Triplicate Girl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Triplicate Girl | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Triplicate Girl is a superheroine in the DC Comics universe and a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st century.
Contents |
[edit] Character history
[edit] Original Continunity
Luornu Durgo, codenamed Triplicate Girl, first appeared in Action Comics #276. A native of the planet Cargg, she could split into three identical bodies, as could all Carggites. Her costume consisted of a purple blouse and skirt, orange cape and belt, and black boots.
She was the fourth hero to join the Legion of Super-Heroes, and its first non-founder member. Unlike her post-Zero Hour counterpart, Triad, she had brown eyes, not split purple/orange ones. She had an unrequited crush on Superboy for a long time.
One of her three bodies was killed by Brainiac 5's killer creation Computo the conqueror (a rogue computer) early on in Adventure Comics #341, and she was thereafter known as Duo Damsel. In Superboy #193 (February, 1973), Duo Damsel donned a unique half orange, half purple costume which could divide with her, leaving one body wearing an orange costume and one wearing a purple costume. The costume was initially designed to aid her in a mission on the planet Pasnic, but the character continued to wear "splitting" costumes such as this throughout most of the original continuity.
Duo Damsel left active Legion service to become a reservist after marrying fellow Legionnaire Bouncing Boy in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #200; after this she then appeared only sporadically.
In later years of the first Legion continuity she served as an instructor at the Legion Academy along with her husband. She suffered the death of one of her two remaining bodies battling the Time Trapper after she took part in a conspiracy to avenge the death of Superboy, which had been caused by the Trapper. In Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, #42, it was revealed that her 2nd body was still alive. This body, and the ability to duplicate herself, were restored to her, and she gained a new ability to generate force fields. This new ability was transferred to her by a special force field belt given to her by Brainiac 5 to protect her after the death of her 2nd body.
[edit] 1994 Reboot
In 1994 the Legion's original continuity ended and their story began again from scratch.
The native inhabitants of the planet Cargg can split into three separate bodies. In most cases, these bodies are identical -- physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Such was not the case for Luornu Durgo.
Even as a newborn, when only two of her cried, her three personalities were clear. Because of the shame of this on a world where this was considered a serious defect, her father left when she was a young child, and her mother degenerated into alcoholism and, eventually, suicide. She was raised by her grandmother, who secretly had the same "condition", but when she eventually died, Luornu was placed in an asylum, where the treatment basically consisted of torturing the three of her into acting the same way. After she began to show signs of "progress", she was allowed into the garden, where she escaped by climbing over the wall at the first opportunity. She ran until, tired, hungry, and drenched by the rain, she ended up at a spaceport. Desperate for shelter, she tried to break into one of the ships there -- and found R.J. Brande inside. Seeing she was in trouble, instead of handing her over to the Carggite authorities, he took her to Earth and gave her a job in his office, the HQ of Brande Industries. When he found out about her treatment by the Carggities, he threatened to move several factories until they made him her legal guardian.
When Brande was saved by three teenagers, and got the idea for the Legion of Super-Heroes from his extensive collection of superheroic memorabilia, it was Luornu who he sent to collect the three of them, and she was co-opted as a member soon after, taking the codename Triad.
Other than the year the Legion was disbanded -- which she spent as Brande Industries head, while Brande supervised the construction of Legion World -- she has remained one of the Legion's most consistent members.
[edit] 2005 "Reimagining"
In 2005 the Legion's continuity was restarted again.
Triplicate Girl is the only inhabitant of the planet Cargg. Her origin is a mystery. All she recalls is waking up alone amongst the ruins of her planet. After weeks of loneliness, she discovers that she has the ability to divide herself into two, then three, then six, then more individuals with a shared consciousness. Eventually she hit her limit (presumed to be in the hundreds of millions), but by then, her entire planet was repopulated with duplicates of herself. When a United Planets craft arrives on Cargg, three of these duplicates are sent out as emissaries. When they returned, the other duplicates considered them "tainted," because they'd been places the other hadn't and met with beings who weren't duplicates of themselves. These new experiences made them grow as people, and thus they were no longer true duplicates. So the three merged into one being and were exiled, and she/they soon joined the Legion as Triplicate Girl.
[edit] Powers
Triplicate Girl has the ability to split into three identical bodies. When Triplicate Girl merges into one body, she gains the memories and knowledge that her divided selves obtained.
In the post-Zero Hour continuity, Triad's separate selves can be physically identified by eye color -- the integrated Triad (and Triad-Neutral) have one orange and one purple eye, Triad-Orange has two orange eyes, and Triad-Purple has two purple eyes. In terms of personality, Triad-Orange tends to be shyer, and Triad-Purple more aggressive, than Triad-Neutral, with the integrated Triad behaving similarly to Triad-Neutral. She tends to wear clothes which make it clear which of her is which, and is also a practitioner of Tri-Jitsu, the fighting ability of strategic blows with three different bodies.
In the post-"reimagining" continuity, the "prime" Triplicate Girl, who remained on Cargg, can divide into numerous bodies (the exact number has yet to be revealed). Unlike the post-Zero Hour continuity, no distinction between her different selves has been established, and their costumes are identical.
[edit] Amalgam Comics
Duo Damsel appeared in the Amalgam Comics title Spider-Boy Team-Up. She was merged with X-Men supporting character Multiple Man to form the character Multiple Maid. She was a member of the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099.
[edit] Other Media
Triplicate Girl appears on the Legion of Super Heroes animated series, based on the post-Zero Hour incarnation, although her hair color is the same color scheme as her attire ("Neutral"'s hair and clothes are white, rather than bifurcated), and she can also split in two sometimes. She is played by Kari Wahlgren, who is also the voice of Saturn Girl.
