Flamebird: Difference between revisions

Flamebird
Flamebird
	File:Flamebird.jpg Flamebird
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #139 (1961, as Bat-Girl) Secret Origins #3 (1989, as Flamebird)
Created by	Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff
In-story information
Alter ego	Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane
Team affiliations	Teen Titans, Titans West
Notable aliases	Bat-Girl
Abilities	Skilled gymnast and martial artist, lenses in mask fire blinding light blasts, has weapons such as her "Bird-A-Rangs" and electrified bolas.

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Revision as of 00:53, 7 March 2006

Flamebird is a code-name shared by various DC Comics superheroes, specifically from the Superman and Batman mythos.

Pre-Crisis

Jimmy Olsen

In Pre-Crisis continuity, Flamebird was an alias used by Jimmy Olsen in adventures shared with Superman in the city of Kandor, a Kryptonian city that had been shrunken and preserved in a bottle.

In Kandor, Superman had no powers and was branded an outlaw due to a misunderstanding. To protect themselves, Superman and Jimmy created vigilante identities inspired by Batman and Robin; however, as neither bats nor robins existed on Krypton, Superman chose the names of two native avian species: Nightwing (for himself) and Flamebird (for Jimmy). At one point, Nightwing and Flamebird teamed up with their inspirations, Batman and Robin, for an adventure in Kandor which would prove especially important to the young Robin.

While in Kandor, Nightwing and Flamebird met Van-Zee, a Kandorian scientist who looked strikingly similar to Superman. At one point, Van-Zee himself donned the Nightwing costume in order to rescue a captured Superman. After Superman and Jimmy's departure from Kandor, Van-Zee took up the role of Nightwing full-time.

Ak-Var

Van-Zee's lab assistant and son-in-law, Ak-Var, later assumed the mantle of Flamebird. The two shared several distinct adventures, once teaming up with Superman and Jimmy.

Robin becomes Nightwing

Eventually, the maturing Robin grew weary of his role as the Batman's young sidekick. Recalling his adventure on Kandor, he renamed himself Nightwing. This change would directly impact the later versions of the Flamebird character.

Post-Crisis

In the Post-Crisis DC universe, the character known as Batwoman was erased from existence (although her alter ego Kathy Kane's murder somehow remained in the history); Batwoman's niece, Betty "Bat-girl" Kane, disappeared as well. Unlike her aunt, Betty's removal from history would not last long.

For a brief moment in the 1970s, Betty had joined the west coast version of the Teen Titans under her Bat-Girl moniker. Though 'Bat-girl' did not exist, her team did; therefore, a new version of the character was necessary. In the Teen Titans Secret Files and Origins Annual, the official Post-Crisis history of Titans West was revealed. Instead of Betty Kane's Bat-Girl, fans were introduced to a similar character: Mary Elizabeth 'Bette' Kane, known as Flamebird.

Bette was now a good-natured but spoiled Los Angeles debutante who achieved professional-level proficiency at tennis at an early age. After witnessing the dashing young Robin on the news, Bette vowed that she would gain his attention and favor by becoming a masked adventurer herself. Training to Olympic-levels in gymnastics and some martial arts, she created the identity of Flamebird and joined Titans West in hopes of catching Robin's eye. While flattered, the driven young hero was not sure how to deal with her obsession and avoided her, much to her dismay.

After briefly giving up her heroic persona, Bette found that neither winning tennis tournaments nor achieving perfect grades in school matched the rooftop thrills of the hero biz. She attempted several times to reunite the Titans West team, most notably after a journey into the afterlife with Hawk and Dove II, but was unsuccessful. Bette again gave up her obsession with the Titans until malfunctioning former Titan Victor Stone collected her, along with all former Titans everywhere, in an attempt to protect his soul from the Justice League. Hoping this would lead to a formal invitation to rejoin the team, Bette was crushed to learn they did not need (or want) her assistance.

A short time later, Gar "Beast Boy" Logan found himself alone in Los Angeles after the team neglected to ask him back. Landing himself in a bit of trouble by an impostor framing him for various crimes, Gar asked former teammate Bette for help. Having been recently chastised for her dedication (or lack thereof) to crime-fighting by Robin (now in his adult Nightwing identity), Flamebird seized the opportunity to better herself and her reputation, becoming more level-headed and boosting her crime-fighting arsenal.

