Saturn Girl

Revision as of 08:48, 6 February 2024

Saturn Girl in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds v1 #2.

Saturn Girl is a female comic superhero who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Imra Ardeen in Adventure Comics v1 #247.

Silver Age

Imra Ardeen

Imra shared her flight with fellow teenagers Garth Ranzz and Rokk Krinn, and billionaire R. J. Brande. As fate would have it, Imra intercepted the thoughts of an assassin who was targeting Brande. She alerted Ranzz and Krinn, who acted in time to save Brande's life. After the assassin was taken into custody, Imra's career took a different path at Brande's urging leading her to join Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy. She came to take the name Saturn Girl making the three of them the founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. (Superboy v1 #147)

She participated in the Legion's trips to the 20th century where they recruited both Superboy. (Adventure Comics v1 #247)

The Legion were set to have their annual vote to elect a new leader, and Saturn Girl was the first to arrive at the Clubhouse. A crystal capsule sent from the Trylop Council of Mernl dropped from the sky warning that their computers predicted a Legionnaire would die using their powers during an upcoming invasion of Earth by Zaryan the Conqueror, and Saturn Girl resolved to sacrifice herself to protect her fellow Legionnaires. She used her thought control to nudge the Legion into electing her leader, then used a rainbow bar from their treasury to make medallions with her face printed on them, and demanded every Legionnaire wear one. She demanded the Legionnaires demonstrate effective use of their powers, and was able to temporarily duplicate each member of the Legion’s powers using the medallions they wore, and proceeded to forbid them for using their powers or going on missions during a probation period because she declared they were not using their powers properly. When Zaryan began his invasion of Earth she responded, and warned the other Legionnaires not to follow her because they were on probation. The Legion thought she’d gone mad with power, but Mon-El had observed her actions from the Phantom Zone, and knew her motivations. Sunspots interfered with him communicating with the Legion, but when they lifted he filled in Lightning Lad on the situation, and he flew into space, determined to keep Saturn Girl from sacrificing herself. He blew up Zaryan’s ship with his powers, but was fatally shot with a freeze-ray. The Legion honored him by placing him in a glass coffin with lightning generated over it by a perpetual motion device, and his funeral was attended by Superboy, Supergirl and Lori Lemaris. The Legion placed a statue of Lightning Lad in their Clubhouse as a tribute to the first Legionnaire killed in action. (Adventure Comics v1 #304) The Legion still mourned Lightning Lad, but had to fill the spot his passing left on the roster, so they held an open audition. Antennae Boy of Grxyor could use his ears as an antennae to tune into any radio station from Earth’s past present or future, but the screeching sound of radio programs blaring over each other drove the Legion nuts, and he admitted he couldn’t control his powers. Dynamo Kid was a reporter hoping to do a story on the Legion, and rigged a device to make it appear as if he had the same powers as Lightning Lad, but the Legion easily saw through his ruse. Marvel Lad demonstrated several of the same powers as Superboy, making the team suspicious. A metal-detector revealed he wasn’t a robot, and he proved he wasn’t Superboy in disguise by handling a piece of Kryptonite kept in the Legion Clubhouse. Cosmic Boy decided to give Marvel Lad a number of initiation tests before letting him on the team. He had Marvel Lad retrieve fluvium, which Brainiac 5 needed for his lead-poisoning antidotes he was developing to cure Mon-El, and Marvel quickly brought some back from a distant galaxy. For his next test fought a feeding Sun-Eater, a being that roamed the galaxy absorbing the heat and energy of suns, and made it flee by blasting it with his heat-vision, which was hotter than a sun. Marvel was told to clear the planet Brogg of space monsters so it would be safe to use as an emergency landing spot for space pilots. The monsters turned out to be illusions created by a 3-D generator. Marvel smashed it and found stolen treasure underneath it, realizing the charade was created by space pirates looking to protect their booty. For his final test Marvel Lad had to create a new element, and by crushing gold, silver and iron into powder and rubbing his hands at superspeed to vibrate the molecules of the three elements he formed a bar of element 152, an anti-gravity metal. Marvel Lad was accepted into the Legion, and pulled off the mask he wore, revealing himself as Mon-El. The day before Brainiac 5 had him test his latest antidote, but told him to wait a day to make sure its’ effects were permanent before revealing himself to the Legion, not wanting to get their hopes up as they had before when Brainiac came up with a cure that turned out to be temporary. Mon-El took one last trip to the Phantom Zone to tell off the Kryptonian criminals who’d tormented him for centuries, and reminded them that good always triumphed over evil. Mon-El was overjoyed that Brainiac had finally cured him, but his spirits were dampened by the passing of Lightning Lad, and vowed to find a way to revive him using Daxamite super-science. (Adventure Comics v1 #305)

