Alicia Masters

Origin

Alicia Masters is the step-daughter of the Puppet Master. After her father Jacob Reiss died in an accident, Phillip Masters married her mother and took her in, especially after exhibiting her gifts as an artist. During the horrific accident that took her father's life, Alicia was also struck with blindness, but despite it, she still retained her artistic gifts and became quite a sculptress. Phillip helped her to perfect this art. Her mother, Marcia, eventually died from inhaling the toxic chemicals that killed her father.

Her first encounter with the Fantastic Four came when she aided the Puppet Master in a plan of attack against the team. She had no personal grudge against them, instead acting out of love and obedience for her father. She impersonated the Invisible Woman as part of Phillip's plan to remove the Fantastic Four from the equation, but soon learned what he was doing and turned against him.

The Fantastic Four

When she came in contact with the Thing for the first time, after touching his face, she managed to see into the soul of this person with the monstrous appearance and realized that he had a deep and caring heart. This encounter would begin the on-again, off-again relationship that would define Ben and Alicia's relationship. At the time of this encounter, she began to see her father's true colors. She finally sees Phillip for what he is and helps the Fantastic Four in defeating him. She eventually learns that Phillip was her father's murderer.

The encounter with the team would give rise to their long-standing friendship and relationship with Alicia. Alicia becomes an integral character in the Fantastic Four lore because she's one of the main characters of the supporting cast. She becomes godmother to Franklin, and both she and Sue share a very close friendship. She is also considered part of the family that is the Fantastic Four.

When the Silver Surfer first arrived on Earth as a herald of Galactus, it was Alicia Masters's pleading that first made the Surfer understand the value of life; leading him to betray his master.

During later stories, a romance between Alicia and Human Torch slowly comes to rise after the events of the Secret War that saw Ben staying in an alien world because he could transform into his human self there. Alicia and Johnny fall in love and eventually get married. But later it's discovered that Johnny had never married Alicia. He'd married a Skrull by the name of Lyja who had used Alicia's form to infiltrate and destroy the Fantastic Four. The real Alicia had been kidnapped by the Skrulls and kept in a safe place so she wouldn't hinder their plan. She was eventually rescued by the team and the Torch and Lyja's marriage went, understandably, through turmoil due to the trickery.

She and the Thing eventually become a couple. When the Thing sacrifices himself to defeat the threat known as Onslaught, she is left alone with no love and no friends. She spends her time sculpting the heroes who she knew so well and has lost.

Return of the Silver Surfer

It is at this time that she is met by the Silver Surfer. He is emotionless and hopes to rekindle the emotion he once had. He believes she can do this, for she has done it once before.

Alicia and the Silver Surfer soon realize that they have a bond, and have always had this bond. Together they attempt to regain the Surfer's emotions. She took him to Phillip (now reformed with her assistance) at his request. The Surfer gets him to create the Clay Surfer and he gives it life. It goes rogue but before it dies it uses it's power to send the Surfer back in time in order to find the answers he is seeking. Somehow, Alicia is sent with him.

They arrive in New York City, 1947. To her surprise, Alicia has regained her vision. The Surfer has his emotions back as well and he leaves her in the city to return to his home world Zenn-La. Overjoyed by regaining her sight she decides to go to a movie. It is here that she runs into her young father, Jacob Reiss. With him is her young stepfather. She joins them back at Reiss' apartment. The more she sees them the more she thinks about future events. She tries to warn her father that Phillip will kill him one day, but he believes she is crazy.

She runs to a park and cries uncontrollably before she is met by Phillip, who is interested in hearing of these future events. He feels a darkness inside of him and wants her advice. She tells him that he must never hurt Jacob or his family. He agrees that he will and as he leaves, so does Alicia's vision. After this experience, she is no longer able to forgive her step father for his actions.

The Surfer returns and they return to their own time. He takes her back to her apartment and attempts to leave, but she makes him stay. Both have lost much and they stay together. They next become involved in a plot by Alexei Ganger to create a Cosmic Messiah. She is able to stop the Cosmic Messiah by reasoning with him, and essentially saves the world.

Thing Reborn

Alicia learns from Agatha Harkness that her true love, the Thing, has returned back to life. This gives Alicia mixed emotions and she is torn between her love for the Thing and the Surfer. Thing has a talk with her and tells her that since he has come back, he does not feel like the same person he once was. He still loves Alicia, but he needs some time to figure things out. He gives her his blessing to remain with the Surfer, who she stops from leaving Earth. 
 

Microverse and The Mergence

Alicia was in love with the Silver Surfer, and she made him happier than he has been since he was transformed by Galactus. She usually insisted on going on missions with the Surfer and more often than not, he would not refuse her. On one day they were met by the evil Coroner, who sent the Surfer and Alicia though some type of portal. She and the Surfer were hooked to a dream machine called the Weaver by Tenebrae.
 
In the dream world, Alicia was fused with Shalla Bal to make the perfect woman for the Surfer. But he eventually saw through this trickery and he was sent to the Macroverse. Alicia, on the other hand, was sent to the Microverse. It was here that she was assigned the robot Cy-Phyrr 4, programmed to protect her for Tenebrae's evil needs.
 

Alicia in Cy-Phyrr 4 armor

She sensed something moral and human in the emotionless robot, much like she had in the Silver Surfer. She was able to help protect Cy-Phyrr from invading aliens that seemed to feed on technology. When Cy-Phyrr sensed his master in trouble, he created a suit of armor for Alicia. This enabled her to fly and 'see' energy. He left her behind in the Microverse, but with the suit she was able to escape. The suit seemed to be a part of her and followed her every command. 
 
She was forced to fight Cy-Phyrr 4 but she believed there was good in him. This time, she was incorrect. When Tenebrae and her master, the Mergence, were defeated, she offered the robot to stay. It refused and took the suit with him when he left.

Career

Alicia is a noted and famous Sculptress. She has a special gift of looking into the inner soul of people and creates incredible life-like statues to celebrate them. She is most well known for making sculptures of her close friends, the Fantastic Four.
 
 

Animated

Fantastic Four: World's Greatest  Heroes-Alicia Masters is featured in the FF: WGH cartoon. She is portrayed as an African American voiced by Sunita Prasad. Alicia is, like in the comic, a love interest for The Thing and blind. She becomes a very good friend to the F.F. and to Susan Storm. Both understanding what it is like to deal with complicated men. Later in the first season Alicia's step-father The Puppet Master, attacks the F.F. for distroying the place he collects his molding clay, when a space ship crashes. The parts that were on the ship had something on it that when mixed with the clay can made the clay into 'voodoo' doll when molded. Alicia ultimately sides with her friends and stop her step-father from doing any farther harm to her friends. 

Live Action

Fantastic Four (2005) -In the the first film Alicia is still portrayed as an African American being played my Carrie Washington. She is again a love interest after Ben's girlfriend leaves because she couldn't cope with his new apperance. In a deleted scene and in the extended version Ben visits Alicia's studio. In the studio he notes the puppets hanging on the walls, to which Alicia tells him they belong to her father. A possible shadowing to her father becoming The Puppet Master. At the end of the film it seems that Ben and Alicia have started dated. Alicia refers to Ben as "Her Man" at one point.