After Bette helped Gar clear his name, his cousin Matt attempted one last recruitment drive for Titans West (dubbing the ill-fated team Titans L.A.). None of the recruits took the event seriously except for insane and uninvited former Titan Duela Dent, who crashed the party and was subdued by Bette. Content to remain a heroine on her own, Bette was unheard from until she was captured by a Brainiac-worshipping cult leader in Oregon and eventually rescued by Oracle's Birds of Prey. She recently fought Doctor Light alongside the majority of heroes who had once been members of the Teen Titans.

Flamebird appeared again in Infinite Crisis #4 to fight Superboy-Prime. In this storyline, a new retcon declared that Flamebird was the original Bat-Girl integrated into the Post-Crisis universe.

Kryptonian origins restored

Nightwing Secret Files #1 tells the Post-Crisis version of how Dick Grayson gave up his identity as Robin and was inspired by Superman's tales of an ancient Kryptonian hero named Nightwing. This tale maintains the link between Dick Grayson's identity and the Kryptonian hero called Nightwing, but retroactively erases the notion that Superman and Jimmy Olsen ever held the titles of Nightwing or Flamebird.

The connection between Bette's "Flamebird" and Dick's "Nightwing" was conjectural until 2001's Superman: the Man of Steel #111, wherein Superman and Lois Lane travel to the Kryptonian past to assume the names themselves. This once again associated Superman with the roles directly; more importantly, he revealed to Lois that he had indeed related tales of both Kryptonian legends to Dick and Bette. It is still unknown, however, when Superman met Bette for the first time.

External links

Flamebird III/Bette Kane:

