History
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As Ms. Marvel
Early Life[]
Sharon Ventura is the daughter of a career officer in the United States Army. Her mother died while she was young, and she grew used to being constantly shipped to various towns when her father was transferred. Her father had apparently wanted a son, so he never really encouraged her or praised Sharon for doing anything right. She enrolled in military school, but she was kicked out when she refused to testify against a roommate who was suspected of cheating on some exams. Her father never could forgive her for that, and he died a year later, still angry with her.[2]
Thunderiders & Grapplers[]
She spent the next few years of her life training in a number of dangerous physical activities. She then began to earn money in such professions as movie stunt work. She joined the Thunderiders motorcycle stunt team, and stayed with them for a while. While on the team, she met Ben Grimm, the hero known as the Thing. Ben was attracted to her because she reminded him of his dream girl, Tarianna, whom he had met and lost on a planet created by the omnipotent Beyonder. Sharon became fond of Ben, but she could not return his romantic feelings towards her. While Ben was a member of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, Sharon met Auntie Freeze, a manager for a group of female wrestlers called the Grapplers.[2]
Freeze offered Sharon a chance to join the Grapplers if she would go through a special strength augmentation process offered by the Power Broker. Sharon agreed and went through most of the treatment, which was administered by the criminal Dr. Karl Malus. She suddenly realized that she was cheating herself by having her potential artificially increased. She escaped before Malus could inject her with the final drug of the process, which was actually a highly addictive drug that would make her dependent on Malus for the drug in the future. Sharon had actually completed the augmentation process and was now superhumanly strong. Sharon contacted Auntie Freeze and joined the Grapplers, wearing a colorful costume and calling herself Ms. Marvel. When Freeze learned that Sharon had not completed the treatment, she was forced to order the other Grapplers to capture her. Sharon escaped, with the help of the Thing.[2]
She-Hulk[]
During the battle, the Thing started to mutate and change. Sharon helped Ben get to a hospital, and then accidentally became involved in a battle with the hero She-Hulk. While they were fighting, the Thing left the hospital, not wanting them to see his newly mutated body.[3]
The Captain[]
For a while, Ms. Marvel looked for Malus. During her search, she met the Captain (a brief alternate identity used by Captain America) when he rescued her from the Power Broker's facility after she'd been captured by his henchmen. While she was imprisoned, she was molested by some of the Power Broker's men. As a result, Sharon found it very difficult to trust men.[4]
Fantastic Four[]
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as She-Thing
A little later she joined the hero team Fantastic Four, reuniting with the Thing, who she found herself able to trust, as because of his mutated appearance, he was not like other men.[5] While battling the Arabic electronic terrorist, Fasaud, the Thing and Ms. Marvel were forced to take one of Fasaud's space shuttles. They defeated Fasaud in outer space, but the shuttle was badly damaged in the battle. The shuttle crash landed somewhere in the African jungles of Wakanda. During the descent to Earth, the shuttle and its occupants were bombarded with cosmic rays. After crashing, the Thing found himself further mutated, while Sharon had mutated into a form similar to that of Ben when he originally turned into the Thing.[6]
At one point Doctor Doom offered to restore Sharon to her original form, in return for being in his debt. She accepted, and was restored to normal, leaving the Fantastic Four for a time.[7] When she returned, Ms. Marvel was secretly spying on Ben Grimm and the Fantastic Four for Doom. After Doom confronted the Four in battle and demanded Sharon turn on them, she violently disagreed, having become romantically involved with the Thing again, and realizing Doom was a monster. Despite her rejection of Dr. Doom, Sharon was rebuffed by the Thing, who couldn't accept that she would ever ally with the villain.[8] Worse, Doom remotely reversed his work curing Sharon, causing her to mutate further into a grotesque and mentally unstable state. She was placed in a stasis tube by Mr. Fantastic so that he might work on a cure for her condition.[9]
Frightful Four[]
Before Mr. Fantastic could cure her, he seemingly died in battle with Dr. Doom. Sharon was freed by the villain Klaw and recruited as a part of the Wizard's Frightful Four team.[10] She fought the Fantastic Four with the Frightful Four on a couple of occasions, but in the last confrontation, Sharon abandoned the group after a conversation with the Fantastic Four's ally, Wyatt Wingfoot. Wyatt offered Sharon a place on his tribe's reservation while she came to grips with her situation, and she agreed.[11]
Secret Invasion[]
She-Thing was kidnapped at some time by the Skrulls, and was believed to be part of Mavericks, the New Mexico Initiative team, but it was revealed that it was a Skrull impersonator.[12]
She was freed during the final battle in Central Park,[13] and was detained in Camp Hammond for talking sessions and mental evaluation.[14]
The Fall of the Fantastic Four[]
Sharon was later seen as one of the prisoners in Ryker's Island, where she had ascended in the "hierarchy" of the inmates, and became the boss of a group of convicts in the section called Power House. She had completely abandoned the name of Sharon Ventura, and identified herself exclusively as She-Thing.[15] When her former lover, the Thing, was transferred to the Power House after being framed for murder, Sharon ordered other super-strong villains to attack Thing.[16] She later broke out of prison to join the Wizard's Frightful Four along with Thundra and Sandman to aid the Fantastic Four and other heroes fight off the Quiet Man's invasion of monsters.[17]
All-New, All-Different[]
Months later, she rejoined the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federations and had apparently reverted to her original human appearance or had learned how to go back and forth between her She-Thing form.[18]
Sharon, back in her She-Thing form, was transported to an unknown reality alongside other former members of the Fantastic Four by Richards using the Transmaterializer for the purpose of assisting the team in their fight against the Griever at the End of All Things. They fought the Griever and her Endlings while protecting the Future Foundation, until the Fantastic Four destroyed all but one of her Telepods, which forced the Griever to surrender and flee. With the enemy defeated, all members of the Fantastic Four were returned home, including Sharon.[19]Attributes
