The mutant Malice was created by Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont. She is an evil mutant who is a member of Mister Sinister’s Marauders. Being incorporeal, she has no physical body of her own and has to possess the body of others. Those she possesses manifest a cameo-like choker around their neck. It is unknown whether this is a physical artifact or an illusionary one. Malice at one point became stuck in the body of Lorna Dane, an ally of the X-Men also known as Polaris (this affinity may suggest that Malice’s true physical nature is that of an electromagnetic field). While possessing the body of Polaris, Malice acted as the field leader of the Marauders.[volume & issue needed]

After Mister Sinister was seemingly killed during Inferno, Malice’s hold over Polaris weakened and after Polaris’ alleged half-sister Zaladane, a priestess for the Savage Land’s Sun People, used the High Evolutionary’s machinery to strip Polaris of her magnetic powers and take them as her own, the process also managed to finally separate Lorna and Malice.[volume & issue needed]

What happened to Malice after that remains unknown but she resurfaced years later to bother Polaris once more. She possessed Havok and tried to kill Polaris to get her revenge against Sinister, from whom she was trying to break free. In the end, Sinister asked Malice to possess Polaris once again knowing that Lorna wouldn’t object to the possession in order to save Havok, but, out of their love for each other, Havok and Polaris each tried to absorb Malice, preventing the other from being possessed. Malice was then apparently destroyed by Sinister himself

Susan “Sue” Storm Richards (also known as Invisible Girl and later, Invisible Woman) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961, and was the first female superhero created by Marvel in the Silver Age of Comics. Like the other founding members of the Fantastic Four, Sue received her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm. Her primary power deals with light waves, allowing her to render herself and others invisible. However, she can also project powerful fields of invisible psionic energy which she uses for a variety of offensive and defensive effects. Sue plays a central role in the lives of her brother, her husband, her children (Franklin Richards and Val Richards), and her friend, Ben Grimm.

An object of infatuation for Doctor Doom, and, most notably, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Sue’s passive invisibility power translated into her frequent deployment as a damsel in distress during the team’s early adventures. However, upon developing the ability to project powerful fields of energy, Sue Storm became a more powerful member of the Fantastic Four, and the team’s second-in-command. While Sue operated somewhat in the shadow of her hot-headed brother, Johnny Storm, and her brilliant husband Reed Richards in the early years, she is now the soul of the Fantastic Four and one of the premiere heroes in the Marvel Universe.

The Invisible Woman is portrayed by Jessica Alba in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Green Arrow (Oliver Jonas “Ollie” Queen) is a fictional character, published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941. His secret identity is Oliver “Ollie” Queen, billionaire and former mayor of fictional Star City.^[1] Dressed like Robin Hood, Green Arrow is an archer, who invents trick arrows with various special functions, such as a glue arrow, a net arrow, explosive arrow, time bomb arrow, grappling arrow, fire extinguishing arrow, flash arrow, tear gas arrow, cryonic arrow, a boxing-glove arrow, and even a kryptonite arrow. Originally developed as an archery-themed analogue of the very popular Batman character, writers at DC have developed Green Arrow into a voice of left-wing and progressive politics very much distinct in character from Batman, with his own supporting cast.

Throughout his first twenty-five years, Green Arrow was not a significant hero. In the late 1960s, however, writer Denny O’Neil chose to have him lose his fortune, giving him the then-unique role of streetwise crusader for the working class and the disadvantaged. In 1970, he was paired with the more law-and-order-oriented hero Green Lantern in a groundbreaking, socially conscious comic book series. Since then, he has been popular among comic book fans and most writers have taken an urban, gritty approach to the character. The character was killed off in the 1990s and replaced by a new character, Queen’s son Connor Hawke, the second Green Arrow; however, Hawke proved a less popular character, and the original Oliver Queen character was resurrected in the 2001 “Quiver” storyline. In the 2000s, the character has been featured in bigger storylines focusing on Green Arrow and the character Black Canary, such as the DC event The Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding and the high-profile Justice League: Cry for Justice storyline, the climax of which sees Green Arrow becoming a morally-ambiguous anti-hero^{[citation needed]}.

