Thao-La (Prime Earth)

Thao-La
Mainstream Universe‎‎, 2011‎-present
Gallery
Real Name	Thao-La
Relatives	Unnamed brother (deceased)
Affiliation	Superman Family, formerly Mongul MDCCXCII
Base Of Operations	New Phaelosia, formerly Warworld
Status
Alignment	Neutral
Identity	Public Identity
Race	Phaelosian
Occupation	Former slave
Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Brown
Hair	Black
Origin
Universe	Prime Earth
Creators	Phillip Kennedy Johnson · Daniel Sampere
First Appearance	Action Comics #1030 (June, 2021)

Thao-La is a descendant of a lost colony of Kryptonians known as the Phaelosians. She and her people were enslaved by Mongul, who forced her to be a pawn in his plan to destroy Superman, but she found the courage to defy him and became an ally of the Superman Family.

History

Origins

Thao-La grew up in the slums of Warworld during the reign of Mongul MDCCXCI. Her people were abused and many of them were killed. