Power Princess

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Power Princess
Hyperion
Notable aliasesClaire Debussy
Princess of Power
Zarda Shelton
Abilities
  • Superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability, and reflexes
  • Extended longevity
  • Flight
  • Skilled armed and unarmed combatant

Zarda, commonly known as Power Princess, is a

fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Multiple versions of the character have appeared, each from alternate realities in Marvel's multiverse
.

Marvel Comics alternate universes
Marvel stories take place primarily in a mainstream continuity called the Marvel Universe. Some stories are set in various parallel, or alternate, realities, called the Marvel Multiverse.
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
: Alternate Universes 2005 designates the mainstream continuity as "Earth-616", and assigns other Earth numbers to each specific alternate reality.
In this article the following characters, or teams, and realities are referred to:
Character/team Universe
Zarda
Earth-712
Zarda
Earth-31916

Publication history

The original version of the character was created by J. M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin, and first appeared in Defenders #112 (October 1982) as a member of the Squadron Supreme, an analog of the Justice League. More recently, the character joined the reality-hopping Exiles.

Another version of the character appeared in Marvel's

Supreme Power
.

Fictional character biography

Squadron Supreme

Princess Zarda of Earth-712 lived on Utopia Isle, a small island in the southern sea, untouched by outside

American Eagle and Professor Imam, the Sorcerer Supreme of the Squadron's Earth.[volume & issue needed
]

Living in Capitol City, she became the common-law wife of Howard Shelton, a sailor whom she met during "the war". Howard was the sole survivor of a sinking ship and the first outsider Zarda met. Howard aged normally while Zarda appears to be the same age as she was when they met, 50–60 years earlier.

As a member of the Squadron Supreme, Zarda became brainwashed by the Overmind. She battled the Defenders, but was cured. She then battled the Overmind and Null, the Living Darkness alongside the Defenders.[5]

To prevent such a thing from happening again, she resolved with the Squadron to assume control of the government of the United States of her world.

Redeemers. She then disbanded the Squadron.[10]

Defending the Earth-712 against an attack by the Nth Man, Power Princess and the Squadron Supreme were stranded on Earth-616.[11] They encountered Quasar, and relocated to Project Pegasus.[12] Power Princess was among the Earth heroes trying to save New York City from Eon's dying body.[13] Some time later, with the help of the Avengers, the Squadron Supreme were returned to Earth-712.[14] On arrival, they find a dictatorial regime has taken over the world in their absence, and they have become fugitives.[15]

Proteus, enemy of the interdimensional Exiles, showed up in the Squadron's reality and tricked them into battling the Exiles, taking advantage of the distraction to move on to another reality.[16] With the Exiles' assistance, the Squadron expose the corrupt government. Power Princess then invites herself into the Exiles,[17] and under her guidance the team eventually defeats Proteus. Power Princess remains with the Exiles for a time to continue fixing damaged realities,[volume & issue needed] but eventually leaves to return to the Squadron Supreme.[18]

Eventually, Earth-712 is destroyed by an Incursion, two realities colliding into one another. Zarda is the last survivor of her universe, escaping via an interdimensional portal. However, in transit she is attacked by an alternate version of herself called Warrior Woman, who drains Zarda of her energy and powers and leaves her for dead. Zarda survives, landing on Earth-616, and dedicates herself to stopping her evil duplicate.[19]

Supreme Power

This Zarda debuted in

Hyperion, healing him. She alludes to having similar origins to Hyperion (both are aliens) and a mission to colonize and conquer the planet, but she is quite erratic, confusing her memories with allegory.[20]

After separating, Zarda goes on a rampage, disregarding human life and private property.

Amphibian in retaliation for harming Spectrum. It is indicated that both Doc Spectrum and Zarda have energy halos around them that bear an obvious resemblance to alien beings (Spectrum only exhibits this when the prism crystal takes control of him, revealing its origin and intelligence). Doc Spectrum subsequently has no memory of the exchange, revealing further that his prism has the ability to control him when it wants to.[22] Later, Zarda kills a woman and steals her identification in hopes of starting anew, while working in a women's clothing store.[23]

After that she made herself known to the

focus groups came up with Power Princess. After he asked her what she thought about the name, she said Princess of Power would be better, but the General said that it was already copyrighted (referring to She-Ra: Princess of Power, a cartoon related to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe).[volume & issue needed
]

