Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 156. Who is Firestar in Marvel Comics?!

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Ep. 156. Who is Firestar in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

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Hello my fellow nerds. Today I am here with another
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character breakdown and I'm continuing my mutants coverage
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with Firestar. Oh, I'm Megan by the way, with
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vigilante vibes. Be sure to like and subscribe
0:30
before I start so you don't miss any more of these character
0:32
breakdowns 'cause I have so many of them just banked there
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waiting for you. So who is Firestar?
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I think we all have seen the rumors.
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We know that Sadie Sync is confirmed to be in Spider Man
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Brand New Day and I think a lot of people are like she's either
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NJ or Firestar. Personally, I think she could be
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Firestar. So let's learn about her.
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Let's get it all out of the way now before even more stuff is
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leaked from that movie set and we see Firestar in her full
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getup. Actually, that'd be kind of
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dope. I want to see that.
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So anyways, back to what I was saying.
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Firestar's first appearance actually wasn't in a comic book,
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but in an animated TV show called Spider Man and His
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Amazing Friends, which came out September 12th, 1981.
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Then in 1985, she finally had her first comic appearance in
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Uncanny X-Men #193. Angelica Jones was just a
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regular girl, 13 year old girl, but she was going through a
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tough time. She was bullied at school, her
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beloved grandmother passed away suddenly, and on top of all
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that, she discovered she had a weird new power to generate
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intense heat. With her grandmother gone, she
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was living alone with her dad who had no idea how to help her
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with powers. Angelica felt totally confused,
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alone, and miserable as you tend to do when you are a lonely
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mutant. Turns out, Angelica was a mutant
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and her new powers were so strong they were picked up by
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Professor Charles Xavier's machine Cerebro, which finds
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powerful mutants. At the same time, her presence
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was also detected by a similar machine used by Emma Frost, the
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White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
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Xavier and the X-Men were trying to find her to get her to join
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the school where he teaches mutants to control their powers.
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Meanwhile, Emma Frost had the same idea, but with a different
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goal. She wanted to recruit Angela.
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Angelica, if I call her Angela, I'm so sorry.
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I have a very important Angela in my life and Angelica just
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isn't registering in my head. So if you hear Angela, that
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that's what I mean is Angelica. She wanted to recruit Angelica
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for her own school so she could train her to serve the sinister
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purposes of the Hellfire Club. Frost reached Angelica and her
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dad just moments before the X-Men did.
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Posing as the headmistress of a fancy Massachusetts Academy,
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Frost convinced Angelica's dad to send her there to get the
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special help she needed. A year later, Angelica was doing
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great at controlling her powers under the White Queen's
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guidance. Angelica was still a sweet,
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innocent kid who had no clue about the evil nature of the
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Hellfire Club or the White Queen.
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She was actually pretty happy at the Massachusetts Academy and
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was super grateful to Frost for being so kind to her.
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Frost even gave her a cool code name called Firestar.
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This is like exactly how you just don't think it's going to
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happen. You think in a year you're going
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to see Angelica and she's just like a head bitch in charge, but
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no, she's just a sweet little thing.
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One of the hellions a team of young mutants being trained by
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Frost was Thunderbird, who's James Proud star.
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He wanted revenge on Xavier and the X-Men for the death of his
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brother, the original Thunderbird.
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Two other Hellions, Empath and Roulette, decided to help him
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out, even though he told them not to.
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Empath used his powers to make people feel emotions and forced
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a fire star to fall so deeply in love with him that she would do
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anything he asked. Which is disgusting by the way.
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He made her join the Three Hellions in an attack on the
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X-Men at the military base in Colorado since Frost had taught
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her to see the X Men's enemies. But the X-Men defeated Firestar,
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Empath and Roulette, and Thunderbird realized he was
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wrong for wanting revenge. Once Firestar was free of
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Empath's control, she felt a ton of guilt and despair for causing
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so much trouble. She was touched when Xavier
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offered to let her join his school, and she refused out of
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loyalty to Frost and went back to the Massachusetts Academy.
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So basically, Emma Frost does not deserve her.
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Eventually though, Frost started to show her true colors.
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She wanted to use Angelica as an assassin against her rival
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Celine, who was the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.
