Wind Dancer

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Wind Dancer

Wind Dancer, by Randy Green

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New Mutants vol. 2 #1.
Created by	Nunzio DeFilippis Christina Weir Keron Grant

Characteristics
Alter ego	Sofía Mantega Barrett
Species	Human Mutant
Affiliations	Xavier Institute, New Mutants squad
Abilities	Formerly: Air manipulation Flight Long-distance eavesdropping

Wind Dancer (Sofía Mantega Barrett) is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Universe, one of the student body in the Xavier Institute, and a member of the New Mutants squad therein. Her first appearance was in New Mutants vol. 2 #1.

1 Fictional character biography
2 Powers and abilities
3 Bibliography
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Fictional character biography

Sofía was born, and lived most of her life in Caracas, Venezuela. While she developed her powers with little incident, her life fell apart the day her mother was killed in a riot in town. Her uncle claimed he "had not the patience to raise a mutant" (though not to her face) and sent her to her father (who had been unaware of her existence) in Colorado, United States, the head of a major American supermarket chain.

Her enthusiasm at finally meeting him was quickly dampened by his cold manner. Setting three ground rules - she would learn English before school started, she would get good grades, and she would not use her mutant power. In return for these, and not bothering him, he would ensure she would want for nothing.

Three weeks later, in early January, she joined the school, but had difficulty fitting in. By her birthday in May, despite her best efforts, she still had no friends at the school, and her father didn't even know it was her birthday (unlike his butler Derek, the only person who had any time for her). After hearing someone say that no one liked her behind her back after lying that they were busy, she finally snapped. Going to one of her father's stores, she let loose a hurricane inside it, completely wrecking it before collapsing into a fetal position, where the police found her and arrested her.

Her father visited her in jail. Asking her why she'd done it, she weakly replied that it was to see whether he'd notice, and that she'd made sure no one was hurt. Intending to leaving her in prison for 48 hours before dropping the charges, and planning on a second paternity test to make sure he was not her father before sending her back to Venezuela, he was confronted by Danielle Moonstar. Having seen what Sofía had done on the news, she "persuaded" him to release Sofía into her custody so that she could take her to the Xavier Institute, then talked Sofía herself into going. After saying goodbye to Derek, they went onward to Xavier's.

There, she finally began to become part of a group, and the group that would become the New Mutants squad formed around her. When Prodigy rejected the role of leadership, Sofía took it, but became isolated and irritable when she proved unsuited to the task. Her command decisions weakened further when Kevin Ford was arrested, and she briefly sided with the Hellions. After the New Mutants fought the Hellions over the incident, Prodigy talked her into letting Kevin go, and she talked him into leading the team. Afterward, however, he was still reluctant, but agreed to be co-leader with Sofía, to better mesh their strengths.

Thereafter, Sofía's temper eased again until the school dance, where she caught Laurie manipulating Prodigy to make her ex-boyfriend Elixir jealous. Alarmed by the rapid disintegration of the squad, she found herself kissing Hellion, to whom she'd reluctantly been drawn since her arrival at the Institute, and he pushed her to end the in-fighting since she was the one who saw the good in everyone - even him. She tried to do so by forcing everyone to get together for a camp-out on the X-Mansion grounds and she pushing events along as best she could, refusing to give up and eventually managing to reunite the squad.

Sofia was one of many students at Xavier's to lose their powers during M-Day. She has since moved out of the mansion and returned to Venezuela.

The June solicitations for the New Warriors mentioned a "de-powered mutant named Sofia" which has been suggested as likely referring to her.^[1]

[edit] Powers and abilities

Wind Dancer has the ability to control the movement of air, which included the ability to generate wind, fly and, more subtly, amplify small vibrations in the air - allowing her to hear faraway conversations. Sofia lost her mutant powers during M-Day and is currently depowered.