An African general named John M'Butu, a fast-rising tribal leader gifted with a powerful psychic suggestion ability and calling himself the Voice, is leading a genocidal campaign in the Salawe region of Uganda. The US government identifies him as a superhuman after he survives an assassination attempt. The team is sent to the region to assassinate him, but early in the fight, Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and Amphibian are affected by M'Butu's power to control anyone who hears his voice. M'Butu commands the trio to hunt down their comrades. Zarda immediately notices that there is another voice in Hyperion's head and not the One True Voice. Zarda manages to free Doctor Spectrum by calling to the voice within the Power Prism, which takes control of Spectrum, and frees Hyperion.[volume & issue needed]

Later the Squadron are then ordered to take down insurgents in Ilam Province in Iran, an operation called "Long Walk". Zarda goes on a killing rampage. After

Stanley Stewart sees her killing three unarmed soldiers, calling them harmless, Zarda says "Harmless, yes, for that minute. Now they are harmless tomorrow". After seeing Inertia help a little girl find and kill four men of her tribe who stoned her mother and older sisters to death after they were raped by insurgents, Zarda said Inertia is now like her.[volume & issue needed
]

Hyperion gives a press conference in Los Angeles of the "Long Walk" mission, during which he is confronted by Redstone. During their fight, Zarda intervenes, beating Redstone badly, but stops short of killing him when Hyperion has her fly Redstone's nuclear warhead into the stratosphere to prevent it from detonating in Los Angeles. She even survives the direct nuclear blast, something Hyperion obviously would not survive so easily.[volume & issue needed]

The Squadron Supreme invade the Ultimate universe after their world is devastated by a threat that originated there.[24] At the resolution of this conflict, Zarda decides to remain in the Ultimate universe to keep an eye on things.[25]

Later she fights and easily beats the Ultimate Universe's equivalent of the Wrecking Crew as well as the

Hulk. After the short battle with the Hulk, she and the Hulk have sex. She also contemplates how the local heroes keep her from simply killing those who annoy her. She recalls how she often goes naked in her homeworld, not seeing a need to cover up her own beauty.[26] Zarda remains with the Ultimates during the Ultimatum event, assisting Reed Richards with retrieving Nick Fury from her own universe.[27] When Loki returns to get revenge on the Ultimates, Zarda is hypnotized along with the other female members of the Ultimates into attacking her teammates by Amora the Enchantress.[28] When Amora is killed, Zarda is freed, and returns to her own universe.[29]

Zarda, along with the rest of her universe's squadron, is killed by the forces of the Cabal during an Incursion.[30]

During the Secret Wars storyline, Zarda is shown to live in the Supremia Province in Battleworld. She is later killed during a battle with Squadron Sinister of Utopolis during an invasion on the Supremia Province when Doctor Spectrum incinerates to ashes with energy.[31]

Squadron Supreme of America

A variation of the Zarda Shelton version of Power Princess appears as a member of the Squadron Supreme of America.

Mephisto and programmed by the Power Elite. Power Princess was programmed to be a lustful power woman from Utopia Isle who wore a special necklace to dampen her powers when in her secret identity as a professional boxer.[33]

In the team's first mission, Power Princess and the Squadron Supreme of America fought Namor and the Defenders of the Deep, when they targeted a Roxxon oil platform off the coast of Alaska.[34]

Then, the Squadron Supreme visited another oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Squadron Supreme then made short work of Namor and the Defenders of the Deep.[35]

During the

Frost Giants. After the Squadron Supreme caused the Frost Giants to retreat, Phil Coulson sends them to Ohio, which has become a battleground.[33]

Power Princess was with the Squadron Supreme when they attempted to apprehend Black Panther, when he infiltrated the Pentagon to confront Phil Coulson.[36]

Powers and abilities

Squadron Supreme

Zarda possesses superhuman strength, agility, speed, reflexes, and has the ability to fly.[37] Her aging process is extremely slowed,[volume & issue needed] although she stated that she does not age at all in the Exiles series.[volume & issue needed] She is able to drain the life force of others.[38][39]

Zarda carries a transparent shield of Utopian design that can block tank shells and be used to redirect energy, and which she can throw so that its edges are able to slice through metal.

