Saturn Queen
| Saturn Queen | |
|---|---|
 Saturn Queen, as seen in Supergirl vol. 5 #7, artist Ian Churchill. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance |
Superman #147 (August 1961) |
| Created by |
Jerry Siegel (writer) Curt Swan (artist) (based upon Saturn Girl by Otto Binder & Al Plastino) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Eve Aries |
| Species | Human |
| Place of origin | Saturn |
| Team affiliations | Legion of Super-Villains |
| Notable aliases | Mother, Saturn Woman |
| Abilities | telepathy, hypnotism |
Saturn Queen is a fictional comic book character owned by DC Comics. She debuted in Superman #147 (August 1961), and was created by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan.
Golden Age inspiration theory
Like Saturn Girl, Saturn Queen appears to have been suggested or inspired by a 1940s Wonder Woman storyline (in volume 1, issues 10 and 22) in which "Saturnic girls" with "power of hypnotism" that "can completely block the senses of most Earthlings, making trained Saturnians invisible and inaudible" and also the power to control their own bodies to fake death, invade Earth. Like Saturn Queen they have a complex set of urges to do good or evil that are hard to control, but the Amazon regime on Transformation Island seems to work on them. A disproportionate number are also redheads, and about half are blond.[1] (See Saturn Girl for a more detailed explanation of the physical resemblances.)
Similar shifts from heroic to villainous side, doubts about controlling others, urge to self-sacrifice or suddenly shift sides to the good, all appear in Saturn Queen stories. Rehabilitation, regret, redemption, restorative justice and nurturing/training heroes also seem to be explored therein.
Fictional character biography
Saturn Queen is a beautiful redhead from the planet Saturn from the thirty-first century, and like Saturn Girl she is a telepath from Saturn's moon Titan. She debuted alongside her villainous compatriots in the Legion of Super-Villains. A confident and aloof personality, she deems her motives for evil as just something she happened to pick up.[2]
| “ | I’m from the planet Saturn, where there has been no crime at all for centuries, and where everyone can perform amazing mental feats! One day, when I traveled to Earth, I felt a sudden desire to outwit the law with my powers of super-hypnotism, and so I joined the Legion of Super-Villains! | ” |
Her career as a villain took a turn for infamy when she and her associates formed an alliance with Lex Luthor to kill Superman, Luthor's greatest foe. The adult Legion of Super-Heroes appeared to battle the Villains, and when Luthor threatened to kill Superman Saturn Woman offered to die in his place. Superman asked to be released so he could give a tribute to her, and promised not to save her. It was revealed that Saturn's rings gave off energies that prevented criminal traits. Superman formed an artificial ring from Saturnian ring fragments, causing Saturn Queen to defeat Cosmic King, Lightning Lord, and Lex Luthor using her mental powers. A fragment of the rings is given to her to make her remain good, while the other supervillains are imprisoned. Superman says future law courts should be lenient on her.
Dreams
Superman, having been exposed to Red Kryptonite, dreams of Saturn Queen and her associates putting him on trial for wrongs done to them by him. In the dream, Superman is made to fight his cousin Supergirl to the death or watch as they destroy Earth. While they are only dreams, it has been hinted that Saturn Queen could have been the one to induce these images.[3]
Return
During the "Absolute Power" arc, Saturn Queen returned to create an alternate universe in which she and her associates Lightning Lord and Cosmic King were the "parents" of both Batman and Superman. To create this world, the villains went back in time and sabotaged the origins of Superman and Batman, killing the Kents just as they discovered Superman's ship, and killing the robber immediately after he'd murdered Bruce Wayne's parents. Other Justice League members were killed before the League was formed, for example, the Martian Manhunter was killed with fire just after being teleported to Earth. In this world, the World's Finest were the personal enforcers of their parents' will. Of all those who tampered with time, she was the only one who seemed concerned that what they had done may have had irreversible consequences. Having been a mother to the young Bruce and Clark for many years caused her to become especially attached to this created world. When things started to spiral out of control—thanks to Wonder Woman's assault on Superman and Batman—and Bruce was killed before Clark killed Wonder Woman, Saturn Queen was the only "parent" to shed tears. When the two heroes try and restore history, but Batman kills his parents murderer, Ra's al Ghul takes over the world aided by the Legion, who battle the heroes again. In the end the real world was restored, and she disappeared again, later returning to marry Matter-Eater Lad.[4]
Kandor
Motherhood made Saturn Queen long for the comfort that came with having a child. Having last been seen in the "Absolute Power" arc of Superman/Batman, Saturn Queen returns in the Kandor arc of the new Supergirl series. She explains that when Alexander Luthor, Jr. brought the multiverse back during the Infinite Crisis, her alternate reality was recreated on its own world. When the multiverse collapsed, she found herself stranded in the Phantom Zone, where she found Ultraman. She viewed Ultraman as a suitable replacement for the version of Superman who was her son in her reality, and placed him under mind control so that he would believe her to be his mother.
Together they went about creating Kandor in their image: he enforced her will while she ruled from behind the scenes. When Power Girl and Supergirl started causing problems for them in the guise of Nightwing and Flamebird she grew scared, since her last "son" was lost to her through similar rebellion. Her son proved no match for Supergirl and would have died had it not been for her telepathic interference. With her perfect world about to reach its apex, Supergirl and Ultraman were to wed and Power Girl executed, sealing her world forever. However, again, perfection eluded her as she attempted to dive into Power Girl's mind telepathically and lost control of both her son and Supergirl. Using the last of her strength, she reached for her son's mind, but he was pummeled and almost killed by Supergirl again. Pleading for his life, she telepathically gave Supergirl the information she sought. With Supergirl satisfied, she hastily left with Power Girl in tow. Saturn Queen meanwhile cradled her son Ultraman's body in her arms as the rebellion closed in around her.
Final Crisis
Saturn Queen was among the villains in Superboy-Prime's Legion of Super-Villains. In this miniseries, Eve is characterized as a telepath who probes deep inside a person's mind and exposes their darkest desires. She believes that all sentient life forms have deviance laced in their mind, and that they only pretend to perform good deeds and show concern for others to hide their twisted wishes.[5] This is presented as a counterpoint to Saturn Girl, who consistently believes in bringing out the best in others.
When the Legion of Super-Villains landed on Zerox to recruit Mordru, Eve entered Green Lantern Rond Vidar's mind and hindered his willpower long enough for Superboy-Prime to snap his neck. She was later seen attacking Saturn Girl alongside Esper Lass, but she was then stopped by the Saturn Girls of Earth-247 and Earth-Prime. The three then teamed up to prevent Eve from warning Prime about what the Legion's next plan of attack was.
After the end of the Legion of Three Worlds storyline, Eve has been seen recreating the Legion of Super-Villains, using her telepathic powers not only to accomplish her own escape from her holding cell on the Takron-Galtos prison planet, but also to destroy the prison and to use the chaos as cover for recruiting new members and for their escape.
Notes
- ↑ http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=4817
- ↑ Superman #147 (August 1961)
- ↑ Action Comics #286 (1962)
- ↑ Superman/Batman #14-18
- ↑ Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1–5
External links
- Saturn Queen bio—DCU Guide
- Legion of Super Villains bio—DCU Guide