Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 149. Who is Dazzler in Marvel Comics?!

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Ep. 149. Who is Dazzler in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

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  Hi guys, it's Megan from Vigilante Vibes and I'm here
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  with another mutant Marvel character, Breakdown, and today
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  I want to talk about Allison Blair AKA Dazzler.
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  Pretty much anyone in the Marvel Universe could turn out to be a
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  mutant, which means there's a huge range of paths they can
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  take. Some, like the X-Men, use their
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  powers to protect the world and their fellow mutants.
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  Others go down a darker path and using their abilities to cause
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  chaos. Though those types are actually
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  a small part of the mutant population.
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  And also they are really, really cool.
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  A lot of mutants just want to live their lives in peace,
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  avoiding trouble. Then there are those who find
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  creative ways to use their powers in everyday life.
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  Take Dazzler for example. Allison Ally Blair can turn
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  sound into light, anything from sparkly visuals to full on laser
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  blasts if the noise is loud enough.
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  But Ally's never been into using her powers for fighting.
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  She's more about putting on a killer show.
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  For years she's stayed away from the whole superhero scene, even
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  turning down the X-Men so she could focus on her music and her
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  own life. That's part of what makes her
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  such a unique and entertaining character.
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  She even has had her own 42 issue solo comic and she she
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  just wants to be a pop star, which I think is so cool.
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  A lot of comic book characters come about because a writer or
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  artist has a cool idea. But Dazzler's origin was way
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  more planned out. She was actually created as part
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  of a big collaboration between Marvel and Casablanca Records,
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  meant to be a full blown multimedia star with comic
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  appearances and real music released under her name.
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  Before she became the Dazzler we know and love, she went through
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  a bunch of changes. Her stage name bounced between
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  Disco Queen, Disco Dazzler before they settled on just
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  Dazzler. Her real name changed from
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  Evelyn Free to Allison Blair. Even her powers were totally
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  different. At first she was supposed to
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  make people tell the truth, but that eventually evolved into a
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  cool sound, into light power she's known for, which I think
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  fits so much better. One of the most talked about
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  changes though, was how she looked.
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  Originally, artist John Romita Junior based her on Grace Jones,
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  inspired by her influence on the black disco scene, but Marvel
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  ended up changing her into a white blonde woman to resemble
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  the actress Bo Derek, hoping Bo would play her in a movie or
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  some kind of project. Romita wasn't thrilled with the
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  change, and in the end, nothing ever came of it.
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  Anyways. Casablanca Records ran into
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  financial trouble and the whole plan fell apart.
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  That left Dazzler kind of directionless.
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  At first, her comic was only meant to be a one shot, but when
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  the bigger plans fell through, Marvel scrambled to turn her
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  into a regular character. So her debut wasn't exactly on
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  her own terms. Instead, she popped up in other
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  stories, most notably Uncanny X-Men #130 where she started to
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  make a name for herself with fans.
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  Uncanny X-Men #130 dropped right in the middle of the iconic Dark
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  Phoenix Saga, but that didn't stop Dazzler from shining.
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  The issue kicks off with the X-Men on the hunt for the newly
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  detected mutant, and the whole setup taps into the same themes
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  of sexual freedom and temptation that we're running through.
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  Jean Grey Storyline Jean ends up in the nightclub during the
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  search, which is where she encounters Dazzler for the first
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  time. Even though Dazzler wasn't the
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  main focus and didn't join the X-Men by the end of it, she
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  definitely left an impression. After that, Marvel started
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  weaving her into the universe with some quick cameos, like in
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  Fantastic Four, Number 217 and Amazing Spider man #2O3.
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  It was a subtle way to make her feel like a part of the bigger
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  picture without throwing her straight onto the team.
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  She quickly built friendships, pretty casual friendships with
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  other heroes, and even if she wasn't close to them or itching
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  to jump into battles, she knew she could count on them if
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  things got bad. In Uncanny X-Men #130 there's
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  this moment where she's clearly intrigued and a bit overwhelmed
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  by the wild energy of the club crowd, which becomes even more
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  fitting when we learn the mutant everyone's after is a pop star.
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  From there, the story heats up across issues 1:30 to 1:31 and
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  the X-Men clashing with the Hellfire Club and Jeans slipping
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  deeper in under Masterminds control.
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  It was an intense arc, but Dazzler still managed to stand
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  out amid all of the chaos. Dazzler's back story was
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  actually pretty engaging and got a lot more attention once her
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  solo comic Dazzler launched. Ali grew up in a tense
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  household. Her parents were always fighting
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  until her mom suddenly disappeared.
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  Her dad was super strict and had his heart set on her becoming a
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  lawyer. But Ali had other ideas,
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  especially after her mutant powers kicked in during a school
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  dance and she realized how much she loved music.
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  She ended up breaking away from her dad's expectations after
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  college, and they she became estranged when she chose to
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  follow her dreams instead of the path he laid out.
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  Once the first issue of Dazzler hit shelves, it set up things
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  really, really well. It gave readers a solid sense of
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  who Ali was, her personal struggles, her ambitions, all
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  while throwing in some big name guests like Galactus and Spider
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  Woman to draw more attention. Marvel even made the comic a
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  direct market exclusive at first, so it wasn't sold on
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  regular news stands to make it feel more of a special event.