The Legion held try-outs, and had to reject several well-meaning but unsuited applicants, including Polar Boy, Night Girl, Chlorophyll Kid, Fire Lad and Stone Boy. The rejects met up and were encouraged by Polar Boy that even though they weren’t Legion material, they could still use their powers to help people. They formed the Legion of Substitute Heroes, vowing to help people and, if need be, the Legion of Super-Heroes in their time of need. They built their own clubhouse in the side of a mountain as well as a spaceship and Science Police monitoring system. They got a warning about giant evolved sea creatures that had escaped from the Ocean Research Laboratory, and were quick to respond, but the LOSH were already on the scene wrangling the beasts. The next Science Police alert came when scientists who’d built a domed city in the Arctic went rogue. They secretly built an atomic power plant under the dome, propelling the city into space, and delivered an ultimatum that they’d use the advanced weaponry they’d built to attack Earth unless they were given tribute. The Substitute Heroes flew into space, but Sun Boy of the Legion streaked through space near the domed city, and fearing they were about to be hit by a meteorite the scientists piloted their city back to Earth where they were apprehended by Colossal Boy and Cosmic Boy. Robot-ships attacked Earth and Polar Boy offered the Legion back-up, but Brainiac 5 refused him, saying the mission was too dangerous for untrained civilians. The Substitute Heroes’ anxieties finally got to them, and they decided they were no help as a team after all and prepared to disband. Chlorophyll Kid spotted seeds that had rained down from space, and used his plant growth powers on one. The seed grew into a plant man that attacked him, and the Substitute Heroes defeated it, and Fire-Lad incinerated the rest of the seeds. They learned from their monitor system that the seeds had come from a distant planet that had also sent the robot-ships. The robot-ships were meant to divert the Legion while the planet rocketed more seeds to Earth to conquer the planet. The Substitutes traveled to the planet, found the warehouse storing millions of seeds, and Chlorophyll Kid used his powers to prematurely grow them to plant men. The planet was now burdened with a population explosion, and had to cease its’ plans of invasion. The Substitutes decided to stay together after all, and were pleased to keep their victory a secret amongst themselves, and attended a parade for the Legion celebrating their defeat of the robot-ships. (Adventure Comics v1 #306)

