Before Vanessa Kirby played a powerful, invisible-turning, force-field generating, fiercely protective mother in 2025’s Fantastic Four: First Steps, Jessica Alba held the mantle nearly twenty years earlier. Alba portrayed the Invisible Woman in 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, in a time when superhero films were still finding their footing in mainstream culture. Looking back, Alba says she remembers the role with genuine admiration and fondness.
Well, except for that one scene.
Speaking at the Red Sea Film Festival this past weekend, Alba reflected on a scene she still finds difficult to revisit: the moment Sue suddenly reappears naked on a city sidewalk after losing control of her powers. Alba didn’t mince words, calling the experience “humiliating” and one she’d dreaded filming.
“I thought that was awful,” Alba said. “It was very humiliating in real life. I grew up with a pretty conservative family, and I am a pretty modest person. I dreaded that scene for weeks.”
Despite the ‘humiliating’ nude Invisible Woman scene in Fantastic Four, Alba emphasized that the character was one to be admired.
“She was a woman I looked up to,” she explained. “She was very maternal and very kind, but also not a pushover; she spoke her mind. She had a great moral compass. No matter who you are, you can look up to her. Oftentimes, the women in these stories need to be saved by a guy or the villain, the problem in the story. This was back then. It’s different now.”
While she hasn’t seen Vanessa Kirby’s take on the character in Fantastic Four: First Steps, Alba thinks she’ll definitely get around to it — if she can convince her kids that is.
Alba continued, “I usually watch those movies with my kids, and if ‘Sonic’ was out, my son wants to watch it 85 times in a row. When it comes to movies that are for the family, my kids dominate what we watch for sure. But I have to convince him because we have to see it! I love Marvel, and they’re so fun.”
Alba told People back in September of 2024 that she’d “love” to reprise the role of Invisible Woman.
“Yeah, of course, I loved playing that character,” Alba said. “[I’d be open to] anything in the Marvel universe. I’m a fan of all the superhero stories, and it was a great time in my life,” she adds. “So yeah, if they would have me, sure.”
As for Alba’s own upcoming projects, she’s staying busy. She’s collaborating on a new film pitch with Robert Rodriguez, whom she worked with on Sin City and Machete and developing a project with Saudi filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour. Alba will also appear in the directorial debut of Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson, A Tree is Blue, starring alongside Charli XCX and Vanessa Burghardt.
“It’s about a mom and a daughter who wants her independence,” Alba said of Johnson’s film, A Tree is Blue. “It would be amazing to be able to show it [at the Red Sea Film Festival] next year when it’s finished.”
What do you think of the fact that Jessica Alba says despite the ‘humiliating’ nude Invisible Woman scene in Fantastic Four, she loved and admired the character? Did you like Alba’s portrayal of Invisible Woman or do you prefer Vanessa Kirby’s? Let us know in the comments.
