Siobhan Smythe (Prime Earth)

Siobhan Smythe is the cursed banshee known as the Silver Banshee. Initially controlled by the curse, she eventually overcame it with Supergirl's help.

History

Siobhan came to New York City to escape her homeland of Ireland due to family issues. Her father died when she was young and her mother had only recently died, which caused Siobhan to seek a new life in what she considered the "greatest city in the world". After arriving and settling down in Queens, she inadvertently found herself face-to-face with the city's newest threat, Supergirl.

Instantly understanding her language, and after a short tussle with the authorities, Siobhan escaped with the help of Supergirl. Figuring that they needed each other and striking a fast friendship, the girls returned to Siobhan's home, where they got to know each other properly. Siobhan decided to bring Kara to her latest band gig, and while playing music at the club, Siobhan's father, the Black Banshee arrived. Siobhan revealed to Kara that she was, in fact, the Silver Banshee, and together they tackled her unrelenting father.

Sometime later, Siobhan later appears in the Red Daughter of Krypton storyline, when Supergirl gets taken over by a Red Lantern Ring after a battle with Lobo. Siobhan transforms into Silver Banshee again but struggles for control over her body. Due to Supergirl's vulnerability to magic, Siobhan manages to hold her own against her and uses her sonic abilities to teleport herself and a berserk Kara from New York to the Catskill Mountains to avoid casualties. Unable to defeat Kara, she manages to convince her to leave Earth before she ravages the entire planet.

Infinite Frontier

Meeting Jimmy Olsen

Siobhan Smythe was posting flyers all over town to advertise a concert from her rock band. She came across Jimmy Olsen and they fell in love, with Siobhan ultimately revealing that she was the Silver Banshee. Jimmy, in a display of understanding, revealed that he, too, had been occasionally transformed into all kinds of wacky creatures, like a turtle, a monkey and even a porcupine.

Graft

Once in the morning, Siobhan was enjoying a nice, happy morning from the comfort of her apartment. While she is telling her boyfriend, a Daily Planet employee, to get ready for work, a stranger knocks on her door. It's Graft and his assistants, the Pharmhands, and they are interested in Siobhan's powers for a specific job. Having turned her life around and knowing that Graft can't be trusted, Siobhan turns into the Silver Banshee and attempts to scream, but Graft uses a special gauntlet, equipped with shards of different kinds of Kryptonite, to turn her back into human form. He explains that mixing up the effects of different kinds of Kryptonite can have interesting results for metahumans and tells Siobhan to do as he tells her, or he will kill everyone she loves.

Banshees 001 — Siobhan and the Banshees against Superman

On the same day Lois sneaks out of the Daily Planet to buy a cup of coffee, while Jimmy talks to her about what he found about Marilyn Moonlight Suddenly, the fight between Superman and Silver Banshee reaches the surface and Superman asks Silver Banshee to stop fighting and instead come to Supercorp so she can get help. Jimmy attempts to stop the fight all by himself, revealing Silver Banshee to be his girlfriend.

Banshee, however, still feels compelled to attack Superman and Lex, who has been listening to the fight from his prison cell at Stryker's Island, agrees to find a way to help Superman incapacitate Banshee without killing her. Graft's experimentation has caused Banshee's powers to go unstable, which is why a squad of soldiers from Supercorp have arrived to assist Superman by giving him a hypersonic cannon, a special weapon that can neutralize Banshee's screams.

Superman, not wanting to cause severe damage to Banshee, crushes the weapon but keeps its hypersonic suppressor intact and Jimmy asks Superman to come with him, thinking that he can reason with Banshee. Superman and Jimmy, who has been equipped with a Supercorp jetpack, reach Banshee, who has flown high into the skies of Metropolis to avoid hurting anyone with her scream. Jimmy successfully appeals to her better nature and convinces Banshee to scream as loud as she can, and Superman uses the hypersonic suppressor to cut Banshee's connection to the Phantom Zone.

Back to normal

The plan succeeds and Siobhan is returned to normal. Superman brings Siobhan to Supercorp for a checkup and Siobhan reveals that Graft modified her powers with Kryptonite, causing a frustrated Superman to fly into the ruins of Metropolis and demand a confrontation with Pharm and Graft. The only things he finds in the ruins, however, are holograms of Pharm and Graft. While Pharm stays silent, Graft talks about how he impressed he was in Superman's resourcefulness in stopping both the Parasite and Silver Banshee. Superman promises to stop whatever Pharm and Graft are planning, but Graft simply mocks Superman for thinking he can save Superman and taunts the Man of Steel for not knowing about Lex's secrets, including something called "Project Chained". The holograms disappear and Superman is left pondering about what Graft just told him.

Later that night, Clark reveals to Lois that Banshee's screams damaged his inner ear and impacted his super-hearing, but it should recover within in a day or so. Superman also talked to Banshee's parole officer and they agreed to drop the charges against her on the condition that Banshee does community service, while Supercorp has taken care of the repairs and property damage. Unfortunately, Superman is nowhere near to finding out where Pharm and Graft are hiding or what are they planning.

Lois says that one of the things he loves about Clark is his ability to see the best in everyone, but right now, Lex hasn't done anything to prove himself trustworthy. For now, however, Clark and Lois decide to put those worries aside and enjoy their double date with Jimmy and Siobhan. As Siobhan and her band play in the restaurant they're having dinner at, Clark admits that it feels weird that, just for once, he can't listen to the entire world, but Lois tells him that, right now, his entire world is here, in this moment, with him.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Banshee Curse
- Sound Manipulation: Silver Banshee has incredible control over various sounds waves and is able to control as well as produce them through her own prowess.
- Multilingualism: Siobhan can learn, and speak fluently, any language almost immediately, simply by hearing a small portion of the language. She can do this for anything from the Kryptonian language, to the cooing of a dove.
- Flight

Abilities

Music: Due to her control over most things auditory, Siobhan is an accomplished musician playing at local clubs in New York City with double digit numbered attendants.
Singing: Due to her control over most things auditory, Siobhan can manipulate her voice so that she can singing beautifully and loudly without a microphone.

Notes

Silver Banshee was created by John Byrne, first appearing in Action Comics #595. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Silver Banshee first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Supergirl (Volume 6) #6 by Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Mahmud Asrar.

Trivia

Siobhan is currently dating Jimmy Olsen.^[1]

Secret Society of Super-Villains member
This character is or was a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, a cadre of super-villains who band together to accomplish feats no one super-villain can do alone, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Secret Society of Super-Villains members" category.

[1] Superman (Volume 6) #4

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Siobhan Smythe (Prime Earth)

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