Image via Marvel
16. Sue Storm Gets Her Groove Back
Some female superheroes just want to wear revealing clothing, and that’s cool. Emma Frost, for example, may very well enjoy menacing the X-Men while wearing a corset and stockings. If she’s into it for herself, then great. But, after a while, it becomes clear that comics have a history of putting nearly all their female characters into ridiculously revealing outfits. It starts to feel as if that is the only option for women in comics, which is patently ridiculous.
Need an example? Let’s take a look at a version of Sue Storm which premiered in the 1990s. Again, the most x-treme of all decades strikes at our very hearts and eyes. Fortunately, twenty years on, you can made a solid case that things have gotten a lot better.
But that does no good for ‘90s Sue Storm, also known as The Invisible Woman. She already had it kind of rough, what with being the token woman on the Fantastic Four team who was often relegated to supportive or subservient roles. It didn’t help that she was married to Reed Richards, who could, frankly, be a thoughtless jerk at the best of times.
Still, it was very strange to see her suddenly appear at work in a modified bikini. It had all the classic attributes of 1990s excess, including unnecessary cut-outs, impractical footgear, and the kind of bikini line that required constant and merciless waxing. Her requisite “boob window,” by the way, was cut out in the shape of the number four.
At least the writers seemed to be in on it. Certain readings of the storyline bring out the self-aware, satirical side of the script, which acknowledged Sue’s previously deferential role. As it turned out, all the years of repressed anger and resentment collected by Sue eventually became its own entity, a being called Malice. Malice proceeded to take over her body and make some truly unfortunate fashion choices. At least Sue was able to return to normal within a few issues.