Susan

Biodata

Appearance

Susan is blonde with blue eyes and wears a blue combat suit during the battle against Lizard Man 149 211.

• Combat clothing: Also described as an “invisibility suit” during her conversation with Peter 37.
• Power use: Her own body becomes translucent while she strains to make a wall transparent 219.

Personality

Susan is protective, affectionate, and blunt about unnecessary risks. After Peter survives the Harlem mission, she embraces him before angrily reminding him that he is still a child himself. His healing factor does not reassure her: she later reprimands him for fighting the Sinister Six without asking for help 37 149.

Her concern extends beyond her teammates. Learning that experiments killed thirty-one children leaves her furious at the researchers and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s involvement. During Doom’s bomb trap, she refuses to abandon the building while workers remain downstairs 37 219.

Practical about money, Susan actively looks for ways to commercialize inventions and sustain the Foundation. Her excitement over profitable technology prompts Johnny to tease her about caring only about money; she counters that someone has to manage their finances. Her scientific interests remain strong despite the administrative workload 16 27.

Her feelings for Peter conflict with her awareness that she is his employer and that he is underage. She apologizes for their first kiss and agrees to move past it, but later struggles to maintain that boundary 104 210 211 216.

Abilities & Skills

Dimensional-Energy Powers

Susan’s powers derive from exposure to dimensional energy. The Ancient One explains that the Fantastic Four unconsciously draw on this energy, using methods less refined than those of trained mages 171.

• The Ancient One specifically distinguishes Susan’s telekinetic shields from her invisibility; they are not simply the same effect 171.
• Doom targets Susan and her teammates to extract the interdimensional radiation energy within their bodies 221.

Invisibility and Transparency

Susan can conceal herself and extend her power to other people or objects 14 219.

• Concealed transport: Uses invisibility to bring the unconscious Peter into the Baxter Building without exposing his identity 14.
• Revealing hidden structures: Makes a wall transparent so Peter can locate Doom’s bomb beneath the floor 219.
• Limit: Sustaining the transparency effect requires intense concentration and increasing output. She sweats, becomes translucent, and ultimately collapses from exhaustion 219.

Invisible Force Fields

Susan creates barriers capable of shielding allies, stopping enemies, and supporting or moving people 14 212 221.

• Defense: Protects Reed during Doom’s attack and blocks Lizard Man’s charge toward a ventilation opening 14 212.
• Restraint and transport: Encloses the trapped Doom in a force field, lifts him into the air, and throws him into the East River 14.
• Rescue: Catches Johnny with a force field after Lizard Man knocks him away 212.
• Platforms: Creates a telekinetic platform in midair to steady herself during the Baluurian attack 221.
• Emotional discharge: Her anger over the child experiments triggers an outward burst that throws laboratory furniture against the walls 37.
• Limits: Doom’s lightning cracks one of her shields. Against the Baluurian army, she maintains her barriers for fifteen minutes before exhaustion leads to her capture 31 221.

Biology and Genetics

Susan is the Fantastic Four’s most knowledgeable member in biology and genetics, making her Peter’s principal researcher when his blood and powers change 37.

Business and Administration

Susan handles patent applications, recruitment, funding, and legal precautions for the Baxter Foundation 14 63 197.

• Offers Peter a laboratory, project funding, salary, and continued ownership of his patents 14.
• Recognizes the commercial potential of his Scanning Adapter and contacts a patent attorney; its royalties help preserve his position during financial difficulties 16.
• Handles patent work for Parker’s Blood and the telekinetic metal plate 27 63.
• Welcomes Richard Parker to the Baxter Building and offers Gwen Stacy an opportunity to apply for work 80 209.
• Consults Jennifer Walters about the legal risks of Doom suing over his expulsion into the Negative Zone 197.

