Izzy Kane
Izzy Kane is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Isabel Kane was a female human born in the modern age as the granddaughter of Dan Kane who had operated in World War II as a superhero named Captain Terror. It was known that her father never got along with her grandfather with the two often getting into arguments. At some point, her mother had died and the young Izzy came to grow up at the family farm in Iowa. (Avengers v5 #1) One day, she found an underground shed in the farm and within it was a box with her curiosity leading to her wanting to find out what was inside of it. However, the ladder was weak and broke causing her to grab onto the ledge in desperation but was unable to pull herself back up. It was then that her grandfather arrived to save her where he told her there was nothing to be afraid of as he saved her from the fall. Afterwards, he came to tell his granddaughter of the contents of the box that was memorabilia of Captain Terror. He showed Izzy the costume where she claimed that she had never heard of the hero with her grandfather telling her that Captain Terror had never sought fame and simply fought on behalf of others during World War II. (Avengers World v1 #2)
She had intended to study as an astronomer where she wanted to learn more about space but then her grandfather became ill as he started to suffer from emphysema. This led to her deciding to stay on the farm and continue helping her grandfather along with tending to his care needs as it was expected he would die from his condition. (Avengers v5 #1) She was at the hospital when the doctors informed her that her grandfather would be passing away soon. (Avengers World v1 #2) On one day, she found a mysterious item that she took back to the farm home but kept it pocketed whilst she cared for her grandfather on the day. At night, whilst she was looking at her telescope into the night sky it was then that the item in her pocket began to speak to her and urged her to wear it. Upon wearing it, she was transformed into Smasher with the Exospex that she wore taking her to the Shi'ar homeworld of Chandilar. This saw her being assigned as a member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard as a Subguardian where she began operating as a super-powered operative in space. She was gone for a month before returning home where she told her father about her adventures in space. It was then that she was told that her grandfather was dying and she spent time with him in his final moments on his deathbed. He urged her to become a hero and gave her a note from Captain America stating that he owed Dan Kane a favour. With that note, he wanted Izzy to use the favour and join the ranks of the Avengers. (Avengers v5 #5) She received the call for the Avengers to assemble to deal with the threat of Ex Nihilo and Abyss on Mars with her answering the summons. (Avengers v5 #1)
She was present at Avengers Tower with the team as they witnessed origin bombs being sent to Earth's surface. (Avengers v5 #2) Smasher was part of the team that was made to rescue their comrades and to stop the threat of Ex Nihilo, Abyss and their Aleph. During her fight against Ex Nihilo, he came to create new organisms to attack her. At that moment, more Avenger reinforcements arrived at the scene. She would help save Sunspot and Cannonball from the newly created creatures. The fighting was ultimately stopped by Captain Universe where she was revealed to be the creator deity that had been worshipped by the Builders. This caused Ex Nihilo and Abyss to stop fighting though the Aleph refused where it was destroyed after attacking Captain Universe. With the conflict ended, Ex Nihilo and Abyss remained behind on Mars to care for their newly created garden on the red planet. (Avengers v5 #3)
As the Builders were defeated, Izzy came to be romantically involved with Cannonball with the two dating during this time. (Avengers v5 #22)
Smasher was then deployed to investigate an incident on A.I.M. Island that had disappeared and returned where its surface was dominated with futuristic technology. Whilst approaching the island, she along with Cannonball and Sunspot were captured by A.I.M. though she was freed afterwards by the Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson who claimed that the organization's actions were not hostile. During their talk, she was bitten by an organism that transformed her into an A.I.M. servant where she was became the Messenger. (Avengers World v1 #2)
She later received word that the New Mutants were arrested for criminal activity with Sam intending to go see them released. However, he lacked the authority to do so and Izzy had to go there instead of supporting her fellow Imperial Guardsmen during an attack by Skrulls. In addition, they had to find a new nanny to cover their child whilst Izzy and Sam went to recover the New Mutants. During this time, Smasher received orders from Gladiator to recover Deathbird and return her to Chandilar with the New Mutants being drafted for the assignment. (New Mutants v4 #2)
A new crisis affected the Shi'ar Imperium when Empress Xandra was kidnapped from the royal wing with her guards having been murdered. With no sighting of a culprit, Deathbird came to request the aid of the X-Men as further instability would affect the empire. Using a Krakoan gateway, Cyclops and his team arrived on Chandilar where they were greeted by Smasher who briefed them on the disappearance of the empress. An in-depth telepathic scan from Jean Grey came to uncover a spy within the Imperial court with a Stygian disguised as a Shi'ar member. This led to the discovery of a malcontent group of Stygians who formed as a result of galactic resurgence bringing deprivation to their world. Led by a religious zealot named Urr, they intended to murder Xandra as part of a bid to topple Shi'ar control of their world. The X-Men battled the rebels where Izzy called other subguardian recruits from the Smasher corps of the Imperial Guard who provided reinforcements against the terrorists. This allowed for the capture of the malcontents with Xandra came to be restored to the throne. (X-Men v5 #17)
