| Carol Ferris | |
|---|---|
 Carol Ferris Art by Ivan Reis |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | as Carol Ferris: Showcase #22 (Sep-Oct 1959) as Star Sapphire: Green Lantern v2 #16 (Oct 1962) |
| Created by | John Broome Gil Kane |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Carol Ferris |
| Team affiliations | Zamarons Justice League Star Sapphires |
| Notable aliases | Star Sapphire, Predator |
| Abilities | (As Star Sapphire) Flight, Repelling Ray, Mind Over Matter (similar to a Green Lantern power ring) |
Carol Ferris is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. She is one of many characters who has used the name Star Sapphire, and is a long-time love interest of Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern.
Contents |
Character history
Early history
As Ferris Aircraft's Vice President, Carol Ferris, the only child of aerospace mogul Carl Ferris, hired Hal Jordan and quickly found herself attracted to the fearless test pilot, who was secretly the superhero Green Lantern. However, the young couple’s romance quickly became complicated when Carol took over the company from her father and the Zamarons crowned her the new Star Sapphire. When the Zamarons discovered that she was in love with Green Lantern, a servant of their estranged friends, the Guardians of the Universe, they sent her to defeat Green Lantern in battle as Star Sapphire.
Over the years, Star Sapphire and Green Lantern would duel again and again, but each time Jordan would defeat Ferris and revert her to normal.
Secret Origin
The Green Lantern: Secret Origin storyline revised parts of Carol and Hal's history. In this retelling, the two first met when they were eight, as they watched Hal's father, Carl Ferris's best friend, experience mechanical problems with his plane. With a choice between crash landing in Coast City, or the nearby desert, Hal's father chose to fly into the desert.[1] Over the years, the guilt over what had happened ate away at Carol's father, eventually driving him to sickness, forcing Carol to give up her dream of being a pilot, and take over as CEO of Ferris Air. Unwilling to have people know of her father's illness, Carol told them that he had retired to Miami. When Hal, who had hated Ferris for what had happened, discovered the truth, he and Carol found solace in each other's grief.[2] However, their relationship is stifled by Carol's refusal to date employees.[3]
Predator
When Carol Ferris was cured of her evil Star Sapphire persona, she developed a third subconscious identity, the male "Predator". Deprived of Hal Jordan's love at the time, Carol found everything she wanted from a man in the Predator - masculinity, strength, and care. Physically separated from Carol's body, the Predator repeatedly appeared as a mysterious figure, protecting Carol's beloved company Ferris Aircraft from the threats of Eclipso, the Demolition Team and Jason Bloch. He also established the company Intercontinental Petroleum (Con-Trol) to let her regain control of Ferris Aircraft. Finally, the Predator started to court Carol (who did not know that the Predator was a part of herself) and battled Hal Jordan for her love. Hal defeated the Predator and witnessed him merging with Carol into Star Sapphire.
Later, the Predator reappeared and revealed that he was actually an ancient parasite from the planet Maltus. With Jordan powerless, the Predator transformed Carol into a totally evil incarnation of Star Sapphire (who eventually murdered Katma Tui), and he impregnated Star Sapphire with a demonic entity.
Still later, Carol became the administrator of Extreme Justice's Mount Thunder facility.[4] Soon, both the Predator and Star Sapphire were completely separated from Carol, and Star Sapphire actually gave birth to the child. It was revealed that Carol Ferris and Star Sapphire are two separate beings, and Sapphire was not Carol transformed as had previously been believed, but some sort of energy-based being who inhabited Carol's body. Shortly afterwards, the parents (Predator and Star Sapphire) were killed by Neron, who departed with their baby in his arms. (Extreme Justice #10-11)
An entity named (by Scar) as "the Predator" was later revealed as one of the manifestations in the emotional spectrum; the living embodiment of love. The entity was held by the Zamarons on their home world.[5] until freed during Sinestro's liberation of his yellow lanterns during Blackest Night
End of Star Sapphire
In Green Lantern Vol. 3 #119, Hal (as the Spectre) decides to visit Carol. He makes himself visible and tells Carol he is going to help her, but that she won't remember his visit. He reaches into Carol and pulls out the Star Sapphire gem, which causes Star Sapphire herself to re-emerge (it appeared she was previously killed by Neron, but somehow a part of her survived in Carol). The Spectre detains Star Sapphire and puts her back into the gem. He hands the gem to Carol and lets her finish the job, which she does (essentially finally killing the Star Sapphire persona that would take control of her), and starts feeling much better.
In Green Lantern: Rebirth #6, Hal and Carol finally come to terms with their relationship. In Northern California at Ferris Aircraft, Carol Ferris asks Hal whether he remembers anything from when he was the Spectre. Hal says he remembers it as if he were watching it from the outside. How Spectre thinks, and who he talked to beyond this life, Hal can't recall. Hal apologizes for everything Carol had to go through. Carol says she survived and that she's not going to sell the airbase. She says that if Hal can rebuild his life, so can she and that she's going to do so with her husband, Gil. Carol says that she can use a good pilot. Hal says that he appreciates the offer, but he has other plans.
