Starfire is the name of several fictional comic book characters published by DC Comics. The most prominent Starfire is Koriand'r, the third character to use that name. She debuted in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980), and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez .
Publication history
The design of the character (Koriand'r) incorporated aspects of many existing characters, artist George Perez talking about the creator of the character noted that
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...I figured based on the description, was Red Sonja in outer space, so she ended up having a visual cue from that. When Joe Orlando passed by and saw the character sketches he suggested that maybe her hair should be longer. That I took to the ninth degree and gave her the Mighty Mouse contrail. [1] |
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Fictional character biography
Koriand'r is a princess of the planet Tamaran in the fictional Vegan system, and was in line to rule the planet as Queen. Komand'r ("commander", also known as Blackfire), her older sister, developed a bitter rivalry with her after suffering a disease in infancy that robbed her of the ability to harness solar energy to allow her to fly, and by extension, her right to the throne. This rivalry continued and intensified when the siblings were sent for warrior training with the Warlords of Okaara. Things came to a head during a sparring exercise in which Komand'r attempted to kill her sister. As a result, Komand'r was expelled and she swore vengeance.
That revenge came in a plot where Komand'r betrayed her planet by supplying detailed information about Tamaran's defenses to their enemies, the Citadel. They conquered Tamaran with ease, and the surrender conditions included the enslavement of Koriand'r, who was never permitted to return, since that would mean the Citadel would devastate the planet for abrogating the treaty. To Kory's horror, she learned that Komand'r was her master; Koriand'r's older sister made the most of her sibling's bondage with years of horrific servitude and torture. When Koriand'r killed one of her captors, Komand'r decided to execute her as punishment, but the sisters were attacked and captured by the Psions. Psions, a group of sadistic alien scientists, performed a deadly experiment on both sisters to see how much energy their Tamaranean bodies could absorb before exploding from the overload. During the procedure, Komand'r's forces attacked the Psion ship to retrieve her. While the Psions were distracted, Kory broke free using her starbolts - destructive blasts of solar energy - which were a result of the experimentation. Against her better judgment, she decided to free Komand'r, who was still absorbing energy. However, far from grateful, Komand'r struck her sister down with the same, but more intense, power, and had her restrained for later execution.
Kory escaped by seducing one of the guards and stole a spacecraft to flee to the nearest planet, Earth, where she met the first Robin and his compatriots; she joined them in forming the Teen Titans. She became a charter member of this team and remained a member for years; during this time she was frequently romantically involved with Robin.
Koriand'r displays the traits of Tamaran's joy-seeking culture, coupled with a no-nonsense warrior attitude. For a time, Koriand'r had a career as a fashion model.
Marriage
Koriand'r has been married twice, both times to Tamaranean men: once to the prince Karras to seal a peace treaty, and once to General Phy'zzon out of duty. Karras died in battle, while Phy'zzon died trying to defend new Tamaran against the Sun Eater. In between these, she nearly married Dick Grayson, but their wedding was interrupted by Raven (who was evil at the time). Raven murdered the priest before he could pronounce Dick and Kory husband and wife. The relationship was already on unsteady ground, with Kory fearing that Dick was rushing into marriage and also concerned by the anti-alien sentiments that sprang up in response to the news of the impending nuptials.
In the Titans of Tomorrow storyline, Batwoman said that Starfire would have a wonderful future with Nightwing. The half-blood Mar'i Grayson was born from their union in the Kingdom Come timeline.
Mentor
Starfire has served as mentor/teacher to the latest roster of Titans. She joined the Outsiders in Fall 2005 at the request of Jade and to be closer to Nightwing as asked by Batwoman.
Infinite Crisis
During Infinite Crisis, Starfire joined Donna's New Cronus Team that went to investigate a hole in the universe that was found during the Rann-Thanagar War. They arrived at the re-set center of the universe and with the help of an assorted heroes aided in the defeat of Alexander Luthor, who was attempting to re-create the multiverse and build a perfect Earth from it. She is reported missing at the end of the crisis.