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To do this, Frost used her telepathic powers, a special
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armlet that let her get into Angelica's dreams, and her
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Hellfire lackeys to stage a series of accidents with
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Angelica's powers. This pushed Angelica further
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into isolation and right into Frost's manipulative arms.
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But ever since her first day at the Academy, Angelica had a
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bodyguard named Randall Chase. Chase got really close to
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Angelica and was aware of Frost's evil plans.
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He became more and more worried about her.
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Finally, Frost had Chase tied up and was going to have him
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killed. He managed to escape, but he was
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fatally wounded. He found Angelica, told her the
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truth before he died in her arms.
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In a rage, Angelica turned on Frost, destroying the Academy's
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secret training center before going back to her dad, and they
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finally made-up. Later, the hero Night Thrasher,
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reached out to Angelica to join a team of other teenage heroes
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called the New Warriors. She joined them for a long time
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and eventually started dating Marvel Boy, who later became
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Justice. After several months, Angelica
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found out her powers were slowly making her sterile, so she
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started using them less and less.
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During a revenge scheme by a gang of thugs called the Poison
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Memories, Firestar's dad was shot in the chest.
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He almost died but thankfully recovered.
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Firestar also had to face a time without Vance as he had to go to
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prison for accidentally killing his abusive father.
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Angelica ended up proposing to Justice, and he said yes.
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Angelica and Justice were brought to The Avengers by their
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fellow New warrior Rage, who was friends with the superhero team.
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The three of them helped The Avengers reform after they had
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been disbanded for a long time. Angelica and Justice even
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captured the villain Whirlwind to prove that they were worthy
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of being on the team. They were accepted as reserve
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members under the guidance of Hawkeye and soon became full
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members. Angelica was hesitant at first,
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but she stayed with the team for Justice, who was totally in love
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with The Avengers. She told the team about her
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medical issue, and Doctor Henry PIM helped her with the
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treatment. Angelica started to feel like
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she was really part of the team, and when Speedball tried to get
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her and Justice to rejoin the Warriors, they declined.
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Soon after, Angelica and Justice left active duty, supposedly to
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work on their relationship, but they were actually asked to
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secretly go undercover at the headquarters of the Triune
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Understanding the leader, Jonathan Tremont, was secretly
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attacking The Avengers public image before his own game.
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Firestar and Justice discovered the true goal of the
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Understanding. They were using the beliefs of
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their members to power a spaceship to fight a cosmic
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threat. They helped some Avengers joined
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the fight against the menace and helped the heroes stop the time
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travelling villain Kang the Conqueror from taking over the
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world. After both crises were over,
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they left The Avengers again. The two left The Avengers to
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explore their relationship before getting married.
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Angelica started college and enjoyed a normal life, but she
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left all the wedding planning to justice.
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When he confronted her about it, she confessed that she needed
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more life experience before settling down just as left in a
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huff, and it seemed their engagement was over after the
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Scarlet Witch altered reality and took away the powers of most
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mutants. Firestar was one of the 198
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officially known mutants who still had her powers.
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With the Superhuman Registration Act signed into law, Angelica
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decided to stop being Firestar. She was afraid her identity
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would be revealed, which could put her family in danger, and
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she worried about being exploited.
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She decided to focus on her studies and tossed her mask into
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the streets. Even though she was in semi
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retirement, Angelica became friends with Black Cat, Hellcat,
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and Spectrum. They would go shopping, have
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lunch, get spa treatments in New York.
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You know, girl stuff, girly things.
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Angelica kept working in college and hung out with her friends in
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her spare time. One day she broke some
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devastating news to them. She had been diagnosed with
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breast cancer. Her friends rallied behind her,
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helping her out, giving going to her medical appointments.
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Angelica saw a night nurse and was also examined by Doctor
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Strange. They tried to reassure her, but
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it looked like the cancer had grown a lot.
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Even though neither Doctor Strange nor Night Nurse could
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help. Angelica woke up 1 morning
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completely cured. In a desperate attempt to save
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her, her three friends had gone to extraordinary ways to cure
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her. Ultimately one of them
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succeeded, but at a huge cost. Hellcat had made a deal with her
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ex-husband Damon Hellstrom. In exchange for curing Hellcats
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friend. Hellstrom demanded that Hellcat
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spend one night in hell. But Hellstrom had a secret plan,
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forcing Angelica, Black Cat, and Spectrum to go to hell to save
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Hellcat. Angelica had come out of
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retirement and became Firestar again.
