Susan Storm: tragedy and triumphHer story has a beginning, middle and end. (And then a new beginning.) |
The FF exist they exist to do good, and to be a family. Reed can do the most good through his research, so logically he will one day retire to from fighting. Sue can do the most good by focusing on Franklin, so logically she must devote all her energies to that.
Reed cannot focus on research or the family while Doom is a threat. But in issue 200 Doom is decisively beaten, so Reed is free to focus on other things. (Note that Doom's final defeat came later, but that only delayed the retirement.)
As Sue points out, the family should never split up, but she is very happy with he idea of retiring from superheroics.
At this period (FF201-231) Reed Richards was under tremendous stress. His entire reason for existing - to be a mister fantastic - was falling apart. His defeat of Doctor Doom was turning into a nightmare, his son was in increasing danger, and the skrull crisis made him see his own weaknesss. This all led to the thin introvert Reed of John Byrne's run. Sue could see something was wrong, and did everything to support him.
A lot of readers don't like this decision. For example, Sue avoided confrontation when loading her luggage invisibly in FF227, and some fans said she was being weak. But it is not weak to avoid conflict when a loved one is under tremendous stress.
Sue wants to put the family first, but ths means she is sometimes left behind to look after Franklin. But that puts the others' lives in danger. It's an impossible choice.
More than the others, Sue sees the real dangers they face. More than the others, she feels it deeply.
Yes, this affair ended years earlier, but now there is added maturity. She will never go back.
During this period the danger to Franklin began to increase.
Agatha Harkness stopped looking after Franklin because she had to put her own family first. This fact was surely not lost on Sue. But the danger to Franklin increased.
Until now they believed they could be both heroes and parents, but it now clear to Sue that this is not tenable.
More than once, Sue expected to die and leave Franklin orphaned. This is tearing her apart inside.
Sue is now clear: the team and family are not the same, and family must come first.
The Byrne issues coincide with a deep crisis in Reed's inner life. Sue's goal is to put the family first, so she did everything she could to support him. Sue had a makeover to make herself look younger. She became more affectionate in public. She wore shorter skirts and open collars. She apparently used her forcefield to shrink her waist and push out her chest. perhaps this was just artistic license, but the makeover, public affection and TV appearance were part of the story. Also, Byrne made the other team members less sexy, not more so.
Like every enhanced celebrity she went on TV to insist that she was normal - all the time looking like a little girl with big eyes and coy smile.
It was all a facade. Even while she appeared on TV, her child was attacking her husband and brother. The carefree look only lasted a couple of months (remember that Marvel Time at this stage was not real time). It could not survive reality.
Issue 245 sees "childhood's end." Until now, Franklin could be protected by metaphorically wrapping him in cotton wool, to protect him from the outside world. But now the danger comes from within. Now Franklin is an independent force on his own.
Over the next few months the danger to Franklin increases. Each time he barely escapes with his life. These stories were published over years, but take place over just a few months.
In this period Reed and Sue tried again to leave the Baxter building (the first attempt was soon after Franklins birth). But they got it completely wrong. They thought the goal was to raise Franklin "normally." No, the goal was to raise Franklin safely. "Normal" meant secret identities, which meant misunderstanding and reduced security. That misjudgment almost cost them their lives.
Sue's life continued to get worse. Not only was she in danger of losing Franklin at any time, but she had a miscarriage and was told she should never risk more children.
Gradually Stepford Sue is replaced with Suffering Sue. Most of the time she still smiles and acts like a loyal follower, but the cracks are never far from the surface.
Ironically, when Sue tried to act hard and powerful she felt the most powerless.
Sue is in some senses smarter than Reed. She knows that you cannot put the team first AND put the family first. But still Reed cannot see it.
Sue understands: they don't need to sacrifice the family to the team. There are other superhero teams now. Reed still had not grasped this.
Next they lose their home...
Then Sue is violated...
Then tortured...
Pychoman's torment continues, regressing Sue to childhood, then using her fears over her family to torture her.
Sue changes her name from "girl" to "woman." But is womanhood defined by pain and sorrow? No. The real change is that Sue knows she cannot continue as before.
In the last issue before Byrne (FF231), Sue pushes over an entire city block, but in Byrne's run she was back to invisible platforms and spheres.
Perhaps she just lost confidence? In FF219 Sue experiments with forcefield objects that have parts that move relative to each other, but in Byrne's run she was back to simpler objects. Also, before Byrne she literally and metaphorically let her hair down more often, and laughed and cried more often.
Some people don't like the light hearted Sue. For example, she criticized for apparently dancing on a table for some Vikings in a single frame in FF225 (she doesn't dance, she and Johnny demonstrate their powers in order to distract the Vikings). What good is life when all the fun is sucked out? By the end of Byrne's run, Sue found out.
In this example from the end of Byrne's run, the cold, unhappy Sue became so fatalistic that she lost her famous intuition. Contrast this with a similar scenario in FF 109, when Sue also expected Reed to die, and Reed thought it was hopeless, but that time Sue didn't give up hope: as long as the slightest chance remained, she went after him. Or compare FF 181, or FF 51. Reed has faced "certain death" alone in the negative zone on three prior occasions, and each time he miraculously survived.
But by the end of Byrne's run Sue had given up hope. She had reached her lowest point.
The conflict must be resolved. The impossible conflict is as strong as ever: By putting superheroics first she is risking her family.
Reed and Sue never pay Franklin enough attention. As a result he is psychologically very damaged. He thinks his parents hate him. This must not continue.
They promise to solve the problem
Reed and Sue promise to "find a way to deal with" Franklin's powers. They have tried to be both a team and a family, and failed,. They have to focus just on the family.
Permanent change: they realize they have to make a final decision
This is not a problem that will go away. It has to be addressed, finally and permanently.
The ever increasing danger to Franklin forces Reed to finally put Franklin first.
Permanent change: Sue and Reed make the decision.
By this point the danger to Franklin is so great that, even in the few weeks between the decision and leaving, Franklin is again kidnapped by Dr Doom who tries to sell the child's soul to Mephisto. This is the second time in less than a year that Franklin has faced the lord of Hell. Anyone sho says Reed and Sue should stay as active superheroes is effectively saying that Franklin must die. Reed and Sue had to focus on Franklin. There was no possible choice.
What about Doctor Doom? He will keep coming back, but now he has somebody to keep him busy: the child Kristoff. This leaves Reed free to focus on the child Franklin. Kristoff has all of Victor's memories, technology and determination, and a younger, more agile mind. They are well matched. So Reed and Sue can finally walk away from Latveria.
Note that the Fantastic Four are still needed: no other team has such a high public profile, or access to Reed's technology, or provides the stability to raise generations of heroes in safety.Thanks to Sue, the Fantastic Four will break new ground forever.
Note that Johnny will be the natural leader of the new FF, and Sue and Reed will never be far away.
But that's another story... Johnny's story.
