Frankie Raye

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Frankie Raye is a female comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Contents

Biography

Origin

Human Torch Frankie Raye in Fantastic Four v1 #239.

Frankie Raye was a red-headed female human born in the modern age. At some point, her mother re-married to a man named Phineas Horton. She was still a baby by this point and sometime afterwards her mother died leaving her in the care of her step-father. Horton felt trapped as he had to care for an infant daughter but ultimately was a good man who never raised his voice or used physical force against her. When Frankie was 14 years old, the Fantastic Four first debuted as a team of heroes with one of their members taking the name the Human Torch. This angered Phineas who was a bit forceful with his step-daughter when holding her hands but never hurt her. He then took her to an abandoned warehouse where he revealed that he was no mere repairman as he had been the inventor of the android Human Torch though the project was shut down by the government. At first, Frankie could not believe him but ultimately decided to help him as he gathered his own equipment. Whilst carrying some chemicals, the floor gave way causing the content to fall on Frankie who caught on fire. However, the compound resulted in her being unharmed and able to generate flames at will. Horton was worried with grief and came to blame himself for her new ability. He initially used hypnosis in an attempt to see the extent of the damage to her mind but this was a pretext to him planting mental blocks to make Frankie forget this incident along with a fear of fire. This was in order to prevent her from ever finding out about her powers. A year later, he provided her with a bodysuit that would manifest whenever her powers were active but reactivated the memory block in the hope that she could lead a normal life. (Fantastic Four v1 #238)

When she was 17 years old, she went on a trip through Europe where she visited England, France, Switzerland and Italy over the course of 3 weeks. She found it an interesting experience not because of the monuments but how different everyone else lived their lives with this being a stimulating time as she saw everything as being exotic and new. (Silver Surfer v3 #11)

Fantastic Four

She later began to date Johnny Storm who was hiding his identity as a superhero in order to have an ordinary relationship with her. He later came for their date where they went out into Greenwich Village when the area came under attack from the Crusader. This forced Storm to turn into the Human Torch to save one of the villains victims thus revealing his identity to Frankie. Johnny battled the supervillain but was blinded by one of his devices whereupon he killed a bystander before departing the scene. Meanwhile, the Human Torch managed to make a signal to summon his comrades in the Fantastic Four who arrived in the area. (Fantastic Four v1 #164) The incident scared Frankie who ran away from the area. Sometime afterwards, Johnny Storm resumed contact with her as he liked Frankie and the two went on another date to the Central Park Zoo. Raye was struggling to come to terms with the life of a superhero with Storm saying that he was planning to quit the Fantastic Four in order to be with her. The city then came under attack from Gorr the Golden Gorilla and Johnny decided to help his family as he could not stand by to see them hurt despite his desire to be with Frankie. (Fantastic Four v1 #171)

Afterwards, Nick Fury met with the Fantastic Four to request their aid over an incident in Wakanda when their security satellite detected an event in the region. Frankie accompanied the team to meet the Black Panther who she had never met before and arrived but had not informed King T'Challa. This led to their capture by Wakanda warriors but the Black Panther called his soldiers off after seeing it was his friends in the Fantastic Four. He informed them that a Russian team disguised as archaeologists had previously come to Wakanda to investigate the fabled Black Tower of M'Kumbe which everyone had avoided due to legends saying it was a place of great evil. The Fantastic Four went to check on the expedition where they found them all dead before the titanic tower. They were then confronted by silent Wakandans dressed in Ancient Roman soldier garb who captured them with the team deciding to let themselves be taken into the Black Tower. Once inside, they found a replica of Ancient Rome where they were brought before its ruler the Emperor Gaius Tiberius Augustus Agrippa. He was at first immediately taken with Frankie Raye but she rejected his advances and manifested her powers to fight him. However, Agrippa used strange powers that removed her abilities leaving her helpless after she was rendered unconscious. He similarly used his abilities on the other members of the Fantastic Four leading to their capture. The unconscious Frankie was taken away to the dungeons where she was to be executed by being suspended over a flame. During this time, the Black Panther had snuck into the city where he helped save the unconscious Frankie Raye who regained her powers after Emperor Agrippa died when his helmet that maintained his life functions was removed by Susan Storm thus ending his tyranny in the area. (Fantastic Four v1 #241)

