Superheroes Assemble!

S: Selene (Black Queen) - Snowbird - Spider-Woman (I) - Spider-Woman (II) - Storm - Sunfire


Selene (Black Queen)
Real Name: Selene
Occupation: Goddess (self-styled)
Identity: Selene's power and history are unknown to the general public
Legal Status: Former citizen of the Roman Republic and of Nova Roma
Other Aliases: The Black Priestess
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Widowed
Known Relatives: Marcus Domitius Gallio (husband, deceased)
Group Affiliation: Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club
Base of Operations: New York City
First Appearance: NEW MUTANTS #9

History: Selene's origin is yet unrevealed, but she is known to have lived for several millennia, and to have been a foe of the sorcerer Kulan Gath. In past ages she was renowned as a sorceress whose power was feared and respected by practitioners of black and white magic. She eventually came to live in the ancient Roman Republic. For unknown reasons, she accompanied the large number of Roman citizens who fled Rome in the First Century B.C. and sailed to the New World, where they founded Nova Roma ("New Rome" in a hidden section of the Amazon jungle in what is now Brazil. The founders of Nova Roma fled Rome because they foresaw that its republican government would be replaced by an imperial one. For reasons that remain unknown. Selene found herself unable to leave Nova Roma, and remained there for roughly two thousand years. Nova Roma she led the dreaded Cult of Fire as its Black Priestess.

In recent years Selene married Marcus Domitius Gallio, a senator of Nova Roma who plotted to abolish its republican government. The intervention of the New Mutants both thwarted Senator Gallio's schemes and led to Selene's apparent destruction. However, Selene not only survived, but somehow found herself able to leave Nova Roma. She soon traveled to New York City. Over the two millennia that she was trapped in Nova Roma, a religious cult worshipping Selene as a goddess had continued to survive in the outside world. Selene made contact with a leader of the cult, Friedrich von Roehm, in New York City. Von Roehm was also a member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, an elite group secretly dedicated to achieving world domination. Von Roehm successfully sponsored Selene for membership in the Inner Circle, and she rapidly rose to the high rank of Black Queen of the Inner Circle.

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 130 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: Black

Strength Level: Selene possesses superhuman strength, enabling her to lift (press) about 1500 pounds under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Selene is a mutant with various superhuman attributes. She sustains herself by psionically draining the life force of other human beings into herself. Because of this, she is often referred to as a vampire, although she is not a true supernatural vampire, like Dracula. If she drains a person's entire life force from him of her, the victim dies and the victim's body crumbles into dust. If Selene drains only part of victim's life force, Selene achieves a measure of psychic control over her victim's mind. Through unknown means, Selene can also cause a human being to become a psychic vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene's own will.

It is not known how often Selene must drain life force from another human in order to survive. It is known that great expenditure of power causes Selene to age, but she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing more life force. Selene will not age as long as she maintains her supply of absorbed life force. She is also unaffected such as knife wounds.

She has physical strength, stamina, speed, and reaction time that are all several time greater than those of a normal woman.

Selene possesses telekinetic abilities that give her complete psionic control over inanimate object and fire. She can cause inanimate objects to move according to her will by projecting part of her absorbed life force into them. She can cause inanimate objects in her presence to disintegrate. She cannot, however, rearrange the atomic or molecular structure of matter.

Selene can include a momentary hypnotic trance state in people around her. She can also momentarily move at speeds rivaling those of Quicksilver. She often combines these two abilities to make it seem as though she can teleport.

Snowbird
Real Name: Narya
Occupation: Adventurer, Records Officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Identity: Secret. The general populace of Earth is unaware that Snowbird was a goddess.
Legal Status: Citizen of Canada with no criminal record
Other Aliases: Anne McKenzie Thompson
Place of Birth: Near Resolute Bay, Northwest Territory, Canada
Place of Death: A mine in Burial Butte, a town in the Canadian Klondike
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Hodiak (grandfather), Nelvanna (mother), Richard Lawrence Easton (father), Michael Twoyoungmen (alias Shaman, foster father), Douglas Thompson (husband, deceased), unnamed son (deceased)
Group Affiliation: Alpha Flight
Base of Operations: Canada
First Appearance: (as Anne McKenzie) XMEN #120, (as Snowbird) X-MEN #121
Final Appearance: (as a living being) ALPHA FLIGHT #44, (spirit ascends to the realm of the Eskimo gods) ALPHA FLIGHT #45

History: Several thousand years prior to Snowbird's birth, Tundra, one of the mystical creatures known as the Great Beasts, imprisoned the gods of the Eskimos behind a "mystical barrier" that prevented them from traveling from their own dimension into that of Earth. Therefore, the Eskimo gods would be unable to defend Earth from Tundra and the other Great Beasts thousands of years later when the Beasts might finally break through the mystical barriers behind which the gods had imprisoned them.

