Warning: contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #46!
The The powerful Invisible Woman may have started her history as a character with an ability unsuited for fighting, but she soon developed shields and easily became the most powerful member of the Four. That being said, modern writers have left her out of most stories - and it's all because of her (perceived) lack of interesting characterization.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's initial run on The Fantastic Four, beginning in 1961, revolutionized comics and placed Marvel on the map. The series subverted many trends and spearheaded new ones: the team wore no masks and never concealed their identities, they were public figures and even celebrities, and - in the most important change from superhero status quo - there were a family, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. They also had abundant and very transparent character flaws: The leader and patriarch Reed Richards focused too much on his work to pay attention to his family, Johnny Storm was hedonistic and impulsive, and Ben Grimm had great difficulty controlling his anger (and it also masked his fear and inadequacy about his permanent transformation).
But in the modern era, very few storylines have focused around Susan Storm at all. Ben Grimm was finally able to marry Alicia Masters and raise adopted children of his own, and Johnny Storm's year-long storyline in which his powers were permanently activated finally ended in Fantastic Four #46. Meanwhile, Reed Richards saved the entire universe thanks to his Watcher-provided knowledge in the Fantastic Four: Reckoning War event - but Susan Storm has sat out the majority of storylines in the past year. While she was very much a participant, she did not make many decisions that impacted the plot, and was a ing character in her own book. Even after discovering Reed Richards' half-sister, she doesn't push the story forward.
It would appear as though current writers are concerned to revisit Susan's own character flaw from the 60s: her vanity. ittedly, this was a rather sexist flaw to grant a female character (especially a powerful superhero in the Silver Age of Comics), and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby quickly realized their mistake rather early in the run. Unfortunately, without an easily-identifiable flaw, Susan is frequently ed over for story arcs in favor of Reed, Johnny and Ben, forcing Sue to play a ing role to all three.
The teaser image for Fantastic Four #47 depicts Sue alone, signifying an Invisible Woman-centric storyline. In many ways, Sue is Marvel's most important female superhero (by virtue of being the first, if nothing else). The Fantastic Four may have saved the world and all of existence itself from fading away during the Reckoning War event in 2022, but now the Marvel writers must save Susan Storm from the same fate.
