Alicia Reiss MastersAlicia Masters

Blinded in an apparent accident and raised by a stepfather who teaches her how to sculpt clay, Alicia Masters turns her skill into a career, becoming a world-renowned sculptress. Though she realizes her stepfather’s instability, the truth behind the accident, and joins the Fantastic Four against him.

 

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman

Alicia is born to Jacob and Marcia Reiss. Jacob works with his longtime friend Phillip Masters on a project to discover the building blocks of life in a town called Watershed Lake. Unbeknownst to the others, Phillip is maniacally jealous of Jacob's life. One night, Phillip attacks Jacob, forcing his friend into the vat of radioactive clay they had discovered. At that same time, Marcia and Alicia go to check on Jacob, but they are caught in the ensuing explosion, which results in Alicia's blindness and leaves Marcia injured.

Guilt-striken, Masters dedicates his life to caring for them, eventually marrying Marcia, though he keeps the truth about the blast from her, and adopts Alicia as his own daughter. Before losing her sight, Alicia had been an avid painter, but Phillip teaches her sculpting. It takes Alicia time to adjust to her new life, but she uses sculpting as a way to express herself. When Marcia dies, something snaps in Phillip and he becomes the villainous Puppet Master and attacks the Fantastic Four, which brings the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Ben Grimm, AKA the Thing, into Alicia’s life! 

 

The Hands of an Artist

Alicia Masters figures out a way to turn her loss of sight into a benefit by honing her sculpting skills. By relying on her heightened sense of touch, she can feel her subject and sculpt a piece that reflects their inner and outer essence almost perfectly. On occasion, Masters can sense the true nature of a person just by being near them. Once, she even notices when Victor von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom, and Reed Richards, AKA Mister Fantastic, switch bodies.

Though a healthy human woman, Alicia does not display any super-powers for the most part. At one point, she’s turned into a spider creature, but is quickly changed back. During her time in Sub-Atomica, a robot called Cy-phyrr 4 creates a nano-tech suit of armor that keeps Alicia alive. It not only allows her to traverse space and fly, but also gives her sight! With the suit, she can even wield energy blasts. Cy-phyrr 4 seems to take the suit away from her, but it appears later during a conflict with Galactus, and is apparently destroyed in that conflict. 

 

Surrounded By Marvels

Upon the deaths of her parents, Alicia is raised by Phillip Masters, the man who would become the Puppet Master. She appreciates him taking care of her all those years, but is repulsed by his actions. When she finds out that he killed her father Jacob, her feelings become all the more complicated toward this man, who vacillates from would-be world conqueror to concerned father, who kidnaps a scientist to perform eye transplants for Alicia.

Though odious, Phillip's scheming changes Alicia's life for the better by introducing her to the Fantastic Four. This first meeting begins an on-again, off-again relationship with Ben Grimm that results in their marriage! She becomes a close confidant of Sue Storm, AKA Invisible Woman, and even babysits her and Reed’s son, Franklin Richards. Publicly known as the Thing's girlfriend, Masters becomes a target for many villains, including Doctor Doom and Harvey Rupert Elder, AKA Mole Man, among others. 

When Galactus first comes to Earth, he is preceded by his Herald Norrin Radd, AKA Silver Surfer, who winds up in Alicia's studio. She convinces the alien of humanity's goodness, reigniting his soul in the process. He rebels against Galactus and ceases being the Herald. Later, when it seems like the FF and other heroes die fighting Onslaught, Alicia and Silver Surfer begin exploring the deep connection they feel towards one another.

Sculpting Heroes and Villains

During Phillip Masters' first major villainous campaign, Puppet Master created a tiny duplicate of the Thing out of his radioactive clay and made the hero come to their house. The Invisible Woman followed her teammate to the abode, but was noticed by Alicia who could hear her heartbeat. Her uncle knocked Sue Storm out then noticed how much she looked like Alicia. He then made a duplicate of the FF costume and crafted a wig for his step-daughter so she could take Storm's place on the team. Before leaving, she felt Grimm's face and sensed his inner gentleness and sensitivity. 

During the ensuing confrontation between the mind-controlled Thing and his teammates, he crashed into a substance Reed had been working on that briefly turned him human. Masters' charade was also quickly noticed and she helped the team go after her stepfather. She made her way back to their home where he appeared, intending to become king of the world by way of a special puppet. Alicia struggled to knock the terrible toy away. During the ensuing struggle, Phillip tumbled over her outstretched arm and went right through the window, crashing to the street below. 