Around fifteen years ago, a nondescript man named Richard Easton was serving in a minor capacity on an archaeological expedition north of the Arctic Circle near Resolute Bay in the Northwest Territory, Canada. There Easton discovered a long buried metal headband. That night he felt a compulsion to don the headband and did so. Thereupon three of the Eskimo gods appeared to him: Nelvanna, goddess of the Northern Lights; her father Hodiak; and the Shaper (who is not to be confused with the alien Shaper of Worlds).

Nelvanna told Easton that she intended to mate with him. Easton, however, was terrified, as well as being appalled by Nelvanna's extremely aged appearance. The Shaper then cast a spell that made Nelvanna appear to be an extraordinarily beautiful young woman. In this guise, she explained to Easton that she needed to mate with him in order to give birth to a child who would serve as a champion against the rising of an ancient evil. By this she meant that the gods wanted there to be a hybrid being, half deity and half human, who would be unaffected by Tundra's barrier and who could battle Tundra and the other Beasts should they break free. Overpowered by the illusion of Nelvanna's beauty, Easton acceded to her request and was transported into the realm of the Eskimo gods where he mated with her. On returning, Easton thought he had been gone for only one night, but discovered that he had been away from Earth for about nine years. Easton then went mad, probably as a combination of this discovery and of the experience of being in the realm of the Eskimo gods.

A year later, Michael Twoyoungmen, who had recently become an Indian shaman, or medicine man, found himself drawn to the area near Resolute Bay by mystical energies. Through dreams he had learned of Nelvanna's pregnancy and of her need for a human mystic to serve as midwife at the birth of her child. Twoyoungmen cast a spell, which temporarily opened a portal in the barrier separating Earth from the realm of the Eskimo gods, and Nelvanna appeared before him. Using his magic, Twoyoungmen then assisted at the birth of the being who would then become known as Snowbird. This birth process was mystical in nature and quite unlike a human birth. Twoyoungmen found an infant-sized embryo hovering before him. Realizing that the embryo was that of a transmorph, or shapechanger, Twoyoungmen quickly cast a spell to bind it to Earth's reality, for otherwise it might never have been able to assume human form. The result was that the embryo became a female human infant who was already the equivalent of a year old. Twoyoungmen did not realize, however, that in casting this spell he had unwittingly bound the infant to the land of Canada, specifically. This spell would prove to have negative consequences.

Twoyoungmen brought the infant back to his cabin in the forests in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, where he lived as a hermit. Within a few years the girl, whom he named Narya, grew to adulthood.

One day Twoyoungmen was visited by his former neighbor, Heather McNeil Hudson, and her husband, James McDonald Hudson. Twoyoungmen introduced them to Narya. Curious about her, Heather Hudson secretly followed her that night when she saw Narya leaving the cabin naked. To her surprise and shock, Heather Hudson witnessed Narya transforming herself into an Arctic owl and then killing a small animal. Heather told her husband about what she had seen, and together they confronted Twoyoungmen, who explained to them about his own mystical powers and about Narya's powers and origin. Intrigued, James MacDonald Hudson asked both Twoyoungmen and Narya to join the organization of special agents that he was forming for the Canadian government. Twoyoungmen and Narya accepted, the offer, and, after a period of training they both joined this organization, Alpha Flight, under the code names Shaman and Snowbird, respectively.

James Hudson helped Snowbird create the human persona Anne McKenzie, which she could assume through her preternatural shape-changing powers. Special arrangements with the Prime Minister gave Anne McKenzie Canadian citizenship and installed her as a Records Officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. There one of her fellow officers, Douglas Thompson, fell in love with her, unaware of her true identity and nature.

Snowbird was a valued member of Alpha Flight and participated in many missions with the team. During her life on Earth Snowbird battled and helped to defeat members of the Great Beasts on several occasions.

Eventually Snowbird learned that her fellow Alpha Flight member, Walter Langkowski, who could transform himself into the superhumanly powerful form of Sasquatch, had unwittingly become mystically linked with Tanaraq, one of the Great Beasts. When Langkowski transformed himself into Sasquatch, he actually took on the physical form of Tanaraq, and Tanaraq's personality was slowly becoming dominant over Langkowski's in that form. Snowbird believed it was therefore necessary to kill Sasquatch and attacked him. Tanaraq's consciousness now controlled Sasquatch's body and fought back against Snowbird. Snowbird took the form of a sasquatch (the legendary man-like beast of Canada) herself and tore out Sasquatch's heart, thereby killing Langkowski and forcing Tanaraq's spirit back to the dimension of the Great Beasts. Langkowski's spirit found refuge for a time in the robot body called Box, but eventually his spirit was projected into another dimension.