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  The series started strong with great sales and a fun mix of
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  genres. It had a bit of everything,
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  romance, family drama, everyday life stuff, wild crossovers.
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  It really tried to appeal to as many people as possible.
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  But over time, sales began to drop and the book kept shifting
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  its tone and direction. Different writers and artists
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  came and went, which made it tough for the series to really
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  find its voice. Eventually, things took a weird
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  turn when Dazzler decided to try her luck in Hollywood.
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  That led to Marvel Graphic novel #12 Dazzler the Movie, a pretty
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  infamous flop that marked a low point for the characters early
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  days. The book was poorly placed and
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  borderline misogynistic, though it had one decent plot element.
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  The whole world learned Allison Blair was a mutant and her
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  career actually suffered for it. This choice led to the Dazzler
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  series to to a tailspin without real direction, the character
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  supporting cast and core themes having been quickly forgotten.
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  Ally's unique angle as a super powered music star struggling in
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  the big city had been brushed aside in the favor of generic
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  action movie heroics that diluted the series identity.
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  It lost relevancy over time and was cancelled at issue #42 with
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  many plot threads being rushed or thrown aside.
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  Dazzler ended with a whimper. Even though Dazzler didn't end
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  on a high note, Marvel wasn't ready to give up on Ali just
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  yet. When her solo series wrapped,
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  they brought her into the X-Men, moving her away from her
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  original stance of wanting nothing to do with the superhero
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  lifestyle. She ended up teaming up with
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  Beast, who's Hank McCoy, and the two even had a short lived
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  romance in the Beauty and Beast miniseries.
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  Not long after that, she officially joined the X-Men
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  during Claire's Claremont's run on Uncanny X-Men, sticking
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  around for about 40 issues. Claremont was known for rescuing
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  underused or overlooked characters and giving them
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  depth, and he did a great job with Allie.
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  He tied up a few loose ends from her solo book, like having her
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  movie The Dazzler the movie actually get released, and even
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  built a surprising but strong friendship between her and
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  Rogue. This was especially cool
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  considering Rogue had tried to kill her on a few occasions back
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  when she was still a villain. Dazzler really brought something
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  fresh to the team. She was funny, she had good
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  chemistry with the others. She gave the X-Men a bit of a
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  light hearted flair. She became one of the several
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  characters whose solo books hadn't worked out, but who found
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  a new life as part of an ensemble cast.
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  She stood out during the Outback era and the whole Mojo World
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  storyline, where she also started dating Longshot, another
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  move that helped keep her from fading into obscurity.
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  Marvel even gave her a new costume, moving her away from
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  the disco jumpsuit and signaling that she was now fully on board
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  with the superhero gig. But her time as the team player
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  came to a halt when she lost her memories and was written out for
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  a while after that. She popped in and out of various
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  X-Men related titles like New Excalibur, some of Matt
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  Fraction's run, but she never quite reached the same level of
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  popularity or momentum that she had back in the 80s and early
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  90s. Now, what is Dazzler up to in
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  more recent times? Dazzler continued popping up in
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  various X-Men stories throughout the late 90s and 2000s.
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  In New Excalibur, she even got a surprising new power.
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  She could basically come back to life after dying.
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  Some fans thought it might be a secondary mutation, but it never
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  really explained or followed up on, so it just kind of was
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  there. During that time, she also
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  reconnected with Longshot, but their relationship fell apart
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  again thanks to his amnesia. Over the years, Ali's pop star
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  persona kept resurfacing because it had added a fun twist to her
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  character and gave her some unique challenges.
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  She also found herself working with some unexpected teams like
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  SHIELD and the Offbeat X Terminators.
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  While it was super brief, she finally made her live action
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  debut in a blink and you'll miss It cameo in 2019's Dark Phoenix,
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  which nodded to her comic book first appearance.
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  More recently, she was chosen to join the main X-Men team in the
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  X-Men Hellfire Gala 2023 One shot, which was a big deal,
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  especially since it was one of the most diverse lineups of the
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  team that has ever had. But in classic X-Men fashion,
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  the celebration didn't last long.
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  Dazzler was killed almost immediately by Nimrod, kicking
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  off the Fall of X event. Thankfully, she didn't stay dead
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  for long and quickly brought back to help lead an attack
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  against Myra Mctaggart and newer developments.
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  Ali was on tour with her mutant band in her own solo series
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  Dazzler, written by Jason Lowe. He also wrote The Concert of
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  Champions one shot, which centered on her concert and
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  explore how she was processing everything emotionally after the
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  events of her main series written by the same writer.
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  So yeah, she's, I think she's pretty underrated.
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  The people who like her love her.
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  The people who don't like her don't know her.
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  To know the Dazzler is to love her.
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  She is phenomenal. So like always, I have some
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  comics for you to check out. Allison Blair even better.
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  Eve of Destruction Xtreme X-Men volume to the Dazzler run from
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  1981 to 1986, Dazzler X song, Dazzler by Jason Lowe, and
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  Concerts of Champions. So I hope you learned something
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  today. I hope you enjoyed my character
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  breakdown, and I hope you have a marvelous day.
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  Be sure to like and subscribe. Have a great day.