This harrowing encounter revealed the truth of her stepfather, but also began a friendship between Alicia and Ben as well as the rest of the Fantastic Four. At first she was a confidant and avid supporter of the Thing's reminding him that, though he might not look it, he was a beautiful person. During this time, she also continued her own sculpting, crafting a series of pieces based on the threats the still-new team had faced. 

 

Bring on the Bad Guys

Her association with the team routinely put her in danger with some of the most fearsome individuals on the planet. She sensed when Doctor Doom had switched bodies with Reed Richards by noticing an aura of goodness in the armored man. Soon after, Masters was present when the U.S. military attacked Thing thinking he was Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk. 

Puppet Master soon revealed that he had not actually died by taking control of Namor McKenzie, AKA Namor the Submariner, and causing a ruckus. When Alicia heard of the Atlantean's rampage, she demanded to go along with the Fantastic Four to confront him. Once there, she sensed her stepfather's power and told the others. Alicia had another encounter with Namor when he ruined the cruise she and the FF went on. Not long after that, Doom kidnapped her because of Alicia's relationship with the Thing. Thanks to some quick thinking by Invisible Woman, the team saved Masters and scared the villain off.

While studying some Egyptian hieroglyphics, Reed thought he stumbled upon a cure for blindness and wanted to check it out, in an effort to grant Alicia sight.  She stayed behind in Doctor Doom's then-abandoned castle in Latveria while the FF used the missing dictator's Time Platform to go back and find it. Though the mission ultimately failed, she was thankful for the attempt.  

Alicia actively helped the Fantastic Four when Owen Reece, AKA Molecule Man, attacked. She covered them in a thin layer of plaster which helped them ambush and stop him. The Puppet Master returned again soon after and caused trouble by making Johnny Storm, AKA Human Torch, hit on Alicia with Ben right there. As the two friends fought, Alicia figured out a way for the Torch to stop the Puppet Master's control over him.

Though both Alicia and Ben struggled with doubts about their relationship, they carried on. She went to the hero-filled engagement party for Reed and Sue, met The Beatles, attended the wedding of Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic, and survived a battle between Dragon Man and the Thing in her apartment! 

 

Of Surfers and Warlocks

When Silver Surfer found Earth and called for his master Galactus to come to consume the planet, the FF leaped into action. The Herald got knocked away by the Thing and landed near Alicia's apartment. She could sense a loneliness in him and did her best to convince him of humanity's worth. Her words and her actions proved so effective to the Herald that he rebelled against his master, an action that—along with the acquisition of the Ultimate Nullifier—helped force the Devourer to seek sustenance elsewhere. 

Ben became jealous of the unique relationship that Alicia had with Norrin Radd. They patched things up, though, and carried on. Alicia had begun hearing voices from a mysterious being and she was soon kidnapped by the Enclave and taken to the Citadel of Science, where she was asked to help with Him, an artificial being of immense power who would later be named Adam Warlock. She witnessed an aspect of his birth from his cocoon, but escaped to the FF before he fully emerged.

After that adventure, she spent some time in the hospital to recuperate. Grimm's jealousy got the better of him when he found Alicia talking to the Surfer once more. They patched things up and Masters became an even more important part of the FF family by becoming Franklin Richards' babysitter. Over the course of their relationship, Ben managed to change back and forth from his rocky Thing form into his human one. Alicia preferred the rocky visage. During a fight with Hulk, Masters distracted Thing and he got clobbered by the Jade Giant, but the Thing turned out to be fine.

 

The Truth Revealed

During an ordeal that included Thing, Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker, Alicia's stepfather recounted the role he played in her father's death and then appeared to perish himself saving her, but survived only to get locked up down the line.

Alicia began to correspond with Dr. Hans Stutgart about restoring her sight, but she would need to travel to his Balkan nation. She tried to contact Ben several times, but he was busy saving the world, so she went on the journey by herself. Eventually, he caught up with her, all of which turned out to be part of a scheme cooked up by Doctor Doom to destroy the Fantastic Four. Though the plot failed and Masters was okay, Grimm felt guilty about the danger she had been put in just because they were together.

