Catwoman's New Origin

It's been a while since we've had a new substantial entry; Marvel has never been big on canon immigration and DC's New 52 put a halt to it for a while (as well as ditching most other immigrants along the way, a real sore spot for me). But a year's gone by and it seems like they're slowly getting back into the game - Red Robin's real name may turn out to be John Blake (more on that as it develops), and more concretely, Catwoman has a new origin...or rather, an old one. Like twenty years old.

In Catwoman #0 (November 2012), an origin story released as part of the New 52's "Zero Month", Selina Kyle gets a whole new backstory that involves a corrupt orphanage, Russian heritage, and the fact that she's not even really Selina Kyle. It also features a scene that should be very familiar:

As you probably know, this is taken almost shot for shot from 1992's Batman Returns, where it was featured as the beginnings of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, as this fan-made video shows:

Furthermore, since it was revealed that Selina Kyle's real name was Russian, what are the odds it'll turn out to be some variation of Kityana Irenia Tatanya Karenska Alisoff?

Quick Notes

These are things that I can't devote a whole post to, but are worth mentioning anyway:

1. Lois Lane was first depicted as naming Superman in Superman: The Movie (1978), which has since gone on to appear in various depictions of Superman's origins in the comics.

2. Spider-Man's upcoming sidekick, Alpha (who makes his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #692), has the real name "Andrew Maguire", which is a reference to Spider-Man actors Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire.

3. Alfred was first depicted as raising Bruce Wayne in the Super Powers episode, "The Fear" (1984), and that part of the origin would make it to comics - perhaps coincidentally, mind you, but still later - in The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One.

4. "The Narrows", the poor part of Gotham as depicted in Batman Begins has since appeared in the New 52 Batman comics. It was first mentioned in Batman: Dark Knight #2 (October 2011).

Gadget Spotlight: Batpod

Short entry today: The batpod is a version of the bat-cycle that made its first appearance in The Dark Knight (2008) and made its first comic book appearance as a cameo in a garage in Batman Beyond #5 (July 2011) before fully appearing in Batman Beyond #6 (August 2011). Yes, I know that Batman Beyond is set in either a possible future or an alternate earth, or maybe both, but it still counts, ok?

Character Spotlight: Agent Phil Coulson

Comic Book Resources has just announced that Marvel will be bringing the fan-favorite Agent Coulson into the Marvel Universe proper in the upcoming Battle Scars #6 (June 2012).  And that's not all: there will be a black Fury as well!

Battle Scars is a 2012 miniseries about an Army Ranger named Marcus Johnson, who is being fought over by several Marvel entities, including SHIELD, Captain America, and the Serpent Society, because they believe he's important for some reason.  In issue 5, it's revealed that he's the son of Nick Fury (whose real name is Nick Fury Jr.), and according to the above image, he'll at least join SHIELD, and maybe even take the elder Fury's place. Whether this piece of obvious synergy is handled smartly or in a contrived way is yet to be seen, but I hope it's the former. (It'll probably be the latter, though, since Marcus has to lose an eye, shave his head, grow a goatee, and join SHIELD in the span of an issue.)

What's more important - to me, at least - is the addition of Coulson. Ever since he first appeared in Iron Man (2008), I've been counting down the days to his first comics appearance. But it never came. Even after showing up in other movies, being featured in a couple of shorts, becoming a major character in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, and getting his own poster for The Avengers film, it never came. I was even considering making a Canon Immigrant Wish List post that would've showcased several popular canon foreigners that never made the jump, but now the #1 pick would have to be removed. Thank goodness. Anyway, Coulson first appeared in Battle Scars #1 (January 2012) as Marcus's friend "Cheese", and was then revealed as Phil Coulson in Battle Scars #6 (June 2012).

Character Spotlight: Nite-Lik

Red Lantern Nite-Lik is a rarity among immigrants in that he isn't from a movie or a tv show; he actually made his first appearance in a toy line.

Nite-Lik was announced as part of wave 2 of Green Lantern Classics (a subline of Mattel's DC Universe Classics) in 2010. He was created by the line's sculptors The Four Horsemen, and named by Geoff Johns; his name is based on the line's manager, Scott Neitlich. He was scheduled to appear in Green Lantern #61 (February 2011), but his debut was pushed back to Red Lanterns #1 (September 2011).

Ultimate Spider-Man Saved This Blog

This blog's been in a slump for a while now, for a few reasons. One, modern adaptations of comic books are more likely to use obscure characters instead of inventing new ones. Two, there's been an adaptation dry spell lately, so there's been no way for new characters to appear anyway. And three, DC's immigrant frenzy halted with the New 52 relaunch, while Marvel has never been big on immigrants in the first place.

But luckily, something changed. Ultimate Spider-Man debuted last weekend (April 2, 2012), and the premiere brought us two new characters, both of whom are new versions of existing characters, and both of whom have already jumped to comics: White Tiger and Nova. (This is becoming increasingly common, as it's a good marketing strategy for new shows, but I'm not a fan because it makes the idea of canon immigrants murky. But I digress.)

In the animated series, White Tiger is part of a group of superhero SHIELD trainees (as is Nova, Spider-Man, Power Man, and Iron Fist). In the comics, she first appeared as a part of the closest thing to that in the Marvel Universe: the Avengers Academy. Ava Ayala is the sister of Hector Ayala, the first superhero to use the name "White Tiger" and she has inherited his jade tiger amulet. She is also at odds with fellow canon immigrant Reptil because she thinks he's not active enough in the hispanic community.  Ava first appeared in Avengers Academy #20 (October 2011).

Nova, aka Sam Alexander, is the newest member of the Nova Corps and Richard Rider's replacement. He first appeared in Point One #1 (November 2011) and has already played an important role in Marvel Comics: he alerted Earth to the impending arrival of the Phoenix Force, thus kicking off the event "Avengers Vs. X-Men".

I'm glad to be able to add these, and hopefully there will be more entries soon!