Natasha Irons

For the British politician, see Natasha Irons (politician).
Natasha Irons
Natasha Irons as Steel.
Art by Mateus Manhanini.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceas Natasha Irons:
Steel (vol. 2) #1 (January 1994)
as Steel:
Action Comics #806
(October 2003)
as Starlight: 52 #21 (September 27, 2006)
as Vaporlock: Infinity Inc. (vol. 2) #8
(June 2008)
Created byLouise Simonson
Chris Batista
In-story information
Alter egoNatasha Jasmine Irons
SpeciesHuman
Metahuman (as Starlight/Vaperlock)
Place of originMetropolis
Washington D.C.
Team affiliationsInfinity Inc.
Team Superman
Titans
Justice League
Justice League Queer
Steelworks
PartnershipsTraci Thirteen
Steel (John Henry Irons)
Superwoman (Lana Lang)
Notable aliasesSteel, Starlight, Vaporlock, Jenny Blake
Abilities

As Steel:

  • Uses a powered armor suit known as "Chrome Armor", granting various powers and abilities including:
    • Superhuman strength
    • Superhuman durability
    • Superhuman endurance
    • Flight
As Starlight:
Superhuman strength, flight, and control over light.
As Vaperlock
Capable of becoming gaseous at will.

Natasha Irons is a fictional superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Louise Simonson and Chris Bastista, first appearing in Steel (vol. 2) #1 (February 1994).[1] Since the character's creation, Natasha has since become a reoccurring supporting character of both Superman the original version of Steel within their respective comic book series, notably sharing the codename Steel after the original becomes injured.

The character is portrayed as an engineering and computer genius and the niece of John, a fellow genius within the Irons family. Although both mainstream continuities feature different backgrounds, both includes her as the daughter of Clay Irons (the brother of John and criminal known as Crash) and becomes close to her uncle, often working as his assistant for Steelworks, a future technology company based in Metropolis.[2][3][4] In current mainstream continuity, she serves as a public superhero and member of the Superman Family and several other superheroes groups such as the Titans and the Justice League. She is also one of the chief love interest of sorceress and fellow superhero, Traci 13. Prior to The New 52 reboot, the character gained super-powers in the 2006 limited series 52 from Lex Luthor's Everyman Project for a time. She originally used the codename Starlight but following a change to her powers, she instead assumed the name Vaperlock

The character has made several appearance in media, including Superman: The Animated Series where she is voiced by Cree Summer and is portrayed by Tayler Buck in the television series Superman & Lois, where she is renamed Natalie Lane Irons and is made the daughter of John.

Publication history

[edit]

Natasha Irons debuted in Steel (Vol. 2) #1 (January, 1994).[3]

Fictional character biography

[edit]

The daughter of Clay Irons and Blondel as well as the sister to Jemahl, she is a highly intelligent member of the Irons family similarly to her uncle and initially has a vested interest in both dancing and medicine.[4]

In her earlier appearances in the second Steel series written by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove, she is aware of her uncle's identity as Steel and supports him and becomes involved in numerous conflicts in relation to gang and drug-related conflict surrounding the Irons family as well as the re-emergence of John's former employers, Amertek Industries, who is revealed to manipulate both Jemahl and having sold John's past inventions to the gangs.

During Christopher Priest's tenure as writer of the second Steel series, Natasha is portrayed more stereotypical modern teenager with a flippant attitude. During this time, she meets and befriends a teen named Paul Tomlinson, her father becomes the villain Crash, and a series of tragedies follow the Irons family when John's identity as Steel becomes public, wherein rivals and past adversaries targets the family and leads to the death of Natasha's grandmother and the family faces harassment despite several attempts to relocate. While her relationship with John is tested in wake of their grandmother's death, they reconcile.

Nat later travels with Steel to Metropolis when he establishes Steelworks. She becomes his assistant and succeeds him as the superhero Steel after he is injured in battle. Although reluctant, he allows her to operate under the codename and gifts her with an even more advanced set of armor.[5][6] One of her earlier adventures as Steel includes a team-up with Cir-El and Traci 13 to battle Japanese vigilante Byakko and protect Superman from her mystical-based abilities when he is injured.[7]

Becoming Starlight and Vaperlock

[edit]

During the events of 52, Natasha's relationship with John is tested once more due to his disapproval of her activities both personal and as a superhero, cumulating to his inferencing costing her an opportunity to join the Teen Titans and having been made to attend summer school instead of a science colloquium due to having a poor grades in one subject despite passing all others. She eventually joins Lex Luthor's Everyman Project, gaining super-powers and joining a new version of Infinity Inc as Starlight in opposition to her uncle, following learning of undergoing the treatment (unaware it was done without John's consent) despite his negative views of the superhero community and denounced him as a hypocrite. She becomes a double agent within Luthor's organization before he discovers and ousts her.[8]

In World War III, Natasha creates a nanotech missile to attack Black Adam.[9] Infinity, Inc. reveals that the Everyman Project gave Natasha the ability to transform into living gas.[10] Following this, she becomes Vaporlock and helps Steel rescue civilians in Reign of Doomsday.[11]

DC Rebirth

[edit]

In the years following the New 52 which retroactively rebooted the mainstream universe and during the DC Rebirth initiative, Natasha's background and history undergoes significant changes with some similarities to the past continuity.

