Silhouette (comics)

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For the Watchmen character, see
Silhouette (DC Comics)
.
Silhouette
Folding Circle
New Warriors

Concrete Dragons
The Concrete Carrion Gang
AbilitiesSuperb hand to hand combatant
Expert martial artist
Enhanced strength, speed and agility
Shadow teleportation
Darkforce energy manipulation
Ability to become a living shadow

Silhouette (Silhouette Chord) is a fictional character, a

superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in New Warriors #2 (August 1990), and was created by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley.[1]

Silhouette and her brother Aaron Chord (

paraplegic
, having been paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet injury sustained tracking drug gangs early in her career.

Fictional character biography

Origin

In 1966 during the Vietnam War, an American recon patrol in Cambodia stumbled upon an ancient hidden temple of a cult known as the Dragon's Breath, which had remained hidden for centuries. It had been built upon a well-spring of raw, primal energy called the "Well of All Things." The inhabitants decided to breed a superior race that would one day unite with the ways of the west. They believed that this union would produce children capable of harnessing the power of the Well. The members of the recon patrol were to be the fathers of these children; one of these men was Andrew Chord, the man who would become Silhouette's father.[2]

Midnight's Fire/Paralyzed

Silhouette and her brother Aaron (

street gangs
. She began a romance with Night Thrasher during this time.

This partnership ended when Silhouette was shot by police gunfire and

druglord in order to lure Dwayne into a physical confrontation he could not possibly win, and Silhouette ultimately turned away from Midnight's Fire.[3] Later the partially paralyzed Silhouette reunited with Dwayne, distancing herself from her brother's evil actions.[volume & issue needed][4]

Years later, Silhouette fought the

Reed Richards, the owner of the patent for unstable molecules, gives his personal blessing for her to use them because he understands the heroic work the New Warriors do.[13]

Folding Circle and the Infinity Crusade

Diego Casseas, one of the other members of the recon patrol, now calling himself the

Folding Circle. The Circle attempted to take control of the Well away from Tai. Members of the Circle, together with the New Warriors, managed to defeat Tai, but the Well was sealed, Casseas and Tai were apparently killed, and the surviving members of the Circle escaped in a stolen Avengers' Quinjet.[2]

The remaining members of the Folding Circle later crashed in Madripoor and attempted to usurp the role of local drug-lord. They succeeded, but were later taken down by Night Thrasher and Silhouette.[14]

It was around this time Silhouette became the brainwashed assistant/bodyguard to the cosmic villain Goddess in the limited series

Infinity Crusade. She saves most of the cosmos from the power-mad fantasies of Pip the Troll, unfortunately just in time for the homicidal fantasies of the Goddess to prevail. The Goddess ends up defeated by other forces.[15]

Relationships

For a time, Silhouette and Night Thrasher were lovers; in fact, Dwayne had been in love with her for a very long time, but his anger and single-minded obsession with his "mission" eventually pushed her away. Silhouette later hooked up with Dwayne's half-brother

Bandit, and they both left the team.[16]

Silhouette and Bandit moved to

Belladonna into helping him destroy the Thieves Guild. It is during this story that Gambit
reveals the fact that Bandit and Silhouette are still together, and that he was only manipulating Belladonna. The Guild was destroyed and Bandit left New Orleans and presumably returned to Chicago.

Universal Wellspring

Silhouette is a mutant like her brother Midnight's Fire but unlike her grandmother Tai who derived powers from the Universal Wellspring.

Civil War

Silhouette is seen as a member of

Ultra Girl, Spider-Man and Luke Cage
attack Iron Man, Silhouette takes Captain America away via the shadows.

Silhouette has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who have registered after the Civil War.[19][20]

She later confronts the 'new' Night Thrasher about his new set-up of the New Warriors and finds out he is in fact Bandit.[21]

Powers and abilities

Thanks to her genetic heritage developed through many generations of selective breeding, Silhouette has the ability to teleport herself over short distances on Earth by traveling through the

Darkforce
Dimension. She can "melt" into any shadow or area of darkness, thus entering the Darkforce dimension, and then reemerge on Earth through another shadow or area of darkness.

Silhouette originally had the power to shadow-meld, thereby becoming nearly invisible while under the cover of darkness, as well as the ability to teleport via dimension hop, using any available shadow as a portal. She could also open small portals anywhere shadows existed and use them to attack distant enemies by extending her crutches through them.

After a disturbance in the Darkforce that affected everyone who used it, she found that her powers had increased to the point where she could now teleport others. She has demonstrated this ability by teleporting small groups of people along with herself, although it is painful and leaves her exhausted. She can also now become 'living darkness', and can cause extreme pain by phasing through the bodies of her enemies.[4]

Like her brother Midnight's Fire, Silhouette also has enhanced speed, strength, agility, and sensory perception. She is a superb hand-to-hand combatant and capable martial artist, and master of an unspecified martial art.

Later in New Warriors (Vol 4) she now has the ability to manipulate the dark force energies to create tendrils much in the same manner as

Asylum, another Darkforce user.[volume & issue needed
]

Equipment

After she became disabled due to injuries inflicted by gunfire, Night Thrasher designed and built a special pair of combat-capable

leg braces for her. Night Thrasher designed the crutches to include both a hidden electric taser
that can emit electrical charges to stun an adversary, and a slim anesthetic needle injector that delivered paralytic chemicals. The crutches are also equipped with "smoke gas" and metal firing pellets.

A later design had retractable braces in specially designed open metal gauntlets.[volume & issue needed]

She wears a costume made from

unstable molecules
, because initially she could only teleport herself and any inanimate matter composed of unstable molecules; therefore, her clothes fell off whenever she shadow-melded.

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0
    .
  2. ^ a b The Folding Circle Archived 2005-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ revealed in New Warriors #2
  4. ^ a b Silhouette Biography by Ray Schaff
  5. ^ New Warriors #7-9
  6. ^ New Warriors #10
  7. ^ New Warriors Annual #1 (1991)
  8. ^ New Warriors Vol 1 Annual 2
  9. ^ New Warriors #15
  10. ^ New Warriors #16-17
  11. ^ New Warriors #18
  12. ^ New Warriors #19
  13. ^ a b New Warriors Annual #2
  14. ^ Night Thrasher #3-4
  15. ^ "Infinity Crusade" #4-6 (1993)
  16. ^ New Warriors #51
  17. ^ "Civil War" #4
  18. ^ Iron Man vol. 4 #14
  19. ^ Avengers: The Initiative #1
  20. ^ Avengers: The Initiative #1 Character Map
  21. ^ New Warriors Vol 4 Issue 7

External links

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