Zatanna

Revision as of 11:06, 19 August 2018

Zatanna Zatara in Zatanna v2 #1.

Zatanna is a female comic superhero that features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Zatanna was the daughter of Zatara and his wife Sindella. (Justice League of America v1 #163) After her birth, her mother and father lived in upstate New York near Arkham Asylum. When Zatanna was still an infant, it was believed then that her mother had died sometime after Zatara had retired from crime fighting. (Justice League of America v1 #162)

After her fathers disappearance, Zatanna attempted to find out what happened to him and followed in his footsteps by performing on the stage as a magician whilst also fighting criminals. (Hawkman v1 #4)

She later informed the Justice League that the cult called the Fiatlux or Illuminated Ones were responsible for stealing the Luciferase that was used to summon the demon Hellrazer. (Justice League of America v1 #225)

Zatanna had come to the Hall of Justice to help in the process of reuniting Red Tornado's consciousness that resided in the headquarters computers and return it to his physical body. Whilst taking a break, she was asked by Black Canary to check Vixen whose powers had changed and determined some unknown force was responsible for it that was linked to her Tantu Totem. During this time, Amazo restored himself from Red Tornado's old body and transferred his intelligence into a replacement one where he battled the Justice League. (Justice League of America v2 #23) Zatanna attempted to help but was injured in the fight but she provided a decisive blow against the android by calling upon the power of Red Tornado who helped knock Amazo into the Slideways teleporter that sent the villainous robot light years away above a star thus defeating him. (Justice League of America v2 #24)

The New 52

Overview

Personality and attributes

Daughter of Zatara in Seven Soldiers: Zatanna v1 #4.

Powers and abilities

Using real magic in Zatanna: Every Day Magic.

She had inherited magic from her father which she did by speaking words backwards. (Hawkman v1 #4) Mnemonic incantation was said to be the most complicated of the mystical arts. (JLA v1 #75) Zatanna could use blood as a substitute if she was unable to speak whereby she scribbled the words backwards for the spell she intended to cast which she could do to restore her capacity to speak. (Justice League of America v2 #24)

She could place herself in trances that were mystically induced in order to locate someone but these took much out of her which was why she did not conduct them often. (Hawkman v1 #4)

Another spell that Zatanna had learnt was being able to magically split her body making two copies of herself potentially allowing her to travel to two locations simultaneously. It required a level of mastery and magic to use this spell as it could leave a person weakened and leave some of the duplicates immobile with them being unable to speak. (Hawkman v1 #4)

Among the entities she called upon were the Flames of Hotath. (Justice League of America v1 #163)

Whilst she lived in San Francisco, she considered her fathers estate of Shadowcrest her home as it was where she grew up. Zatanna maintained the place and used it as a getaway location. The doorway was mystically guarded which required a password to be said out loud to gain entry. Magical manifestations of the house were conjured for her when needed with these acting as servants who the human guise of staff members. They could be summoned or dispelled at will through basic magic. The mansion itself was massive with some rooms protected by a mystical guardian. It included a library that had books that were centuries old that were written in non-human languages with her family having collected them. (Countdown v1 #37) Some books had languages that were ancient when Atlantis was first founded. (Countdown v1 #36) There was also a number of mystical relics that had a great deal of power in them. The library served as a location where Zatanna could study, research and practice. (Countdown v1 #37)

Within her possession was the Gnosis Sphere or God Machine that was said to had been built by Aletheia of Olympus and had the power to reveal truths. Many wars had been watched across half the Earth to acquire the sphere and its knowledge. As a result, one of Zatanna's ancestors decided to strip all memory of it from the world in order to protect it with the relic kept in his family for safekeeping with Zatara holding onto it before it passing to his daughter. (Detective Comics v1 #960)

Notes

• Zatanna was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson where she made her first appearance in Hawkman v1 #4 (October–November, 1964).

Alternate Versions

In Superman/Batman v1 #61 (2009), an alternate version of the was shown in the setting of Mash-Up that was set on a dream world created by Doctor Destiny. This version saw characters from Earth being fused into one entity with this seeing Zatanna merged with Raven creating Ravanna who was a member of the Justice Titans until she sacrificed herself to save them. This reality was shattered when Batman and Superman discovered the truth but Doctor Destiny in an attempt to keep the heroes contained kept them in another dream. For Batman, this was a world where he and Zatanna were married with Bruce Wayne convincing Zatanna that it was false thus breaking this reality as well leading to Doctor Destiny's defeat.

• In Mystik U v1 (2017), during a battle against the force known as the Malevolence the mystical heroes of Earth lost but cast a spell to create an alternate world. On this world, there existed Mystik University headed by Miss. Psychic and was a place to train those in the magical arts. Zatanna was the assistant of her father Zatara with him believing that she had no magical aptitude despite the advice of Miss. Psychic. During a stage show, she accidently called forth demons with her father pushing her away but being claimed by them. The shocked Zatanna was met by Miss. Psychic who talk her to Mystik University to undergo training in the mystical arts.

In other media

Television

• In the DC Animated Universe, Zatanna made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, Zatanna made her first appearance in the animated television series in the episode "Zatanna" where she was voiced by actor Julie Brown.
  • In Justice League Unlimited, Zatanna made a number of cameo appearances in the animated television series but in the episode "Little Miss Piggy" she was voiced by actor Jennifer Hale.
• In Young Justice, Zatanna made a number of appearances in the animated television series where she was voiced by actor Lacey Chabert.
• In Justice League Action, Zatanna made a number of appearances in the animated television series where she was voiced by actor Lacey Chabert. She was present to stop Solomon Grundy in "The Zombie King" with her being among the various magical heroes present. In "Speed Demon", she accompanied Batman to Brother Night's club after they learnt that he was gifting various supervillains with magical powers. Brother Night used his magic to get the Batmobile possessed by a demon that entrapped Zatanna inside of it with her mouth gagged to prevent her from freeing herself.

Films

• In Justice League Dark, Zatanna appeared as a character in the animated film where she was voiced by actor Camilla Luddington.

Video games

• In Justice League Heroes, Zatanna appeared as a playable character in the console video game where she was voiced by actor Kari Wahlgren.
• In DC Universe Online, Zatanna appeared as a non-playable character in the MMORPG video game where she was voiced by actor Claire Hamilton.
• In Young Justice: Legacy, Zatanna appeared as a playable character in the video game tie-in to the television series where she was voiced again by actor Lacey Chabert.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Zatanna appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where she was voiced once more by actor Lacey Chabert.
• In DC Legends, Zatanna appeared as a playable character in the setting of the iOS video game.
• In DC: Unchained, Zatanna appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Hawkman v1:
• Zatanna v1:
• JLA v1:
• Batman: Streets of Gotham v1:
• Detective Comics v1:
• Justice League of America v2:
• Zatanna v2:
• Justice League Dark v1:
• Detective Comics v1:
• Justice League Dark v2:

External Links

• Wikipedia Entry

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