Marvel has introduced some of the most powerful superheroines in the history of comics. Superheroines have a strange legacy in the comic industry. Wonder Woman was meant to be a feminist icon, written by a man, with lots of fetish material thrown in. Many Golden Age superwomen were femme fatales of some sort. However, as with many things, Marvel would change the way that superheroines worked and the biggest example of that was Sue Storm, later to be Sue Richards. Sue has been though a lot in the comics — Stan Lee’s early writing of her was very, very of its time (or as we would call it now, misogynistic) — but later writers have definitely built her into something greater than she ever was. Sue Storm is an icon, albeit a misunderstood one.
Sue Storm is the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four; for a long time, she was just the team scout and the resident prisoner, but that has changed. Sue is one of those characters who can be hard to get a handle on for some creators. There’s a balance to Sue Storm that has to be reached. Sue Storm is a complex character, and one that MCU fans are finally getting to see in much of her glory, and this complexity has made it difficult for every creator to let her shine. However, Sue is the most important part of one of Marvel’s most important teams, and when she’s done right, she’s the best of the best.
Sue Storm Is the Heart of the Fantastic Four
One of the big problems with understanding Sue Storm are the many, many changes she’s gone through. Sue started out as a stereotype and remained that way for a very long time. She was the kind of naggy girlfriend; she supported the boys on the team and would complain a lot, but that was the extent of her. It wouldn’t be until John Byrne’s run on the Fantastic Four that she would grown in power and prestige. Now, obviously, not everything Byrne did for the character was great, but under Byrne her powers and toughness started to shine through. Since then, creators have allowed her to grow in many different ways. By the early ’90s she was basically the leader of the team and her powers basically made her Green Lantern with invisible energy.
Sue is the toughest member of the Fantastic Four, and while she isn’t the science genius of the team, she’s still extremely smart. The best way to describe Sue is that she’s a realist, but not in a negative way. Sue is the one who sees the world for what it is because of her role as a wife and mother. She has to deal with not only the team and its missions, but also with taking care of her family. This gives her a perspective the other members of the team don’t have. Reed’s head is in the clouds, the Thing is dealing with his self-loathing, and Johnny is entertainingly shallow. Sue is the adult in the room. When it comes to anyone going after family, she’s an angry mama bear, but even this is an inaccurate way of looking at the character. A lot of fans focus too much on this aspect of her, and that’s fine, but Sue’s always been her own character. Only defining her through her family takes away who she is.
If you want to understand Sue, I recommend reading Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #47-48. This story tied into AXE Judgment Day, and saw the Baxter Building under attack by Oubliette. Sue was there on her own, and she had to defeat an entire attacking army of thugs completely on her own. The story showed Sue as the capable, resourceful hero she really is. One of the things about the Fantastic Four is that the boys of the team kind of need each other to be at their most entertaining for readers and efficient in stories. Sue doesn’t. Sue can do it all on her own, and she’s the one who’s there to push the rest of the team. Sue doesn’t get many stories on her own, and often times she gets lost shuffle of the team. However, there’s a reason she’s the heart of the team — she makes the whole thing work. I love seeing Sue when someone threatens her family and she just demolishes them, but I like it more when I get to see Sue be the one to figure out how to beat an inescapable situation, using her powers and cunning to break everything in her way. That’s the truth of Sue Storm — she’s the team’s most resourceful member, and she does that while also keeping the team together and motivating them.
Sue Storm Is More Than the Team Mother
Sue is often invisible to fans, which is kind of hilarious. So many people are debating whether Reed is autistic or neurotypical and just plain terrible, watching the interplay between the Thing and Human Torch, and marveling at the sci-fi threats the team faces to realize just how important Sue is. Sue keeps the whole thing going, and she does it invisibly (see what I did there). The only time you realize how important Sue is happens to be when she’s not around, but everyone just looks at her as the ultimate team mom.
She’s more than that. I think my perception of Sue was helped by when I started reading Fantastic Four. She was the leader, and she led in a different way than Reed. Sue took charge and kept everyone from drifting away. She was the also the most human, which is saying something on a team with the Thing on it. Sue lost her temper and she wasn’t “perfect”, but she didn’t let that stop her. Also, any of the people joking about her and Namor don’t understand Sue at all. Sue Storm is more than the team mom, she’s the group’s shadow leader. She doesn’t need everyone to know she’s in charge, but she’s the one that keeps the whole thing going.
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