Starfire (Teen Titans): Difference between revisions
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*[http://www.titanstower.com/source/whoswho/starfire.html Titans Tower: Starfire III biography] |
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[[Category:DC Comics aliens]] |
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Revision as of 21:12, 1 November 2007
| Starfire | |
|---|---|
| File:Starfire turner.jpg Art by Michael Turner | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman (writer) George Pérez (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Koriand'r |
| Team affiliations | Teen Titans Outsiders |
| Notable aliases | Kory Anders |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength, stamina and durability, Flight, Energy Projection, Linguistic Assimilation. |
Starfire is the name of three superheroes who have appeared in comic books published by DC Comics.
The first Starfire was Leonid Kovar, who later changed his name to Red Star. He debuted in Teen Titans #18 (November 1968) and was created by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman.
The second Starfire was one of many champions chosen by a Multiverse-spanning race known as the Sornaii. She debuted in Starfire #1 (August 1976), and was created by David Michelinie and Mike Vosburg.
The third Starfire was born Koriand'r, a female superhero character who first appeared in a free preview supplement in DC Comics Presents #26 in 1980, and became a founding member of the New Teen Titans, and a member of various Titans teams thereafter.
Fictional character biographies
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.
Starfire, 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. Starfire was the first DC heroine to receive her own title since Supergirl in 1972. Her series lasted only eight issues.
According to this original series, Starfire's world was long ago involved in a civil war between two castes: the warrior-priests and the Lightning Lords (scientists). Unable to prevail upon each other alone, each caste summoned an alien race to serve their cause. The warrior-priests summoned the Mygorg and the Lightning Lords the Yorgs. The two alien races were hereditary enemies and indeed resumed their war in their new planet. But both turned the tables on their summoners and intended masters by enslaving them. The world was divided among the two, Mygorg and Yorg, which continued to war against each other.
The original human-like inhabitants continued to survive in slavery. Starfire was born as the daughter of two slaves of different skin color. Her father was "yellow" and her mother "white". Both slaves belonged to the Mygorg. Sookarooth, King of the Mygorg took notice of the young girl of mixed heritage and beautiful appearance. He arranged for her to be raised free and educated in his own palace, Castle Mollachon.
When Starfire reached her eighteenth birthday, Sookarooth announced her to be his future mate. She fled in disgust but was pursued by the royal forces. She was saved by Dagan, a warrior-priest. The two became lovers and Dagan trained her as a warrior. Starfire became skilled in swordsmanship, archery, tracking, and other skills typical to a warrior-priest.
Their shared life ended when Dagan was captured by Sookarooth. He was at first tortured and then executed. A vengeful Starfire returned to Castle Mollachon and raised its slaves in revolt. She slew Sookareth herself and then vowed to free her people from slavery. The following issues had Starfire recruiting additional followers to her side and seeking more effective weapons against the Mygorg, the Yorg, and a number of hostile local factions. The series ended before a resolution could be reached.
In Star Hunters #7, Starfire and Claw the Unconquered were revealed as two of the "eternal champions of the Sornaii" on the world of Pytharia (pseudo Earth). The implications of this revelation were never explored as the Star Hunters series ended in a cliffhanger. Presumably writer Gerry Conway was inspired by the Eternal Champion concept of Michael Moorcock.
In Swamp Thing vol. 2 #163 (February, 1996), Starfire and Claw were among several sword and sorcery characters attempting to escape an increasingly unstable Nightmaster. That storyline apparently revealed that they were all creations of the subconscious mind of Nightmaster himself. According to Swamp Thing: "nothing more than your retreat from the real world … brought to life by the scale of your misery". Later appearances by both Nightmaster and the other sword and sorcery characters have chosen to ignore this storyline and its implications.
In Starman #55 (July, 1999), Jack Knight and Mikaal Tomas are reported to have saved Starfire from Jarko the space pirate. However the issue featured the incident retold in three different flashback versions by Space Cabby, Space Ranger, and Ultra the Multi-Alien. Each version involved different Starfires. One version featured this Starfire while the other two featured Leonid Kovar and Koriand'r respectively.