Still, they persisted. Alicia and Ben attended everything together from the wedding of Crystal Amaquelin, AKA Crystal, of the Inhumans, and Pietro Maximoff, AKA Quicksilver, to football games and the opera. However, fisticuffs were an ever-present danger. One date was ruined by Jamie Madrox, AKA Multiple Man while another came to a crashing end when Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, entered the picture! But, she carried on with her sculpting and even had a one-woman show at the Kurtzman Art Gallery. 

Additionally, Alicia volunteered to teach art therapy at the maximum security prison. Around this time, Grimm experienced an extended stint in human form and was replaced by Luke Cage, AKA Power Man, on the team. When she witnessed Cage being controlled, she thought it was her stepfather. He was locked up in that same prison seemingly without access to his radioactive clay, but she found it hidden in the walls of his cell! It was too late, though, as Power Man crashed through the same wall and grabbed both Masters' before escaping. Luckily, the Fantastic Four showed up to save Alicia and take Phillip back to jail. 

After run-ins with Dr. Michael Morbius, AKA Morbius the Living Vampire, Ebenezer Laughton, AKA Scarecrow, and others, Alicia went on an eventful vacation with Ben that featured Namor, Shang-Chi, Hydra, and Jessica Drew, AKA Spider-Woman. She was kidnapped by Hydra in the process and turned into a spider creature, but was eventually returned to normal. 

 

Taken

Alicia attempted to console Ben after the break-up of the Fantastic Four. She was kidnapped by Doom once more and tasked with finishing a statue of the dictator. Only needing the facade of the piece finished, Victor allowed the artist to feel his face, so she could capture how he looked before his accident. When she did, Masters sensed a sensitivity and deep pain in him, a revelation that Doom did not take kindly to. After she finished, Doom had the piece delivered to the United Nations where it was used to turn the delegates to his side, going so far as to attack the recently reunited FF, but they prevailed.  

Masters found herself taken once more, this time by Mole Man who wanted her to be the queen of Subterranea. He had snatched other blind individuals and outcasts from New York City, who actually enjoyed living in the place he'd built for them underground. He also had his Moloids copy statues they had stolen—including some of Alicia's—so the new underground citizens could touch them all they wanted and enjoy their beauty. Though some decided to remain, Alicia returned to the surface world, but did leave the Mole Man a statue that she created of him.

Alicia's relationship with Ben led to more wild meet-ups with the likes of Mar-Vell, AKA Captain Marvel, Impossible Man, Bill Foster, AKA Goliath, Ringmaster, and the Living Mummy, but things went totally cosmic when Her landed on Earth and wanted Alicia to help her find Adam Warlock. Along with Heather Douglas, AKA Moondragon, the trio took off for Counter-Earth to visit Warlock's grave. Thinking his girlfriend had been kidnapped, Thing asked Stakar Ogord, AKA Starhawk, for help tracking her down and a brawl ensued until Masters calmed everyone down. Though they did all witness the brief resurrection of Adam Warlock, Her returned him to his grave soon after before flying off.

 

A Rocky Relationship 

Even though they'd been together for so long, Grimm always seemed concerned that Alicia was dissatisfied with their relationship, no matter how often she reassured him. Of course, she had other things on her mind as well, from her sculptures—including an Adamantium Hulk she crafted with a Vibranium knife to honor the Jade Giant—to taking care of Franklin. Her stepfather made the mistake of working with Doctor Doom to create a toy-sized town populated with synthe-clone figures that had the consciousnesses of the FF and Alicia pumped into them. This process created a world where Alicia could see and was married to a human Ben Grimm. They loved their lives and were both emotionally wrecked after finding out it was all a ruse.

When the Fantastic Four went to the Negative Zone, Alicia stayed back to watch Franklin in the Baxter Building. However, Annihilus had made his way there, trapped the FF in his realm and captured first Masters and then the boy. The team made it back in time to send the villain back home, but the artist had been injured and went to the hospital. This encounter left Alicia understandably nervous, especially when trouble came. 

All of this made Ben wonder about his place in the world, whether he wanted to stay with the Fantastic Four and if he wanted to take the next step with Alicia, all while she recuperated. When Ben's body was taken over by the enraged soul of one of the slaves in Egypt, Alicia managed to make the spirit see reason and leave Grimm's body. After that, Ben had a heart-to-heart with her, telling her that he felt like they could never have a real marriage, even though he still loved her deeply. Their talk was interrupted by Mister Fantastic who took Thing and Human Torch to investigate a strange structure in Central Park that took the heroes to The Beyonder's Battleworld. 