Anne McKenzie had by now revealed to Douglas Thompson that she was Snowbird, a demigoddess. In love with Thompson she married him and became pregnant with his child. Outraged that she would thus ally herself with a mortal, the Eskimo gods forbade her to return to their otherdimensional realm.

Michael Twoyoungmen, now also known as Talisman, journeyed with the pregnant Narya, Thompson, and other members of Alpha Flight to a mystical "place of power" in the Canadian Aratic in order to deliver her child and to bind the child's spirit to the Earth as he had done with Snowbird herself when she was' born. However, unknown to Shaman, the body of Captain F.R. Crozier, who had been in a form of suspended animation for well over one hundred years, lay buried underground, still alive. Crozier's spirit took possession of Snowbird's newborn son and transformed the infant's body into an adult one. Crozier called himself Pestilence, and intended to use his powers over death and decay to spread havoc on Earth. Taking magical control of Snowbird, Shaman had her, in her sasquatch form, attack Pestilence, who fled.

Douglas Thompson tracked Pestilence to the mining town of Burial Butte in the Canadian Klondike, where Pestilence infected him with a fatal disease. Snowbird and Shaman found Thompson and learned from him that Pestilence was in the mines. Thompson died after telling several other members of Alpha Flight about Pestilence's whereabouts.

Within the mines Shaman magically forced Snowbird to assume her sasquatch form and to try to kill Pestilence. But Shaman then came to realize that the innocence of Snowbird's son was beginning to take over Pestilence's mind. If Pestilence's current body was killed, then his spirit would be freed to seek a new host; if his current body stayed alive, the child's spirit might prove dominant over him. Pestilence realized he had to seek a new host and so he used his powers to take control of Snowbird's sasquatch form, and intended to have her kill his current body. Heather Hudson, who now led Alpha Flight as Vindicator, wanted to stop Snowbird from killing her son's body, but Vindicator believed that she might have to kill Snowbird in order to stop her. Hence, Vindicator hesitated, and in that moment of her indecision, Snowbird, under Pestilence's control, killed Pestilence's body Vindicator then slew Snowbird with a burst of plasma to prevent Pestilence's spirit from taking over Snowbird's own body.

Shaman summoned Nelvanna, Hodiak, and the Shaper and asked them to take Narya's spirit into their realm. Nelvanna agreed, but Narya's spirit, rising from her corpse, refused to go unless the gods allowed the spirits of Douglas Thompson and her son to come with her; otherwise, Narya said, she would travel with her husband's and son's spirits outside Nelvanna's realm. The gods relented, and accepted the spirits of Douglas Thompson and his son into their realm. Hence, the spirits of Narya, her husband, and their child now dwell together in the otherdimensional paradise of the Eskimo gods.

As for Snowbird's physical body, it remained in the form of a sasquatch, and was resurrected and possessed by the spirit of Pestilence. In Snowbird's sasquatch form, Pestilence battled Box, which was again inhabited by the spirit of Walter Langkowski. Langkowski channelled energy from Box's internal power pack into the sasquatch body, causing Pestilence's spirit to flee from it. Then Heather Hudson hurled Shaman's mystical medicine bag at Pestilence's spirit. Pestilence's spirit was engulfed by the bag and entrapped, apparently forever, in the strange mystical realm with it. Langkowski's spirit took possession of Snowbird's body and still inhabits it today. In this new body Langkowski can become either a whitefurred sasquatch or a female human being (and hence now calls himself/herself Wanda Langkowski).

Note: The measurements below are those possessed by Snowbird in her normal humanoid form and in her Anne McKenzie form.

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 108 lbs.
Eyes: (as Snowbird) White, (as McKenzie) Blue
Hair: Pale blonde (In her animal and Sasquatch forms her fur was white.)
Unusual Features: Snowbird's "real" face in her physical form looked inhuman; she used her shape-changing powers to make it look more human (as Snowbird) or entirely human (as McKenzie).

Strength Level: In her usual humanoid Snowbird form, Snowbird possessed superhuman strength. Its limits are unknown, but she proved capable of knocking down the mystical Great Beast Kolomaq. In her Sasquatch form Snowbird could lift (press) about 70 tons.

Known Superhuman Powers: Snowbird was a transmorph or metamorph who possessed the ability to assume the form of any animal whose natural habitat is the Canadian arctic north, as well as that of a human being (but presumably only if the human being is female). The precise nature of this ability is unknown. When she took the form of an animal whose mass and volume were less than those of a human being, she became a human-sized version of that animal. She could, however, draw additional mass from an unidentified and presumably mystical source when she took the form of an animal whose mass and volume were greater than those of a human being, such as a polar bear of sasquatch. She could then shed the additional mass upon returning to human form. Upon taking the form of an animal, she gained that animal's special abilities, such as, for' example, heightened sensory perception.

