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Blackfire (real name, Komand'r) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is the older sister of the Teen Titans member Starfire and Omega Men member Ryand'r, the former of which is her archenemy.
Blackfire first appears in New Teen Titans #22 and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.
Fictional character biography[]
Komand'r is the firstborn child and eldest daughter of Tamaran's royal family. The first princess born in over a century, she should have been courted and showered with honors. On the day she was born, the Citadel Empire attacked and destroyed the western Tamaranean city of Kysarr and killed three thousand citizens in her name. Though she was in no way at fault for what had happened, Komand'r was, for all time, inextricably linked with that terrible day. To make matters worse, Komand'r was crippled by a childhood illness that left her unable to harness ultraviolet light into energy to fly like most Tamaraneans. Because of Komand'r's naturally grim disposition, a stark contrast to the royal family's generally contented outlook, the subjects of Tamaran hated her. As a result, though first in the line of succession, she was denied her birthright to be the next Crown Princess of Tamaran to maintain the respect and prestige of the royal family. Her privileges, honors, and royal style and dignity were transferred to her younger sister, Princess Koriand'r (who would later become known as Starfire). Inwardly, Komand'r's rage grew, and her resentment turned to hatred for her own world, her people, her family, and lastly, her younger sister who, in Komand'r's eyes, made the fateful mistake of being born. Komand'r's hatred continued and intensified when she and her sister were sent, per Tamaran's warlike custom, for warrior training with the Warlords of Okaara. Komand'r's true feelings were exposed when she attempted to kill her younger sister during a sparring exercise. As a result, she was expelled by the Warlords. Humiliated by her own transgression, Komand'r swore vengeance and joined the Citadel, quickly rising through their ranks to become a warrior-maiden fighting against the forces of her own world and, ultimately, her own family.
Komand'r later betrayed her homeworld with detailed information about Tamaran's planetary defenses to the Citadel. They conquered Tamaran with ease, and the surrender conditions included the enslavement of Koriand'r. Koriand'r was never permitted to return since that would mean the Citadel would devastate the planet for abrogating the treaty. Komand'r was her sister's master and made the most of her younger sister's bondage with years of horrific servitude and torture. When Kori killed one of her rapists, Komand'r decided to execute her as punishment, but not before the sisters were attacked and captured by the Psions. Psions, largely a species of sadistic scientists, performed a deadly experiment on both sisters to see just how much ultraviolet energy their Tamaranian bodies could absorb before exploding from the overload. During the procedure, Komand'r's forces attacked the Psion ship to rescue her, and while the Psions were distracted, Kori broke free with her newly developed starbolts, highly destructive blasts of bright green-colored ultraviolet energy, which were a result of the experimentation. Against her better judgment, she decided to free Komand'r, who was still absorbing more and more ultraviolet energy. However, far from grateful, Komand'r had struck her younger sister down with the same (but much stronger) lilac-colored ultraviolet energy and had her restrained for later execution. Kori escaped and stole a spaceship to planet Earth, where she met a young group of heroes-Robin, Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Speedy, and Kid Flash- and helped form the new Teen Titans.
Komand'r appeared in the Rann-Thanagar War limited series, during which she killed Hawkwoman in her pursuit of a New Tamaran. She formed an uneasy alliance with the surviving players of the war to deal with more pressing concerns (Infinite Crisis). She was not seen during the Crisis series itself but was featured in Hawkgirl and Hawkman comics and in JSA: Classified, attempting to kill Hawkman and Hawkgirl to further her own plans in the goings-on & aftermath of the war. The Hawks defeated Komand'r, after which Hawkman used Psion technology to strip the villainess of her abilities.
Blackfire has later resurfaced in The Outsiders (vol. 3) #31-32 (Infinite Crisis tie-in issues) with her powers already having been restored by the Psions and enhanced to the point of gaining flight. Further along the line in R.E.B.E.L.S. (vol. 2), When Vril Dox moved the planet Rann into the location formally held by Tamaran in the Vega System, Blackfire arrived with her army in an attempt to seize the planet for her own people. However, Dox was able to quickly stop the hostilities and brokered a treaty allowing Blackfire and her people to settle on the uninhabited southern continent of Rann. During these events, Blackfire gained a newfound sense of respect for Dox, realizing his egocentric personality was very similar to her own. The two went on an unofficial date disguised as a diplomatic dinner, and after Dox was captured by Starro the Conqueror, Blackfire joined forces with Adam Strange and other members of L.E.G.I.O.N. to rescue him. Blackfire then subsequently claimed Dox as her king consort.
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