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All I'm saying is like get you a friend like Hellcat.
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Like that's a real friend right there.
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First of all, you got to go talk to your ex-husband and make a
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deal with him and you agree to go to hell.
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Girl that makes me proud to be a girl.
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Juggling life as a college student and a superhero was not
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easy. Without a team to back her up,
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Firestar would often miss classes to stop criminals.
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One time she was rushing to class trying to ignore her diva
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teammates calls to hang out when the bastards of evil attack New
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York. Changing course, Firestar ditch
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class and was one of the first heroes to show up.
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Using the element of surprise, she fought the Super villain
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Aftershock. She managed to save a heroine
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named Arana who had also joined the fight, but they were still
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outnumbered and Firestar was soon knocked down by Aftershock.
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She was still fighting when Warhead blew up.
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Luckily, Firestar survived the explosion.
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In the following days, she was disappointed by lack of support
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she got from her teammates and quit the Divas.
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She teamed up with a new partner named Gravity.
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Together, they started hunting down the Bastards of Evil to by
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trying to find their criminal parents.
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This LED Firestar into a fight with a veteran supervillain,
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Electro. Despite his age, Electro used
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his greater experience to absorb Firestar's radiation and turn it
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against her. Both of her, actually her in
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Gravity. He took advantage of the moment
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to warn the two young heroes that he had no family ties to
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the Bastards of Evil before sparing their lives.
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It later turned out that all the Bastards were former college
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students that the Superior had brainwashed into believing they
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were children of super villains, all to cause chaos in hopes of
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succeeding where his father, the leader, had failed.
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After the Bastards were defeated, Firestar decided to
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keep the young allies going with Gravity's help, and the two of
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them started to show signs of having romantic feelings for
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each other. Angelica had a reunion with
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Justice and the two of them were confronted with their past
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selves during their time with The Avengers thanks to the time
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travelling activities of Loki. Of course, Loki.
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This forced them to face their lingering feelings and finally
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move on from their past relationships.
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Firestar then got a job as a physics teacher at the Jean Grey
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School of Higher Learning and became an X-Men.
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She admitted that she had a crush on Iceman, but he rejected
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her, probably because turns out he was gay.
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After being dragged to hell with other X-Men, she was pulled into
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a quest to find the deceased Nightcrawler, my favorite.
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When Wolverine, who had lost his healing power, went to Canada to
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answer a distress call from Heather Hudson about her missing
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husband, the X-Men decided to follow to protect their friend.
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When they got there, they found that the curse of the Wendigo
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had come back and it was rapidly turning everyone on Canadian
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soil into Wendigo. Members of the X-Men, including
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Firestar, teamed up with the members of Alpha Flight to fight
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the Wendigo and contain the threat.
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Alpha Flight member Talisman had been working on a magical
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solution to the problem and was about to do her magic to end the
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curse when it transformed. Wolverine stabbed her with his
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claws. Talisman was taken away to be
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cared for, while Angelica and the X-Men held back.
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The Wendigo, an ancient evil God, was the cause of the curse.
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Angelica, Storm, Rockslide, and Iceman were chained to a wall
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and their powers were weakened. Just before the Wendigo could
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finish them, they freed themselves and forced one of the
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more benevolent but cowardly gods to grant them temporary
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godhood. Appearing as a blindly
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blindingly bright living flame, Angelica joined the living
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lightning that was Storm, the living ice that was Iceman, and
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the living earth that was Rock Slide.
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Together. With the help of the X-Men and
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Alpha Flight, the Evil 1 was defeated and everyone who was
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cursed was brought back to being human.
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Because of a plan by a fascist look alike of Captain America,
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the United States was briefly under the control of Hydra.
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As part of Hydra's takeover, the mutant population of America was
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moved to a new nation called New Tian.
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During New Tian's short existence until the US went back
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to normal, Firestar became a member of the New Tian
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Strikeforce along with Marrow, Toad, Mondo, Archangel, and
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Wolfsbane. Sometime after the US was
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restored, Angelica went back to the Xavier Institute in New York
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City. When the mansion was attacked by
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Sartoria, she helped Storm, Kitty, Pride, and Iron Man stop
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4 giant projectiles from hitting the building.