Koriand'r
Koriand'r (a play on coriander) is a princess of the planet Tamaran, and was in line to rule the planet as Queen. Komand'r ("commander"), 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 with 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 rapists, 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 Tamaranian bodies could absorb before exploding from the overload. During the procedure, Komand'r's forces attacked the Psion ship to rescue 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 Tamaran against the Sun Eater. She nearly married Dick Grayson, but their wedding was interrupted by Raven (who had gone 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.
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.
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.
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 followers from 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.
Coundown to Adventure
Starfire, Adam Strange, and Animal Man are fated to join forces again in the coming Countdown to Adventure eight-issue Miniseries. They will be joined by a fourth member, Forerunner.[1]
In issue one of the 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.
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), 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.
- She is also capable of assimilating other languages through physical contact with another person.
- Starfire possesses superhuman strength - even though Starfire is not as strong as Wonder Woman or Supergirl, 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".
- Starfire is also extremely proficient in armed and unarmed combat, having been trained in those arts by the Warlords of Okaara.
Other media
Teen Titans animated series
As with the other characters in Teen Titans, it was decided to render a younger, more teenager-like version of Starfire for the animated series version. The character's background was also revised. She has only been called by her real name once in the series, by her former nanny (K'norfka) Galfore, the current emperor of the planet Tamaran. Her parents are nowhere to be seen in either appearance of Tamaran in the series.
Starfire was the only Titan in the series who did not have a season focusing on her own storyline. Rather, she shares Season 1 with Robin; being the one Robin spoke to after his rash decision involving Slade and other incidents. She also has her own storyline scattered in different episodes throughout all five seasons, in which she deals with her cruel sister, the responsibilities of being a princess, and her insecurities about being an alien on Earth. Starfire's sister, Komand'r (Blackfire), acts as her arch-foe.
She was voiced by Hynden Walch (who also voiced Blackfire).
Background
Starfire was born and raised on the distant planet Tamaran before arriving on Earth and joining the Teen Titans. The Tamaranians 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 starbolts. Because of this, Starfire is inherently the most sensitive of the Titans.
Starfire's background also has some similarities with her comic version. In the episode "Go!", Starfire is held prisoner as a "prize" by a group of Gordanian slavers, working for an interstellar power known as the Citadel, who are described by Starfire only as "not nice." 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 Citadel forces pursuing her. After the battle, Starfire elects to stay on Earth with the Titans.
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"). This also may be due to her being Tamaran's princess and future queen — she cannot forget her manners that she learned in the palace. Additionally, she uses several Tamaranian nouns, such as "bumgorf" (parental term of endearment), "K'norfka" (parent or guardian), "klorbag" (insulting term), and "shlorvak" (dream). A recurring source of comic relief is her continuing unfamiliarity with many of Earth's habits and customs, and her rather peculiar taste for food - like consuming mustard as a soft-drink - is something her friends are still not used to. She has a pet giant moth larva named "Silkie" in the series, given to her by Beast Boy.
Tamaranians of the show are somewhat different from their original comic book counterparts. In the episode "Switched", Starfire reveals that her powers — like Raven's — are powered by emotions, and that even newborns are capable of flight. From her dialogue, it is implied that all Tamaranians can launch Starbolts, whereas in the comics only Starfire and Blackfire could do this. In addition, Tamaranians of the animated series possess long, prehensile tongues (used by Starfire in two quick scenes in the episodes "Transformation" and "Mother May-Eye") and nine stomachs (mentioned by Starfire in "Mother May-Eye").
Tamaraneans appear to have an aggressive warrior culture to the point that Starfire states at one point that they have no word for "nice" in the sense of demonstrating kindness or compassion. The nearest linguistic equivalent ("rutha") which Tamaraneans have literally means "weak".