In her form as Snowbird, the demigoddecs was capable of flight. Her uppermost level of speed has not been established.

Snowbird had certain mystical senses which enabled her to perform feats such as detecting the presence of magical energies or the breaching of a magical field. She could feel the presence of a great mystical evil as coldness. Her principal extrasensory ability was that of limited post cognition. By concentrating, she could mystically envision an event which took place in her immediate vicinity anytime within about six hours into the past. Her post cognitive visions could portray events occurring backwards or forwards in time, according to her will.

Snowbird possessed superhuman strength and could increase that strength by taking on a more powerful form, most notably that of a sasquatch, for as long as she maintained that form.

Limitations: Snowbird could not shed mass in going from human form to that of an animal whose mass and volume were less than those of her human form. This is why when she took the form of an animal who had less mass than her human form, she became a human-sized version of that animal.

Ordinarily, Snowbird, when in animal form, changed back to human form before assuming the form of another animal. Transforming directly from one animal form into another created tremendous strain upon her.

Snowbird's personality was overlaid with the character traits and instinctual pattern's of whatever animal it was whose form she was using at the time. (Similarly, she was more human in her emotions and thoughts as Anne McKenzie than she was in her somewhat less human Snowbird form.) Hence, for example, when she became a polar bear, Snowbird's conscious mind became that of a polar bear (at least in large part, since she often still spoke when in animal form), although her submerged Snowbird persona still directed the bear's actions and could, when necessary, trigger her transformation back to Snowbird. However, if she gave way to the animal's passions while in the animal's form, such as the polar bear's bloodlust, she could lose even her subconscious control over her actions as a bear. In such a case, her human/goddess rationality could only reassume control with great difficulty or not at all until the animalistic passion subsided. Furthermore, the greater the duration of time that she spent as a certain animal, the stronger became the impression of that animal's psyche on her personality as long as she remained in that form. If she remained in one form for an extended period of time, she risked having her personality fixed as that of the animal, and therefore of never transforming back. Michael Twoyoungmen hypothesized that certain arcane Sarcee Indian tribal rituals could transform Snowbird back to human form, but this was never attempted. Her human forms (as Snowbird and as Anne McKenzie) apparently did not run the risk of "locking" her into human form only, presumably because of her hybrid ancestry.

In casting the spell at her birth that enabled Snowbird to assume human form, Michael Twoyoungmen unintentionally bound her life force specifically to the country of Canada. As a result, Snowbird could only live in full health in Canada or in the extradimensional realm of the Eskimo gods. If she left Canada and entered another country, her life force began ebbing away, and she greatly weakened and aged with great rapidity. She regained her youth, vitality, and powers upon being returned to Canada or to the Eskimo gods' dimension.

Spider-Woman (I)
Real Name: Jessica Drew
Occupation: Form agent of HYDRA, former bounty hunter, private investigator, adventurer
Identity: The public does not know that Drew was once Spider-Woman I
Legal Status: Naturalized citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Other Aliases: Arachne
Known Relatives: Jonathan (father, deceased), Merriem (mother, deceased)
Place of Birth: London, England
Group Affiliation: Former agent of HYDRA
First Appearance: MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #32
Final Appearance (as Spider-Woman I): AVENGERS #241

History: Jessica Drew was the daughter of American anthropologist Jonathan Drew and his British wife Merriem. When Jessica was still under two years of age, her parents moved to the small Balkan nation of Transia. Her father and his colleague, geneticist Herbert Edgar Wyndham, bad purchased a parcel of land on Wundagore Mountain within the Transian borders, and intended to build a small scientific research center there. After discovering uranium on the property, the two scientists became wealthy and poured their riches into the building of a citadel of science. Coinciding with the completion of the Wundagore citadel five years later, Jessica Drew became deathly ill due to her exposure to the radioactive uranium. To save her life, her father injected Jessica with an experimental serum composed of irradiated spider's blood, since his experiments showed that spiders possessed greater immunity to radiation than did human beings. Jessica did not immediately respond to treatment, however, and Wyndham placed her in a genetic accelerator of his own design for further treatment. When Merriem Drew mysteriously died several days later, Jonathan became so despondent that he left Wundagore for his previous home in England. (Drew returned to Wundagore years later possessed by the ghost of the Sixth Century magician Magnus, who had sensed Drew's troubled thoughts about Wundagore and recognized the place as the site where he had helped entrap the demon Chthon centuries before).

