Fantastic Four: Every Live-Action Version of Sue Storm, Ranked

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There’s no disputing Sue Storm’s towering presence in the world of superhero media. However, not all versions of the character are created equal. Ranking the live-action movie versions of Sue Storm from worst to best shows that the character’s been done dirty in many movies before… though her most recent incarnation certainly helped do her justice.

Here are the live-action Sue Storms ranked, from worst to best:

4. Kata Mara’s Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four (2015)

Among the many creative bunglings of the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot was Kate Mara’s iteration of Sue Storm/Invisible Woman. The film’s jagged script didn’t give the character much of anything of substance to do, hence why her most memorable attribute was those distracting wigs Mara donned in the film’s reshoots.

This Storm didn’t even have memorable chemistry with any of her three fellow superheroes, a baffling shortcoming for a superhero team that’s all about familial bonds. The character’s personality was also vaguely defined, while the visual depiction of her superpowers wasn’t especially evocative or interesting. This Sue Storm was a total blank slate that offered nothing for either moviegoers or Kate Mara as a performer.

3. Jessica Alba’s Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four (2005) & Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Here was another version of Sue Storm that tragically wasted an actor’s potential in favor of sloppy screenwriting. The iteration of this character in Tim Story’s two 2000s Fantastic Four movies mostly existed for “jokes” about the character having to get naked to be invisible and being put in jeopardy to motivate her male cohorts (and even the Silver Surfer). It was a total waste of the character’s potential and didn’t provide Alba any room to be interesting.

At least this Sue Storm got more low-key scenes to hang out with Johnny and Ben compared to Mara’s version. That’s the only real upside, though, to yet another underwhelming depiction of a Marvel superhero who deserved more.

2. Rebecca Staab’s Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four (1994)

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,” and so it is with the live-action versions of Sue Storm. One iteration of the character never got to appear in movie theaters, technically, but is still superior to the first two 20th Century Fox iterations of the character. Rebecca Staab’s take on Sue Storm from the Roger Corman-produced Fantastic Four film of the 1990s still doesn’t have much to do; however, save for the unspeakably creepy age discrepancy between herself and Reed Richards when they first meet, there’s also nothing too embarrassing about Staab’s Invisible Woman.

Her performance as the character is endearing enough and fits right into the retro aesthetic of the entire movie. There’s a tangible personality to her work, which is more than Mara and Alba were able to exude in their on-screen work.

1. Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman finally got a proper live-action version thanks to performer Vanessa Kirby and director Matt Shakman. Kirby’s contributions to the role are especially impossible to understate. She’s transfixing in this part and lends Storm some serious gravitas, particularly in the best scene in all of First Steps, with Sue delivering a grand speech to worried New York residents. While past versions of Sue Storm were just props for male characters, this incarnation of the superhero has a commanding presence, making it obvious why people would follow her to the ends of the Earth. Plus, her superpowers are brought to such vivid life throughout First Steps, particularly in a finale where the life of her child, Franklin Richards, is on the line. There’s absolutely no question, Vanessa Kirby embodies the pinnacle of Sue Storm in cinema.

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