(AFP) 27 June 2008:

The Bulgarian Olympic Weightlifting team might not be where one would go to find gender equality on a normal day. And it’s true that the men and women compete separately, lifting different weights. It’s also true that the women compete against women from other countries, men against men.

However, there is one area in which they do share complete gender equality, even if this might not be something to be all that proud of. All of the applicants to this summer’s Olympic Games have been rejected, for all of them, each and every man and woman, were found to be taking banned anabolic steroids.

Still equality is a good thing, right’

(NEWSDAY) 8 June 2008:

Since farms and the transportation industry stopped using horses in the first few decades of last century the horse “industry” has been largely taken over by women. In the “English” disciplines, 85 percent of owners and riders are women, in Western, the number is 60 percent, and the youth equestrian organizations are 90 percent female.

But horse racing itself is still an overwhelmingly male domain. In part this comes from the fact that  racing is dominated by frenzied betting, something which may appeal less to women than it does to men.

All that gambling has another effect though: horse racing is a financially driven industry, rather than one of partnership between horse and rider as the disciplines are. Perhpas it’s that emotional disconnect that women like less and thus they avoid the industry.

(TMZ.COM) 20 December 2007:

NBA star Tony Parker, hubby to Desperate Housewives Eva Longoria, has filed a $20 million lawsuit against X17, the photo agency that published reports and text messages alleging that he cheated on Eva Longoria shortly after the couple were married.

X17 claimed that French model Alexandra Paressant had an affair for two months with Parker. Parker vehemently denies the allegations.

(ESPN.COM) 19 December 2007:

Jessica Simpson’s new beau Tony Romo is said to have had the worst game of his career a week ago…when Jess was up in the stands watching the whole thing. Some pundits have claimed a Jessica “curse” and are calling for her to stay away from Texas Stadium. Controversial and talented wide receiver Terrell Owens has jumped into the fray, quoted as saying, “Right now, Jessica is not a fan favorite–in this locker room or in Texas Stadium”

T.O. goes on to actually make some sense: “…I think a lot of people feel she has taken his focus away.” Keep in mind that T.O. is paid millions of dollars to catch the ball that Romo throws to him.

Is Romo star struck? Just in case, T.O. has a message for Jess. “Oh, I got a message for her when we make the playoffs. Just stay tuned.”

Owens has said he was just kidding, and he probably was. But when T.O. lips off, the whole world listens. “I tried to get (Romo) to call her so I can explain to her that she doesn’t really know me and that I can be funny. And that everything I say, the media will take it and run with it. It’s not a big deal. I will try to rectify the situation between her and I.”

(Huffington Post) 8 November 2007:

It’s a commonly held belief that men are better athletes than women.

There are a few instances, however, where this doesn’t hold: fencing for example, or equestrian events. There’s also another couple of sports where it might be (as with Paula Radcliffe in the recent New York marathon) that pregnancy increases the subsequent performance of the woman.

Two reasons put forward are that pregnancy itself greatly boosts the blood volume and that as this shrinks post partum some of the beneficial effects of increased ability to absorb oxygen remains. The other is that in certain sports, like endurance swimming, subcutaneous body fat is a great boost: and as many women complain, pregnancy can certainly increase the presence of that.

Unfortunately, the population of world class female athletes who compete after childbirth is probably to small for us ever to be able to properly study this.

(MSNBC.COM) 5 October 2007:

US Olympic Gold Medalist Marion Jones has vehemently denied using performance enhancing drugs for years. On October 5, she recanted and admitted that she had used them.

“I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after,” Jones told a US District Court judge. “By November 2003, I realized he was giving me performance-enhancing drugs.”

She also pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using the drugs. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years and 500K.

(SPORTS.YAHOO.COM) 2 October 2007:

A federal jury decided Madison Square Garden and its chairman must pay $11.6 million in damages to former New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit.

The jury, which decided MSG had committed harassment against Browne Sanders, found that the Garden owes $6 million for allowing a hostile work environment to exist and $2.6 million for retaliation. MSG chairman James Dolan owes $3 million.

The Garden said it would appeal.

A verdict earlier Tuesday found that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas subjected Browne Sanders to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults, but that he did not have to pay punitive damages.

After an ugly, three-week trial, that verdict gave Thomas a partial victory in the $10 million lawsuit.