Fans debated on whether Starfire's true name was Starfire, or her comic book counterpart's Tamaranian name Koriand'r due to the team and Blackfire referring to her as Starfire consistently throughout the entire series. In Betrothed, when the Titans first meet Galfore, he and Starfire have a short conversation in Tamaranian, where Galfore can be heard saying "Koriand'r". However, in the rest of the episode, she is referred to as Starfire. This led some fans to speculate that Starfire's name was Koriand'r, and the Tamaranians addressed her as Starfire because they converse in English throughout the episode. The debate was cleared in the episode Go!, when Starfire tells Robin that her name translates to English as "Star Fire" indicating that the name is indeed simply a translation of "Koriand'r".
In the episode Troq, it is also shown that some races are racially biased against Tamaraneans (giving them the name Troq, which means "nothing", indicating that whoever is called a Troq is being called "worthless").
In Teen Titans Go #46, it is revealed that she had a younger brother named Wildfire. When the Gordaniains attacked 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 died 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 was revealed to be Madame Rouge. She was aided in the deception by Blackfire, who provided info on Wildfire. 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.
Appearance
Starfire's top and skirt in the animated series, while somewhat revealing, are generally seen as more appropriate to the show's younger target demographic than her comic-book incarnation's more risque outfit. In her comic-book incarnation, she was credited as the group's sex symbol. Her figure is also less developed, in keeping with her younger appearance and demeanor. Starfire's hair is far more straight and does not leave contrails while she is in flight. Starfire's top and gloves also feature onyx-colored gems. When the Titans first met in a flashback episode, Starfire was wearing Tamaranian armor with her princess tiara. Her armor and appearance in the flashback episode, in fact, are almost identical to the attire worn by Blackfire in her two appearances in the series. Starfire's eyebrows are also different than a humans eyebrows. Instead of having them reach across from one side of her eye to the other, they are less defined and appear as small dots above her eyes
Personality
Starfire is naïve and somewhat insecure, but her naivete is not to be mistaken for stupidity. It is this naivete that endears her to others, especially to Robin, who occasionally shows signs of caring for Starfire. She and Robin are the closest out of all the Titans, and he takes time out to explain the ways of Earth to her. An alien and an outsider, she is still rather new to Earth and its customs. This leads to much confusion for her and others, such as the awkwardness in casually drinking mustard, or sleeping with her head hanging off the foot of the bed and her feet on the pillow, a la Pippi Longstocking.
She 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, and for everyone to get along. Starfire will not, however, hold back on someone who threatens innocent bystanders or her teammates.
As homage to the comic books, the series hints at the potential relationship between Starfire and Robin, in some episodes more heavily than others. Episodes in the fourth season, such as "Stranded", have shown Starfire obviously having feelings for him, as when she is offended when he says that "she's not [his] girlfriend." Many other episodes outlining the relationship of Robin and Starfire are: "Sisters", "Go!", "Date With Destiny", and "Betrothed". Although nothing overly romantic has taken place, fans of the comic books are optimistic. 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. In the season 5 episode "Go!" (a flashback episode showing how the Teen Titans became a team) Robin and Starfire's first kiss is shown. However, since she started speaking English immediately afterward, this was most likely just her way of assimilating the English language. She did the same in The New Teen Titans vol. i #2. She did admit that she didn't have to kiss Robin to assimilate English, but said it was "more enjoyable" that way. In Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo, moments are shared between the two constantly. In one moment, Starfire admits she truly wishes to be more. However, much to Starfire's dismay, Robin claims that they can't be anything more than heroes for his own purposes perhaps. Soon after, Robin states that he's learned they can be more without it hurting the both of them. Finally, Robin and Starfire then share the "actual" kiss in Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo after the Ink Monster is defeated. As quoted by Cyborg, "Well, it's about time." Though she is very outgoing when it comes to her crush on Robin she can be very shy and timid.
Video Games
- Starfire is a playable character in the Teen Titans video game for the Game Boy Advance.
- Starfire is a playable character in both "story" and "Master of Games" modes for the console Teen Titans game.
Amalgam Comics
In Amalgam Comics, Starfire is combined with Shatterstar to form Shatterstarfire.