Space pirate Roxxas and his crew wee looking for a valuable target, and during their search they raided the planet Oranz, stealing all their cold light globes. The Legion responded, with Sun Boy heating a mountain to white-hot temperatures to provide light for the natives until they could produce more cold light globes to light their cities. The Oranz shot down one of the pirate’s rocketships, which Brainiac 5 examined, declaring it capable of faster-than-light-travel. He immediately went about replicating the technology so the Legion could pursue Roxxas. With several members on offworld missions the Legion conducted an emergency membership drive. Jan Arrah of Trom, said he had an amazing power, but couldn’t reveal it to all of them. They assumed he had a good reason for his conditional application, and he showed it to Saturn Gir, who promised not to reveal his power, but assured the Legion he’d be a worthy member. Dubbed Mystery Lad, he accompanied the Legion using the faster-than-light rocketships Brainiac 5 duplicated to the waterworld of Vuruna, where Roxxas and his men had looted valuable colored pearls. Roxxas dropped z-bombs on the pontoons of a city in Vuruna, and Cosmic Boy used his magnetic powers to keep the city afloat until repairs could be made, but Roxxas managed to escape. Saturn Girl used her telepathic powers to follow the pirates to a dead world, and Mystery Lad helped them escape an ambush., The captured pirates recognized Mystery Lad, who looked guilty on meeting them, and Invisible Kid suspected he was secretly a space pirate. The Legion continued to pursue Roxxas and his crew, and Mystery Lad got out in front of them, surrendering himself to the pirates. They’d raided his homeworld because the residents were capable of transmuting one element to another, and they planned to force the natives to turn lead into uranium so they could create a doomsday weapon, the threat of which would let them conduct unopposed raids across the universe. The residents of Trom fought back, and were all killed except Jan, who fled, and Roxxas had pursued him ever since, which was was he was hiding the nature of his powers. Jan said he’d rather die than help them, and turned the hull of their mothership into gas. The pirates had oxygen helmets and fled, only to be captured by the Legion. Invisible Kid, still suspicious of Jan being allied with the pirates, had followed him onboard Roxxas’ ship, and gave him an oxygen helmet, saving his life. Cosmic Boy welcomed Jan as a full member of the Legion, dubbed him Element Lad, and promised that the nature of his powers would still be kept a secret to everyone but the Legion. (Adventure Comics I #307)

The Legion came to unveil their official flag that was made of an indestructible material and luminous enough to be seen for hundreds of miles. They draped a Legion flag over Lightning Lad’s coffin when his body began to twitch. Lightning Lad had seemingly been revived by the constantly firing electrical bolts above his coffin, , but claimed to be suffering from some memory loss. The Legion suspected that Lightning Lad’s powers might have worn off while he was dead, and agreed to secretly test his powers. Sun Boy was absolutely convinced Lightning Lad was powerless, but decided he’d cover for him, fearing his heart would be broken if he was taken off the Legion. Scientist Jon Arkol needed a massive amount of electricity to power his latest experiment, and the Legion had Lightning Lad fly to his lab’s hilltop condenser to charge it up. Sun Boy used his powers to heat the air, creating a lightning storm that powered the conductor. The commissioner of the Science Police learned that the rumored Thieves’ Planet where crooks from around the universe hid out was a reality, and although he didn’t know the exact location he knew which space sector it was in. The Legion flew to an asteroid in the sector, waiting for any criminal ships to pass by. When they spotted one Cosmic boy, still unsure of Lightning Lad’s powers, ordered the legionnaire to take it down with a lightning bolt. Sub Boy reflected a burst of heat and light off a cliff behind Lightning Lad, which struck the criminal ship, bringing it down. The criminals were from the Hydra World, and had stolen a group of rare animals from an intergalactic zoo. The Legion placed the animals safely onboard their own ship, but Chameleon Boy took a liking to Proty, a Protean that could shapeshift just like him, and decided to keep him as a pet. Thieves’ World was hidden from the world by an invisibility shield, but the Legion located it using the coordinates set in the Hydra World criminal’s spaceship. The Legion tried to pass themselves off as criminals, but the master of Thieves’ World was a telepathic sentient ball of electricity and soon found them out. He had his Atom Guard robots apprehend them and throw them in his jewel jail, but Chameleon Boy had his new pet transform into a gun, allowing the Legion to bluff their way out of prison when a guard came to feed them. The Legion tore through Thieves’ World, apprehending a number of criminals, and Lightning Lad used his powers to short-circuit the master. The Legion were all surprised to see Lightning Lad unequivocally demonstrate his powers, but sun Boy was especially shocked because he knew 'Lightning Lad' was an imposter. He’d noticed that Lightning Lad was suntanned except on the back of his neck, indicating he’d had long hair until he recently clipped it, and Lightning Lad had no Adam's apple, which meant he was a woman. The imposter was Lightning Lad’s sister Ayla Ranzz, who wanted to carry on her brother’s heroic legacy, and the Legion let her join the team as Lightning Lass. They still hoped the day would come when they could revive Lightning Lad for real. (Adventure Comics v1 #308)