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Powers
Sharon Ventura possesses various superhuman attributes. She first gained superhuman powers as a result of undergoing the Power Broker's augmentation treatment. Later, her powers and physical form were altered after being exposed to cosmic radiation, transforming her into a female version of the Thing. She has been known to fluctuate between her normal and She-Thing forms, so her powers and their levels often change as well.[citation needed]
- Power Broker Enhancements: Sharon's body was bombarded with an unknown type of radiation by Karl Malus and as a result her physical abilities were enhanced to superhuman levels.[2]
- Superhuman Strength: The Power Broker treatment fortified Ventura's musculature, connective tissues and skeletal structure, granting her superhuman levels of strength. At her peak, she possessed sufficient superhuman strength to lift about 10 tons.[20] Her powerful leg muscles enable her to perform great jumps.[2]
- Superhuman Speed: Ventura can run and move at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[20]
- Superhuman Stamina: The treatment augmented the natural efficiency of Ventura's musculature to a degree beyond that of an ordinary human. Her muscles produce less fatigue toxins during physical activity than those of an ordinary human. At her peak, in this form, she can exert herself for several hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in her blood begins to impair her.[20]
- Superhuman Durability: Ventura's body is tougher and much more resistant to some types of physical injury than the body of a normal human. Ventura's bodily tissues are fortified to the point that she is able to resist impact and blunt forces to a much greater degree than ordinary humans. For example, she can withstand impact forces, such as falling from several stories or being repeatedly struck by a superhumanly strong opponent, that would severely injure or kill a normal person with little to no physical injury to herself. In this form, however, she could be injured by bullets or knives composed of conventional material.[20]
- Superhuman Reflexes: Ventura's reaction time was enhanced via the treatment to levels beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[20][2]
- Cosmic Rays Bombardment:
- Altered Physiology: The cosmic radiation literally transformed Ventura into a female version of the Thing. In this form, her tissues are transformed into a smooth, flexible, orange hide resembling stone. She possesses no visible outer ears, or hair, and has only four fingers on her hands.[citation needed]
- Superhuman Strength: The cosmic radiation that transformed Ventura into her She-Thing form dramatically increased her normal level of strength. While in this form, she possesses sufficient superhuman strength to lift about 75 tons, making her nearly as strong as the Thing at one time.[20]
- Superhuman Speed: In her She-Thing form, despite being considerably heavier, Ventura can still run and move faster than the finest human athlete. Ultimately, her speed in this form is equal to that in her original form.[citation needed]
- Superhuman Stamina: The efficiency of Ventura's musculature is dramatically increased in her She-Thing form, granting her greater physical stamina. As She-Thing, Ventura can exert herself physically at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue starts to impair her.[20]
- Superhuman Durability: As She-Thing, Ventura's rocky hide is much harder and more resistant to physical injury than in her normal form. Her ability to resist impact forces is considerably greater and she can also withstand high caliber bullets, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and even high explosives without sustaining injury. Although much more durable in this form, it is still possible for her to be injured.[20]
- Superhuman Sensory Adaptation[20]
- Superhuman Lung Capacity[20]
- Peak Human Reflexes: Even in her She-Thing form, her reflexes are still far above the human average.[20]
- Immortality: Like the Thing, it is possible that she also ages slowly when she is in the form of She-Thing.
- Augmented Intelligence: While Ventura was part of the Ben Grimm's Fantastic Four, in her She-Thing form, she has proven to be very intelligent solving lot of complicated situations with her intuition and cunning.[21] It is likely that this increased intelligence was a side effect of exposure to cosmic rays.[citation needed]
Abilities
- Extreme Sports Expert: Sharon Ventura is an accomplished gymnast, a skilled wrestler, an expert motorcycle stunt rider, mountain climber, scuba- and sky-diver, and stuntwoman. While her reflexes aren't as developed in her She-Thing form, they're still equal to that of a highly trained Olympic level gymnast.[20]
- Martial Arts: She is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and has studied various martial arts, including Tae Kwon Do, wrestling, and American boxing.[20]
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Notes
- Years later, Ms. Marvel had a guest appearance in Marvel Knights 4, a spin-off of the main Fantastic Four book. The appearance established that she was indeed alive and well in the Marvel Universe and her attire implied she was still residing with Wingfoot. Her absence was poked fun at, as she stated that she couldn't believe anybody still had her number. Sharon Ventura later appeared in her Thing form.
See Also
- 115 appearance(s) of Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
- 9 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
- 9 minor appearance(s) of Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
- 7 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
- 72 image(s) of Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
- 13 quotation(s) by or about Sharon Ventura (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Sharon Ventura on Marvel.com
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #8 (July 1986)
- The Unofficial Handbook to the Marvel Universe
References
- ↑ Fantastic Four #310
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Thing #35
- ↑ Thing #36
- ↑ Captain America #330–331
- ↑ Fantastic Four #305–307
- ↑ Fantastic Four #310–311
- ↑ Fantastic Four #350–355
- ↑ Fantastic Four #371–375
- ↑ Fantastic Four #379
- ↑ Fantastic Four Unlimited #5
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #29
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #16
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #19
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #20
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #9
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 5) #7–9
- ↑ Fantastic Four #644–645
- ↑ Captain America: Sam Wilson #15
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #2–4
- ↑ 20.00 20.01 20.02 20.03 20.04 20.05 20.06 20.07 20.08 20.09 20.10 20.11 20.12 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #12
- ↑ Fantastic Four #324
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 12