Relationships

• Peter Parker / Spider-Man — Employee, research partner, close friend, and romantic interest. Susan protects his identity, investigates his powers, saves his life, and later gives him a place to stay after his family enters witness protection. Their mutual attraction remains complicated by his age and her position as his employer 14 41 93 104 224.
• Johnny Storm / Human Torch — Younger brother and teammate. She is proud of his successful rooftop rescue and uses her force field to save him during the Lizard Man battle 104 212.
• Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic — Teammate and scientific colleague. Reed’s romantic overtures initially go unanswered; Susan later follows him to offer comfort after an argument with Peter brings his feelings into the open 63 185.
• Ben Grimm / Thing — Teammate. Susan helps turn Peter’s accessibility invention for Ben into a commercial product and urgently questions the Ancient One about whether his transformation can be reversed 16 172.
• Jessica Drew / Test Subject-D — Ally in the Lizard Man crisis and a source of romantic tension. Susan challenges Jessica about her relationship with the underage Peter; Jessica responds by questioning Susan’s own feelings for him 208 210.
• Doctor Doom / Victor von Doom — Enemy. Susan opposes his attacks and experiments, while Doom regards her as a source of dimensional energy rather than someone whose survival matters 14 31 221.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruiting Peter

Susan helps Reed defeat Doom after Peter traps him using an insulated air-conditioning duct and hardened webbing. Afterward, she conceals Peter’s arrival at the Baxter Building, assures him that the team will protect his identity, and defends his attempt to help when Reed criticizes his recklessness 14.

Recognizing his academic and inventive talent, she recruits him into the Baxter Foundation. Their early working relationship combines research with the practical business of keeping the Foundation funded through patents and commercially useful inventions 14 16 27.

Investigating Peter’s Blood

Susan’s research establishes that Peter’s unusual biology predates the radioactive spider bite. Following his exposure to the Test Subject-D aerosol, she discovers further mutations but cannot fully examine them because his genetic material resists analysis 33 37 38.

Comparing his blood with Hulk’s leads Susan and Peter toward Richard Parker’s Super Soldier Serum research. When Peter asks her to keep their discoveries from everyone—including Reed and S.H.I.E.L.D.—she promises secrecy and encourages him to continue saving lives 40 41.

Recovery from Doom and the Portal Crisis

After using Logan’s blood to save Peter, Susan supports him through his fear of Doom and reluctance to resume hero work. She reminds him that he saved her family and teammates, and promises to protect him. Their first kiss leaves both unsure how to act around each other 93 97.

They later agree to put the kiss behind them. Soon afterward, Susan joins Peter in criticizing Reed for rebuilding the dangerous interdimensional portal. When Doom hacks the system, she helps Reed resist the intrusion, but Peter enters the unstable portal to prevent a catastrophe 104 105.

Susan embraces Peter when he returns, discovering that his apparent two-hour absence lasted roughly three months for him. Following his subsequent solo fight against the Sinister Six, she insists that he should have asked for help 143 149.

Negative Zone Resources

Susan joins Peter and Johnny in cutting open ore brought back from the Negative Zone, revealing a large natural diamond. A week of mining yields eighty million dollars: she allocates forty million to the Foundation, while Peter receives the other half 174.

She later delivers confirmation of a final twenty-million-dollar auction payment and offers access to the Fantastic Four’s shared reserves if Peter urgently needs more money. He declines to draw on their funds 178.

Lizard Man Crisis

Susan receives Peter’s files on Connors’s research and Roxxon’s mutagen, then prepares a Reversal Serum. She joins the response to Lizard Man’s attempt to spread genetic poison gas through Oscorp’s ventilation system 205 208 211.

After falling from a high window, she is caught by Peter using the Wand of Watoomb. Overwhelmed by the rescue, she removes his helmet and kisses him before asking him to return her to the fight. She subsequently retreats into a strictly professional relationship with him 211 216.

Doom’s Trap and Peter’s New Home

In Reed’s hometown, Susan exhausts herself making a wall transparent so Peter can locate Doom’s bomb. Later, the Baluurian army overwhelms her defenses and captures the Fantastic Four for Doom’s energy-extraction scheme. During her captivity, she recognizes that she loves Peter 219 221.

After Peter publicly reveals his identity and his family enters witness protection, Susan prepares a guest room for him at the Baxter Building. She offers ongoing companionship and guidance, then supports his decision to leave in search of Felicia and confront Hydra 224.

Intruders in the Laboratory

Susan and Johnny are restrained by three young intruders attempting to combine the Mind Stone with a damaged fragment. Peter arrives with the X-Men to rescue them and stop the experiment 244.

Alternate Version