Alicia Masters - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Alicia is introduced in The Fantastic Four #8, along with her stepfather, the supervillain known as the Puppet Master. She initially aids him out of obedience in his first scheme against the Fantastic Four, though she immediately senses the "gentle" and "sensitive" spirit of the Thing when she first feels his palpably monstrous face. Alicia turns on her stepfather when she realizes that he is mad and power-hungry, and accidentally causes him to fall to his apparent death out of a window. A subsequently published story explains that the Puppet Master had been responsible for her permanent blindness, which was caused by an explosion of radioactive clay during his fight with a rival.

Alicia Masters was a recurring character in early issues of Fantastic Four as the love interest of the Thing, serving as a plot device to cause him to resist changing back to a normal human form, for fear that Alicia would not love him as "plain Ben Grimm." The physically vulnerable Masters was also frequently used as a damsel in distress.

The character plays an integral role in one of the most acclaimed comic book stories of the Silver Age, "The Coming of Galactus," in Fantastic Four #48-50 (Mar - May, 1966). In that story arc, the Silver Surfer first comes to Earth as a herald to the powerful, world-destroying being Galactus, and crashes into Alicia's apartment after fighting the Fantastic Four. Her passionate pleading with him about the value of life convinces him to reject his master and defend the Earth from destruction.

After the Thing chooses to remain on an alien planet where he could change back to human form, Alicia falls in love with the dashing Human Torch, another member of the Fantastic Four. The Thing returns to unhappily attend their wedding.

However, a retroactive rewrite of the story published years later depicts the "Alicia Masters" that the Torch married was actually Lyja, a female member of the shapeshifting alien race the Skrulls, who had abducted and replaced Masters to serve as a spy. After the ruse is discovered, the real Alicia Masters is rescued from suspended animation by the Fantastic Four, unaware that any time had passed.

She subsequently becomes romantically involved with the Silver Surfer and eventually leaves Earth with him, traveling through outer space at his side in an armored suit that allows her to see energy signatures and take a more active role than she was previously capable of. Alicia later returns to Ben, but their reunion was short-lived due to the manipulations of the Puppet Master, and, with both having felt they'd moved on, they resolve to stay friends.

Alicia is frequently trusted as a babysitter for Franklin Richards, the son of Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic. During the year long period in which the FF were missing ("Heroes Reborn") Alicia is seen as his primary caretaker ("Thunderbolts" #2).

In the pages of Defenders the Silver Surfer briefly re-unites with Alicia, wishing she would accompany him once more.

After their breakup, Ben's newfound discovery of his vast fortune leads him to mingle with the rich, including a brief relationship with a starlet named Carlotta. At the end of his most recent solo series, Ben and Alicia are shown to be back together once again.

Alicia designed the memorial to Captain America.

Following the events of the Secret Invasion, Alicia is made part of a support group for people replaced by the Skrulls, as she has firsthand knowledge of what it is like being replaced and then returned after a long period of time.