 

Out of the Picture

Out in space, captain of the Skrull army, Paibok, had suggested that Lyja the Lazerfist, AKA Lyja, take over Alicia Masters' life to infiltrate and destroy the Fantastic Four. After she trained, they waited on the Moon for the right moment. When Reed, Ben and Johnny got taken away to Battleworld, the Skrulls took the opportunity to grab the real Masters and replace her. Lyja seamlessly took over Alicia's life and had established herself by the time the heroes returned, but with Jennifer Walters, AKA She-Hulk, in place of Thing who decided to stay behind! With that, Lyja began a relationship with Human Torch that led to real feelings and even a marriage that lasted until the team discovered her true identity. 

Grimm was relieved to find out that his love might still be out there. He even told her step-dad about everything that happened and promised to get Alicia back. Lyja led them to Paibok's ship and even sacrificed herself during the battle, which allowed Reed to find and save Alicia, who had been placed in suspended animation the whole time. Upon regaining consciousness in their fleeing craft, she immediately hugged Ben, which was hard on Johnny.

Their escape proved less than smooth as the Mad Thinker's evil plot kicked in, stranding them in space. After a run-in with Devos, the group managed to steal a ship and crash-land on a small island. Reed and Sue took Alicia back to Four Freedoms Plaza. Readjusting was difficult, of course! Feeling like her life had been violated, Alicia wanted a fresh start. 

 

A Period of Readjustment

While shopping one day, Alicia met Sharon Ventura, the woman Ben had been dating at that point. Shortly after, she reunited with Phillip Masters, who was secretly still trying to get his revenge on the Fantastic Four. However, during the Infinity Wars, she was taken once more! When the FF found out, Mister Fantastic worked on a machine to find the missing sculptor. They discovered that Aron the Rogue Watcher took her! With some help from Sharon Ventura, they found Alicia hooked up to a machine that was forming a unique universe for Aron to watch over. Alicia helped free Ben, Reed, and Sharon from the place while a Puppet Master-controlled Molecule Man attempted to stop the Watcher. The heroes got Alicia out of there, but Doctor Doom also took the opportunity to steal Aron's power.

Later, Ben introduced Alicia to Lyja and she became sad all over again. Thinking he could fix her problems, Puppet Master put her back into the machine that allowed her to inhabit the body of the tiny synthe-clones. He also managed to kidnap Thing, who decided that Alicia should be woken up, but walked away before she regained consciousness in hopes that she would move on from him.

 

Crafting Memorial Statues

When Onslaught attacked Alicia and Phillip Masters showed up at FF HQ. Their reunion was brief though, as the Fantastic Four and other heroes appeared to perish while fighting the villain. Though presumed dead, they had been secretly transported to a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards. Alicia threw herself into her work. She created a number of statues based on the dead heroes, but was also hired by New York City to craft a memorial piece for Central Park. She was surprised in her studio one day by the Silver Surfer, who had returned to Earth to understand why he no longer had access to the emotions she helped him remember during their first meeting. She recounted their shared past and was rewarded by a shocking few moments of sight.

Though the Surfer left her shortly after, he returned, which excited Alicia because she had felt a deep connection with him. She attempted to help Norrin find his humanity, but it was a struggle for both of them. During this time, Norrin explained that he could not restore her sight again for fear that it would destroy her eyes, so he took her to the Quantum Field to experience something wholly unique. 

 

Fantastic Voyages

Shortly after, Alicia took Norrin to her stepfather because the Surfer wanted him to use his special clay to make a full-size copy of the Spaceway Sentinel in hopes that it would not have the mental and emotional blocks in his head. She did not like the idea at all, knowing that the clay was like a kind of drug to Phillip, one that he became more obsessed with the more he used it. Norrin got the answers he wanted, but the copy stole his power and went on a worldwide rampage. Alicia asked Phillip to try and deduce a way to stop it from causing any more damage. They got close enough to the conflict that, when Radd took his power back, Alicia was caught in the ensuing chronal explosion. 

