Vixen (DC)
Vixen is a female comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Mari Jiwe McCabe was the daughter of Jeanne-Mari Jiwe (Vixen: Return of the Lion v1 #1) and Reverend Richard Jiwe from the African nation of Zambesi where he was noted as being the Gandhi of his country. (Justice League of America v1 #234) When she was a child, she had a school mate by the name of Abiesa with the two being friends. Around fifteen years ago, an upcoming warlord by the name of Aku Kwesi attacked the village leading to him killing Mari's mother. (Vixen: Return of the Lion v1 #1)
Her uncle was Mustapha Maksai who was the half-brother of her father with him rising in the military during the time of the decolonization of the country of M'Changa around 15 years ago. It was believed that General Maksai who was known by the moniker of the Gored Ox that he was responsible for shooting the fatal bullet that killed her father. (Justice League of America v1 #234)
She was determined to live as she had fled to America where she adapted to her new home and developed a life as a model. (JLA Classified v1 #24)
Justice League
The Bomb Squad then captured her Totem and fled with Mari in desperate pursuit to recover it from them. (Justice League of America v2 #3) During this time, her powers caused her to tap into any animal in range and leading to her losing her sense of self until she focused it on a human child allowing her to remember her human identity. (Justice League of America v2 #5) She managed to track the amulet in the possession of Amazo who was using it to regulate the various powers he was using with her landing a damaging strike through the android's body allowing for him to be defeated. (Justice League of America v2 #6) In the aftermath, Mari was invited to join the ranks of the newly formed Justice League of America with her accepting. (Justice League of America v2 #7) Unknown to anyone, she had actually lost her powers by this point with her abilities changing as they no longer tapped into animals but rather other super-powered beings with Mari not telling anyone about this change. (Justice League of America v2 #11)
Through the portal was an alternate version of the world crafted by Anansi where Bruce Wayne had never become Batman but instead a gun-wielding vigilante named Paladin who killed criminals. Vixen intervened when he was caught by his best friend Commissioner Jim Gordon which was when the Green Lantern of this reality named David Kim arrived to help stop further bloodshed. Mari explained to everyone about her circumstances and that she intended to restore the true reality with the Green Lantern taking her to the Fortress of Solitude to meet that reality's Wonder Woman. On this world, Wonder Woman fell in love and married Superman but he perished whereupon she became a grieving widow. She was convinced to aid Vixen in restoring reality as she hoped that it would bring her husband back to life and the rest of the world's Justice League followed the pair. They confronted Anansi but the spider god revealed that as he created their world that they were subject to his control whereby he forced them to turn against Mari. In desperation, Mari threatened to destroy the Tantu Totem which would kill all of them leading to Anansi restoring the original Justice League who battled his version of them from the alternate world. The true Justice League won and Vixen's true powers were restored by Anansi who stated that he wanted her to be stronger and serve as a champion for a coming danger to all of existence whereupon he returned the heroes to the real world. (Justice League of America v2 #26) After testing her abilities with Animal Man, she discovered that her original powers were restored and Black Canary reinstated Mari into the ranks of the Justice League. (Justice League of America v2 #27)
Whilst at the Shadowspire, she was visited by Anansi who called for her aid as the Tantu Totem Guardian where she was asked to help save all of existence by protecting Dharma. The trickster god stated that the entirety of existence lay in his hands but warned Vixen not to trust him. To aid her, he created the facsimile of Paladin from his fictional world to aid her as the heroes found a defeated Shadow Cabinet and confronted Starbreaker who was in the midst of battle with Icon. (Justice League of America v2 #33)
During the Blackest Night, she led her team to the Hall of Justice when black rings resurrected several of the undead as members of the Black Lantern Corps. Vixen came to attack by the Black Lantern Vibe who constantly attacked her emotionally in order to weaken her and claim her heart. She was only able to survive through the aid of Kimiyo Hoshi who helped sever the connect of the undead to their rings. (Justice League of America v2 #40) The fight left Vixen badly injured and the incident along with the prior events made her question her ability at this point. Thus, she decided to disband her incarnation of the Justice League and resigned as leader in order to spend time to recover. (Justice League of America v2 #41)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
She came to be one of many heroes that were inducted into the U.N. new Justice League International with Zambesi grateful at her inclusion. (Justice League International v3 #1)
Vixen was among the heroes invited to the Watchtower that was considered to join the expanded Justice League though she lost out out to Atom, Element Woman and Firestorm. (Justice League v2 #18)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She was said to not respond well to sarcasm. (Justice League of America v2 #28)
Her grandmother was said to had the scent of sweet onion on her breath whilst her grandfather had given her a loving nickname. (Justice League of America v2 #5)
Powers and abilities
The Totem with the powers of the animal world was given to Tantu by Anansi and his wife Aso in the forest of Asanti at the heart of West Africa. Through it, she had all the powers of Africa that included creatures such as foxes, elephants, spiders and man. (JLA Classified v1 #24) She claimed that the Totem had allowed her to use the power of the Vodun animal spirits. (Vixen: Return of the Lion v1 #1) Within the Tantu Totem, there resided an entire world where resided the god Kwaku Anansi. (Justice League of America v2 #25) She was able to take the traits of all animals in a forest and holding them unto all of them together at the same moment. (JLA Classified v1 #24)