Later on, she was among the Guard during the evens of the Last Annihilation as the Dread Lord Dormammu manifested in the physical universe. He sent forth an endless army of Mindless Ones to dominate space with a force of these being sent to the world of Aerie. The Shi'ar battled to protect the important world from the enemy and were later joined by the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. Together, they managed to stop the enemy's attempts at turning Aerie's moon into a massive Mindless One construct. (Last Annihilation: Wakanda v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Upon wearing the Exospex, she came to be inducted into the Shi'ar Imperial Guard and assumed the Smasher designation. (Avengers v5 #5) After being brainwashed by A.I.M., she was given the name of the Messenger. (Avengers World v1 #2)
Her passion in life was space and led to her studies into astronomy with her keeping a telescope to see the night sky. (Avengers v5 #5)
Her grandfather was Dan Kane who was a famous World War II superhero named Captain Terror. The pair cared greatly for one another with Izzy caring for him even if it meant her not pursuing a career in astronomy. Dan Kane came to leave the farm in order to continue her passion for astronomy. According to her grandfather, he did not like things to be caged and similarly was unhappy at the idea of Izzy being trapped in a life of caring for him when she could go into space. In fact, he believed that there was something special in Izzy that was waiting for her to fulfil her birth right in becoming a hero. (Avengers v5 #5)
She came to be romantically involved with Sam Guthrie with the two dating during the Builder War. (Avengers v5 #22) The pair later came to have a child named Josiah who was hyper-gestated Mutant superhuman. (Avengers v5 #36)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Izzy Kane was an ordinary human being with no special powers inherent in her. This was until one day she found the damaged Exospex that survived the death of the Shi'ar Imperial Guardsman Smasher. Though appearing as a set of goggles, the Exospex was actually a synthetic tri-plated spectra-form that was actually an organic construct meaning that it was a living entity. They were capable of communicating with the wearer and manifesting its full abilities. This saw it encasing her in a costume that was those of a Guardian-type Smasher. It also had access to the Imperial Superguardian Exobase and could also link with the astral archives to determine its position in the cosmos. The Exospex were able to communicate with her and give her information as and when required such as registering intergalactic alerts. She was also able to receive communiques on the Superguardian channel allowing her hear the Majestor's supercast transmissions. (Avengers v5 #5)
The Exospex gave her the access codes to various abilities offered by it which included Exo-Strength, Exo-Flight and Penta-Vision. It was also able to instil upgrades to its capabilities thus improving her combat strength such as increasing her gauntlet grading for improved physical blows. (Avengers v5 #5) She could fire energy beams from her googles that were precise enough to deal with enemies engaged in close quarter fighting with allies. Smasher could upgrade her bioware Exospex with a tracking package to improve her accuracy. (Avengers v5 #3)
She was able to switch to her Penta-Vision mode giving her improved visual abilities and allowing her to sight enemy forces over the battlefield. (Last Annihilation: Wakanda v1 #1) Excess use of Penta-Vision though could result in permanent retina damage. (Avengers v5 #5)
As an Imperial Guardsman, she had access to the Shi'ar Stargate that was an interstellar transportation network. This included the use of stealth-grade non-commercial Stargates such as one hidden in the Sol system. (Avengers v5 #5)
Notes
- Izzy Kane was created by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opeña where she made her first appearance in Avengers v5 #1 (February, 2013).
- On Formspring, Tom Brevoort noted that the character was originally referenced as Isable Dare which was in error with this being corrected in the collected edition stating, "Dare was a mistake in the first place," as the character was intended to be Dan Kane's granddaughter since the beginning".
Alternate Versions
- In What If? Infinity - Thanos v1 #1 (2015), an alternate version of Izzy Kane as Smasher appeared in the What If reality designated as Earth-15121 in the Multiverse.
- In What If? Infinity - X-Men v1 #1 (2015), an alternate version of Izzy Kane as Smasher appeared in the What If reality designated as Earth-15142 in the Multiverse. Smasher was one of the sole surviving Avengers who fought during the Builder War. The Quinjet she was on spent the last 5 years enroute Earth until they encountered the X-Men's Blackbird in the outer rims of Shi'ar space. Cannonball who was now leader of the X-Men. As both groups enjoyed talking in the mess hall, Phoenix found out that Star Brand and Black Widow were stealing supplies from the holding bay. Smasher and the others went to her location just as she was struck down by a huge concussion blast from Star Brand. Both teams entered the brawl with Smasher going up against Beast. Star Brand finally came to his senses after learning that the Black Order's Supergiant used her telepathic abilities on all the Avengers. But she was quickly defeated by Cannonball. Afterwards Smasher and her teammates were offered to join the X-Men in which they all accepted
Appearances
- Avengers v5: (2013)
- Avengers World v1:
- U.S.Avengers v1:
- New Mutants v4:
- X-Men v5: (2021)
- Last Annihilation: Wakanda v1: (2021)
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
