Marvel Studios' Phase 6 is bringing in a superhero who sets a brand new precedent for a powered individual on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's big screen.
With five superhero teams being brought together in the upcoming Phase, the MCU will soon be crowded with heroes, new and old, sharing the spotlight.
Currently slated for six feature films, Phase 6 will not only culminate in a grand crossover with its Avengers movies, but also introduce fans to some fresh faces as well.
Sue Storm Hits Significant MCU Milestone
As first confirmed by a trailer shown at Marvel's CinemaCon presentation on April 4, Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman) will spend a portion of The Fantastic Four: First Step's story pregnant.
Sue's expectant status was hinted at by a quick clip from the movie released by Marvel. In the snippet, Johnny Storm scolds his older sister for being late.
At first, Sue worriedly assumes that Johnny somehow knew she was late for her period until she realizes that the Human Torch was referring to their dinner plans.
Presumably, Sue and Reed's secret will become common knowledge around the Baxter Building sometime in First Steps. And whether Sue's pregnant with Franklin or Valeria (the couple's two children from the comics), it seems quite likely that a baby will be born before the credits roll and that that child will have a presence throughout Phase 6 (which will include Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, two projects in which the Fantastic Four are confirmed to return in)
Sue having one in the oven is a historic plot point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe; she'll be the franchise's first woman superhero to be pregnant in a movie.
Fans will surely remember that Wanda Maximoff experienced a comically accelerated pregnancy in WandaVision, but the birth of Tommy and Billy occurred in a television show and not a feature film. The twins were also a manifestation of Wanda's magical Hex and couldn't exist outside of it (at that point, anyway).
An MCU staple, Natasha Romanoff, tragically had any future motherhood forcibly taken from her by the Red Room. Nat confided in Bruce Banner that all Black Widows are sterilized as part of their training since a baby is "the one thing that might matter more than a mission."
Other Marvel Icons Who Had a Baby on the Way
Sue Storm is far from the only individual, fictional or otherwise, whose pregnancy impacted the world of Marvel. For starters, Marvel Comics tells the story of two children born to Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
In Fantastic Four Annual #5 from 1967 and crafted by the dream team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, after a fierce battle with Psycho-Pirate, the recently-married lovebirds announced that they were having their first child.
But it was far from an easy nine months for Sue; her unique, cosmic ray-infused physiology made it challenging to carry her baby. Her family stepped up in a big way, venturing into the Negative Zone, a bizarre antimatter void, to acquire a one-of-a-kind tool to assist in delivery.
Sue and her husband's firstborn was named Franklin, and he quickly proved to be a much bigger handful than an average newborn. Thanks to his parents' super-powered genetics, the boy was born with unfathomable and perhaps limitless cosmic abilities (think The Incredibles' Jack-Jack on steroids).
Eventually, Sue brought another life into the world, a daughter named Valeria. The name was given to her by the Fantastic Four's arch-nemesis, Doctor Doom (who will be portrayed in the next Avengers film by ex-Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr.)., as payment to Victor for saving her life during her birth.
Young Val doesn't possess any of her older brother's powers, but she is as smart as her brilliant and infinitely resourceful dad.
Baby Mania has swept Marvel on other occasions, too. In a 2015 Spider-Woman comic arc from writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Javier Rodriguez, Jessica Drew was extremely pregnant and gave birth to her son Gerald several issues later.
This element of Drew's character was carried over to Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which hit theaters in 2023.
Black Widow actress Scarlett Johansson also filmed scenes from 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron while expecting her daughter, Rose. Through the use of body doubles, trick camera angles, and CGI touch-ups, most viewers were none the wiser that Johansson was pregnant during production.
Perhaps Marvel Studios will formally reveal Sue's pregnancy during the next official look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps (get the details on the movie's next trailer here).