Jessica Drew remained in partial cryogenic suspension for decades, aging at about 1/7 the normal rate, and was educated by learning tapes. When released from the tube after Wyndham determined that her radiation poisoning had been cured, she was physically 14 years old. Wyndham, who now called himself the High Evolutionary, tested her and discovered that the treatment had mutated her cellular structure, giving her vast strength, an immunity to all toxic substances and radiation, and the capability to generate bioelectric energy which she could discharge as sparks. The High Evolutionary placed her in the care of Boys, a cow artificially evolved by Wyndham's science. The citadel of Wundagore left Earth about a year later, but Bovo and Jessica remained behind. When Jessica was 17, Bova sent her to the village below to learn to live among humankind. Jessica soon became involved with a young villager named Wladyslav. When startled by his father while in the midst of a passionate embrace, Jessica accidentally discharged her bioelectricity, apparently killing her lover.

Fleeing from an angry mob, Jessica was rescued by Count Otto Vermis, then head of the European splinter group of the subversive organization HYDRA. Recognizing the young woman's unique abilities, Vermis put her through rigorous espionage and martial arts training to become a special agent of HYDRA. To insure her loyalty, Vermis had her subjected to special brainwashing techniques to make her believe she was actually a highly evolved spider rather than a real woman, and assigned an agent named Jared to engage her in an amorous relationship. Given a special costume with glider-wings and codenamed Arachne, Jessica was sent on her first mission: to assassinate SHIELD Director Nick Fury. Upon learning HYDRA was evil; Jessica betrayed the organization and fled.

Now called the Spider-Woman, Jessica encountered Modred the Mystic in London and the magician ended the effects of HYDRA's brainwashing. With the realization that she was human, Jessica became obsessed with finding her parents. On the trail of her father, she met Magnus, the magician's ghost who had possessed her father's body briefly decades before and who now occupied the body of an eccentric tailor. Magnus felt he owed Jonathan Drew a small debt for the loan of his body and wished to pay him back by helping Drew's daughter. Magnus and the Spider-Woman journeyed to Los Angeles, and eventually learned that Jonathan Drew had been slain months earlier by a subversive organization he had gotten involved with, Pyrotechnics, Inc. After capturing her father's killers, Jessica Drew decided to settle down in Los Angeles. There she confronted a number of bizarre foes, chief among which was the Sixth Century sorceress Morgan Le Fey. Concerned that he was getting too emotionally involved with Jessica, Magnus abruptly left her to return the body he had borrowed back in London.

Jessica Drew floundered for a time, trying to decide what to do with her life and her special abilities. She could not bear to give up the sense of freedom that being Spider-Woman provided her, and she tried to keep the knowledge of Spider-Woman's existence from becoming widespread. Finally, in association with criminologist Scott McDowell, she became publicly known as a bounty hunter. After severing ties with McDowell, she moved to San Francisco and with the assistance of Nick Fury, acquired credentials enabling her to get a private detective's license. Although she sought clients as Jessica Drew, she invariably became Spider-Woman in the course of an assignment.

Not long after setting up in San Francisco, Jessica was revisited by Magnus, this time in his true ghostly form. Magnus explained that his former lover and Spider-Woman's old nemesis Morgan Le Fey was planning to kill her, and the only way they could end her threat forever was by traveling back to Morgan's time period and fighting her there. Using his magicks to free her astral body from her physical self, Magnus took Spider-Woman back through time to Morgan's castle in Sixth sentury England. After a rigorous battle, Spider-Woman caused Morgan's physical body to be destroyed. Morgan, like her pupil Magnus before her, mystically preserved her astral body and used her magic to travel to Jessica's time era before Jessica could return. With a powerful spell, Morgan placed a mystic barrier around Jessica's physical self, barring her astral self entry. Magnus had insufficient power to breach the barrier and could only console his young friend, now trapped in astral form. At Jessica's request, Magnus attempted a spell to make the world forget Spider-Woman's existence, but due to the ghost's weakened state after journeying through time, the spell was ephemeral.

Tigra, an acquaintance of Spider-Woman, discovered Jessica's lifeless body and summoned the Avengers for aid. The Avengers brought in Dr. Strange, who attempted to breach the barrier around her physical form erected by Morgan. This led the Avengers into battle with Morgan Le Fey's astral form itself. Through the sacrifice of Magnus's astral existence and by Dr. Strange's magic, Jessica Drew was reunited with her physical form and brought back to life. However, since Morgan had interlocked her mystic barrier with Jessica's bioelectrically charged nervous system, Strange was forced to remove her bioelectric powers in order to thwart Morgan's barrier. Having lost Spider-Woman's major power, Jessica Drew decided to retire her costumed identity and remain a plainclothes private investigator in San Francisco.

At one point, Jessica set up operations in the east-Asian city of Madripoor. She was later ensorcelled by the Black Blade to battle the X-Man, Wolverine, where it was revealed that Jessica's powers may not have been permanently lost. She would then assist Wolverine on several adventures.

