World's Greatest Comic: The Fantastic Four Appreciation 2022

[Rzerox21xx]

I know fans are very concerned on what happened with Ben and Alicia adopted children however I hope people here are also concerned of the 2 cats they adopted as well.

[JackDaw]

While not manifest in a regular or consistent manner, Sue is in fact more intelligent than the average person. She is the daughter of a great surgeon. I'm not sure if her mother was more than just a good role model or encouraging of her daughter's educaiton etc. Anything non specific about Sue from long ago canon just has to be revived and restated.

I wasn’t suggesting for a second she wasn’t of above average intelligence. But there’s no shred of any evidence to suggest super intelligence, on a scale to make it credible she could get a doctorate without years of study.

Hell…back in the day even Reed and Doc Doom went to university.

[Crimz]

Isn’t it effectively meaningless unless some of the detail is put in?

Sue’s never been portrayed as super intelligent, so she’d have to do around 5 years study to become a doctor. So when did she do it? In what stories has she exhibited specialist knowledge in any academic field?

It’s all seems complete window dressing with no substance behind it.

That's why I said it was lazy. Saying that she has a doctorate, but not even stating what it is in, is just superficial. It's a way to say that they "updated" the character without putting in any effort in actually doing so. So I'm hoping North, at the very least, states what field her qualification is in.

As for when she got it, you can say she was working on it in the background, when the Future Foundation was set up. She became fully qualified in the years they were away, the same way Alex Power was. I believe it is an accredited school so it should work.

They were away rebuilding the multiverse for at least 5 years to them so it should make sense. Plus it's not like she was integral to rebuilding the multiverse, so she wasn't busy.

[Ravin' Ray]

As for when she got it, you can say she was working on it in the background, when the Future Foundation was set up. She became fully qualified in the years they were away, the same way Alex Power was. I believe it is an accredited school so it should work.

In the real world there are online doctorates (I seriously consider applying for one myself) so that's one route Sue could have taken.

[CaptCleghorn]

I wasn’t suggesting for a second she wasn’t of above average intelligence. But there’s no shred of any evidence to suggest super intelligence, on a scale to make it credible she could get a doctorate without years of study.

Hell…back in the day even Reed and Doc Doom went to university.

I don't think Sue's on the Reed/Doom/Valeria/Lunella level of intelligence. But my head canon says that if Reed kept his interest in her for all these years, she's got to have something going on upstairs beyond just "above average intelligence". But her field of study is still an issue for me. It's a doctorate which does require considerable work and independent work in that field.

Honestly, I think a medical doctorate which gives her a reason for going on the flight works best. Her father provided plenty of incentive for her and all that would have happened before the origin story.

[Ravin' Ray]

Honestly, I think a medical doctorate which gives her a reason for going on the flight works best. Her father provided plenty of incentive for her and all that would have happened before the origin story.

Plus during the Abraxas arc (which was drawn by the late Carlos Pacheco), one of Sue's alts was a doctor, and she had to take over her counterpart's role temporarily (using her power to see the broken bone in a patient's arm and treat it). Perhaps that also could have spurred her on.

[Crimz]

I've made my pitch many times for how I'd love for her to be in medicine. It also provided potential for interesting stories and appearances in other books. Her unique powers would make her invaluable for those with unusual physiques like Luke Cage.

[Oberon]

I wasn’t suggesting for a second she wasn’t of above average intelligence. But there’s no shred of any evidence to suggest super intelligence, on a scale to make it credible she could get a doctorate without years of study.

Hell…back in the day even Reed and Doc Doom went to university.

Oh, I agree.

Sue is not super intelligent like Reed, Doom, her daughter, others.

Sue is highly more intelligent than many most other regular characters, in my opinion.

So example, she understands science, whatever her field is, and perhaps a general good view of most other sciences.

She would find reading science journals as light reading to some degree.

She could be smarter than someone like Cyclops, Captain America, Moon Knight, Nick Fury (he could be compensating - or any of these - due to education, but she of course is educated too)
Jan the Wasp, Black Widow, Wanda, Matt Murdock - and even Subby.

My head canon says her smarts are what attracted Reed to her, obviously.

Sue doesn't have to be "super-intelligent" but we should be able to say she is intelligent, skilled and educated more then the average other character.

[Oberon]

I don't think Sue's on the Reed/Doom/Valeria/Lunella level of intelligence. But my head canon says that if Reed kept his interest in her for all these years, she's got to have something going on upstairs beyond just "above average intelligence". But her field of study is still an issue for me. It's a doctorate which does require considerable work and independent work in that field.

