After The Fantastic Four: First Steps, I Can Actually Picture This Controversial Romance in the MCU

We can actually picture one of Marvel’s most controversial romances coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the events of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel Studios has finally given us a brilliant live-action version of the Fantastic Four, introducing Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Marvel’s First Family from Earth 828. In their first on-screen adventure, set four years after they became the Fantastic Four, the team fought the planet-eater Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), and saved both the world and their newborn fifth member, Franklin Richards.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is just the start for this iteration of Marvel’s First Family. They are already confirmed to be returning, and meeting the MCU’s other heroes, in Avengers: Doomsday in 2026, while the team are also expected to return in sequels and more MCU projects for years to come. This creates the opportunity for many of the Fantastic Four’s most iconic storylines from Marvel Comics to be adapted for the screen, and this could include their soap opera-style romantic dramas, one of which we never thought we’d see in the MCU.

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Sue Storm & Reed Richards Don’t Have An Easy Relationship in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Unlike in previous live-action adaptations of the team’s adventures, Reed Richards’ Mister Fantastic (Pascal) and Sue Storm’s Invisible Woman (Kirby) are already a married couple in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. However, it’s not all wedded bliss for the two formidable heroes, as their personalities and priorities regularly clash in First Steps, and will surely continue to when they return to the MCU. Even though Storm just gave birth to their first child, the Power Cosmic-imbued Franklin Richards, Richards and Storm’s marriage might be tested even further in the MCU’s future.

At various points in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Richards and Storm come to blows over the former’s reliance on logic, probability, mathematics, and his focus on worst case scenarios. When Richards considers the possibility of handing Franklin Richards over to Galactus to save the Earth, Storm vehemently disagrees, and suggests that his behavior sometimes hurts her. There’s also a brief moment of animosity between them when Richards suggests instead using Franklin as bait to lure Galactus to the bridge, and these moments raise the question whether there might be someone better for Sue Storm.

Namor’s Personality in the MCU Includes Qualities Sue Storm Values

Sue Storm has this very thought in Marvel Comics, as her romantic attention is not only aimed at Richards, but also Namor, the mutant King of Atlantis. In the MCU, it’s Tenoch Huerta Mejía who plays Namor as the leader of the underwater vibranium-rich nation of Talokan, and he most recently staged an attack against Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before forming a tentative truce with Shuri (Letitia Wright). Given the disagreements Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman have in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it’s not far-fetched to think Namor might distract Storm in future MCU projects.

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What Exactly Is the Relationship Between Namor and Sue Storm (And What Does It Mean for the MCU?)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced Namor as a man of principle, confidence, and loyalty, which are all traits that Sue Storm would perhaps be attracted to. While Reed Richards considered sacrificing a member of his family to save the world, Namor has proven that he would tear the world apart in order to protect his family, which is something that Storm may admire in the Talokanil antihero when they cross paths. This could happen as soon as Avengers: Doomsday, as both Kirby and Mejía will be appearing in the Phase 6 crossover, or in future Fantastic Four sequels.

I Hope the MCU Ignores Some of the More Controversial Aspects of Namor & Sue Storm’s Marvel Romance

While we can imagine Sue Storm and Namor striking up a romance in the MCU, should Reed Richards’ behavior drive the Invisible Woman away, there is one element of this relationship we hope Marvel avoids. Notoriously, the relationship between Sue Storm and Namor in Marvel Comics, which began in 1962’s Fantastic Four #4, is an incredibly toxic and problematic one. Namor repeatedly belittled, manipulated, and abused Sue Storm. On one occasion, he kidnapped her before Richards could propose, and he has schemed to kill off her teammates in order to isolate Storm so she’ll have nowhere else to turn.

In Marvel Comics’ main continuity, Sue Storm, although feeling complex feelings of attraction towards Namor, has always remained loyal to Reed Richards, though alternate counterparts have fallen into Namor’s embrace over the years. Despite her insistence of loyalty towards Richards, Namor has regularly pressed her, suggesting they have a special bond. His predatory advances, physical and verbal abuse, emotional manipulation, coercive behavior, and unhealthy obsession towards Storm is something that the MCU could certainly do without. Still, Marvel could update the problematic aspects of this relationship to introduce some real conflict for the Fantastic Four going forward.

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