Later still, having somehow become trapped in a magical dimension, Jessica was rescued by Lindsey McCabe, Spider-Man, and the second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter.

Some time later, Jessica Drew was attacked by a costumed villain calling herself Spider-Woman, stealing Drew's (apparently fully regenerated) powers for herself. Drew joined with the second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter, a recently-rejuvenated Madame Web, and a new hero calling herself Spider-Woman to track down this villain, who had been stealing powers from these women as well. Ultimately, the newest Spider-Woman stole all the powers back from the villain, leaving Jessica Drew without her powers yet again.

Drew remained in New York, and, alongside Madame Web, often helped the new Spider-Woman, a youth named Martha "Mattie" Franklin, in her nascent adventures. Eventually, Jessica Drew began to notice that different aspects of her superhuman powers were returning. Nevertheless, Drew remained reluctant to return to full-time costumed adventuring.

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 130 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black (dyed)

Strength Level: Unknown. Jessica Drew's physiology was mutated when she was a child, giving her the capacity for superhuman level strength. When Dr. Strange removed her bioelectric powers, Drew's enhanced musculature may not have been totally affected.

Known Superhuman Power: The original Spider-Woman possessed superhuman strength and endurance, an immunity to all toxic substances and radiations, and a metabolism which produced excessive bioelectricity which could be released in powerful discharges. These powers were the result of body-wide adaptations to the accelerated spider's blood, which had been injected in her as a child. Spider-Woman could lift (press) about 7 tons, and exert her maximum strength for about a hall hour before fatigue would begin to impair her performance. She was immune to all forms of metabolism-altering chemical substances, including non-corrosive poisons, alcohol, and other drugs. After a single exposure to a given substance (which would induce in her a short period of sickness or weakness), her body would metabolize and immunize itself against the foreign substance. Similarly, she became immune to radiation (at any wavelength higher than infrared) She scarified these immunity factors during a blood transfusion to save the life of Giant Man.

Spider-Woman's body constantly generated bioelectricity, which usually discharged itself from her skin in neglible amounts. She could, however, tap her body's total store of energy to emit a directed, bioelectric beam she called her "venom blast." This visible blast of electricity carded at maximum strength about 1/10 the charge of a lightning bolt of an equivalent length. After every discharge, she would have to wait a period of time (dependent upon the quantity and power of the "venom blasts" she had used) before having sufficient strength to discharge another. The maximum distance at which she ever could direct a bioelectric charge is about 25 feet. At close range, she could release sufficient energy to kill an average-sized man or woman.

Spider-Woman (II)
Real Name: Unrevealed
Occupation: Former government agent, previous and current occupation unknown
Identity: Secret
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Other Aliases: None known
Place of Birth: Unrevealed, presumably in the United States
Marital Status: Unrevealed
Known Relatives: Known
Group Affiliation: Former member of Freedom Force
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: (in silhouette) MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS #6, (fully seen) MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS #7

History: As yet nothing has been revealed about the origin of the second Spider-Woman; even her true identity remains a mystery so far. (The original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, has retired from her career as a costumed adventurer.)

The second Spider-Woman was present in a suburb of Denver, Colorado when it was transported to a distant location in outer space by the alien Beyonder to become part of the Battleworld he created as the setting for the first of the so-called “secret wars.” Spider-Woman has claimed she has “good friends” living there; it is not known whether or not she herself made her home there. Seeing evidence of the fighting taking place on Battleworld among the superhuman beings whom the Beyonder had brought to the planet, Spider-Woman, in costume, sought out the team of superhuman champions from Earth and offered her assistance, which they accepted. She served as an effective member of their team, and, at the conclusion of the “secret war,” was, like most of her teammates, teleported back to Earth.

Spider-Woman was highly impressed by the Avengers and other superhuman champions beside whom she fought during the “secret war,” and wanted to be a costumed adventurer like them. Hence, she became a member of Freedom Force, the United States federal government’s team of superhuman agents, most of whom had formerly been wanted criminals belonging to the second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. National Security advisor Dr. Valerie Cooper insisted that Freedom Force accept Spider-Woman as a member, despite the reluctance of the Force’s leader, Mystique. But while serving in Freedom Force, Spider-Woman observed and disapproved of the cruelty of her new teammates.