Titans Tower Meeting Room entry: Flamebird fansite with illustrations.
[1]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 In [[Pre-Crisis]] continuity, Flamebird was an alias used by [[Jimmy Olsen]] in adventures shared with [[Superman]] in the city of [[Kandor]], a [[Krypton (planet)|Kryptonian]] city that had been shrunken and preserved in a bottle.
-In Kandor, Superman had no powers and was branded an outlaw due to a misunderstanding.  To protect themselves, Superman and Jimmy created vigilante identities inspired by [[Batman]] and [[Robin]]; however, as neither bats nor robins existed on Krypton, Superman chose the names of two native avian species: Nightwing (for himself) and Flamebird (for Jimmy).  At one point, Nightwing and Flamebird teamed up with their inspirations, Batman and Robin, for an adventure in Kandor which would prove especially important to the young Robin.
+In Kandor, Superman had no powers and was branded an outlaw due to a misunderstanding.  To protect themselves, Superman and Jimmy created vigilante identities inspired by [[Batman]] and [[Robin]]; however, as neither bats nor robins existed on Krypton, Superman chose the names of two native avian species: Nightwing (for himself) and Flamebird (for Jimmy). At one point, Nightwing and Flamebird teamed up with their inspirations, Batman and Robin, for an adventure in Kandor which would prove especially important to the young Robin.
-While in Kandor, Nightwing and Flamebird met Van-Zee, a Kandorian scientist who looked strikingly similar to Superman.  At one point, Van-Zee himself donned the Nightwing costume in order to rescue a captured Superman.  After Superman and Jimmy's departure from Kandor, Van-Zee took up the role of Nightwing full-time.
+While in Kandor, Nightwing and Flamebird met Van-Zee, a Kandorian scientist who looked strikingly similar to Superman. At one point, Van-Zee himself donned the Nightwing costume in order to rescue a captured Superman. After Superman and Jimmy's departure from Kandor, Van-Zee took up the role of Nightwing full-time.
 ===Ak-Var===
-Van-Zee's lab assistant and son-in-law, Ak-Var, later assumed the mantle of Flamebird.  The two shared several distinct adventures, once teaming up with Superman and Jimmy.
+Van-Zee's lab assistant and son-in-law, Ak-Var, later assumed the mantle of Flamebird. The two shared several distinct adventures, once teaming up with Superman and Jimmy.
 ===Robin becomes Nightwing===
-Eventually, the maturing Robin grew weary of his role as the Batman's young sidekick.  Recalling his adventure on Kandor, he renamed himself [[Nightwing]].  This change would directly impact the later versions of the Flamebird character.
+Eventually, the maturing Robin grew weary of his role as the Batman's young sidekick. Recalling his adventure on Kandor, he renamed himself [[Nightwing]]. This change would directly impact the later versions of the Flamebird character.
 ==Post-Crisis==
-[http://www.titanstower.com/assets/whos%20who/aamembers/whosbinder/flamebird1.jpg]
+In the [[Post-Crisis]] DC universe, the character known as [[Batwoman]] was erased from existence (although her alter ego Kathy Kane's murder somehow remained in the history); Batwoman's niece, Betty "[[Batgirl|Bat-girl]]" Kane, disappeared as well. Unlike her aunt, Betty's removal from history would not last long.
-===Bette Kane===
-In the [[Post-Crisis]] DC universe, the character known as [[Batwoman]] was erased from existence (although her alter ego Kathy Kane's murder somehow remained in the history); Batwoman's niece, Betty "[[Batgirl|Bat-girl]]" Kane, disappeared as well.  Unlike her aunt, Betty's removal from history would not last long.
-For a brief moment in the 1970s, Betty had joined the west coast version of the [[Titans (comics)|Teen Titans]] under her Bat-girl moniker. Though 'Bat-girl' did not exist, her team did; therefore, a new version of the character was necessary. In the ''Teen Titans Secret Files and Origins Annual,'' the official post-crisis history of Titans West was revealed. Instead of Betty Kane's Bat-Girl, fans were introduced to a similar character:  '''Mary Elizabeth 'Bette' Kane''', known as '''Flamebird.'''
+For a brief moment in the 1970s, Betty had joined the west coast version of the [[Titans (comics)|Teen Titans]] under her Bat-Girl moniker. Though 'Bat-girl' did not exist, her team did; therefore, a new version of the character was necessary. In the ''Teen Titans Secret Files and Origins Annual,'' the official Post-Crisis history of Titans West was revealed. Instead of Betty Kane's Bat-Girl, fans were introduced to a similar character:  '''Mary Elizabeth 'Bette' Kane''', known as '''Flamebird.'''
 Bette was now a good-natured but spoiled [[Los Angeles]] debutante who achieved professional-level proficiency at tennis at an early age. After witnessing the dashing young Robin on the news, Bette vowed that she would gain his attention and favor by becoming a masked adventurer herself. Training to Olympic-levels in gymnastics and some martial arts, she created the identity of Flamebird and joined Titans West in hopes of catching Robin's eye. While flattered, the driven young hero was not sure how to deal with her obsession and avoided her, much to her dismay.
-After briefly giving up her heroic persona, Bette found that neither winning tennis tournaments nor achieving perfect grades in school matched the rooftop thrills of the hero biz.  She attempted several times to reunite the Titans West team, most notably after a journey into the afterlife with [[Hawk and Dove]] II, but was unsuccessful. Bette again gave up her obsession with the Titans until malfunctioning former Titan [[Cyborg (comics)| Victor Stone]] collected her, along with all former Titans everywhere, in an attempt to protect his soul from the [[Justice League]]. Hoping this would lead to a formal invitation to rejoin the team, Bette was crushed to learn they did not need (or want) her assistance.