Afterwards, a new threat came to the planet when a weakened Galactus arrived on Earth despite his vow of sparing the world. The cosmic being due to his hunger had to feed on the planet's life energy. This brought him into conflict with the Fantastic Four where Reed Richards suggested an alternative world. However, in his weakened state, Galactus he was unable to reach the world on his own power. It was then that Frankie arrived and offered an alternative whereby she would become a Herald allowing her to guide him to another life sustainable planet that was devoid of intelligent life. Reed Richards opposed this but Galactus accepted the bargain and empowered Frankie who was transformed into his Herald. Feeling true freedom at last, Frankie departed Earth despite Johnny's attempts to stop her where she went to guide her new master to a planet that would nourish him an thus keep his oath in sparing Earth. (Fantastic Four v1 #244)

Herald of Galactus

Later on, the Silver Surfer returned and wanted to continue their last discussion over her blind loyalty to Galactus where she offered any life-bearing world to him. Nova though refused to hear Norrin Radd's words and stated that she had a clear conscience where she would sacrifice the inhabitants of any world to the World Devourer so long as it sated his hunger. The Surfer then asked her to accompany him where he had them travel to a distant world at incredible speeds where they found primitive inhabitants on a beautiful planetary surface. Radd then asked if Frankie Raye would allow such beauty to be destroyed to which she showed no hesitation in sacrificing the inhabitants of this world. The Silver Surfer then took her to a nearby cave where she found that this was the Lascaux Cave in France and that they had travelled to the distant past to Earth with the people on this world being early humanity. This made Frankie Raye see the error in her thinking where she began to offer only uninhabited worlds to Galactus. (Silver Surfer v3 #51)

She at a store in Los Angeles when she was recruited into the female Defenders in stopping Caroline le Fay's plans in sending a beacon to otherworldly beings to draw them to Earth. Reluctantly, she accepted the offer of joining the superhero team as they travelled to the site of the summoning in an abandoned pyramid leading to a battle with le Fay's supervillain minions. After the villains were defeated, Frankie turned into her Nova form and used her power to absorb the cosmic energy to prevent the signal from being sent thus helping in saving the world. (Fearless Defenders v1 #29)

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Frankie Raye was a human woman with long red hair and noted for her beauty. (Fantastic Four v1 #164)

Frankie had a sense of wonder and loved to explore something new and exotic. (Silver Surfer v3 #11)

Her step-father went by the name of Thomas Raye but in actuality was an assumed name by Professor Phineas Horton. Initially, she believed him to operate as a simple repairman but he was actually a brilliant scientist that was the inventor of the android Human Torch. (Fantastic Four v1 #238)

The psychological fear of fire was actually a mental block implanted into her mind through hypnosis by her step-father. (Fantastic Four v1 #238)

Frankie came to be romantically linked with Johnny Storm with the two really liking one another. (Fantastic Four v1 #171)

She had said that she had always wanted to meet the Black Panther T'Challa who was the King of Wakanda. (Fantastic Four v1 #241)

Upon becoming a Herald, she held her first loyalty to Galactus. (Silver Surfer v3 #51) Frankie stated that she had decide to serve him by choice and did not like being talked down to by his former Herald the Silver Surfer. (Silver Surfer v3 #11) The Silver Surfer though wanted her to retain some form of moral compass rather than have blind loyalty to the World Devourer. This left her confused as she felt that she should simply serve Galactus who was akin to a universal force. Norrin Radd though accused her of acting like she had no conscience though Frankie that her conscience was clear and that she did what she had to do in service to Galactus. As such, she had no guilt in sacrificing life bearing worlds to him so long as it sated his hunger. It was only after the Silver Surfer showed her the error of her ways that Frankie Raye began to seek out only uninhabited worlds for the World Devourer. (Silver Surfer v3 #51)

