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Looker (character)

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Looker
Looker as depicted in Batman and the Outsiders (vol. 2) #9 (September 2008).
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearance(As Emily Briggs) Batman & the Outsiders #25 (September 1985)
(As Looker) The Outsiders #1 (November 1985)
Created byMike W. Barr (writer)
Jim Aparo (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoEmily Briggs
SpeciesVampire
Team affiliationsOutsiders
Batman Incorporated
Notable aliasesLia Briggs
Abilities

Looker (Emily "Lia" Briggs) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character's first appearance was in 1985 in Batman & the Outsiders #25.

Looker appears in the Arrowverse series Black Lightning, portrayed by Sofia Vassilieva.


Creation

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Barr spoke in an open letter to fans on the creation of the character stating,

"When it was decided to put The Outsiders into their own book, a new member was obviously called for. I began kicking around ideas, and conceived a female character who possessed mental powers (an area covered by none of the other outsiders). She would also be very beautiful. The name looker suggested itself , and the character virtually fell into place of course you cant have a costumed character without a costume, so I got out some fashion magazines (The name Looker suggesting a glitzy, high fashion kind of approach) and cobbled a design together inspired by an actual dress and an actual swimsuit..."[1]

Publication history

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Looker made her first appearance in Batman & the Outsiders #25 (September 1985) and was created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo.[2]

Fictional character biography

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Emily Briggs

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Emily Briggs was a bank teller who lived with her husband in Gotham City before being kidnapped by the people of Abyssia and rescued by the Outsiders.[3] She eventually learns that she is part Abyssian and gains superpowers after Halley's Comet passed Earth.

Joining the Outsiders

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Looker's first costume on the cover of Outsiders #31.

After leaving Abyssia to its people, Emily returned with the Outsiders and joined their ranks as Looker.[4] She had a short affair with team leader Geo-Force, but they eventually decide to break up.

Some time later, Looker receives a call for help from Abyssia and discovers that a despot has conquered it. She loses her powers in the process before regaining them and being targeted by the Mud Pack, a group of various villains using the Clayface name.[5]

Becoming a vampire

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Looker's second costume, from Outsiders (vol. 2) #1.

Looker is later transformed into a vampire while defending Markovia from them. Her metahuman physiology suppresses some of the traditional vampiric weaknesses such as vulnerability to sunlight. She later becomes a fugitive after Geo-Force is framed for killing his mother Ilona.

Retirement

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Lia at some point after this may have cut her ties with her vampire coven; she also became more independent in her choice of actions. She eventually became one of the hosts of the television program The Scene alongside Vicki Vale, Tawny Young, and Linda Park.[6]

Infinite Crisis and World War III

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Main article: Infinite Crisis

In Infinite Crisis, Oracle recruits Looker, among other heroes, to defend Metropolis from Alexander Luthor's army.[7][8]

Later Outsiders ties

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Looker's New 52 look. Textless cover to National Comics: Looker #1. Art by Guillem March.

Looker later resurfaces to help Batman, having become a model and no longer possessing an immunity to sunlight.[9][10] She later joins a new incarnation of the Outsiders sanctioned by Batman Incorporated before they are seemingly killed in a satellite explosion orchestrated by Talia al Ghul.

The New 52

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In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Looker is introduced once again as an agent of Batman Incorporated alongside Halo and Metamorpho. It is revealed the Outsiders had survived the explosion but were assumed dead, and now do undercover jobs for Batman.[11]

Powers and abilities

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Looker possesses the full spectrum of psionic abilities: telepathy, telekinesis, psychometry, enhanced metabolism, mind-control, psionic energy blasts, levitation, the creation of force shields, remote vision, and enhanced healing. Due to her vampiric nature, Looker can turn into vapor, but only at night. She also has the vampiric ability to mentally command vermin such as bugs. Her psionic powers suppress the vampire weakness to sunlight; however, she still requires blood as other vampires do. Changes in The New 52 continuity have left her as susceptible to sunlight as other vampires.

In her earlier appearances, Looker is also a lucid dreamer.[12]

Her original costume was manufactured from Abyssian fabric that is partially invisible.

Other versions

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An alternate universe variant of Looker appears in National Comics: Looker. This version is a supermodel who became a vampire after a one-night stand.[13]

In other media

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Television

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  • A villainous incarnation of Looker appears in Black Lightning, portrayed by Sofia Vassilieva.[14] This version is a white supremacist who can control people via a silver metallic substance. Settling in the rural area of South Freeland 30 years ago, she uses her ability to control the white population of South Freeland, or "Sange", while reducing the black population, or "Perdi", to a form of slavery.[15] After discovering what she has done, Black Lightning and Thunder defeat her and transfer her to A.S.A. custody. In the fourth season, Looker escapes from the A.S.A. during the Markovians' invasion of Freeland and allies with Tobias Whale. However, Painkiller eventually finds and defeats her before transferring her to the FBI's custody in exchange for confessing to her involvement with Whale.
  • Lia Briggs appears in Young Justice: Outsiders, voiced by Grey Griffin.[16] This version is a Scottish teenager who was captured by the League of Shadows before being rescued by and joining the Outsiders.[17]

Film

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Model Citizen as depicted in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

An alternate reality incarnation of Looker named Model Citizen appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, voiced by Kari Wührer.[18] She is a member of the Crime Syndicate who serves under Owlman.

Video games

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Looker appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Barr, Mike W. (1985). "Outside Interference". The Outsiders (2).
  2. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  3. ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 234–235. ISBN 9780345501066.
  4. ^ Adventures of the Outsiders #34 (June 1986)
  5. ^ Detective Comics #604-607
  6. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #170 and #188
  7. ^ World War III #4
  8. ^ Infinite Crisis #7
  9. ^ Batman and the Outsiders (vol. 2) #9 (July 2008)
  10. ^ The Outsiders (vol. 4) #29
  11. ^ Batman Incorporated (vol. 2) #1. However, the character is portrayed in the same fashion as she was prior to the events of Flashpoint
  12. ^ Detective Comics #604
  13. ^ Chimples, George (1 September 2012). "REVIEW: National Comics: Looker #1". Major Spoilers. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  14. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (September 5, 2018). "Black Friday Lightning Season 2 Casts Supergirl Foil as DC Comics' Looker". TVLine. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  15. ^ Drum, Nicole (November 20, 2018). "'Black Lightning': Who Is Looker?". Comicbook.com. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  16. ^ "Looker Voice - Young Justice (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 2, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  17. ^ Weisman, Greg (March 1, 2022). "Search Ask Greg: Gargoyles: Station Eight". www.s8.org. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  18. ^ "Model Citizen Voice - Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (Movie)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 2, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  19. ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 2, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
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