In a surprise change to Marvel lore,The Fantastic Four: First Stepswill handle Invisible Woman’s powers differently to the originalFantastic Fourcomics. Marvel’s new reveal confirms that Sue’s powers won’t be depicted as fans of the comic might have expected, with a significant change to Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm compared to her comic origin.
Marvel just revealed a preview ofThe Fantastic Four: First Steps #1- an MCU-canon comic showing the heroes' early days after gaining their powers.This 100% movie canon comicdepicts their earliest adventures after gaining their powers, but Sue is very different to her original comic treatment.
In the comic, Sue takes down her arguing family by manifesting invisible globes around their heads, cutting off their air supply. In the comics, this ability to generate force fields took a whoppingtwenty yearsto manifest, showing that the MCU is making some major changes to the team’s original comic continuity.
The MCU’s Invisible Woman Skips Her Original Powers… And Her Original Codename?
Ultimately, Giving Sue More Agency from the Start Is a Sensible Change
The Fantastic Four debuted in 1961’sThe Fantastic Four #1, from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In the comic, Sue’s only power is to turn invisible, and she goes by the name ‘Invisible Girl.’ Sue’s force field powers technically first manifested in 1963’sFantastic Four #22, but only became a mainstay of her power set in John Byrne’s seminalFantastic Fourrun in the 1980s. By showing Sue using her force field powers at the very beginning of her career,the MCU changes comic canon, unlocking Sue’s full powers from the very beginning.
It was also John Byrne who changed Sue’s codename, having her change it to ‘InvisibleWoman’inFantastic Four #284, deciding that beingtransformed into the villainous Malicehad robbed her of the last of her innocence, and declaring that,“There is no Invisible Girl anymore, Reed. She died when the Psycho-Man twisted her soul.“So far, it’s unclear whether Sue will ever possess her original Invisible Girl codename in the MCU.
The comic presents Sue as ‘Doctor Susan Storm,’ even clarifying that her PhD is in archeology - something that Marvel’s comics only revealed in 2023’sFantastic Four #17, from Ryan North and Carlos Gómez. It’s clear thatthe MCU is making a deliberate effort to avoid the comics’ original sexist depiction of Sue Storm, who was often depicted as a damsel in distress and the team’s least powerful and least effective member.
While changing comic lore will always annoysomefans, theFantastic Four: First Stepsversion ofInvisible Womanis ultimately skipping the character’s more problematic early depiction and giving her more agency from the start, even if it does mean leaping ahead two decades to unlock Sue Storm’s full powers from the very beginning.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps #1is coming July 9 from Marvel Comics.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Cast
The Fantastic 4: First Steps features Marvel’s First Family navigating their dual roles as superheroes and family members in a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world. They defend Earth from a formidable space god, Galactus, and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer, testing their familial bonds and heroic resolve.
Fantastic Four
TheFantastic Fouris a superhero franchise centered on Marvel Comics' first family of superheroes. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the team made its comic book debut in 1961 and quickly became a cornerstone of Marvel’s success. The franchise follows four astronauts—Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm—who gain superpowers after being exposed to cosmic radiation. Over the years,Fantastic Fourhas been adapted into several live-action films, animated series, and video games. The films have seen multiple reboots, with varying levels of success, and are now set to be integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with a new film slated for release in 2025.
