They say the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. I find that to be somewhat less true when the apple can fly and has heat vision. Welcome to Ten Things: Ten Parent/Child Super Pairs!
Whooshman-Bicarbonate Films, in conjunction with An Amateur Comics Historian and Franklin Richards, Presents:
TEN THINGS: TEN PARENT/CHILD SUPER PAIRS!
10) ZATANNA
One of the few magical superheroes to actually feel like a superhero, Zatanna Zatara was raised by a stage magician and thus possesses an innate talent for performing and a keen sense of justice. She’s also quite stylish, even in her ’80s costume, which I firmly believe gets mocked mostly because people love fishnet stockings. She began her career as a stage magician, later discovering that she has actual magical powers, thanks to her unique parentage. Her mother, Sindella, was an extradimensional creature from a race known as the Homo Magi, and as for her dad?
ZATARA
One of the earliest heroes of the DC Universe, Giovanni Zatara (John to his friends) was also raised as part of the Zatara family tradition, as his father Luigi was also famous for his sleight-of-hand. While investigating his reputed ancestor, Leonardo da Vinci, Zatara discovered that he could perform true magic by speaking backwards. A member of the wartime All-Star Squadron, Zatara adventured for decades, eventually perishing while trying to fight off the source of all evil.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of his story…
9) ROGUE SUN
First seen during an interdimensional crossover with Radiant Black and Inferno Girl Red, Marcus Bell was well-established as a superhero even then. The protector of New Orleans, Rogue Sun used his pyrokinetic powers to great effect, becoming known as one of the greatest heroes of his world. His mystical Sun Stone is actually an ancient artifact, having been passed down from one bearer to the next for years, as it was when Marcus was killed in battle.
ROGUE SUN
That death, by the way, took place in issue #1, which was also only Marcus’ second appearance, so… It was a bit of a shock. The Sun Stone’s story wasn’t done yet, though, as Marcus’ estranged son Dylan Siegel inherited it and the mantle of Rogue Sun. That also includes Marcus’ various villains and an extended family, including a stepmother that he finds overbearing and a pair of half-siblings who aren’t entirely sure why Dylan gets to be the family hero.
8) FURY
After the scrambling of the DC Multiverse by the Flashpoint retcon, a new Earth-2 arose, one where Darkseid was successful in his bid to destroy Earth’s most powerful defenders. As the right-hand woman of her father, Steppenwolf, Fury was daddy’s pride and joy, trained in multiple combat techniques, ruthless and more than willing to crack skulls without asking any questions. She was eventually sent to find Mister Miracle, which brought her into opposition with Big Barda, and revealed her real name.
Donna of Amazon Island.
WONDER WOMAN
One of the Wonders of the World, Earth-2’s greatest heroes, Diana was also the first hero to go public, some years after her forbidden affair with a stranger called Steppenwolf. Wonder Woman and her teammates Superman and Batman were killed in the war with Apokalips, and I’ve never been 100% clear on whether she knew that her daughter, Donna, had survived, much less than she was being trained to kill in Darkseid’s hellish fire-pits.
7) ASTRA
As the child of two famous superhumans, Astra Furst has grown up in the spotlight, battling various evil folks since she was a toddler. At the age of ten, she vowed to live a normal life, running away from home to go to a regular school, eventually coming to realize that nobody is really normal. After college, Astra balances her duties with the First Family (including her mother, father, grandpa, and cousins) and membership in the super-team, Reflex 6, where she works with friends her own age.
REX
As the crown prince of Monstro City, Rex Zorus watched his mother clash with the First Family regularly as the villain Madame Majestrix. It’s not entirely clear how it happened, but that also led to him falling in love with Natalie Furst, eventually joining the super-team, marrying her, and starting a family, all while punching evil directly in the mouth with his saurian fists. An interesting balance of nobility and brutality, Rex loves his wife and daughter unconditionally, making him an unexpectedly wholesome razor-clawed dinosaur man.
6) THE CRIMSON CRUSADER
Discovering his powers at age 13, Rory Destine immediately knew his fate was to be Britain’s greatest superhero. Convincing his twin sister to join him, he secretly fought crime as The Crimson Crusader for several months before being caught by his caretaker and “uncle.” When unknown enemies began targeting him and all his family, Rory discovered that Uncle Wally was, in truth, his biological sibling, as were all his other aunts and uncles and also the woman he knew as his grandma.
As for his dad?
ADAM
Adam Destine’s name is quite fitting, as he is the first man of the seemingly endless and essentially immortal Clan Destine. At the age of 16, sometime in the mid-12th century, he was fatally wounded in combat, only to revive, raving about an angel that saved him. In fact, what he had seen was the genii Elalyth, who not only returned him to health, but made him completely impervious to pain, injury, or harm. Permanently frozen as a beautiful young man, Adam traveled the world, fighting, loving, and making for some very awkward family reunions.
5) FIGHTING YANK, JR.
Raised by honorary uncle, Pyroman, Brenda Carter inherited a magic cloak from her father that gives her superhuman strength and invulnerability. Unfortunately, her dad also disappeared from her life, focusing on his role as the world’s premier superhero and never dealing with the trauma that was the loss of Brenda’s mother. Now that she has reached the age of 18, Fighting Yank, Jr. is a member of the Agents of E.A.R.T.H. (Emergency Anti-Alien Response Team Headquarters), the team that her absent dad helped to found. Awkwaaaard.