Vixen could draw upon the powers of various animals to help her in battle. This included calling on the cheetah's power allowing her incredible bursts of speeds. Or she could call upon the ability of the snake allowing her to crush her foes. (Flash v2 #46) In one case, she used the power of the planarian to regenerate her body after her physical form was destroyed. (Justice League of America v5 #23) Similarly, she could turn into a Pompeii worm allowing her to survive powerful heat though not impact from energy attacks. She could tap into the power of organisms such as extremophiles such as methanococcoides burtonii allowing her to operate in cold environments yet still feel warm. (Justice League of America v2 #34) Alternatively, she could gain the proportionate strength of a creature that was many times magnified by her size such as those of a Rhinoceros Beetle that made her strong enough to rip the head of a tank of its base. (Justice League of America v2 #28) Using the power of the horse fly, she was able to fly incredible fast and able to keep up with a speedsters. (Truth & Justice v1 #1) In one instance, she was shown to be able to tap into the power of mythical creatures such as dragons and gain their strength and powers. (Justice League of America 80-Page Giant v2 #1)
She could also combine traits such as merging the bio-luminescence of a Marine hatchet fish and that of an Angler fish to produce light allowing her to project laser-like beam from her head. (Justice League of America v2 #40)
Mari could communicate with animals allowing her to get eye witness accounts from them. (Red Tornado v2 #6) She could fill herself with strength and scents of animals to stop them from attacking. To stop a wolf, she was able to use a wolf's maternal instinct to stop the animal. (Flash v2 #46) With the power of the Red, she could link herself with human beings and directly communicate with their minds. (Justice League of America v5 #24)
She could draw on pure energy allowing her to wield it either as a shield to protect herself or create claws of energy able to rip through flesh with ease. (Animal Man v1 #44)
One account claimed that her powers were not derived from the amulet but simply allowed her to channel her innate power. (Justice League of America v2 #5)
For a time, she lost the ability to tap into the powers given by other animals with this instead being changed into a power that tapped into the abilities of other super-powered beings near her. (Justice League of America v2 #11) This allowed her to draw upon her team-mates such as Roy Harper's archery skills, Superman's strength, Wonder Woman's agility and even Hal Jordan's Green Lantern constructs leading in her to wonder where the source of her powers came from as these did not manifest from the morphogenetic field. (Justice League of America v2 #17) This trait was later removed and Vixen's original powerset was restored to her. (Justice League of America v2 #27)
Notes
- The Mari Jiwe McCabe Vixen appeared in Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner where she made her first appearance in Action Comics v1 #521 (July, 1981).
- In an interview on CBR, writer G. Willow Wilson wrote that, "I had a lot of room to flesh out the world Vixen comes from and create a great story. She has so many interesting elements. Yes, she's got these hardcore physical powers, but she's not a cavewoman -- she's opinionated, she gets scared, she gets angry, she has doubts. For a superhero, she felt very approachable to me as a writer. She's not a goddess. She's a person."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Justice League Unlimited, Vixen appeared in the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe where she was voiced by actor Gina Torres.
- In the Arrowverse, Vixen made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Vixen, Mari Jiwe McCabe made her first appearance in the animated web series where she was voiced by actor actress . She was born in the village of Zambesi with her having an older sister by the name of Kuasa. Mari was only a baby when their home was attacked by the local warlord Benatu Eshu. Her mother was the bearer of the Tantu Totem but was unable to stop the carnage and was fatally wounded by Eshu though not before she managed to get her youngest daughter to safety. As a result, Mari was given the Tantu Totem with her being separated her sister and did not know of her existence whilst Mari was taken to America where she was adopted as the foster daughter of Chuck McCabe and Patty McCabe. She grew up and became interested in fashion that led to her taking a career there but she wanted to learn more about her past leading to her briefly leaving Detroit in search for answers but she discovered nothing. By this point, Mari was unaware of the mystical nature of the Totem she wore which she thought was a family heirloom and also did not know that her sister Kuasa was seeking her out as she intended to claim the relic which she believed was her birth right that was denied her. With armed guards, she had Mari kidnapped and taken to their ruined village of Zambesi with Kuasa using a mystic rite to get the Totem to remove itself from her. Kuasa claimed it herself but ultimately Mari managed to defeat her and took back the Totem. She then began to operate as a superhero in Detroit with her being given the name Vixen. Later, the warlord Eshu arrived in Detroit with him seeking all the totems of Zambesi leading to him acquiring the Fire Totem. This led to a battle with Mari who was unable to defeat him and she ended up freeing her sister as well as seeking allies from other members of the superhero community. Kuasa convinced her younger sister to seek out the Water Totem that she claimed for herself where she battled Eshu in order to avenge her village but she was seemingly killed by the Fire Totem's power. Mari then managed to use the power of the Tantu Totem to finally defeat Eshu.
- In Arrow, Mari Jiwe McCabe made her live-action debut in the television series where she was portrayed by actress Megalyn Echikunwoke.
- In Legends of Tomorrow, Mari's grandmother Amaya Jiwe appeared in the live-action who was portrayed by actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers.
- In Justice League Action, Vixen appeared in the setting of the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Jasika Nicole.
Films
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Vixen appeared in the MMORPG game in a non-voiced role.
- In Injustice 2, Vixen appeared as a premium alternate skin for Cheetah making her a playable character for the fighting video game where she was voiced again by actress Megalyn Echikunwoke.
Appearances
- Action Comics v1: (1981)
- Suicide Squad v1:
- Justice League of America v2:
- Vixen: Return of the Lion v1:
- Justice League International v3:
- Justice League v2:
- Justice League of America v4:
- Truth & Justice v1:
External Links
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