52
On the seventh day of the fifth week of 52, Starfire is shown to be stranded on a paradise-like planet with Animal Man and Adam Strange. In the same issue, it was revealed that energy ripples caused by Alexander Luthor Jr. altered the Zeta Ray Beams the space heroes were going to use to return home; it has led, among other things, Koriand'r, Adam and Buddy to be teleported together on this place.
A week and some time later, Starfire has been eating an odd narcotic native fruit. Luckily, Adam's tough love seems to snap her out of it, or at least make her stop eating the fruit. She then flies off to "clear her head." Two days later, Devilance, a being whose presence Buddy had sensed earlier, appears to Starfire. A week, two days and two nights later, Adam and Buddy go looking for her. Unfortunately, they find her caught in a large net, hanging from above. Just as Buddy realizes it's a trap, he and Adam get caught in a similar net, with Devilance staring at them. Three days and two nights later, Starfire awakens to find herself hanging upside down by vines beside Buddy, who's in the same position. Starfire says that the whole planet, from the fruit to the vines that are binding them, was set up by Devilance. She says she's had enough and works together with her comrades to distract Devilance. She pays Devilance back for capturing her by stealing his staff and striking him with it before catching up with Buddy and Adam. As the trio head back to the ship, hoping to use the staff as a power source, Devilance broods, bound by the same vines he had used to restrain his captives.
At the end of week 16, the repairs on the ship are completed and the trio take off for Earth. On week 17, day 2, the ship encounters an asteroid field and Starfire attempts to help clear a path for the ship. Two days later, hope seems lost as they have yet to navigate the asteroids and Adam reveals that the ship doesn't have the resources to make it back to Earth. That night, Starfire talks with Buddy about him missing his family and when he "[saw] the whole universe." While Buddy professes a belief in an underlying order to things, Starfire counters that "On Tamaran, we're taught to make our own destiny..." Suddenly, Devilance attacks the ship and takes back his lance. Just as Devilance is about to destroy the ship, he is torn apart by Lobo.
Believing he is going to attack them next, Starfire goes out to negotiate. She convinces Lobo to help the trio by offering payment, but not before he rips her top off. She returns to the ship to explain the situation to her companions while Lobo hitches the ship to his space bike. Animal Man lends Starfire his shirt to cover herself. Starfire also explains that Lobo has apparently found religion, has turned his back on violence and, apparently, needs their help. They follow Lobo in his new stronghold in Sector 3500, a sector of space mysteriously ravaged, and ruled by Lobo acting as religious man. To save him, and the inhabitants, from a swarm of strange creatures, Starfire is forced to use the Emerald Eye of Ekron, alerting Ekron himself. The ragtag team is then forced to flee, with Lobo acting as their guide, gaining Ekron's help and discovering their real enemy, Lady Styx, bringing havok and mayhem in the entire Galaxy. Starfire agrees to fight her, and she is brought as a prisoner of the galactic villainess by Lobo, in an attempt to foil her defences. The attempt succeeds, but Buddy is seemingly killed, and Lobo leaves.
Starfire and Adam are left alone in space, their ship slowly breaking apart, still pursued by angry Lady Styx followers. Starfire is badly injured, and a blind Adam Strange, who is reliant on machinery which is no longer useful, cannot do anything to help her. Just as they're going to crash into a sun, however, Mogo and a rookie Green Lantern come to their rescue. Cured, but still recovering, she travels to Earth in order to return Buddy's jacket back to his wife Ellen, unaware that Buddy was resurrected and arrived on Earth shortly before her. Upon her return, she manages to destroy two of Lady Styx's followers who were attacking Buddy and his wife. She then returns Buddy's jacket to his wife, before passing out from exhaustion and is left in the care of The Baker Family.