In this continuity, Natasha is also cast as the eldest daughter of Clay Irons and a scientific genius who has a close relationship with her uncle John and his girlfriend, Lana Lang, whom she views as an aunt. The pair often looked after Natasha and young Ezekiel in their father's stead, all disapproving of his criminal career as "Crash". When her father scams Skyhook, Metropolis's demonic boogeyman, to fund Natasha's scientific endeavors, Ezekiel is kidnapped and her father is arrested and sent to prison. Skyhook remained at large and her brother's missing case remains unsolved, with no details known of what happen to him afterwards.[12] At some point, she also attended college at a young age, dated sorceress Traci 13, and began assisting John and Lana in their superhero personas as Steel and Superwoman.[13]

During the Superwoman series, Natasha develops a new suit to assist Lana's newfound powers following absorbing strange energies from a deceased version of Superman (seemingly the New 52 Superman) upon his death and assists both Superwoman and Steel while being reacquainted with former girlfriend Traci 13 and adopts the Steel codename.[13] Natasha and John later hunts Skyhook when her father escapes from prison and begins hunting him himself. As the Irons family are drawn to the conflict for revenge, Lana's relation with them is tested when she works to uphold their moral stance against killing.[12]

She later joins the Titans and meets her great-great-uncle, John Henry Jr.[14][15]

Powers, abilities, and resources

[edit]

In most depictions, Natasha possess no inherent superhuman abilities and posses a genius-level intellect in both the fields of engineering and computer science, using her expertise in order to fashion super-powered, armored suits. This super-suit, known as Chrome Armor, is semi-sentient and can change configurations to afford various protections and manifest at will. It can also grant superhuman strength, durability, and flight. Like her uncle, she also often wields a large kinetic hammer as her weapon of choice, in which is configured for relatives of the Irons family.[3][2]

Prior to the New 52, Natasha gained metahuman abilities due to her participation of the Everyman Project, granting super-powers to non-metahumans with an artificial metagene or unlocking their latent potential. The initial treatment first granted her superhuman strength and endurance, flight, and the power to control light and solar energies.[1] These abilities later faded following Luthor's deactivating of the artificial metagene but the treatment's side-effects granted her new powers in which allows her to shift into a gaseous form at will,[1] manifesting from a psychological fear of the prospect of her uncle abandoning her.

Other versions

[edit]

In other media

[edit]

Television

[edit]
  • Natasha Irons appears in television series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Introduced in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Heavy Metal", voiced by Cree Summer, Irons later makes a cameo appearance in the Justice League episode "Hereafter".[22]
  • A character based on Natasha Irons named Natalie Lane Irons appears in Superman & Lois, portrayed by Tayler Buck.[23] This version is the daughter of John Henry Irons and Lois Lane from a parallel Earth ruled by Kryptonians. After Superman kills Lois, Natalie helps her father build an exo-suit to avenge the latter. At the end of the first season, Natalie unknowingly travels to the main universe. Afterward, she begins dating Bruno Mannheim's son Matteo and joins the Department of Defense Academy. In the fourth season, she takes on the codename "Starlight".

Miscellaneous

[edit]
  • Natasha Irons appears in Justice League Unlimited #35.
  • Natasha Irons / Steel appears in Injustice 2. This version succeeded John Henry Irons as Steel after he was killed in the Joker's destruction of Metropolis.[24] Following the downfall of Superman's Regime, Natasha helps Batman's Insurgency restore world peace.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  2. ^ a b DK (2024-10-03). DC Ultimate Character Guide New Edition. Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN 978-0-241-72729-4.
  3. ^ a b c Manning, Matthew K.; Wiacek, Stephen; Scott, Melanie; Jones, Nick; Walker, Landry Q. (2021-07-06). The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-7440-5301-2.
  4. ^ a b Team Superman: Secret Files and Origins #1. DC Comics. May 1998.
  5. ^ Superman: The Man of Steel #100 (May 2000)
  6. ^ Greenberger, Robert; Pasko, Martin (2010). The Essential Superman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-345-50108-0.
  7. ^ Kelly, Joe (2003–2004). Action Comics #807-809. DC Comics.
  8. ^
    • 52 #39 (January 2007)
    • 52 #40 (February 2007)
    • 52 #46 (March 2007)
  9. ^ 52 #50 (April 2007)
  10. ^
    • Infinity, Inc. (vol. 2) #1 (November 2007)
    • Infinity, Inc. (vol. 2) #8 (June 2008)
    • Infinity, Inc. (vol. 2) #12 (October 2008)
    • Terror Titans #6 (May 2009)
  11. ^ Steel (vol. 2) #1 (February 1994)
  12. ^ a b Jimenez, Phil; Perkins, K. (2017-12-05). Superwoman Vol. 2: Rediscovery (Rebirth). DC Comics. ISBN 978-1-4012-8305-6.
  13. ^ a b Jimenez, Phil (2017). Superwoman Vol 1 Who Killed Superwoman. DC Comics. ISBN 978-1-4012-6780-3.
  14. ^ NIGHTWING Leads New TITANS Team Out of NO JUSTICE -Newsarama
  15. ^ Justice Society of America (vol. 4) #6 (November 2023)
  16. ^ Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996)
  17. ^ Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #2 (July 2011)
  18. ^ Ame-Comi Batgirl #2 (July 2012)
  19. ^ Ame-Comi Duela Dent #3 (July 2012)
  20. ^ Superman Family Adventures #3 (July 2012)
  21. ^ The Multiversity: The Just one-shot (December 2014)
  22. ^ "Natasha Irons Voice - Superman: The Animated Series (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved November 23, 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 credits or other reliable sources of information.
  23. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 18, 2021). "Superman & Lois Adds [Spoiler] as Series Regular for Season 2". TVLine. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  24. ^ Injustice 2 #10 (November 2017)
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