Invisible Woman
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- This article is about the comic book character. For the 1940 film, see The Invisible Woman.
The Invisible Woman, real name Susan Richards, née Susan Storm, formerly the Invisible Girl, is a fictional superhero who is a member of The Fantastic Four in the Marvel Universe.
As the girlfriend and later wife of Reed Richards and sister of Johnny Storm, she was instrumental in persuading pilot Ben Grimm in joining them on a dangerous space mission, which got them massively exposed to cosmic radiation. As a result, they gained superhuman powers. Hers was the ability to become invisible at will. Unfortunately, this power alone proved to be of relatively little use in their missions, especially compared to the more aggressive ones of the rest of the group. Fortunately, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby realized this and gave Susan the ability to project invisible telekinetic force fields and the ability to make other people and objects become invisible.
Despite her abilities, Susan served primarily as an assistant to Reed, and the comics tended to treat her in a condescending manner. This changed when John Byrne began his celebrated run on the title. Under his authorship, Susan became much more confident and assertive in her own abilities which themselves became more versatile and impressive. For instance, she found she could use her force fields to carry herself into the air, immobilize enemies, or use them as an offensive ranged attack. Eventually, she came to be recognized as the most powerful member of the team and served stints as the team's leader on occasion.
In Neil Gaiman's 1602, her power is associated with the classical element of air.
In late 2004, Mark Waid devised a plot twist by which Susan and her brother Johnny switched powers. This did not last.
Susan is played by actress Jessica Alba in the 2005 film version of The Fantastic Four.sv:Invisible Woman