Countdown to Adventure
Starfire, Adam Strange, and Animal Man are fated to join forces again in the coming Countdown to Adventure eight-issue Miniseries. [2] In issue one of the series, Starfire is still sleeping, apparently recharging her energy. When she awakens she discovers her powers have gone but rather than seek help to get them back, she decides to make an attempt at a normal life. Buddy invites her to stay with the family as an after-school sitter despite Ellen's discomfort with how close Buddy and Starfire seem. This worsens when Buddy's son attacks Kory whilst under the effects of Lady Styx's virus. Animal Man's decision to follow Starfire rather than watch over his son in hospital leads Ellen to ask if he is in love with her, to which Buddy does not reply. Despite the loss of her powers, Starfire demonstrates her combat abilities as she and Animal Man fight off crowds of people infected by the virus.
They are later trapped in San Diego with the infectees where they are joined by the Teen Titans who are trying to break through a force field to get to the Healers ship. After seemingly curing a mob of people infected by Lady Styx's virus, they test the cure by reflecting concentrated sunlight on Animal Man's son, which happens to work. Buddy Baker is immediately captured by the Healers soon after, naming Buddy, "Patient Zero". After Buddy is captured, Ellen joins Starfire to save Animal Man from dissection. They are then interrupted by more victims of the Lady Styx virus. Alanna and Adam Strange arrive at the scene via the Zeta Beam and meets up with Starfire and Ellen Baker. The zeta beam which they used to teleport to earth caused the force field around San Diego to become permeable at the area the teleported from. Alanna then blasts through the permeable force field and enters the Healer's ship. They then save Buddy and teleport with the aid of the zeta beam to Rann to restore Starfire's powers. After being teleported to Rann, Starfire recharges her powers and rids Rann of the Lady Styx virus.
Adam and Champ start fighting each other, which is later ended by Buddy stopping them. The team finds out that the sterilization is taking place in San Diego. Starfire uses her powers to heal the people, and is later seen leaving the Baker household for parts unknown. Starfire, Animal Man, Ellen and Adam Strange are teleported by a broken zeta beam to Earth. Buddy uses alien languages to communicate with the Healers. The Healers then stop the sterilizers from attacking. Starfire attempts to rid the disease but is soon tackled by Champ Hazard into the ground. Adam Strange blasts Champ off Kory and she cures San Diego of the Lady Styx virus. She then leaves the Baker's household to return to the Titans.
Rann-Thanagar Holy War
Main article:
Rann-ThanagarThe trio again join forces in the Rann-Thanagar Holy war. Adam Strange Zeta beams Starfire and Animal Man from Titans tower to Rann, after a meeting at Titans Tower. Apparently the belief of Lady Styx still remained even after the virus has been eliminated. Their plan is to use a telepath to show the horror of Lady Styx.
Titans Together
After the apparent defeat of Lady Styx, Starfire once again returned back to Animal Man's home, where she was recovering from her recent adventures and regaining control of her returned powers. One afternoon, while sunbathing, she and Animal Man's son were attacked by a water demon in Buddy's swimming pool. Meanwhile, her old Titan teammates had also been attacked by assorted demonic entities. This led to Starfire, Nightwing, Troia, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Flash and Red Arrow, to reassemble as a team, when they realized that the attacks are the result of a resurrected Trigon and his newly discovered three sons. While investigating, the Titans began to experience unexplained mood-shifts. For Starfire and Nightwing, they were overwhelmed by lust, and ended up having abrupt sex in the middle of their investigation.
Soon after, the team met up in New York's Central Park, where they attempted to recover from these mood-shifts and realize that each shift coincided with one of the seven deadly sins. The team was then approached by the Sons of Trigon. They battled the villainous prodigy, and drove them away. Starfire and Nightwing then discuss their actions while under the influence of Trigon's sons. While Nightwing shows hints at wanting to renew their relationship, Starfire questions his commitment to the relationship and goes so far as to ask Nightwing whether or not he truly still loves her. Nightwing to his own surprise and reluctance admits he does not, leading to them for now leaving their reunion in doubt (albeit that of one with a measure of hope).
