If there's one thing to take away from the press tour of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (no, we know what you're thinking and it's not that), it's that Vanessa Kirby has done her homework when it comes to Sue Storm and already has hopes for The Invisible Woman's future. During an appearance on The Happy Sad Confused Podcast, the mother of Marvel's First Family discussed one thing she hopes to see for her character, seemingly beyond Avengers: Doomsday, and it involves her character tapping into a considerably darker side as Malice.
Already drawing attention from her co-stars after seeing the Marvel Rivals skin, Malice debuted in 1985 and was the manifestation of Sue's darker side, awakened by the villain Psycho-Man (sounds like a lovely chap). Eventually subdued by Reed, the leather-clad, dominatrix-looking alter ego returned to cause trouble, but hasn't been seen since 1995 in the comics.
"I just love that that's a part of her, it just makes me so happy," Kirby revealed. "I always love Malice because it’s almost like a part of her that needs to come out, to be expressed, that, while she is committed to being altruistic and being a leader and doing good in the world, she also has a shadow side, like we all do, which has to come out in order for her then, in the comics, to become Invisible Woman," Kirby explained. "She renames herself from Invisible Girl. So she becomes a woman by going through a dark time, and I always loved that journey. I thought it felt very true."
After being such a powerful voice in Matt Shakman's take on the team, Kirby's Sue is presented as such a force for good that seeing her become otherwise would be a tremendous shift in future stories. Kirby herself revealed that there was a scene between Sue and Paul Walter Hauser's Mole Man that was cut from the final version. "There was one line, I don’t think it was in the film, where she says to Mole Man, ‘If you’re not careful, I could give you an aneurysm in a second. And that was so useful for me, that was a real touchstone, because it’s true," argued the MCU star. "She could put a forcefield, and there’s lots of images of her in the comics doing it to Doom and her doing it to all these enemies where she threatens to do it, because she can, but she chooses not to. And it’s someone that chooses not to, but still could."
Of course, given that the mid-credits scene for First Steps shows Franklin being watched over by Victor von Doom, there might be an opportunity for some malice to come out in Avengers: Doomsday when it arrives next year. For every other MCU movie and show headed our way, check out our list here.
