Dawnstar is a superheroine appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries. She was created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell, and first appeared in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #226 (April 1977).
Dawnstar | |
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![]() Dawnstar as depicted in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5 (September 2008). Art by George Pérez. | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #226 (April 1977) |
Created by | Paul Levitz (writer) Mike Grell (artist) |
In-story information | |
Species | Anasazi |
Place of origin | Starhaven |
Team affiliations | Legion of Super-Heroes Justice League |
Notable aliases | Bounty |
Abilities | Light-speed flight Long-range tracking |
Fictional character biography
editDawnstar (her real name, she has no Legion code name) is from the planet Starhaven, a world colonized by Native Americans who were abducted from Earth by an unknown alien race in the 13th century. Her name is derived from the appearance on Earth of the planet Venus, the "morning star", and which is the reason she wears an eight-pointed star ornament on her forehead.
Dawnstar's people are of Puebloan heritage and were experimented on by their alien captors, transforming them into winged metahumans.[1]
Dawnstar's parents are Mistrider and Moonwalker, and her younger brothers are Greybird and Greatfire.[2] During her late childhood and early teens, her parents built a thriving business on their daughter's ability to guide spaceships through hazardous areas of space.[3] She also worked as a guide to hunters of animals.[4]
Dawnstar received an invitation from Legion financier R. J. Brande to attend the Legion Academy,[3] and reluctantly accepted the opportunity. She was first introduced to the Legionnaires at age 16 as a recent graduate of the Academy.[5] Her tracking and navigation talents earned her full membership on her first mission. Her Legion stipend went to pay for enhancing her home world's defenses.
She served in many missions with the Legionnaires, contributing her often underrated talents at tracking and high-speed travel to perform many rescues of her colleagues, as well as investigations of personal disappearances and similar mysteries. She also brought these talents into many Legion adventures in other times, especially the 20th century. Notable here is her early role in the Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985).
Dawnstar had a lengthy, tragic romance with fellow Legionnaire Wildfire. They each respected the other's defiant, outspoken personality, although they counseled each other on working with their talents as part of a team instead of acting as individuals. Wildfire had been turned into an anti-energy being in a containment suit, and thus had no physical body, so the two were unable to have physical relationship.[6] Later in Justice League of America #9 (2007), Dawnstar was shown in a relationship with a woman indicating she is bisexual.
After the Legion's timeline was "reset" by the Legion's battle with Mordru,[7] Dawnstar was shown as having been possessed by an evil entity called Bounty in the new timeline, who amputated her wings and forced her to use her tracking powers as an assassin. Dawnstar was later freed from the entity's control.[8] She was spiritually healed, but her destiny was never resolved, as she vanished[9] shortly before the Legion's timeline was erased by the events depicted in Zero Hour (1994) and by the ensuing reboot.
Current status
editLegion of Super-Heroes (vol. 5) #15 (February 2006) featured a Barry Kitson cover which depicted Dawnstar alongside classic Legion members Blok and Tyroc. The solicitation for this issue hinted that the Legion would become the "greatest heroes of the Multiverse". Dawnstar appeared briefly with other Legionnaires from previous iterations of the team, as a character in a "campfire story" showing the Legion's influence and the legends and myths that had sprung up around it. This cameo appearance does not appear to have been meant to take place in the series' continuity, nor was it included in the trade paperback (although it was included in a later collection).
In a JSA-JLA crossover story, The Lightning Saga, Dawnstar (along with many other pre-Crisis Legionnaires) was seen as a statue in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Several members of the JSA and JLA tracked Dawnstar's flight ring to Thanagar, but she had left it there with a woman as a promise to return.
Dawnstar, with her wings and original appearance, then united with other Legionnaires in the 21st century to save someone's life (they hold rods that resemble those used for a similar action, to save Lightning Lad, in the original Silver Age Legion stories).[10] Although it was predicted that at least one was risking his or her own life, no one died, and the Legion contingent returned to the 31st century.
The Legion shown in this story also took part in the Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes story, set in its own time and involving Superman, in Action Comics #858–863 (2007–2008). In this series, Dawnstar's uniform was extensively redesigned.
Dawnstar is shown with this Pre-Crisis Legion in the limited series Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds (2008). In this series, she finally admits her feelings for Wildfire after he nearly dies defending her from Superboy-Prime and begins a relationship with him.
Following DC's New 52 reboot, Dawnstar was one of several characters stranded in the 21st century in the 2012–2013 Legion Lost series. Following that series' cancellation with issue 16, those characters remained stuck in their past. In the Future's End: 5 Years Later event, she is shown to have joined the Justice League.
The New Golden Age
editIn the pages of "The New Golden Age", Dawnstar is among the Legion of Super-Heroes members that arrive in the present and confront the Justice Society of America over their decision to add Legionnaire (a younger version of Mordru wanting to avoid the path of evil) to their ranks.[11]
Powers and abilities
editDawnstar's unique powers include the ability to track life forms and objects across light years of distance and through interstellar space. She can survive in deep space for long periods of time without a spacesuit or viable atmosphere, by generating a self-sustaining environmental forcefield. In deep space, she can travel at faster-than-light speeds. In an Earth-normal atmosphere or in a sizable gravity, her speed is limited by friction and drag.
Equipment
editAs a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, she is provided a Legion Flight Ring. Despite already being able to fly, she can use the ring to track her location and communicate with other Legionnaires.[12]
Other versions
edit- Several alternate universe incarnations of Dawnstar appear in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #105.[13]
- An ancestor of Dawnstar, known as Wildstar is a member of the 21st-century hero team R.E.B.E.L.S., and has the combined powers of Dawnstar and Wildfire.
- Dawnstar appears in DC Bombshells.
In other media
editTelevision
editDawnstar makes a cameo appearance in the Legion of Super Heroes (2006) two-part series finale "Dark Victory".
Film
edit- Dawnstar appears in JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time,[14] voiced by Laura Bailey.[15] This version possesses additional photokinetic and healing abilities.
- Dawnstar makes a cameo appearance in Justice League vs. the Fatal Five.[15]
- Dawnstar appears in the Tomorrowverse films Legion of Super-Heroes (2023) and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, voiced by Cynthia Hamidi.[16][17][15] This version is a student at the Legion Academy.
Miscellaneous
edit- Dawnstar appears in Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century.
- Dawnstar appears in Smallville Season 11.[18]
References
edit- ^ As shown in a retcon in R.E.B.E.L.S. (vol. 2) #3 (June 2009); no earlier reference had been made to any specific tribe.
- ^ Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (April 1988)
- ^ a b Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #240 (June 1978)
- ^ Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #226 (April 1977)
- ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 3) #58 (March 1989)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #5
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #36
- ^ Legionnaires #17 (August 1994)
- ^ This ultimately was shown to be Kid Flash, in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3.
- ^ Justice Society of America Vol. 4 #10. DC Comics.
- ^ Who's Who in the DC Universe #6 (August 1985), Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #240 (June 1978), Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (April 1988)
- ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #105
- ^ ""JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time" Target Exclusive Animated Movie". www.supermanhomepage.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ a b c "Dawnstar Voices (Legion of Super Heroes)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 26, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
- ^ Couch, Aaron (October 13, 2022). "DC's Legion of Super-Heroes Sets Voice Cast With Meg Donnelly and Harry Shum Jr. to Star (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
- ^ Harvey, James (December 5, 2023). ""Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Part One" Release Date". The World's Finest. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ Smallville Season 11: Continuity #2 (March 2015)
External links
edit- Dawnstar at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Cosmic Teams: Dawnstar
- DCU Guide: Dawnstar
- Hero History: Dawnstar
- Gay league profile