The Legion furthered their education by taking classes via closed-circuit TV so they’d never miss a lecture no matter where they were in the galaxy. The Legion held tryouts and Jungle King brought in a wild borlat and demonstrated his power to control any animal using hypno-mental commands. While bragging about his powers and explaining how his father Dez-Nu gave them to him using experimental energy rays his concentration broke and the borlat tried to attack him. Sun Boy disabled the borlat, and the Legion turned Jungle king down because of his lack of control over his powers. Jungle King was in a furious rage over his rejection, and the Legionnaires wondered if his father’s ray experiment had altered Jungle King’s brain. The Jungle King traveled to Monster World and assembled a team of wondrous beasts to serve him as the Legion of Super-Monsters. He renamed himself the Monster Master, and planned on getting revenge on the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Science Police alerted the Legion after he robbed the Space Bank and bragged he’d go after the rarest gems in the universe. Brainiac 5 deduced that he could only be talking about the comet jewels of Korr’s Sky City. Sky City was built on a platform that extended into the stratosphere to avoid Korr’s deadly smog. Monster Master’s Earthquake Beast created an earthquake that started to destabilize Sky City’s base, and the Legion went into action. They fought an even battle with the Legion of Super-Monsters, but Sky City’s base started to crumble, and they had to abandon the fight, using the Legion spaceship to hitch a cable around Sky city’s base to stabilize it while Monster Master made off with the comet jewels. Saturn girl picked up monster Master’s thoughts and realized his next target was Inshar, the World of Giant Flowers where he planned on stealing valuable seeds. The Legion came up with a plan to have chameleon Boy duplicate the form of one of the Super-Monsters to get the drop of Monster Master. The Legion captured the Drill Beast and Chameleon Boy took its’ place, but Bouncing Boy, who’d been told to stay behind with the Legion spaceship because his powers were no match for the monsters, tried to go after Monster Master. Monster Master, alerted to the Legion’s presence, flew off in his spaceship with his super-Monsters and the disguised Chameleon Boy. Brainiac 5 yelled at Bouncing boy for ruining their plan. Monster Master hid out on a rocky planet when he discovered Chameleon Boy’s presence. Monster Master sicced Omnibeast on him, but Chameleon Boy lured the monster into one of the rocky planet’s tunnels it got trapped under a cave-in. Monster Master flew off again, and the Legion predicted he’d return to Monster World to bolster the ranks of his Legion. Bouncing Boy redeemed himself on Monster World by tricking the Earthquake Beast, the most powerful of the Legion, into swinging its’ massive tail at a cliffside, and it was trapped under falling rocks. Ironically, Monster Master was killed when the Gas Creature, a monster he had twice been rejected from his own Legion leading to him being vaporized by him. (Adventure Comics v1 #309)

The Legion closed shop for the night, with Brainiac 5 staying behind for night duty. Karate Kid walked home, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad went to catch a 3-D movie and Chemical King offered to give Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy and Matter-Eater Lad a ride home so he could show off his new air-car. Matter-Eater Lad had him drop him off a while away from home because he didn’t want his fellow Legionnaires, who lived in expensive upper level units to see that he lived in the lower level slum with his parents. Matter-Eater Lad got into an argument with his parents because his father Rall spoent his entire pension and most of Matter-Eater Lad’s Legion check on his gambling habit, and decided to leave home. After spending some time with Shrinking Violet he was convinced he had to face his problems head-on and agreed to return home after his father promised to give up gambling. (Action Comics v1 #381)

The Legion prepared to vote on their new leader, with their revised bylaws allowing them to choose between re-electing Mon-El or placing Saturn Girl in charge. As the Legionnaires voted Mon-El confessed to Saturn Girl that he’d decline leadership if re-elected, he’d lost faith in his nerves and leadership qualities. Tharok used a teleport beam to spirit Mon-El and Saturn Girl to a remote planetoid. He planned to eliminate the Legion by having Validus kill their leaders. Mon-El was overmatched by Validus, so he pretended to go over to Tharok’s side and convinced him to take leadership of the Legion. Once Tharok accepted Validus continued his programming to destroy the Legion leader and friend Tharok’s computerized side with his mental lightning. Mon-El and Saturn Girl returned to Legion headquarters, with Mon-El once again feeling fully confident in himself. (Superboy v1 #190)