With his power returned, the Silver Surfer saved Masters and they wound up in 1947 where she realized she could see! Unable to travel back to the present, the pair did their best to fit in. When he realized that he had his emotions once more, the Surfer left Alicia and flew off to investigate Zenn-La. While wandering around the Big Apple, she ran into two unexpectedly familiar faces: her father Jacob and Phillip Masters! Alicia went back to their apartment for a meal, but tried convincing her father to get away from his future murderer: Phillip! 

She ran out of the apartment after that, but Phillip followed wanting to know what happened between him and Jacob in the future. Alicia warned him and he promised to be more careful. After he left, though, Masters lost her sight, the Surfer returned and took them back to their own time. Though he wanted to fly off and process his thoughts, Alicia asked him to stay and he did. 

Later, Spider-Man swung by to inform them that Puppet Master had been snatched. Masters' old colleague Alexei Ganger and his followers thought of the former Herald as a Galactic Messiah. After Norrin rebuked their worship, Ganger's minions attacked. This enraged the Surfer who began blasting everywhere. One energy burst went to destroy the Puppet Masters' full-size Silver Surfer recreation. The creator jumped in front of the blast, almost killing him in the process. The Surfer managed to save Phillip's life, but he was not met with open arms by Alicia. Instead, she fully processed the feelings of hatred she felt for him as the murderer of her father and decided to leave him behind. 

Though Alicia admittedly had feelings for Norrin, she could not stop thinking and dreaming about Ben. Still, she felt an intense connection to the alien. So, when Norrin crashed into her apartment once more suffering from a cosmic virus. Though she initially asked for assistance from Agatha Harkness, she eventually agreed to allow the mysterious Scrier to help. While Mephisto attempted to take the Surfer's soul, Alicia, Scrier, and Harkness attempted a seance to bring the Herald back. To save himself, Radd entered Alicia's body, an act that eventually allowed him to return to his own form. 

Though the Surfer returned to his usual form, Alicia felt incredibly conflicted after Agatha informed her that Ben Grimm and the other heroes had returned to this plane! When the Surfer seemed to fall ill, Alicia called for help and Ben happened to answer. The root of the problem turned out to be Terminus, but the real conflict came from Alicia's struggle to figure out which man she wanted to be with. 

This whole time, Ganger and Puppet Master continued working on their own Cosmic Messiah. When they had finished, Ganger sent his minions to bring Alicia there. The Surfer and Thing noticed this after they attempted to meet up and talk about how to move forward. In the middle of a battle between the super-powered beings, Alicia managed to convince the Cosmic Messiah to stop his aggression and explore the cosmos himself. After the conflict, Ben and Alicia had a heart to heart where he explained that he did not know how he felt and needed time. With that, she felt less guilty about being with Norrin.

Alicia and Norrin began to explore their relationship with more open love and adventure. A run-in with a possessed Isaac Christians, AKA Gargoyle, led them to a new villain called The Coroner. He and another being called Tenebrae captured the pair and hooked them up  to a machine called The Weaver that helped them explore their psyches. Tenebrae teleported Alicia away to Sub-Atomica along with a robotic protector by the name of Cy-Phyrr 4 and they became stranded on a nameless planet where Masters and Cy-Phyrr fought for their very survival. 

After Alicia saved Cy-Phyrr, the being created a nano-tech power suit for her that allowed for flight and Quantum Sight! Cy-Phyrr left her behind, but Masters figured out how to use her newfound power to make her way back to her usual universe. When Silver Surfer finally reunited with Alicia, the conflict with Tenebrae came to an end and Cy-Phyrr seemed to remove her armor from her. With that, Alicia and Norrin returned to Earth. 

 

Armor War

Back on Earth, the Surfer and Alicia went to Africa to find out why Pyreus-kril, AKA Firelord, was causing a ruckus. A bit later, she put on a huge sculpture show called Heroes For The Millennium that was attended by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. The Mole Man also decided to attack which drew the Silver Surfer and the Thing's attention. During the fracas, Alicia would have been crushed by debris, but her Sub-Atomica armor returned! She and the heroes flew off to confront Mole Man, but then witnessed the Surfer stopping a meteor.

