The Fantastic Four: How are we stronger together?

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps now in cinemas, Hannah Willis reminds us that we are a family with Spirit-filled power.

The much-anticipated The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces a new incarnation of Marvel’s super-powered family: Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm, aka Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm, aka Human Torch, and Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. The film delivers epic battles and a high-stakes attack against the planet-devouring Galactus. But what stayed with me wasn’t the action or the one-liners; what stayed with me was Sue Storm.

Sue, who has the power to become invisible, is a wife, a mother figure and a protector. She shields, defends and holds the family together. She is often unseen, but never unimportant. In the chaos of cosmic threats, Sue’s invisible force field protects the team again and again.

That’s the kind of power and strength I recognise, because that’s what it feels like to be a parent or guardian. We don’t always wear capes. We don’t stretch our bodies like Mister Fantastic, or throw fireballs like Human Torch – although we might want to some days! – but we carry invisible burdens, create unspoken boundaries and defend when our families are under attack.

Like Sue, we often work in the background – quietly and powerfully. No one sees the mental load we carry, the prayers we whisper at 2am, the spiritual walls we build around our children. But they are very real.

Sometimes, being a mum feels like holding up an invisible shield 24/7 trying to protect my family from emotional harm, spiritual attack and fear. But this isn’t done through my human strength alone. The power I carry doesn’t come from me: it comes from the Holy Spirit, alive and active inside me. I’ve felt it in the moments I should have broken but didn’t. I’ve seen it in answered prayer and words of prophecy spoken over my children. I’ve felt it in moments when someone else came along to help me carry the load.

Jesus didn’t promise us that we would merely be OK in the days ahead or that we would just scrape by. He told his disciples they would do even greater things: ‘Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these’ (John 14:12).

Here’s the evidence. In Luke 8:43 and 44, a woman touched Jesus’ robe and was healed. In Acts 19:11 and 12, Paul didn’t even have to show up – his robes were enough to do the job. In Acts 5:15, Peter’s shadow alone carried the power of healing – no clothing required!

If the disciples oozed God’s power, why wouldn’t I? Why wouldn’t a Spirit-filled, faith-fuelled mum carry the same anointing? Why wouldn’t each of us?

‘I’m not giving up,’ says Sue Storm in a climactic speech. ‘We’ll face this together … as a family.’

That’s one of the beautiful things about being part of The Salvation Army. It’s more than an organisation: it’s family. You can meet someone for five minutes and discover you’re connected by faith, mission or story.

Like any family, we are held together by those willing to sacrifice, to fight, to pray through the night, to stand in the gap when the storms come. We are a fantastic family filled with mothers, fathers, carers, aunts, uncles, warriors, dreamers, prophets, pastors and protectors. Not just believers, but doers. Not just defenders, but fighters, oozing with the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are The Salvation Army. Let’s fight together, Spirit-filled and family-strong.

Reflect and respond

• What strengths do you bring to your corps family?
• How you can you help those around you carry their load?
• Pray for confidence in the Holy Spirit’s presence, protection and power for you and your Army family.