Franklin Richards accidentally killed his loan shark and ended up in the penitentiary.
Sue quickly took the role of surrogate mother for Johnny as they went to live at their aunt’s boarding house. Sue found herself attracted to one of the boarders Reed Richards. Sue entered Reed’s life again years later when she moved to California to pursue acting and Reed was near completing his life’s work.
9 The Fantastic Four
Reed Richards’ rocket project was losing its funding and Richards decided that he would have to steal his own rocket or lose his life’s work forever. He enlisted college friend and pilot Ben Grimm’s aid and Sue and Johnny Storm came along for their own reasons, presumably love and fun, respectively.
The trip went well until the ship crossed the Van Allen Belt where insufficient shielding and a freak solar flare exacerbated the intense cosmic radiation present and it permeated the ship and its inhabitants. Grimm landed the ship safely and the four transformed almost immediately. Sue found herself disappearing. They agreed to use their powers to help mankind and would become the world’s premiere superhero team.
8 More Than Invisible
Sue developed extremely powerful force fields. Through concentration, Sue encased herself and others to save them from harm. Her force fields have survived direct blows from the Hulk. She has filled a bubble with air and survives the pressures of the ocean depths. Sue can also “shoot” tiny force objects like projectiles, can create shields and weapons and can fly on force field discs at a speed of 25 MPH. She has had hand-to-hand combat training by the Thing and Iron Fist.
7 Love, Marriage, and Motherhood
Namor, the Submariner was on a rampage and only stopped when he was captivated by Sue’s beauty. Sue and Reed have been dating for some time now but the affection is often one-sided because his main focus has been his science. But Namor’s attraction for her was primal. Sue decided that she had to follow her heart and be with Reed.
Reed and Sue’s marriage was the event of the year, with nearly every New York-based superhero in attendance. It was also attended by a large number of supervillains that were hired by Doctor Doom to disrupt the event. The pair wed and Sue was soon pregnant with her first child. Complications began early and Reed, Johnny, and Ben fought Annihulus and took his Cosmic Control Rod to assist in her delivery. After a major struggle, Sue gave birth to Franklin, who was named for her father.
6 Malice
Sue was emotionally vulnerable after the miscarriage of her second child. The villain Psycho-Man took advantage of that, directed his Control Box at her and unlocked the hate and anger within her. She transformed into a persona called Malice and attacked the Fantastic Four, defeating the whole team. Reed pushed Sue to direct her rage at him until she realized that she had been manipulated.
The team pursued Psycho-Man into the Microverse. He ambushed the team and tormented Sue again. His Control Device showed Sue horrific images of her teammates being subjected to horrific deaths. Sue was close to a complete breakdown when Reed squeezed through a crack in her prison and saved her. Sue turned the Psycho-Man’s own machine on him, shorted out his nervous system and nearly killed him. Feeling changed by the experience, she became the Invisible Woman.
5 Sue in Charge
Reed was apparently killed while battling Doctor Doom. Sue, refusing to accept his death, immediately took charge of the team. She hired Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, to be the team’s resident scientist and she began to search for Reed. She became an effective and capable leader.
Sue found Reed in the past and rescued him but he found his transition back difficult. Reed was threatened by Sue’s newfound confidence. This was coupled with the fact that his time in the past left him traumatized and indecisive. When Namor tried to “claim” Sue as his own, Reed threw off his funk and fought for his wife.
4 Valeria Times Two
Franklin used his powers to shunt Valeria’s essence to an alternate reality where she was raised to be Valeria Von Doom A.K.A. Marvel Girl. After she aided the team against the cosmic being Abraxas, she was restored to an unborn child in Sue’s womb. This pregnancy was also difficult and Doom agreed to help with one condition: the right to name the child.
Doom named the child after his first love and used Valeria as his magical familiar. Franklin was kidnapped by demons, an experience that traumatized him. Doom made the team endure painful versions of each other's powers. With the help of Dr. Strange, Reed defeated Doom and saved everyone.
3 Civil War
Sue had her own feelings about Super Hero registration but wanted to support Reed until several instances caused her to switch to Captain America’s side. First was when a crowd of normal people beats Johnny into a coma. The second was when their dear friend Bill Foster was killed by the Thor clone Ragnarok. Sue put herself between the clone and the Secret Avengers and told them to leave. When Johnny is released from the hospital, they joined the Secret Avengers.
During the final battle of the War, Sue took care of the innocents potentially caught in the battle. The mercenary villain Taskmaster shot at Sue when Reed jumped in and took the bullet for her. Sue used her force field and flattened the Taskmaster for hurting Reed. Sue accepted amnesty and helped rebuild the war-damaged areas of the city.
2 Future Foundation
After the death of Johnny Storm, the Fantastic Four reorganized into the Future Foundation. It was Spider-Man, who replaced Johnny at his posthumous request, the intelligent young people they mentored, the remaining members of the FF and their brilliant children.
Later, Sue joined the heroes of the world and her thankfully alive brother in command of the fleet of Annihulus in battling the Kree. Reed and Sue summon Galactus who devastated the Kree army. Then the Mad Celestials came to destroy the Earth. Future versions of Franklin and Valeria arrived to defeat the Celestials, heal Galactus and saved everyone.
1 The Four, Reunited.
The world, including Johnny and Ben, believed that Reed, Sue, and the Future Foundation had died saving the world. In truth, they had all survived. Using the powers of Owen Reece and Franklin, they were creating new realities in the multiverse.
A cosmic entity called the Griever at the End of All Things came after the Foundation as Franklin’s power started to wane. The Griever destroyed several realities and forced the team to stand against her. Reed said that she should oppose the entire Fantastic Four. She agreed, thinking he meant to transport only Ben and Johnny, but Reed teleported everyone who had ever been part of the Fantastic Four. 20 heroes arrived and the Griever fled.