After the immediate threat was finished, Alicia realized that she was essentially trapped in her armor, unable to feel anything with it still on. While she and the Surfer chatted in space, they were interrupted by Red Shift, Galactus' then-new Herald. He injured Alicia, which might have killed her had the Surfer not responded quickly. He sent her back to Earth where she and the other heroes were soon joined by the Surfer in their latest battle with an addled Galactus. Masters lost her armor once more when Earth became safe again because Norrin agreed to play Herald to his old master once more.

The armor came back once more, though, and Mister Fantastic told Alicia that she could create warps to help Radd. Though Ben wanted her to stay back on Earth, Alicia took off and witnessed not just Galactus' destruction of a planet, but also the Surfer with his ex, Mantis. Back on Earth, Alicia relayed what she saw and later joined with the FF and Avengers in their journey to the Shi'ar homeworld to stop Galactus from feeding on it. During the battle, Alicia jumped in to save Mantis who was in turn saving two children, but the cosmic energy she held off damaged her suit. Thing managed to grab her away from certain death. After Galactus was dealt with, Silver Surfer healed the injured Alicia, but said he could not restore her armor. Alicia tried to get Norrin to return to Earth with the others, but he refused, feeling the need to seek penance for his recent sins. 

 

Figuring It Out

Alicia decided to get out of the city for a while and moved to a small town called Sunshine City that her stepfather was protected in. The Puppet Master used his powers to draw Thing and the FF there. Once uncontrolled, Ben and Alicia both agreed that they no longer loved each other, but did want to remain friends. 

She eventually moved back to the city where she reconnected with another member of the Fantastic Four: Sue Storm. Later, when Ben was briefly thought dead, Alicia was distraught, but he came back from the dead and they had a generally pleasant reunion. 

Alicia began teaching art at the Pembrooke Academy. When the FF lost all their money, she helped Sue get a job there as an English teacher. Around this time, she also began working on a piece that Susan instantly recognized as Psycho Man. This piece turned out to be a sign of the villain's plans, which the team soon shut down, saving the city once more. 

Phillip Masters returned to Alicia's life once more by taking her to his compound on Governor's Island and forcing a doctor to give her eye transplants to restore her sight. However, Puppet Master realized he needed special eyes, so he made Invisible Woman fly to him so he could take hers! No fool, Alicia suspected her stepfather of something nefarious and began snooping around. She found and freed her friend, but Philip came after them with an axe. After locking themselves in his studio, Alicia made a replica of her stepfather with his special clay and used it to ruin his hands, allowing them to escape. The latest set of eyes she had soon stopped working like the others. 

After teaching Galactus about art during his brief time as a human and experiencing Esteban de Ablo, AKA Diablo, through a shared dream, Alicia began dating a man named Arlo North. He came along when Alicia was called in by the cops after Ben Grimm was taken by Arcade during a fancy party. While he fought his way through murder traps, Alicia began her own investigation into whoever used a bad forgery of her work to trick Thing in the first place. She was backed by Matt Murdock as her lawyer and the information they found helped save Ben and the others. Later, Daredevil paid Alicia a visit to ask if she was still in love with Ben. She said no, but he knew she was lying! 

Meanwhile, Ben had been thinking about Alicia a lot and asked to take her out for her birthday, which she agreed to. He also began working with Arlo on a Youth Center without knowing he was seeing Masters. Eventually Grimm learned the truth and handled it well. Still, with some help from Lockjaw, he took her to ancient Greece to witness the sculpting of her favorite statue: Venus De Milo. During a fight with Heracles, AKA Hercules—who was being sculpted himself—the arms were broken off of the famous statue. She enjoyed feeling the statue, but reiterated that she did not want a relationship with Ben. However, when Arlo went off to help rebuild the temples of Shemballa he encouraged Alicia to explore things with Ben more! This allowed them to get back together before Ben's Bar Mitzvah and the big Super Hero poker game that took place afterwards. 

 

Back and Better Than Ever

After the Skrull Secret Invasion, Alicia volunteered to help those who had been replaced by the shape-shifting aliens reintegrate at Camp Hammond along with Leonard Samson, AKA Doc Samson. Around that time, Ben experienced another one of his own transformations, becoming human again. Alicia and Ben spent a night together that preceded Johnny Storm's apparent death in the Negative Zone, which was a very hard loss for Grimm. When they did meet back up, though, Alicia told him she loved him and would always be there for him. 

