Claire Gideon (wife of Gregory; mother of Thomas/Glorian)

CLAIRE GIDEON

Real Name: Claire Gideon

Identity/Class: Human civilian

Occupation: Presumed homemaker

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None revealed

Enemies: Unidentified members of a Russian underwater atomic testing crew

Known Relatives: Gregory Hungerford Gidedon (husband, deceased), Thomas Gideon (later Glorian)

Aliases: None identified

Base of Operations: Unrevealed
formerly a hundred acre esate in Rochester, New York

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#34 (January, 1965)

Powers/Abilities: Claire Gideon had no superhuman powers.

The most significant feature Claire demonstrated in her limited appearances was a desire to have a happy family, primarily by guiding her husband to focus on them rather than his goals of wealth and/or power.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'7"; in heels, she looked about 2" shorter than Gregory Gideon)
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 130 lbs.)
Eyes: Possibly light blue
Hair: Presumably brown or blonde (one may be her real color and the other dyed; I'd speculate she was brown and dyed it blonde, to have more fun, but who knows)

History:

(Fantastic Four I#34 (fb) - BTS) - As her husband, multi-billionaire financial wizard Gregory Gideon, was rarely home, as he was constantly out building his empire, Claire and their son, Tom, missed him dearly. Claire was often lonely.

(Fantastic Four I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Gregory instructed Claire to never interrupt him when he was talking business.

(Fantastic Four I#34 - BTS) - Gregory engaged in a wager to defeat the Fantastic Four in order to more swiftly gain control of three of his top competitor's empires, with the risk of failure being forfeiture of his plan for world domination.

(Fantastic Four I#34) - Hearing Gregory at home (continuing his plots against the Fantastic Four by driving them against each other), Claire entered the room and asked if he was ready for dinner now. Gregory's assistant Smedley, having never met his boss' wife before, started to greet Claire, but Gregory swiftly dismissed Smedley. Gregory then chided Claire, reminding her of his instructions not to interrupt his business and asking her when she would learn to know her place.

Apologizing, Claire explained that she was so glad he was home and that she was so lonely. When Tom rushed in to hug his dad, Claire remained silent as Gregory tried to explain he was away because he would someday give him the entire planet.

Later, Claire observed as Tom ran off after learning his father's plans to destroy the Fantastic Four, whom he idolized. She asked Gregory why Tom had run away, and he told he had no time for her "eternal questions," and that they would discuss this later. Upset, Claire noted that it was always "later," and she asked why they had become such strangers to each other...what happened to the man she loved and married? He angrily told her to cease her "incessant prattling," asking if she couldn't see that he had more pressing problems to attend to; but she continued, asking if he had placed Tom in any danger.

Still later, as Gregory prepared the Fantastic Four's final defeat, Claire, noting that she knew she wasn't supposed to interfere, asked again where Tom was. When he told her he could worry about that after he had finished the last details, as once he controlled all the world's wealth it would be easy to find one teenage boy. Claire asked him how he could want more money and power than he had already had, and when he explained his world domination goals, she told him that the reporters and people in the street were right when they said he was drunk with power.

(Fantastic Four I#34 - BTS) - Having observed (via his TV transceiver) Thomas enter the Baxter Building in hopes of saving the Fantastic Four and then vanishing in a time trap along with the Thing, Gregory rushed to the Baxter Building, desperate to rescue Tom.

(Fantastic Four I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Claire followed closely behind Gregory. Encountering the Fantastic Four, she told them of her husband's plot.

(Fantastic Four I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Unseen by Gregory, Tom and the Thing returned to the present when Reed Richards shut down the power to the time machine.

(Fantastic Four I#34) - After Gregory Gideon broke down, realizing all of the power and wealth meant nothing without his son, Claire emerged with Tom; Gregory was elated that Tom was safe, but Claire reminded him that this was no thanks to him.

As Gregory hugged Tom, Claire told the Fantastic Four that she knew her husband had to be punished, but she would not desert him and that she would always be his wife.

Gregory renounced his financial empire, vowing to donate all his wealth to charity. Taking Claire and Tom in his hands and noting that they were his greatest treasures, he vowed to devote the rest of his life making amends for neglecting them.

Claire and Tom departed with Gideon, who instructed the Fantastic Four he would be waiting for the police at his home with his family.

(Fantastic Four I#135 (fb)) - Claire and Thomas accompanied Gregory Gideon on a calming vacation, after which he had planned to renounce his fortune.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover: Glorian entry) - Some two years later, with Thomas now in his teens, the Gideons were returning by plane from an extended vacation.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover: Glorian entry / Fantastic Four I#135 (fb) - BTS) - Under unrevealed circumstances, Gideon's pilot missed all of the warning signals sent from a Russian underwater atomic bomb testing site and blundered into range of the energy pulse/wave of a nuclear explosion that caused their plane to crash.

(Fantastic Four I#135 (fb)) - Thomas and Gregory Gideon survived, with Gregory helping keep Thomas afloat, but the rest of the party, including Claire, was lost.

Comments: Created by Thomas Gideon created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby, and Chick "...the brick?" Stone.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Claire Gideon should be distinguished from:

Other Claire or Gideon characters (the latter of which are covered in Gregory Gideon's profile).

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#34, story pg. 8, panel 5 (upper body, in dress);
        pg. 9, panel 3 (full, distant);
        pg. 13, panel 3 (face);
    #135, pg. 7, panel 2 (playing cards on vacation)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#34 (January, 1965) - Stan "The Man" Lee (writer, editor), Jack "King" Kirby (penciler), and Chick "...the brick?" Stone (inker)
Fantastic Four I#135 (June, 1973) - Gerry Conway (writer), John Buscema (penciler), Joe Sinnott (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)

First posted: 04/13/2018
Last updated: 04/13/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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