Most recently, she has been captured and turned into a Justifier, as seen in Final Crisis: Resist. She has since been freed.
Powers and abilities
Like all Tamaraneans, Starfire's alien physiology constantly absorbs ultraviolet radiation and converts it to energy for flight, which leaves a distinctive energy contrail behind, looking as if it is coming directly from her hair. The solar absorption experiments performed on her by the alien Psions granted her the ability to channel and project that same energy into destructive blasts called "starbolts". As shown in the "Insiders" crossover story arc (Teen Titans and Outsiders)[volume & issue needed], Starfire can also release a tremendous amount of stored energy as a powerful omni-directional explosive burst, many times more powerful than her standard blasts. The released energy leaves her in a weakened state. Starfire possesses superhuman strength - even though Starfire is not as strong as Wonder Woman or Supergirl[citation needed], the uppermost level of her strength is not known as yet, but it is much greater than that of normal human beings; early promotional materials referred to her as having the strength of "eight men"[citation needed].
Starfire is also capable of assimilating other languages through physical contact with another person. When she attempts to do so with males, she usually kisses them because it is more fun for her. She is also extremely proficient in armed and unarmed combat, having been trained in those arts by the Warlords of Okaara.
Other versions
Red Star
The first DC Comics character to use the name Starfire was Leonid Kovar, a Russian national. In his second appearance in New Teen Titans #18 (1982) he changed his name to "Red Star" in acknowledgment of Starfire's appropriation of the title.
Sornaii Champion
The second DC Comics character to use the name Starfire was a dark haired woman. The character's series took place on a strange alien world called Pytharia.
Elseworlds
Tangent Comics
Other media
Television
Teen Titans animated series
Starfire appears in the Teen Titans Animated Series, voiced by Hynden Walch. She is the only Titan in the series who does not have a season focusing on her own storyline[citation needed]. Instead, she has her own storyline scattered in different episodes throughout all five seasons, in which she deals with her arch-foe and sister Blackfire (also voiced by Hynden Walch), the responsibilities of being a princess, and her insecurities about being an alien on Earth.
Starfire was born and raised on the distant planet Tamaran before arriving on Earth and joining the Teen Titans. Her race, the Tamaraneans, are an emotional race who see feelings as the force that drives their very livelihood. Their emotions fuel their natural abilities of flight and superhuman strength, as well as Starfire's energy blasts, called starbolts. Her race is also highly resilient to radiation [4] Because of this, Starfire is inherently the most sensitive of the Titans[citation needed]. The animated Starfire also has the ability to travel faster-than-light without a ship, as well as the ability to breathe in outer space and survive in its vacuum for considerable periods of time, though extreme weather is still known to harm her, along with her inability to breathe water, as shown in Deep Six. (first mentioned in Divide and Conquer, and used in Transformation).
Starfire's background also has some similarities with her comic version. In the flashback episode "Go!", which tells the founding of the Titans in their animated continuity, Starfire is held prisoner as a "prize" by a group of Gordanian slave masters, working for an interstellar power known as the Citadel. She manages to escape and flees to the closest planet, which happens to be Earth. Starfire runs into Robin and the other soon-to-be Titans who help her fight off the Gordanian forces pursuing her. After the battle, Starfire elects to stay on Earth with the Titans.
