| Sue Dibny | |
|---|---|
 Sue Dibny. Art by Carmine Infantino. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Flash #119 (March 1961) |
| Created by | John Broome (writer) Carmine Infantino (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Susan Dearbon Dibny |
| Team affiliations | Justice League Super Buddies Black Lantern Corps Justice League Europe Justice League International |
| Partnerships | Elongated Man |
| Supporting character of | Flash Starman |
| Abilities | As a ghost:
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Susan Dibny (néeDearbon) is a fictional character fromDC Comics associated with theElongated Man. Created byJohn Broome andCarmine Infantino, the character first appeared inFlash vol. 1 #119 (March 1961). In 2004, Sue Dibny became a flashpoint for discussions of women in comics following the events ofIdentity Crisis, in which she is murdered byJean Loring and revealed to have been raped byDoctor Light in the past.[1][2]
While her Post-Crisis iteration remained dead, a new living iteration of Sue was introduced into DC’s Earth-Prime continuity, DC’s new main continuity after the Flashpoint event and New 52 reboot, and is still alive as of 2025. As with her past primary iterations, The Earth Prime version of Sue is married to the Earth Prime version of Ralph Dibny (like Post Crisis Sue, Post-Crisis Ralph Dibny had also died but had a new living iteration introduced in the Earth-Prime continuity).
Sue Dearbon appeared in theArrowverse television seriesThe Flash, portrayed byNatalie Dreyfuss.
Sue Dibny is a socialite fromWestchester County,New York who is married to Ralph Dibny, theElongated Man.[3] She has at times worked for theJustice League as an administrator. Ralph and Sue share a loving relationship. They met when Ralph crashed her debutante ball, using the pretense of jewel thieves to catch a glimpse of Sue. What followed was a whirlwind romance. Sue and Ralph married a short time later withBarry Allen serving as the best man. What followed was a life of adventures and super-heroics, as Sue stuck by Ralph's side as he traveled around the globe as part of the Justice League. This led to the various dangers associated with the lifestyle, including her near-death at the tentacles of an alien parasite and being kidnapped bySonar to become his consort. Through it all, Sue and Ralph stuck together, even when the going got tough, eventually settling inOpal City.
Sue is a member of the Super Buddies team made up of former members of the Justice League. As she has no superpowers, she spends most of the time at the Super Buddies headquarters arguing with team founderMaxwell Lord.
The 2004 eventIdentity Crisis begins with Sue's death at the hands ofJean Loring while she was expecting a child.[4][5] Attempting to reunite with her husbandRay Palmer, Loring had used his equipment to try to create a threat to the families of other superheroes in an attempt to prompt Ray to come back to her. Although Loring had not intended for Sue to be seriously hurt, by traveling down the phone line to 'jump' into Sue's brain, she unintentionally caused an aneurysm that killed Sue. Loring then panicked and severely burned Sue's body to mask the true cause of her death. Over the course of the series, it is revealed that in the past Sue was raped byDoctor Light. In an attempt to prevent him from harming members of other superheroes' families, Justice League memberZatanna attempted to magically rehabilitate Light, which accidentally resulted in her damaging Light's brain. Light is the prime suspect in Sue's murder untilDoctor Mid-Nite andMister Terrific conduct an autopsy and confirm that he is not responsible. A casual comment Jean made to Ray prompted him to realize the truth, resulting in him sending Jean toArkham Asylum and disappearing from the Justice League.
During the52 series, aKryptonian cult attempts to revive Sue from the dead. They attract the attention of a now depowered Ralph Dibny by spray-painting the Kryptonian word for resurrection (an invertedSuperman logo) on her tombstone. Ralph and a team of heroes infiltrate the resurrection ceremony. Convinced that the ceremony is a hoax, Ralph and the others attack the temple, which subsequently catches on fire. However, Ralph is convinced that the resurrection is not a hoax when a seemingly animated straw representation of Sue crawls towards Ralph uttering his name. Although this straw version of Sue is destroyed in the fire, Ralph survives and vows to complete Sue's resurrection. A later issue revealed that it wasFelix Faust who animated the dummy with his powers, and Ralph was aware of Faust's deception but pretends to believe that it was really his wife in order to get close to the villain and his master,Neron.[6] After Ralph Dibny is killed by Neron, he reunites with Sue in the afterlife, having cast a spell that ensured they would remain together.[7]
InBlackest Night #0,Black Hand is seen in a graveyard approaching the graves of Sue Dibny and her husband Ralph.[8] Their bodies are resurrected as members of the Black Lantern Corps and killHawkgirl andHawkman by ripping their hearts out.[9] Sue, Ralph, and the Hawks later joinFirestorm andMartian Manhunter in attacking the Flash and Green Lantern.[10] The fight is interrupted by the arrival of theIndigo Tribe, who use their powers to remove Sue and Ralph's rings and kill them.[11]
Ralph and Sue are resurrected followingThe New 52 continuity reboot. A disguised Ralph joins theSecret Six at the behest of theRiddler, who is holding Sue hostage.[12][13]
While alive, Sue Dibny possessed no superhuman abilities. However, she showed herself to be a quick thinker, a decent detective (though not on her husband's level), and multi-lingual (native English, as well as French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese). Her appearances as a ghost have shown her with paranormal abilities, including invisibility, intangibility, and possession.
Sue Dearbon appears inThe Flash, portrayed byNatalie Dreyfuss.[14] She is initially alluded to in thefifth season finale[15] beforeRalph Dibny works to find her in thesixth season. He eventually finds her inCentral City, wherein she manipulates him into helping her seek revenge on the crime syndicateBlack Hole for extorting her parents. Upon realizing this, Dibny convinces Dearbon to give up her vendetta, only for the latter to be framed byEva McCulloch for the death of Black Hole's leader,Joseph Carver. In theseventh season, Dearbon and Dibny succeed in clearing her name before leaving to dismantle other Black Hole cells, though Dearbon would later return to help theFlash and his allies.
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