Sharon Ventura

Origin

Brought up by her strict father, Sharon Ventura constantly sought ways to gain his approval, including joining military school, but she constantly failed to live up to his super high standards. Even after he died she continued to pursue dangerous activities to somehow prove herself to him beyond the grave. One of these was stunt bike riding with the Thunderiders. During that time, Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four had met and fallen in love with a woman ( Tarianna) exactly like Sharon on Battleworld during the Secret Wars, and returned to Earth looking for Sharon. Not realizing this, Sharon voted for Ben to replace her on the Thunderiders team and she left.

Ben moved on to join the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation and Sharon secretly attended his matches. Eventually the two grew close, although Sharon only wanted a friendship while Ben wanted more. When a group of female wrestlers called the Grapplers thought Ben guilty for the murder one of their members Sharon tried to help him, which brought her to the attention of Auntie Freeze who was their manager. Auntie introduced Sharon to the Power Broker. Sharon signed up for the Power Broker's program in order to join the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation (UCWF). The Power Broker employed Dr. Karl Malus to create super-powered wrestlers for his competitions, but Sharon was unaware of the criminal activities of Jackson or Malus. While boosting their subjects' strength, the pair addicted the subjects to a drug, ensuring their obedience. Sharon was given a costume by Auntie Freeze and was given the code name Ms Marvel.

Homage to a Hero

During her treatment to enhance her strength, Sharon changed her mind. She was unwilling to become addicted to the drug that would be injected into her. She was able to break free and after Thing's timely arrival, flee.

Learning of how many people were now addicted to the drug Power Broker used, Sharon decided to take the battle to him. She was sold out by her (then) boyfriend and taken hostage by the Power Broker and Karl Malus. They attempted to remove her powers from her. Alongside that, various henchman not only tortured her but raped her as well. Luckily, she had some help from Captain America to bring it all down.

Creation

Sharon Ventura first appeared in The Thing #27 in September 1985 and was created by Mike Carlin and Ron Wilson.

Major Story Arcs

Monstress Changes!

Chancing upon a battle between the Fantastic Four and Diablo, Sharon was able to defeat the villain. Due to her recent experiences, she had a new hatred for men and almost killed Diablo. Thing stopped her in time and offered her membership on his team. She accepted. Shortly after, on a mission in space, she was bombarded with the same type of cosmic rays that the Fantastic Four encountered years ago. She mutated into the same shape as Thing. She had an extremely hard time with this at first and even tried to commit suicide by acting reckless in battle.

Months later, she was offered a cure by Doctor Doom which she refused. She was growing more comfortable with her appearance and place with the Fantastic Four. For many months she thrived with the team and adventured all over the Universe and the Microverse. She and Ben Grimm became quite close during this time and she even became the only 'Thing' on the team when Ben was cured. Eventually, this bothered her and she sought out a cure for herself from Doctor Doom. She was cured, but Ben was turned back into the Thing. She stayed by his side and only quit the team when Alicia Masters returned to Ben's life.

Doctor Doom returned to her life and convinced her to spy on the Fantastic Four as payment for her cure. She did so willingly. Turning on him once on the inside, Doom swore revenge. Ben had a hard time forgiving her and she left. Later, Ben went out in search of her due to his feelings for her. He discovered her in an alley, mutated once more. She had lost the will to live and tried to kill herself several more times to no avail. Mr. Fantastic did all he could to try and cure her. But when Reed was thought dead, she left once more.

Frightful Four

Taming the beast inside

Alone and confused, Sharon was targeted by the Wizard for recruitment into the Frightful Four. As the mutated She-Thing, Sharon and her evil friends had the FF on the ropes. Wizard had the Torch beaten so much he could not use his flame. The Red Ghost and his Super Apes had the Thing severly weakened. Klaw had Ant-Man helpless. She-Thing had Susan Storm so totally exhausted that her force field was done. Unfortunately for Sharon and her pals, Wizard grabbed the Torch in an attempt to choke him to death. This opened up a pocket of non-causality which suddenly gave all of the FF extra stength and allowed them to overcome their foes. If Wizard had not grabbed the Torch, Sharon Ventura, aka the She-Thing, really would have finished off Sue Storm!

She battled the Fantastic Four twice before Wyatt Wingfoot talked sense into her. She quit both groups and joined Wyatt on his reservation hoping to rediscover who she was. She later rejoined her friends for Invisible Woman's "girl's night out" and Thing's bar mitzvah (celebrating thirteen years as the Thing).

She recently encountered Iron Man and SHIELD as they tried to arrest her and a group of heroes refusing to register. It is unknown if she was arrested or escaped. It is also interesting to note that she was back in her human form.

She later seemingly reappeared back in her She-Thing form during the Secret Invasion. She was however, quickly revealed to be a Skrull impostor and dispatched by the Skrull Kill Krew. The real Sharon was recovered from a downed Skrull ship after the final battle with the Skrull invaders. Being held captive for as long as she had has left some psychological trauma in her and she attends a support group with others who had been kidnapped and replaced by Skrulls.

Alternate Versions

• MC2 (Earth-982)

In this reality, Sharon was later made completely human again, she and Ben were married, and have twin children, Alyce and Jacob, although they later divorced. Dr. Doom, imprisoned for years by the Sub-Mariner, finally breaks free, and imbues countless robotic duplicates with the Power Cosmic. Just one robot manages to decimate the Five and destroy Ben's robotic implants. Although the team manages to stop the robot by trapping it in a stasis beam, the real Doom appears and banishes the younger members to a spaceship orbiting earth, and trapping the others within Mr. Fantastic's own rubbery body. Franklin has the others remove the inner shielding of the ship, and exposes himself to a massive amount of cosmic rays, which increases his powers dramatically. He manages to destroy the Doombot guarding them, but is greatly pained by using his increased powers. Doom, seeking to humble Reed once and for all, has the other freed from his body, and has Reed and himself plugged into an Infinity Device for a mental duel, the loser of which will have his mind sent to the Crossroads of Infinity. Reed's teammates use the opportunity to escape, and with Kristoff's help, shut down the cosmically powered Doombots. Reed and Doom are shown to be evenly matched in their duel, and both minds are sent to the crossroads as a result, leaving their bodies blank and motionless. Sue and Kristoff decide to remain in Latveria and look after Reed, while Alyce goes home with her mother. Ben's son Jacob takes Reed's place in the