Nova later came to believe that her brief time with the Silver Surfer was simply him using her to get over the death of Mantis. To Frankie, this was obvious and that there was no reason to be guilty over it. (Silver Surfer v3 #51)

Raye later found herself attracted to Fire-Lord but whilst kissing him she came to find that she had upset the Silver Surfer in the process. (Silver Surfer v3 #51)

Powers and abilities

Originally, Frankie Raye was an ordinary human being. This was until she was exposed to experimental chemicals that were used by the android Human Torch to generate his flames. This initially caused her to be lit on fire but she absorbed the flames and were not harmed by them. Thus, she could engulf her body in fire, generate flames and have the power of flight with these being similar to the Human Torch. The flames had a tendency to burn away any clothing she had on her. It was this reason that her step-father crafted a bodysuit that could survive the flames and had melded with her skin whereby it only appeared when she lit on fire. (Fantastic Four v1 #238)

After offering herself to Galactus, she came to be augmented by the Power Cosmic thus turning her into a Herald an giving her great abilities as a result. Among these was the ability to survive travelling through space without the need for life support equipment. (Fantastic Four v1 #244)

She could combine her energies with another Herald where together they could attain such speeds that they could travel through time. (Silver Surfer v3 #51)

Notes

  • Frankie Raye was created by Roy Thomas and George Pérez where she made her first appearance in Fantastic Four v1 #164 (November, 1975).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

  • In Fantastic Four, the character made an appearance in the episode "When Calls Galactus" where she was voiced by Leeza Miller McGee. As a child, she had a step-father who was a scientist that was working on a robot for the military. He forbid the young Frankie from entering into his laboratory but secretly on one occasion she entered the room where she witnessed the body of a mechanical Human Torch under construction. During this moment, she accidently spilt chemicals on herself causing her to develop superpowers that led to her being able to catch on fire. The trauma of the incident caused her to mentally suppress this past childhood event. As an adult, the red haired woman met Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four who was heart broken over his separation from Crystal with the two developing an attraction to one another. Contact with Johnny led to the re-activation of her long dormant powers allowing her to catch on flame just like the Human Torch. Together, the two embarked on a romance when Earth came under threat from a hungry Galactus who desired to feed after he had staved off the effects of a poisoned world he had eaten earlier after being betrayed by his Herald Terrax. To save Galactus and Earth, Frankie Raye decided to become his Herald as he had none now and was empowered with the Power Cosmic to become Nova. She then departed Earth with Galactus to find him uninhabited worlds to sate his eternal hunger.
  • In Silver Surfer, Frankie Raye made a number of appearances in the animated series where she was voiced by actor Tara Rosling.

Films

Frankie Raye in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
  • In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the character made an appearance where she was portrayed by actress Beau Garrett. She was shown as being a United States Army Captain where she worked in General Hager's team. When the Silver Surfer appeared on Earth, she accompanied the General during his visit to Reed Richards in order to find a way to stop the alien. During her time there, Johnny Storm met her and was attracted to her though she ignored his attentions. Following the Silver Surfer's capture, Captain Raye had the Fantastic Four imprisoned as well but she helps them escape after Victor von Doom stole the Herald's cosmic powers where she followed them as they sought to stop him. After the defeat of Galactus, she attended Sue Storm's and Reed Richard's wedding where she attempted to catch the bouquet only for Johnny Storm to burn it in mid-air as he said he wanted to "avoid risks" much to the chagrin of Frankie Raye.

Video games

  • In Marvel: War of Heroes, Frankie Raye appeared as a playable card in the video game.

Toys

Appearances

  • Fantastic Four v1: (1975)
  • Silver Surfer v3:
  • Heralds v1:
  • Fearless Defenders v1:

External Links

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