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Firestar was one of the many X-Men who responded to Jean
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Grey's telepathic call to rally against X-Men.
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Firestar and her fellow X-Men in the area seemingly vanished when
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X-Men destroyed himself and everyone in a huge psychic
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attack. Firestar, along with other
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street level heroes who had fought in a previous battle with
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Carnage, were brought together by Iron Fist to help Misty
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Knight during the Dark Carnage's latest attack.
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They fought various Carnage look alikes only to face Demi Goblin
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and her pet Man Wolf. They successfully defeated the
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monsters and freed Man Wolf. After that, they joined the
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other heroes at a warehouse to fight the rest of the Carnage's
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group. In the end, the monsters turned
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back into humans as Venom absorbed Carnage's symbiote
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after killing him. Next in her crazy life After the
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Century started leading the forces of the Cancer Verse to
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invade the Negative Zone. Then to the Posey Verse.
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Mr. Fantastic used his dimensional anchor to gather
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various heroes including Firestar to fight the evil
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forces. In the end, Bob Reynolds who is
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Century reemerged with the void while Nova sacrificed himself to
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defeat the evil forces. So as you can see, she has a
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wildlife and it is not over yet. She was a candidate to become an
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X Man. During the Hellfire Gala, it was
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announced that she would be one of the new team members.
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But a short while after the mutant hating organization,
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Orcas attacked another Hellfire Gala, killing several mutants,
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including Jean Grey who's died like so many times.
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With her last breath, Jean telepathically asked Angelica to
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become a mole for the mutants and join Orcas, hoping to
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destroy them from the inside, unable to refuse Jean's final
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wish. Which is so rude, might I say,
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because who was going to tell a woman who is dying?
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No, whatever. Firestar appeared to betray the
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X-Men and joined Orcas, and the X-Men believed that she had let
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Orcas into her KOA. I couldn't do that.
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I even if I was like doing the right thing, I was undercover.
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I was fighting the good fight secretly.
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I don't want people to think like the worst of me, even if
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it's not true. It's just my anxiety could
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never. After the Hellfire Massacre,
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Firestar was based at Orcas headquarters in outer space.
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She was tracked down by Kitty Pride, who wanted to kill her
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for betraying the X-Men. Rightfully so, but Angelica was
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lucky enough to convince Kitty it was all a ruse.
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Kitty and Angelica agreed that Angelica would keep her cover as
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a mole, even if it meant facing the wrath of her fellow mutants.
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This made Angelica feel incredibly alone, but she stuck
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with it. While there, she was asked to
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work with another mutant named Judas Traveller.
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On another mission, Firestar had to take down her former mutant
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ex fiance, Justice. Orcas managed to capture him and
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he had no idea why Firestar would betray the mutants.
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Orcas also tried to disable Justice powers with a Blight
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swill injection, but Justice managed to escape, much to
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Angelica's relief. She hopes that he can forgive
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her someday. Exes.
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You know, I would have probably just taken him out.
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I would do that a few to a few of my exes.
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After Justice's escape, Firestar saw her chance and made Orcas
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believe that Traveler was a traitor.
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Traveler was caught, his powers were disabled.
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Doctor Stasis decided to promote Firestar and she became Orcas's
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new acting director. She is now more determined than
19:14
ever to burn Orcas down to the ground.
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Firestar would eventually be found out as a spy within Orcas
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and was captured and prepared for execution by her boss,
19:22
Doctor Stasis. However, she was rescued by Emma
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Frost, Sync and Shadowcat and rejoined her fellow X-Men for
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the final fight against Orcas. So that is Angelica, that is
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Firestar. She's a pretty cool character.
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I I dig her, I like her. She's she's strong, she's
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confident. I dig her.
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So yeah, as usual, I have comics for you to check out to get to
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know Angela a little better. Angelica, Angelica get to know
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Angelica a little better. So starting off West Coast
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Avengers from 2024. Just read it all.
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X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comics numbers one through 12 to 117.
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X-Men annual #1 from 2022. Amazing X-Men #7.
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And Amazing X-Men one through 19.
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So I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something.
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And don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss any
20:24
more of my breakdowns. With that being said, have a
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marvelous day.