Power Princess has extensive experience in hand-to-hand combat (according to her, she has over five centuries of combat experience[

discus throwing. She has undergone advanced graduate level studies in both Utopia Isle and Cosmopolis.[volume & issue needed
]

Supreme Power

In addition to similar physical abilities she shares with

Hyperion, such as supersonic flight, super-strength, greatly enhanced reflexes, superhuman senses and nigh-invulnerability, this Zarda has the ability to drain the life-force of others to rejuvenate herself. She uses a similar life force transfer to heal Hyperion when he receives life-threatening injuries.[40] While it is possible to hurt her,[41] she apparently even survived a direct nuclear explosion through a combination of her nigh-invulnerability and her life-force transference capabilities.[volume & issue needed] Like Hyperion, she is able to survive the vacuum of space unaided for a considerable amount of time, enabling at least interplanetary travel[citation needed
] via her flight capabilities.

Reception

Accolades

  • In 2017,
    CBR.com ranked Power Princes 8th in their "15 Fiercest Warrior Women In Comics" list.[42]
  • In 2019,
    CBR.com ranked Power Princess 3rd in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Squadron Supreme" list.[37]
  • In 2020,
    CBR.com ranked Power Princess 5th in their "Marvel: 5 Strongest (& 5 Weakest) Members Of Squadron Supreme" list.[43]
  • In 2021, Screen Rant ranked Power Princess in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Squadron Supreme" list.[39]

Other versions

Squadron Sinister

A version of Zarda called Warrior Woman appears in the 2015 Squadron Sinister miniseries, and later joins the Earth-616 iteration of the Squadron Supreme posing as the Earth-712 version of the character.

In other media

Television

References

  1. ^ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: A-Z Update (2006)
  2. ^ Squadron Supreme #1 (1985)
  3. ^ Squadron Supreme #1 (1985)
  4. ISBN 978-0-7566-2358-6
    .
  5. ^ Defenders #112
  6. ^ Squadron Supreme #1 (September 1985)
  7. ^ Squadron Supreme #5
  8. ^ Squadron Supreme #7
  9. ^ Squadron Supreme #8
  10. ^ Squadron Supreme #12 (August 1986)
  11. ^ Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe graphic novel (1989)
  12. ^ Quasar #13
  13. ^ Quasar #27
  14. ^ Avengers/Squadron Supreme '98
  15. ^ Squandron Supreme: New World Oder
  16. ^ Exiles vol 1 #77
  17. ^ Exiles vol 1 #78
  18. ^ Exiles #90
  19. ^ Squadron Supreme vol 2 #9
  20. ^ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Gary Frank (p), Jonathan Sibal (i). Supreme Power #10-11. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Gary Frank (p), Jonathan Siba] (i). Supreme Power #12 Marvel Comics
  22. ^ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Gary Frank (p), Jonathan Sibal (i). Supreme Power #15-16. Marvel Comics.
  23. ^ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Gary Frank (p), Jonathan Sibal (i). Supreme Power #16. Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ Ultimate Power #2. Marvel Comics
  25. ^ Ultimate Power #9. Marvel Comics
  26. Marko Djurdjevic and Ed McGuinness
    (a). Ultimate Hulk Annual. Marvel Comics
  27. ^ Ultimatum #4
  28. ^ New Ultimates #2
  29. ^ New Ultimates #5
  30. ^ New Avengers vol 3 #25
  31. ^ Squadron Sinister #1
  32. ^ Avengers #700. Marvel Comics.
  33. ^ a b Avengers Vol. 8 #18. Marvel Comics.
  34. ^ Avengers Vol. 8 #10. Marvel Comics.
  35. ^ Free Comic Book Day 2019 #Avengers. Marvel Comics.
  36. ^ Avengers Vol. 8 #21. Marvel Comics.
  37. ^ a b Chrysostomou, George (2019-10-19). "The 10 Most Powerful Members Of The Squadron Supreme, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  38. ^ Squadron Supreme Vol 4 #2
  39. ^ a b Harn, Darby (2021-05-11). "Heroes Reborn: 10 Most Powerful Members Of The Squadron Supreme, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  40. ^ J. Michael Straczynski. Supreme Power #10 Marvel Comics.
  41. ^ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Gary Frank (p), Jonathan Sibal (i). Supreme Power #17 Marvel Comics.
  42. ^ Cohen, Jason (2017-03-22). "The 15 Fiercest Warrior Women In Comics". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  43. ^ Stanford, Jerry (2020-08-20). "Marvel: 5 Strongest (& 5 Weakest) Members Of Squadron Supreme". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  44. ^ "Power Princess / Zarda Voices (Marvel Universe) - Behind The Voice Actors". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved November 13, 2023. 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 opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
  45. ^ "The Dark Avengers". Avengers Assemble. Season 2. Episode 9. February 1, 2015. Disney XD.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Power_Princess&oldid=1194963093"