Lightning Lord formed a new Legion of Super-Villains, with each of them swearing a blood oath to kill at least one Legionnaire. Lightning Lord swore on his oath to kill his brother Lightning Lad, which he said had been his destiny since he was born. Light Lass awoke in chains in a cell, and Lightning Lord promised her he wanted to help her, not hurt her. He said he loved her, and all the proof she needed was that she was still alive. He asked her to join the Legion of Super-Villains and help him kill Lightning Lad, saying he’d been talking to the storm, and the storm had assured him she’d come to him. Light Lass turned him down, saying he was more insane than ever. Element Lad tracked the resurgence of the Legion of Super-Villains across several planets, brief his team, and realized he was in for a major test of his leadership. The League of Super-Assassins joined with the Legion of Super-Villains, and Lightning Lord sent them and Magno Lad to M-17W, a manufacturing center in the galactic core, to steal the plant’s fusion powerspheres. Shvaugn Erin alerted the Legion, and Dawnstar and Wildfire responded first, but Lazon gave Dawnstar radiation sickness with his light powers, and Magno Lad ripped Wildfire’s containment suit apart. Shadow Lass, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy and Timber Wolf arrived as support, but the villains escaped using a dimensional rift opened by Zymyr. Shadow Lass treated Dawnstar, while Chameleon Boy brought Wildfire a new containment suit. They pursued the villains, but were ambushed by Terrus, who attacked their spaceship with a meteor shower. Cosmic Boy checked in with the Legion Academy, and alerted Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl about the danger. They were on Medicus One, with Saturn Girl receiving prenatal treatment and her delivery date fast approaching. Lightning Lad worried about the safety of his sister, not knowing she was already in captivity. Zymyr opened a spacewarp that stole the polymer screen around Earth that served environmental functions and controlled space traffic. Element Lad, Lightning Lad, and despite everyone else’s objections, Saturn Girl, responded. Saturn Girl went into labor, and Tyr was disappointed to be fighting a pregnant woman, but contented himself with the fact that she’d be easy to kill. Zymyr ended the confrontation, warping his teammates away, and Element Lad and Lightning Lad rushed Saturn Girl to the Medicus One Maternity Ward. Dr. Gym’ll told Lightning Lad he’d been paging him, and that if he wad no planning on pulling any more moronic stunts it was time to get in the delivery room. Element Lad, who’d been pacing back and forth in worry, fainted. Queen Projects and Karate Kid flew back to Orando after their honeymoon, but the Legion of Super-Villains were waiting for them, and Magno Lad, Hunter and Mist Master brought their spaceship down. They took the heroes legion rings and sent out the alarm signal, saying the Legion would come running to their own doom. (Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #2)

Post-Zero Hour

Following the Zero Hour, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

Originally a Science Police interrogator, Imra was invited to join the Legion of Super-Heroes, an government-sponsored intergalactic diplomatic peacekeeping force, after it was inspired by an encounter in which she helped to save the life of billionaire industrialist R.J. Brande, along with two other teenagers Rokk Krinn and Garth Ranzz. (Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0)

When Earthgov was secretly infiltrated by the Dominators, Earth became hostile to the Legion. Meanwhile on Winath, Brainiac 5 discovered that Garridan carried a deadly disease called the Winathococcus Validus, or Validus plague. Imra returned to care for her family; Garth was crippled by the disease and Garridan was sent to the medical world called Quarantine. (Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #3)

Threeboot

Post-Infinite Crisis

Following the Infinite Crisis, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

Rebirth

Imra appeared locked in Arkham Asylum, now changed after the next reality-altering debacle, with Maggie Sawyer stating she was arrested for stealing a sandwich, claiming where she comes from, food is free. Imra tells the interrogator she came here to speak with Superman, and even when the interrogator states the Justice League says he could be dead, she stays calm and says that everything will be fine. When the interrogator asks why she says because she has seen the future. As the interrogator talks to Maggie, she says she needs mental help, and only came with what is seemingly just a ring, but is actually the Legion Flight Ring. (DCU: Rebirth v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Powers and abilities

