Invisible Woman: Bio, Origin & History
Real Name: Susan Storm Richards
First Appearance: Fantastic Four 1 (November, 1961)
Powers: Invisible Force fields, Can Turn herself and Objects Invisible
Affiliation: Fantastic Four, Secret Avengers, Avengers
Love Interests: Reed Richards
Enemies: Doctor Doom, Mole Man, Galactus
Did You Know: That Sue is the sister to the superhero Human Torch also known as Johnny Storm.
A Little History
Sue and Johnny Storm grew up in ‘normal’ surroundings. That is, ‘normal’ in relation to other comic characters. They did not come from an abusive, drug-filled, or neglected home. In fact, they lived quite the happy childhood. Or at least they did…
In their adolescence, a tragic car accident claimed the life of their mother. Their father, a renowned surgeon, did all he could to save his wife, but the accident was too severe and ultimately he could not save her. This led him down a path of destruction as he abandoned his practice and became addicted to alcohol and gambling. Not wanting Sue and Johnny to be a part of this, the two siblings were ushered away to live with their Aunt. While living with their Aunt, Sue took a liking to a man (Reed Richards) that was renting from her.
Up to this point, everything that happened to the siblings left the much older Sue to act as a motherly figure to her brother, Johnny.
Eventually, Sue, along with her brother Johnny, joined Reed and his pilot Ben Grimm aboard a spaceship built by Reed. The launch was a success and all looked to be on track until they got into the upper echelon of the atmosphere. Once there, intense cosmic radiation penetrated the ship, exposing the quartet to gene-altering rays and forcing them back to Earth.
Upon their landing, each of the four realized that they had been changed. While Reed became ‘stretchy’, Johnny, an inferno, and Ben, a rock-type man, Sue inherited the power of invisibility. She aptly took the name Invisible Woman. Initially thought of as the ‘weakest link’ in the group, Sue developed her powers and eventually found that not only could she become invisible, but she could also project and manipulate force fields.
