Superia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is the character. For alternate uses, see Superia (disambiguation)
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Superia is a fictional character, a misandrist supervillain and criminal scientist in the Marvel Comics universe. She was created by writer Mark Gruenwald and artist Rik Levins in Captain America volume 1 #390 (August 1991).
[edit] Character biography
Superia first appeared as the mastermind of the "Superia Strategem" storyline which ran in Captain America #387-392, in which she and a small army of female supervillains plotted to sterilize all other women in the world, making their reproductive capabilities valuable beyond measure. She was initially inspired to use her scientific knowledge to conquer the world when she discovered, via use of a "time probe", that a descendant of hers, Thundra, would rule the world-spanning matriarchy of the "Femizons". Her plan was thwarted by Captain America and his allies (Paladin, Diamondback, Asp and Black Mamba).
She later appeared alongside a much smaller group of Femizons, consisting of Blackbird, Iron Maiden, Nightshade and Snapdragon. This group fought against the criminal scientists of AIM, and were defeated, thanks in part to former Femizon M.O.D.A.M. Superia was saved from certain death by Captain America.
Superia again appeared as "Dr. Deidre Wentworth", and gave a young woman named Cathy Webster superhuman physical traits and subliminal performance-boosting messages. These messages also bound Webster (now called Free Spirit) to Superia's control, though Webster was quickly freed. After a failed negotiation with the Baroness Zemo, she convinced Diamondback to join her as penance for having killed her former lieutenant Snapdragon. Superia and Diamondback resurfaced soon after, when Superia was convinced to give Captain America a treatment to partially reverse a paralytic effect resulting from the serum that had given him his powers. The three of them, alongside other allies of Captain America, attacked AIM to steal its new Cosmic Cube, but were forced to retreat. She offered a permanent cure to Captain America, but the cure was stolen by the Red Skull, whose mind was at the time living in a body cloned from Captain America; he used the cure on himself, and shot and apparently killed Superia.
[edit] Powers and abilities
In addition to being a polymath scientific genius, Superia demonstrated superhuman strength and the ability to project concussive blasts in her first fight with Captain America. The origin of her powers is unknown. Given that she is a scientific genius, some or all of her powers may be generated by her costume. Superia also claimed to be a highly-trained martial artist, although Captain America derided her abilities (possibly in order to make her act irrationally).