Masters proved that not long after when Thing was turned into Angrir by The Serpent and went on a rampage. Alicia appealed to his humanity. He recognized her, but the pull was too strong and he attacked, almost killing her. The Invisible Woman was nearby and performed mouth to mouth, which saved Masters' life. He was soon changed back to his normal self and they moved on. 

During the Spider-Island outbreak, Mister Fantastic was able to use Alicia's blood to help find a cure because she had been turned into a spider-creature several years prior. Later, Spider-Woman saved her from Gypsy Moth. Shortly after, another old menace came back into her life when Puppet Master was used by the Quiet Man to frame Ben for murder, but it was a copy.   

 

The Big Day

Alicia and Ben remained together during the time when Reed, Sue and the kids were rebuilding the multiverse after Secret Wars, though their friends were thought dead. As such, the Baxter Building ended up in an auction war between Roxxon, Alchemax, Hammer, and Parker Industries, with the latter winning. Parker Industries’ Dr. Peter Parker, commissioned Alicia to sculpt a statue of the Fantastic Four, including Franklin and Valeria, in their honor. The statue was placed front and center as a nod that the building would always be home to the Fantastic Four. Alicia became concerned when Thing, Human Torch and Dr. Rachna Koul intended to explore alternate universes. When he came back, he wanted to give up hope for his teammates' return, but Alicia never would. Feeling good, Ben proposed to Alicia and she accepted! Shortly after telling Johnny, the two members of the FF disappeared, transported to the rest of the team's location! Backed by their friends, the Fantastic Four won and returned to Earth where the Richards' moved in with Ben and Alicia in the building Grimm owned on Yancy Street. 

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Alicia and Ben decided to get married as soon as possible. With that, her friend Rikki got working on the bachelorette party. Two of her friends from the art collective she joined, Argo and Delia, attended as well as Sue Storm, She-Hulk, Crystal, and Inhuman Queen Medusalith Amaquelin Boltagon, AKA Medusa. The shindig was interrupted by Kala, AKA Mole Woman, but Mole Man showed up to stop things. He also gave Alicia a gift: a bag of diamonds!

When Ben went to ask Philip Masters for his blessing, he said yes, much to Grimm's surprise. However, it seemed as though Alicia had taken control of her stepfather with some of his own special clay and made him do it! Also, given their unique situations and histories, Reed took special blood tests of both Alicia and Ben to make sure they were truly themselves. 

Alicia asked Ben's uncle Jake to walk her down the aisle. During the event itself, Doctor Doom attempted to interrupt the services by informing them that Galactus had landed in Latveria. However, Reed had planned for such a distraction and created a device that would give them four minutes of displaced time to finish the ceremony!

 

Building a Fantastic Family

After the ceremony, the team ran off to Latveria while Alicia, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Jacob, the Richards kids and Wyatt Wingfoot went back to the Grimm household in Benson, Arizona. There, Alicia got a bit of a taste of what it would be like to raise two super-powered and strong-willed kids and all the difficulties that come with it.

When the couple finally got to celebrate their honeymoon, it coincided with the recurring time in which Ben transformed into his human form. He took Alicia to a remote tropical island. While there, the Puppet Master sent the Hulk after Thing and Alicia was caught in a rockslide with several others. She helped lead the others out of the pocket they were in. She showed Ben she was still alive and then he laid one more punch on Hulk before turning into human Ben Grimm. The shockwave went back and destroyed the Puppet Master's puppet. Unfortunately, Ben spent his entire human time in a coma, waking back up in his rocky form!

At this time, Alicia split her time between sculpting at her Soho studio, teaching at the Grimm Youth Center, and hanging out with her extended family at the Yancy Street place which grew to include Johnny's soulmate Sky. Two more members joined them when Franklin and Valeria brought the Kree boy Jo-Venn and the Skrull girl N'Kalla to Earth during the war with the Cotati. Alicia helped take care of them and the kids began trusting her, even with their lifetime of warrior training. 

After the Earth was saved and the war ended, Alicia attended the wedding of Teddy Altman, AKA Hulkling, and Billy Kaplan, AKA Wiccan, after the confrontation. The kids really took to Alicia and to avoid further intergalactic conflict, she and Ben agreed to adopt N'Kalla and Jo-Venn as their children. Now, after a lifetime of creating beauty from nothing, Alicia's doing her best  to build the best possible life for herself as well as her husband and children.