Return
The Star Sapphire crystal briefly possesses Carol, before detecting that Hal Jordan had feelings for his fellow pilot, Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman, and leaves Carol's body.[6] She and Hal work together to free Cowgirl from the crystal.[7] Knowing that she still loves Hal and knowing that it isn't fair to her husband, she files a divorce in order to win back the man she truly loves.[8]
The Star Sapphires, sensing the heartache Carol has been carrying over Hal, (Hal quit because he could not be near her without wanting to be with her and Carol does not date employees) send a violet power ring to her, transforming her into one of their number. She is seen wearing her original Star Sapphire costume, reciting the Corps' oath along with various other members of the Star Sapphires.[9]
The Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps miniseries sheds light on the exchange between Carol and the violet ring sent to her. The ring reveals that all those chosen to wield the violet light must accept it willingly (this appears to overcome the controlling aspect of the violet light). The ring tells Carol that she has a hole in her heart but Carol continues to deny it. The ring tells Carol that she has continually put aside her own happiness for the benefit of others. Because she is capable of doing this Carol could become the most powerful Star Sapphire in the universe and that the Zamarons recognized this and sent her the ring with the intention of having Carol lead the entire Star Sapphire army into battle alongside the Green Lantern Corps. Carol still refuses to accept the ring but the ring shows her a vision of the War of Light and indicates that Hal Jordan will not survive, and tells her that by accepting the ring she can save him. Still having feelings for Hal, Carol accepts and is called back to Zamaron by Queen Aga'po where Carol's army awaits to defend the planet from the approaching Sinestro Corps.[10]
In her first battle Carol questions why she is here in the first place. Then she takes on Sinestro who says that he has never held ill will toward Carol and wonders why she is doing this for a man who has never truly given his heart toward her. The two engage in a fight and are equally matched until Carol attempts to encase him in one of the brainwashing crystals that the Zamarons use to "recruit" new followers. Sinestro lashes out after witnessing a vision of Arin Sur, his former love, blasting Carrol across the batle field where she's subdued by two other Yellow lanterns and Sinestro himself. However before he could capitalise on the advantage, the Black Lanterns invade, led by Amon Sur, shocking both Carol and Sinestro.[11] The two are rescued from certain death by Hal and the Indigo Tribe. The group escape Zamaron moments before Black Lantern rings reanimated the bodies of the two beings whose love fueled the Star Sapphire's central power battery, devastating the planet in the process. For some reason, the loss of the Star Sapphire's power source did not seem to affect Carol's powers.[12]
Powers
As a civillian, Carol is a capable pilot and administrator.
As Star Sapphire, she can use her gem of power to fly and to hurl blasts of force nearly equal to the power of Green Lantern's ring. Moreover, the Sapphire bestows upon her a certain amount of invulnerability and allows her to survive in airless space.
During the most recent battle with Star Sapphire Carol was temporarily empowered by Hal's ring granting her strength and a certain degree of invulnerability. During this Carol was clad in a version of her Sapphire uniform but with Green Lantern design. These powers were provided by exposure to Hal's power ring and were temporary. Carol now wields a violet power ring as a member of the Star Sapphires, which replicates her original powers as Star Sapphire to a degree as well. Despite being helplessly overwhelmed before, Carol's previous exposures to the Star Sapphire's power are assumed to have given her a certain tolerance to the violet ring's current influence.
In other media
Film
- Carol appears in the animated DVD film Justice League: The New Frontier voiced by Brooke Shields. In the film she doesn't have any superpowers, as she is not shown becoming Star Sapphire (although Star Sapphire is shown in full costume at the end of the film, during U.S. President John F. Kennedy's speech). She begins a romance with Hal Jordan right after he becomes one of her company's new pilots. Conversely, Star Sapphire appears several times in Justice League Unlimited and its predecessor series, but is never identified as Carol Ferris.
- Carol had an appearance in the Warner Premiere animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight voiced by Olivia d'Abo. In the film, Carol is still Hal Jordan's employer but they're also having a relationship before Jordan becomes Green Lantern.
External links
- Carol Ferris Profile
- Emerald Dawn.com: Star Sapphire Biography
- GL Corps.org: Star Sapphire Biography
- GL Freak: Star Sapphire Biography
- Oracle Files: Star Sapphire
- Star Sapphire Rapsheet
- The Unofficial Carol Ferris Biography
- The Unofficial Predator Biography
- The Unofficial Star Sapphire II (Carol Ferris) Biography
References
- ^ Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #29 (March 2008)
- ^ Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #34 (August 2008)
- ^ Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #35 (October 2008)
- ^ Beatty, Scott (2008), "Extreme Justice", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 117, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #43 (July 2009)
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #18 (March 2007)
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #19 (May 2007)
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #20 (May 2007)
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #38 (February 2009)
- ^ Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2 (July 2009)
- ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #45 (August 2009)
- ^ Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #46
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