Honestly, I think a medical doctorate which gives her a reason for going on the flight works best. Her father provided plenty of incentive for her and all that would have happened before the origin story.

When Sue's father was brought in, lo those many years ago, and was a medical doctor, a surgeon even, it was not the day yet that female doctors were common, but I may be misremembering, but I thought an update or enhancement of the Storm's origin might have said that Mary Storm was also a doctor or in the medical field. I probably imagined that.

But the idea that she was guided by Franklin and was a medical support for the flight has a ring of truth. I worked in the medical world for 15 years, still know a number of people and I've known families where not 1, not 2 but even 3 children of a doctor became one too.

[JackDaw]

I don't think Sue's on the Reed/Doom/Valeria/Lunella level of intelligence. But my head canon says that if Reed kept his interest in her for all these years, she's got to have something going on upstairs beyond just "above average intelligence". But her field of study is still an issue for me. It's a doctorate which does require considerable work and independent work in that field.

Honestly, I think a medical doctorate which gives her a reason for going on the flight works best. Her father provided plenty of incentive for her and all that would have happened before the origin story.

I agree with everything you’ve put.

But there’s the nagging thought persists that it’s just not consistent with decades of the actual stories…there’s no reference to any actually doing any study, no reference in any story I’ve read to her having any detailed medical knowledge, etc.

So going that way would be a massive retcon, but we’ve all seen dafter ones, with less worthwhile aims.

[CaptCleghorn]

I agree with everything you’ve put.

But there’s the nagging thought persists that it’s just not consistent with decades of the actual stories…there’s no reference to any actually doing any study, no reference in any story I’ve read to her having any detailed medical knowledge, etc.

So going that way would be a massive retcon, but we’ve all seen dafter ones, with less worthwhile aims.

There was a lot of crap regarding Sue being "the girl" in the sixties that frankly needs to be forgotten. Sue taking the flight with an MD also ages her enough to put a crimp in the "Reed Likes Young Sue" crap Byrne alluded to in his run.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, college age Reed falling for preteen(?) Sue is squick. If they met that young their age gap should be smaller. Maybe have Sue be a high school senior at the time, and thus, close to adulthood. Also, Sue has promoted to parent in her backstory, as her parents were dead by the time Johnny was a teenager (he was 15 when he became the Human Torch), leaving her to raise her little brother. Sue obviously has to be an adult before she loses her parents, else Johnny would've ended up in care.

I've made my pitch many times for how I'd love for her to be in medicine. It also provided potential for interesting stories and appearances in other books. Her unique powers would make her invaluable for those with unusual physiques like Luke Cage.

If Sue's doctorate is the medical kind, maybe she should be Valkyrie's new best friend - after all, Jane Foster is a medical doctor too (having been introduced as a nurse).

[Ravin' Ray]

Also, Sue has promoted to parent in her backstory, as her parents were dead by the time Johnny was a teenager (he was 15 when he became the Human Torch), leaving her to raise her little brother. Sue obviously has to be an adult before she loses her parents, else Johnny would've ended up in care.

Mary Storm was indeed dead, but Franklin Storm was in prison for manslaughter, leaving Sue to raise Johnny on her own.

[Oberon]

Better a serious attempt at some sort of ret-con, and maybe we're mostly thinking it's in the bio-med field, then never one.

I like the idea of maybe post- retcons in regard to some medical things. Knowing Jane. Maybe attending or recalling attending a seminar together.

We've seen some stories where Sue is cleaning/storing and comes across things that hearken to something. Like Sue finds a photo of her and her parents at a college event. I've known at couple of folks who were not genius but smart enough to advance out of HS and possibly college, so why can't that be part of Sue's backstory?
I really don't care if it wasn't there all along?

Reed's previous gf wasn't around.
We've seen a couple of "old friends" of Ben's (and for that matter, most of Reed's father is latter day inventions *) who he'd known since before the FF.
So it's wrong to not allow that for Sue, if we allow it for them.
Sue felt she had to focus on the FF because Johnny was still a minor at that time. Makes sense to me that her college career could have been quietly happening during some off times, when her other responsibilities cleared.

[Alex_Of_X]

Oh boy, I was missing out! Checked out #2 after skipping the extra-cost first iss, and wow, this is some fine comic-booking!

Sue X Reed forever