FIGHTING YANK
Empowered by a Revolutionary War ancestor, Bruce Carter III originally wore Brenda’s magical cloak, but eventually internalized and increased that power, becoming really super, man. His attempts to protect the world from alien threats have been more successful than his interpersonal skills.
All the Agents of E.A.R.T.H. are updated takes on Nedor Comics’ stable of Golden Age characters, and originally appeared in AC Comics Femforce as the Agents of N.E.D.O.R. (New Earth Defense Organization Reserve).
4) FIREHAWK
A hero of Earth-9, as seen in the pages of Tangent Comics, Lourdes Dey is a refugee from the future, having traveled back from the year 2030 to stop the series of events that will end the world. Unfortunately, no one believes their warnings of impending doom, forcing Firehawk and the rest of the Doom Patrol to take matters into their own hands.
DOOMSDAY
Dr. Deidre Dey, dubbed Doomsday by naysayers who refuse to believe her when she says she’s from the future and that the world will end, is self-assured to the point of Captain-Ahab-like focus on her goal. It’s a real shame that Earth-9’s timeline seems to be a closed loop where her mad flight to the past accomplished absolutely nothing,
That sort of grimness is exactly why I never really connected with the Tangent books.
3) U-GO GIRL
The prettiest girl in her nowhere hometown, Edie Sawyer wanted to get out of there so badly that she started waking up in strange places, having teleported there in her sleep. After getting pregnant at age 15, Edie thought that she’d be stuck there forever, so she skipped town immediately after giving birth, leaving her daughter Katie to be raised by her parents as her younger sister. Her versatile teleportation powers made her a key member of the X-Force team, even as the ravages of fame and fortune took their toll on her. U-Go Girl eventually died in combat, with her last words renaming the team as X-Statix.
GONE GAL
Having grown into a teenager with no sign of mutant powers, Katie Sawyer encountered Dead Girl, one of U-Go Girl’s teammates, who told her the truth about her parentage… and of her X-gene. The very next day, Katie woke up pale blue and began teleporting in her sleep. When Edie’s friends approached her, offering her the spot that her mother had as X-Statix’s team teleporter, she initially wanted no part of it, only joining when the evil mutant team The X-Cellent tried to kidnap her for THEIR squad.
2) THE RED HOOD
In the dystopian future world of Earth-22, the setting of Kingdom Come, Lian Harper mastered the bow, just like her father, once Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy. Unlike her pops, though, Red Hood (named for Little Red Riding Hood and not Batman’s old foe) didn’t join Superman’s Justice League, instead allying with Batman and Lex Luthor(!!) in the Mankind Liberation Front, working to eliminate superhumans entirely.
It kind of worked?
RED ARROW
Lian’s father, Roy Harper, grew up to be the spitting image of his mentor and adoptive dad, Green Arrow, to the point of wearing that hero’s impossible facial hair. An early convert to Superman’s quasi-fascist Justice League, Red Arrow (UGH) fought against the influx of nihilistic young metahuman terrorists but was killed along with most of the world’s superhuman population when the United Nations dropped a nuclear weapon on them during a big, climactic battle royale.
I told you, it kinda worked.
1) PHYLA-VELL
An alternate version of the Kree hero from Earth-18897, Phyla was her reality’s Captain Marvel, marrying her lover Moondragon and fighting together against all manner of evil. She was dragged into the lives of the Earth-616 Guardians of the Galaxy by accident, while in pursuit of her world’s Reality Gem. Phyla and Moondragon were stranded in that reality, joining the Guardians and watching in horror as her wife merged her essence with prime Moondragon. Phyla-Vell has since vowed to repair their relationship and get to know her new composite spouse.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
A member of the Kree army whose mission on Earth was one of conquest, Mar-Vell’s journey to hero was a long and complicated one. Eventually, he was granted cosmic awareness and made the Protector of the Universe, as well as graduating to this awesome red and blue suit from his original hideous green one. But none of that made him immortal, and he eventually succumbed to lung cancer after exposure to toxic materials in battle with Nitro. Mar-Vell died childless, but his lover, a scientist known as Elysius, took her DNA and Mar-Vell’s to birth not just Phyla-Vell but her brother, Genis-Vell, another who carried the Captain Marvel name.
There is no word on whether he has other children named Speci-Vell, Fami-Vell, Orde-Vell, Cla-Vell, Kingdo-Vell, or Domai-Vell, but when it comes to superhero comics, you should never say never. I mean, we have Indigo Lanterns now.
Once again, this week’s topic, Ten Parent/Child Super Pairs, is all me but feel free to follow along @MightyKingCobra to suggest a topic of your own! There’s always more Ten Things madness on my Twitter or check out the full Ten Things archive here! As with any set of like items, these aren’t meant to be hard and fast or absolutely complete, if only because kids always seem to get their parents’ super-powers, one way or another. Either way, the comments section is below for just such an emergency, but, as always: Please, no wagering!
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