Her powers were those of thought-casting that allowed her to read the minds of other people. The scientists of Saturn who were experts in telepathy taught her to read minds and cast mental commands anywhere. This allowed her to radiate powerful thought-beams that caused any living creature such as animals to follow her mental hypnotic command. (Adventure Comics v1 #247) She could also beam telepathic commands to another person creating an illusion in their mind such as making them see their gun as a snake. (Adventure Comics v1 #267)

On some occasions, she was known to carry a laser handgun with her. (Adventure Comics v1 #304)

Notes

• Saturn Girl was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino where she made her first appearance in Adventure Comics v1 #247 (April, 1958).
• In an interview, creative officer Geoff Johns wrote on the character, "Saturn Girl is the heart and soul of the Legion of Super-Heroes. When everybody's saying, 'Legion doesn't work anymore. There's too much xenophobia. You can't change people'. Saturn Girl says, 'Yes, you can'. Then suddenly, you realize she can read people's minds. She knows everyone's deepest darkest secrets. If she has faith, then at the base level, human beings and aliens and everybody can reach that goal, can reach achievement and have that goodness inside them. I believe her. I'm with her. And that's why Saturn Girl is so important to the Legion. She's at the epicention of truth for the entire universe for me."
• In Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 Sexiest Women, she was ranked 50th in the Comics list.

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In the DC Animated Universe, Saturn Girl made several appearances in the shared continuity setting:
  • In Superman: The Animated Series, Saturn Girl appeared in the animated television series episode "New Kids In Town" where she was voiced by actress Melissa Joan Hart. She, Chameleon Boy, and Cosmic Boy travel back in time to stop Brainiac from killing Clark Kent before he can become Superman.
  • In Justice League Unlimited, Saturn Girl appeared in a non-voiced role in the animated television series in the episode "Far From Home."
• In the Legion of Super-Heroes, Saturn Girl appeared as a regular character in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Kari Wahlgren. This version sports pink eyes and the additional ability to enter a healing trance while unconscious. After having a prominent recurring role in the first season, she is hospitalized while fighting Esper Lass and Tharok in the two-part second season premiere "The Man from the Edge of Tomorrow" before returning to active duty in the two-part season finale "Dark Victory".
• In Smallville, Saturn Girl appeared in the live-action television series in the episode "Legion" where she was portrayed by actress/singer Alexz Johnson. This version wears a modernized outfit. She, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy travel back in time to save Clark Kent from Persuader and Brainiac before taking the latter's remains back to the future with them for reprogramming.
• In Supergirl, Imra Ardeen appeared in the live-action television series third season which was part of the Arrowverse where she was portrayed by actress Amy Jackson. This version possesses telekinesis in addition to telepathy, had a sister named Preya who was killed by a Worldkiller called Blight, and married Mon-El to secure an alliance between Earth and Titan. She, Mon-El, and Brainiac 5 travel back in time to help Supergirl defeat Reign and the Worldkillers, though Mon-El breaks up with Ardeen during the mission.
• In Young Justice, Saturn Girl appeared in the setting of the animated television series fourth season Phantoms where she was voiced again by actress Kari Wahlgren. She, Phantom Girl, and Chameleon Boy travel back in time to prevent Lor-Zod from killing Superboy and ensure the Legion's future existence.

Films

• In Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, Saturn Girl appeared in the setting of the 2019 animated film where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
• In Legion of Super-Heroes, Saturn Girl made a non-speaking appearance in the setting of the 2023 video game.

Video games

• In Injustice 2, Saturn Girl had a cameo appearance in the Brainiac ending of the fighting video game.

Appearances

• Adventure Comics v1: (1958)
• Legion of Super-Heroes:
• Doomsday Clock v1:
• Superman v5:
• Legion of Super-Heroes v8:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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