After Quicksilver framed the then active members of the Avengers as criminals, Freedom Force was assigned to arrest those Avengers. Spider-Woman, who greatly admired the Avengers, was severely troubled by seeing the treatment they received from Freedom Force, Cooper, and National Security agent Henry Peter Gyrich. Gyrich had the Avengers incarcerated in a special prison for superhuman beings called the Vault. Spider-Woman went to the Vault wondering if she should do something to help the Avengers. She worried that doing so would mean that she would have to leave Freedom Force, and that Freedom Force would retaliate against her. Spider-Woman had decided not to intervene until she saw how the Avengers were treated at their trial, but then she accidentally set of an alarm. Now her presence was known, thinking she would never get another chance to do so, she decided to free the Avengers. She destroyed the controls for the feeding mechanisms in the team’s cells, enabling the Wasp to escape. All the Avengers were soon free and escaped the Vault. The Avengers finally cleared their names of wrongdoing, but Spider-Woman has fled. Her current whereabouts and activities are unknown.

Height: 5 ft. 9 in.
Weight 140 lbs.
Eye: Unrevealed
Hair: Reddish Blonde

Strength Level: Spider-Woman possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) at least 10 tons, although the limits of her strength still remain unknown.

Known Superhuman Powers: Spider-Woman apparently has the ability to mentally control the flux of inter-atomic attraction between molecular boundary layers. This ability to affect the attraction between surfaces is limited to Spider-Woman’s body (especially concentrated in her hands and feet) and another object, with an upper limit of several tons per finger. She can use this ability even through her costume’s gloves and boots.

Spider-Woman can also create a “web” of psionic energy through a combination of mental concentration and physical gesturing. She cannot cause the web to materialize instantly; instead, she must “weave” it through the means described above. The psionic web has great strength, but beings with sufficient superhuman strength can break through it.

Spider-Woman’s superhuman strength enables her to leap to great heights. The Limits of her leaping abilities are as yet unknown.

Storm
Real name: Ororo Munroe
Other aliases: (current) None, (former--in Kenya and Tanzania) "Beautiful Windrider"
Identity: Secret
Occupation: Adventurer, (former) "Goddess" to an African tribe, master thief
Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record. (She probably has a record as a juvenile offender in Egypt, but not under her true name.)
Place of birth: New York City, New York
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: David Munroe (father, deceased), N'Dare Munroe (mother, deceased), Ashake (ancestor, deceased)
Base of operations: (current) Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York State, (former) Cairo, Egypt; Kenya and Tanzania; X-Men headquarters, Australian outback
Group affiliation: (current) X-Men, (former) Leader of the Morlocks
First appearance: GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1

History: Storm is the descendant of an ancient line of African priestesses, all of whom have white hair, blue eyes, and the potential to wield magic. Her mother, N'Dare, was the princess of a tribe in Kenya. She married the American photojournalist David Munroe and moved with him to Manhattan, where Ororo was born.

When Ororo was six months old, she and her parents moved to Cairo, Egypt. Five years later, a bomb destroyed their home. Ororo's parents were killed, but she survived, buried under rubble near her mother's body. This traumatizing effect left Ororo with the severe claustrophobia that still afflicts her today.

Homeless and orphaned, Ororo, came under the tutelage of master thief Achmed el-Gibar. She became his prize pupil in thievery and in picking locks.

Years later, feeling a strong urge to go south, Ororo journeyed alone across the Sahara Desert and finally reached her ancestors' homeland, the Serengeti Plain, which lies in the modern nations of Kenya and Tanzania. By this time her mutant power to control the weather had emerged, and she used them to help the local tribes, who worshipped her as a goddess.

Ororo remained with the tribes for years until Professor Charles Xavier recruited her into the new team of X-Men he was assembling. She was given the code name "Storm" after her power to affect the weather. Except for brief periods away from the team, Storm has remained in the X-Men ever since and shares leadership of the X-Men with Cyclops.

Height: 5 ft. 11 in.
Weight: 127 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White

Strength level: Athlete

Flight speed: Subsonic (when propelled by winds)

Fighting skills: Excellent hand-to-hand combatant, trained by Wolverine

Special skills and abilities: Extraordinary ability at picking locks, excellent marksman with handguns

Known Superhuman Powers: Storm has the psionic ability to control the weather over limited areas. She can fly by creating winds strong enough to support her weight. Storm has limited immunity to extreme heat and cold.

Special limitations: Storm's psionic powers over the weather are affected by her emotions; hence, if she does not maintain control of her emotions, a fit of rage might induce a destructive storm. Also, Storm suffers from severe claustrophobia.

Other accessories: Storm carries lock picks.

