Production Companies 20th Century Fox, Marvel Enterprises, 1492 Pictures, Constantin Film Produktion GmbH, Kumar Mobiliengesellschaft mbH & Co. Projekt Nr. 3 KG
As the mother-figure of the group, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman is, according to actress Jessica Alba, “the glue that keeps the family together.” The manifestation of her powers – invisibility and the ability to project powerful force fields – comes from deep inside Sue’s maternal, emotional core.
“Sue is a scientist,” says Alba, “who is struggling with her place in her male-dominated world. Whether it’s in her relationship with Victor or Reed or her brother Johnny, she’s striving to be seen and heard and recognized as their peer. She wants them to take seriously her ideas and opinions and doesn’t want to be overlooked or dismissed. She often thinks to herself that she might as well be invisible as far as they are concerned thus her power of invisibility manifests itself based on her emotional state at a given moment.
“Like all of the characters,” continues Alba, “Sue discovers her powers slowly and comes to recognize the connection to her personality over time. So, if she is sad, she may go invisible and if she’s is angry, she can launch one mean force field. By the time she is battling Dr. Doom, she has become much stronger, more confident and less guarded than she was before the space station accident.”
Stan Lee recalls his intentions when he was creating Sue Storm: “I didn’t want Sue to be a typical female comic book character who is always crying out for help,” he says. “I didn’t want her to be the damsel in distress. I wanted her to be an integral part of the team so I actually gave her two very compelling abilities. In fact, some people think the combination of Sue’s powers ultimately makes her the most powerful of the group.”
“Invisibility is a very challenging visual effect,” says Kurt Williams. “Because Tim’s vision of these characters was so performance-oriented, we decided to actually retain some of Jessica’s attributes when she goes invisible. For example, there are always subtle tell-tale signs that she is there even when you ‘can’t see her,’ whether it be the shape of her lips or her eyes or her hair. It’s a very ethereal kind of effect and it mirrors the ethereal quality Jessica brought to the role.”
“The process of ‘going invisible’ was very interesting and a lot more difficult than I anticipated,” says Alba. “I had to do every scene twice. It was an odd feeling in that I had to recreate those emotions many times over whether there was another actor sitting opposite me or not.”
Sue Storm’s sibling, Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, played by Chris Evans, is the third member of the fantastic family of four. For Evans, the idea of playing the hot-blooded, hot-headed but forever-cool superhero came naturally to him.
“It’s every little boy’s dream. I mean what little kid didn’t tie a towel around his neck and jump off the couch like a superhero.
“Although I was relatively new to the Fantastic Four phenomenon,” says Evans, “I could tell Johnny was going to be a blast to play. He’s the epitome of a young guy who just wants to have fun. He’s a daredevil: He snowboards, does motocross and is a space pilot. You know, he has that sort of attitude of invincibility, and relishes being in the spotlight. He lives for the fast cars, the fast women, and the applause. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention he can burst into flames and fly, too? I mean there’s not much more of an attention-getter than that!
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