Warning! Spoilers for Fantastic Four: Life Story #2 ahead!
The Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards and Susan Storm have been a comic book couple for a long time, but a new comic suggests that the two may not be the best match for each other, and that Sue could find a better companion in a surprising place—the ocean. An alternative look at Marvel's First Family shows that Namor the Sub-Mariner would make a better companion for the Invisible Woman than Mr. Fantastic.
Marvel’s newest comic mini-series, Fantastic Four: Life Story, depicts the history of the Fantastic Four over the decades as if they took place in real time. The first issue details their origin as a team of scientists whose outer space mission goes terribly awry in the middle of the 1960s. Hired by President Kennedy to build a spacecraft in the middle of the space race, the four decide to test it themselves. Their space expedition leaves them all changed, with superhuman abilities and the knowledge that there is something dangerous lurking in the vast darkness of space. While the Fantastic Four are thrust into the limelight and become poster children for American exceptionalism, their lives continue in their strange bodies and the '60s unfold around them.
In the second issue of Fantastic Four: Life Story, by Mark Russell, Sean Izaakse and Nolan Woodard, the team continues to work together during the tumultuous and fast-changing 1970s. Reed Richards has become obsessed with preparing to fight against the threat that is Galactus, growing increasingly frustrated when his attempts are stymied at nearly every turn. The obsession, however, is not without consequences. As he prioritizes his work, he continuously deprioritizes Sue’s work and interests in the midst of the Women’s Movement and forces her into the role of housewife. His focus on work even creates distance between him and his son, Franklin, whom he treats as a nuisance, while Franklin himself refers to his father as “Dr. Richards.” Eventually, it all starts to wear Sue down, so, with a little push popular feminist author Betty Friedman, Sue takes Franklin and leaves.
Sue eventually finds a companion and partner in Namor, the half-human half-Atlantean anti-hero. After meeting at a party where he encourages her to give a speech, the two hit it off, and when Sue eventually leaves Reed, it’s Namor with whom she begins a new relationship. While at first glance,the two don’t seem like a likely couple, Namor’s historical role in comics as someone who is mistreated by both humans and Atlanteans means that he likely is able to relate to Sue on a more personal level. And as someone who does not participate in the culture of the “surface world”, it’s likely he would not have the same preconceived notions as the other men in Sue’s life. Even in their initial meeting, he explicitly recognizes her value and importance as a woman, something that she desired to be seen and something that her own husband has frequently failed to recognize.
Exactly how the relationship will continue, during the sometimes capitalistic and navel-gazing 1980s as well as with the continued threat of Galactus, remains to be seen. Certainly, expressing the belief that women are important feels like a fairly low bar, but it's a low bar that Namor got over, which is more than could be said for Reed Richards. Additionally, there is something very sincere about the relationship between Sue Storm and Namor the Sub-Mariner and readers are very likely to be rooting for the couple to succeed.