Invisible Woman Fact — November 4, 2026

Today's Fact

Reed Richards' apparent death left a vacancy at the head of Marvel's first family, and the person who filled it was the one who had been underestimated longest.

WHEN REED RICHARDS WAS PRESUMED DEAD, SUE STORM TOOK COMMAND OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR — AND RECRUITED ANT-MAN TO REPLACE HIM!

The Featured Fact

In Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #381 (1993), Reed Richards and Doctor Doom apparently perished together, and the Fantastic Four lost its leader, its chief scientist, and Sue Storm's husband in a single stroke. Sue did not dissolve the team or hand it to an outsider. She took command herself — an effective widow leading the family through one of its darkest stretches.

Her first executive decision was pure Reed, executed her way: she recruited Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, to fill the team's vacant technical role. While running missions she also had to fend off Namor, who pressed his long-standing suit hardest precisely when he believed Reed was gone for good. Sue held the team, the family, and the boundary all at once — and never stopped searching for her husband.

The search paid off. Sue eventually found Reed stranded in the distant past and brought him home — to a reunion that rattled him. Months of isolation had left Reed traumatized and hesitant, while command had left Sue more confident and decisive than the woman he remembered. For a while, the rescued leader had to catch up to the leader who had replaced him.

Why It's Obscure

Thirty years into the run, the 'Invisible Girl' era ended for good — in the chair at the head of the table.

1993

Fantastic Four #381 — Reed and Doom seemingly die together, and Sue inherits a team, a family, and a search mission.

Scott Lang

The recruit — Sue brought Ant-Man aboard to cover Reed's technical duties, a hire that kept the Four functioning at full strength.

Namor

The suitor refused — the Sub-Mariner tested Sue's grief and resolve more than once during Reed's absence, and got nowhere.

The reunion

Found in the past — Sue located Reed stranded in an earlier era; his unease at her new confidence became its own storyline.

Gallery

Sue's force fields are on full display in the lead frame, and Namor — the persistent suitor of this period — appears in the final frame.

Invisible Woman Sue Storm surrounded by her force field comic art — **The leader's shield** Sue Storm wreathed in her own force fields: the power that made her the team's protector long before she became its commander.

Invisible Woman Sue Storm art print portrait — **In command** A portrait of Sue in her Fantastic Four uniform — by the 1990s, the most experienced field leader the team had ever had.

Namor the Sub-Mariner comic art cover — **The unwelcome suitor** Namor, whose courtship Sue rejected throughout Reed's absence even as she ran the team he kept trying to join emotionally.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Susan Storm (Earth-616) — Marvel Database The Leader section records Reed's disappearance and apparent death at Doom's hands, Sue's assumption of leadership, the Ant-Man recruitment, Namor's advances, and Reed's recovery from the past.
Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #381 (1993), Marvel Comics The primary source: Reed Richards and Doctor Doom apparently perish, opening the DeFalco-era storyline in which Sue leads the Fantastic Four.