Sunfire
Real Name: Shiro Yoshida
Other aliases: None
Identity: Secret, but known to the upper echelons of the Japanese Government
Occupation: (current) Adventurer, (former) Student
Legal status: Citizen of Japan with no criminal record
Place of birth: Agarashima, Japan
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Saburo Yoshida (father, deceased), Tomo Yoshida (uncle, deceased), Shingen Harada (first cousin, once removed, deceased), Mariko Yashida (second cousin), Keniuchio Harada (The Silver Samurai, second half-cousin) Note: the dominant branch of this family transliterates its name into English as "Yashida" while Sunfire's branch transliterates it as "Yoshida"
Base of operations: (current) Department H, Canada, (former) Yoshida ancestral home, Tokyo, Japan
Group affiliation: (current) Alpha Flight, (former) The X-Men, the Pacific Overlords
First appearance: X-MEN (first series) #64

History: Sunfire's mother, although many miles from the center of Hiroshima, was severely affected by the explosion of the atomic bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima towards the end of World War II. She was left a hopeless invalid and she died years later giving birth to her son Shiro. Shiro's father, Saburo Yoshida, was a diplomat who was one of postwar Japan's greatest statesmen. When Saburo was absent from home on diplomatic missions, Shiro was left in the care of SaburoÎs brother Tomo, who was, however, fanatically anti-American. Ironically, while Saburo labored to maintain good relations between the United States and Japan, Tomo taught Shiro to share his hatred of Americans, whom Shiro regarded as his mother's murderers.

Tomo came to suspect that Shiro was a superhumanly powered mutant due to the effect of radiation on his mother's genes. Tomo brought Shiro to a site in Hiroshima and had him pick up some of the still slightly radioactive soil there. Touching the soil somehow triggered Shiro's first major release of his power. Under his uncle's encouragement, Shiro vowed to avenge Japan's wartime defeat by using his powers against the United States. Shiro trained himself in the use of his powers, assumed the name Sunfire, and adopted a costume reminiscent of the Japanese rising sun emblem.

Sunfire went to the United States where he destroyed a monument at the United Nations and clashed with the X-Men as he attempted to destroy the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Saburo Yoshida was present and attempted to persuade Sunfire not to destroy the Capitol. While Sunfire listened to Saburo, Tomo Yoshida fatally shot the diplomat. Furious, Sunfire then killed his uncle. Charges were not pressed against Sunfire due to his diplomatic immunity, and the upper levels of the United States and Japanese governments kept his true identity secret, allowing him to return to Japan.

Sunfire's anti-Americanism has considerably lessened over the years, although his nationalist pride is still strong. Professor Charles Xavier invited Sunfire to join the X-Men, but after a single mission with them, Sunfire resigned for various reasons including his unwillingness to leave Japan, his preference for operating solo, and his lack of ambition to act as a full-time costumed adventurer. However, Sunfire remained an ally of the X-Men and worked with them on various occasions. He has used his powers on special missions for the Japanese government as well.

Though generally considered an ally by most American crimefighters, Sunfire once fell under the hypnotic influence of the criminal called Dr. Demonicus, and thus became a member of his so-called Pacific Overlords. This brought Sunfire into conflict with the Avengers' West Coast branch (now defunct), and, fortunately, he was freed from Demonicus's thrall with the Avengers' aid. Sunfire returned to performing missions for his government as needed.

Recently, Sunfire was recruited by Department H, the recently reactivated branch of the Canadian Ministry of Defense, as a member of their government-sponsored super hero team, Alpha Flight.

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 175 lbs.
Eyes: Dark brown
Hair: Black

Strength level: Peak human

Fighting skills: Trained in karate and Japanese Samurai swordsmanship, kendo; expert in combat.

Known Superhuman Powers: Sunfire is a mutant with the power to ionize matter (usually air) through a mentally triggered unknown biochemical process so that it is converted to plasma, the super-heated state of matter. Plasma is the state in which matter making up the sun exists; hence, Sunfire refers to his projecting "solar fire." Sunfire can generate plasma temperatures which match those that can be generated by the Human Torch, reaching about 1,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit at maximum level. Sunfire can temporarily exhaust his power by using it for too long a time, or at too high a level. The amount of the time he needs to rebuild his power depends on the extent to which he has used it. For example, achieving his maximum temperature would immediately exhaust his powers, and he would need an unspecified number of hours to rebuild his powers to their normal level.

Sunfire can use his powers to create super-heated air currents which push him forward through the air, enabling him to fly. Sometimes this super-heated air is visible as a trail of flame behind Sunfire. The upper limit to the speed Sunfire can achieve in flight is not yet known, although it is known to be greater than that of the Angel, who can reach 150 miles per hour.

It is unknown whether Sunfire emits radiation when he utilizes his power. If he does, he is protected from at least its short-range effects by a psionic force field which automatically comes into being whenever Sunfire uses his power. The force field protects Sunfire from the intense heat he generates, as well as from air friction, and also prevents excessive amounts of light from the plasma from reaching his eyes so as to blind or damage them. Sunfire could be harmed by heat from another source if he was taken by surprise, and if he was not using his plasma powers at the time. Sunfire's force field is sufficiently powerful to protect him from Cyclops' quasi-solar optic blast. It is not known whether it can protect him from solid objects.