+After briefly giving up her heroic persona, Bette found that neither winning tennis tournaments nor achieving perfect grades in school matched the rooftop thrills of the hero biz. She attempted several times to reunite the Titans West team, most notably after a journey into the afterlife with [[Hawk and Dove]] II, but was unsuccessful. Bette again gave up her obsession with the Titans until malfunctioning former Titan [[Cyborg (comics)| Victor Stone]] collected her, along with all former Titans everywhere, in an attempt to protect his soul from the [[Justice League]]. Hoping this would lead to a formal invitation to rejoin the team, Bette was crushed to learn they did not need (or want) her assistance.
 A short time later, Gar "[[Beast Boy]]" Logan found himself alone in Los Angeles after the team neglected to ask him back. Landing himself in a bit of trouble by [[Gemini (comics)|an impostor]] framing him for various crimes, Gar asked former teammate Bette for help. Having been recently chastised for her dedication (or lack thereof) to crime-fighting by Robin (now in his adult [[Nightwing]] identity), Flamebird seized the opportunity to better herself and her reputation, becoming more level-headed and boosting her crime-fighting arsenal.
-After Bette helped Gar clear his name, his cousin Matt attempted one last recruitment drive for Titans West (dubbing the ill-fated team Titans L.A.). None of the recruits took the event seriously except for insane and uninvited former Titan [[Harlequin (comics)|Duela Dent]], who crashed the party and was subdued by Bette.  Content to remain a heroine on her own, Bette was unheard from until she was captured by a [[Brainiac (comics)|Brainiac]]-worshipping cult leader in [[Oregon]] and eventually rescued by [[Oracle (comics)|Oracle's]] [[Birds of Prey (comics)|Birds of Prey]]. She recently fought [[Doctor Light (DC Comics supervillain)|Doctor Light]] alongside the majority of heroes who had once been members of the [[Titans (comics)|Teen Titans]].
+After Bette helped Gar clear his name, his cousin Matt attempted one last recruitment drive for Titans West (dubbing the ill-fated team Titans L.A.). None of the recruits took the event seriously except for insane and uninvited former Titan [[Harlequin (comics)|Duela Dent]], who crashed the party and was subdued by Bette. Content to remain a heroine on her own, Bette was unheard from until she was captured by a [[Brainiac (comics)|Brainiac]]-worshipping cult leader in [[Oregon]] and eventually rescued by [[Oracle (comics)|Oracle's]] [[Birds of Prey (comics)|Birds of Prey]]. She recently fought [[Doctor Light (DC Comics supervillain)|Doctor Light]] alongside the majority of heroes who had once been members of the [[Titans (comics)|Teen Titans]].
-Flamebird appeared again in ''[[Infinite Crisis]] #4'' to fight [[Superboy#The Earth-Prime Superboy|Superboy-Prime]].  In this storyline, a new [[retcon]] declared that Flamebird had originally been the Earth-Two counterpart to Bat-Girl, and that after the Crisis on Infinite Earths Flamebird had replaced Bat-Girl on the sole remaining earth.  At the end of the ''Infinite Crisis'' storyline, Flamebird disappeared when Earth Two was reborn, along with most of the [[Justice Society]].
+Flamebird appeared again in ''[[Infinite Crisis]] #4'' to fight [[Superboy#Earth-Prime Superboy|Superboy-Prime]]. In this storyline, a new [[retcon]] declared that Flamebird was the original Bat-Girl integrated into the Post-Crisis universe.
 ===Kryptonian origins restored===
-''Nightwing Secret Files #1'' tells the post-crisis version of how Dick Grayson gave up his identity as Robin and was inspired by Superman's tales of an ancient Kryptonian hero named Nightwing.  This tale maintains the link between Dick Grayson's identity and the Kryptonian hero called Nightwing, but retroactively erases the notion that Superman and Jimmy Olsen ever held the titles of Nightwing or Flamebird.
+''Nightwing Secret Files #1'' tells the Post-Crisis version of how Dick Grayson gave up his identity as Robin and was inspired by Superman's tales of an ancient Kryptonian hero named Nightwing. This tale maintains the link between Dick Grayson's identity and the Kryptonian hero called Nightwing, but retroactively erases the notion that Superman and Jimmy Olsen ever held the titles of Nightwing or Flamebird.
-The connection between Bette's "Flamebird" and Dick's "Nightwing" was conjectural until 2001's ''Superman: the Man of Steel #111,'' wherein Superman and [[Lois Lane]] travel to the Kryptonian past to assume the names themselves.  This once again associated Superman with the roles directly; more importantly, he revealed to Lois that he had indeed related tales of both Kryptonian legends to Dick and Bette.  It is still unknown, however, when Superman met Bette for the first time.
+The connection between Bette's "Flamebird" and Dick's "Nightwing" was conjectural until 2001's ''Superman: the Man of Steel #111,'' wherein Superman and [[Lois Lane]] travel to the Kryptonian past to assume the names themselves. This once again associated Superman with the roles directly; more importantly, he revealed to Lois that he had indeed related tales of both Kryptonian legends to Dick and Bette. It is still unknown, however, when Superman met Bette for the first time.
 ==External links==