Mother or Malice? That was the question in 1985’s Fantastic Four #280, where the Four’s foes, the emotion-manipulating supervillain Psycho Man and the Hate-Monger, made Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four into Malice: Mistress of Hate. (Sue had recently suffered a miscarriage during her second pregnancy in Fantastic Four #267, leaving her vulnerable to Psycho Man’s control.) He then turned the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four — the Invisible Girl — against her family.
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As Malice, Sue defeated She-Hulk (who had replaced the Thing) before being confronted by brother Johnny and husband Reed, who ultimately freed Sue from her hateful persona. Psychologically scarred by Psycho-Man’s assault and violation of her heart and soul, the vengeful Sue suffered more torment as Psycho-Man’s manipulations made her experience the deaths of the Fantastic Four.
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His Psycho-Ray put Sue through the emotional wringer with intense feelings of doubt, fear, and hate, and so Sue turned his weapon against him — collapsing his autonomic nervous system in the process. Fantastic Four #284 would be Sue’s final appearance as the Invisible Girl: she rechristened herself the Invisible Woman.
Although her dominatrix-styled alter-ego has resurfaced just a handful of times, it might next return somewhere unexpected: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Vanessa Kirby, who plays a pregnant Sue in Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps, suggests that Sue’s long-repressed emotions could eventually manifest as Malice as they did in the comics.
“[Director] Matt [Shakman] and I were really aware that there hasn’t really been a mother with a baby in these superhero archetypes women have been getting,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly. “One of the things I love most from Sue’s history is when she becomes Malice, and all her dark stuff comes out. I was obsessed with that chapter of her life. So I wanted to make sure that there were tones of Malice in there with her, that she wasn’t just the stereotype of a goody, sweet mother.”
She continued, “I’ve always been really interested in the mess of femininity, and how can you be both? How can you be all the things? Not just the tough, invincible, powerful woman, but also a mother who gives birth, which is itself a superhero act. I love that these characters are real humans in a messy family who argue and try to work it out and get things wrong.”
Kirby makes her MCU debut alongside Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/the Thing) in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, in theaters July 25, before the quartet return in next summer’s Avengers: Doomsday.