This version of Starfire is naïve (but not stupid), innocent and somewhat insecure, but it is this trait that endears her to others, especially to Robin, who takes time out to explain the ways of Earth to her. An alien and an outsider, she is still new to Earth and its customs (she did not understand the slang term "digging" the very first time it was used and had never heard of the term "jig") , which serves as a recurring source of comic relief. This leads to much confusion for her and others, such as the awkwardness in casually drinking mustard as a soft drink, wanting a pizza with "pickles, bannanas and mint frosting" or sleeping with her head hanging off the foot of the bed and her feet on the pillow. Presumably because English is not her first language, Starfire speaks without contractions, and misuses idioms (e.g. "Kick the butt!" as opposed to "Kick butt!" or "The mall of shopping" instead of "shopping mall" as well as "lobstery" instead of "crabby"). Additionally, she uses several Tamaranean nouns, such as "bumgorf" (term of endearment), "K'norfka" (parent or guardian), "klorbag" (insulting term), and "shlorvak" (dream).
Starfire has a pet giant moth larva named "Silkie" in the series, given to her by Beast Boy with whom she has a steady friendship, which she holds special affection and care for, developing a strong maternal bond with it almost instantly. Starfire takes friendship very seriously, and is easily distressed when others, especially her friends, argue or fight. Above all, she wishes to be friends with everyone she meets. Starfire will not, however, hold back on someone who threatens innocent bystanders or her teammates. Her usually optimistic and cheerful spirit also seem to be vital for the team's morale and coherence; in "How Long Is Forever?", Starfire is stranded in an alternate future twenty years later, where she finds the Titans disbanded and in deep depression following her disappearance.
Although her naive and slightly overly friendly yet kind nature can sometimes clash with Raven's more secretive one, she has shown a closeness to her, maybe because they are both girls. In "Switched" Raven unintentionally rejects Starfire's indirect offer of close friendship, due to her primarily distant nature (because of her past). However, later on because of the body switch between the two girls, Starfire says they should get to know everything about each other, to understand each others powers, needed to save the rest of their friends, but it seems this is partially to get to know the distant Raven and become closer friends. After this, they later meditate together and go out together, while the boys do other things also.
In Teen Titans Go #46 (a comic book spin-off from the TV series), it is revealed that Starfire has a younger brother named Wildfire - presumed in this case to be Ryand'r in his animated incarnation[citation needed]. When the Gordanians attack Tamaran, her parents set up a ship to save him by launching him to another planet. Afterwards, Blackfire, in an attempt to make a treaty between the Tamarans and Gordanians, gives them Starfire as a slave (setting up her appearance in the episode Go). As a result of Starfire and Wildfire's absence, their parents die of a broken heart (which explains their absence in the episode Bethrothed according to the footnote of the comic). Wildfire seemingly comes to Earth to meet up with his sister, but he is revealed to be the shapeshifting Madame Rouge, who was aided in the deception by Blackfire. Discovering this, Starfire closes off all ties with Blackfire (stating that they are no longer sisters), and states that she will find her lost brother.
As a homage to the comic books, the series hints at the potential relationship between Starfire and Robin, in some episodes more heavily than others. Though she is very outgoing, when it comes to her crush on Robin she can be very shy and timid, she can also get extremely jealous when Robin is with another girl. Other episodes outlining the relationship of Robin and Starfire are: "Sisters", "Date With Destiny", "Betrothed", "Stranded", and "Go!"
At the Teen Titans panel at Comicon 2005 in San Diego, Sam Register asked Story Editor Rob Hoegee if Robin and Starfire would ever kiss. "Pretty safe bet. But we're not saying for sure," Rob replied[citation needed]. In the season 5 episode "Go!" Robin and Starfire's first kiss is shown; however, this was only for the purpose of assimilating the English language. In Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, moments are shared between the two. In one moment, Starfire admits she truly wishes their relationship to be more; however, much to Starfire's dismay, Robin claims that they can't be anything more than heroes. Soon after, Robin states that he's learned they can be more without it hurting the both of them. Finally, Robin and Starfire share the "actual" kiss after the Ink Monster is defeated, making Cyborg remark, "Well, it's about time."
Video games
- Starfire is a playable character in both "story" and "Master of Games" modes for the console Teen Titans game.
- Starfire is set to appear in DC Universe Online
References
External links
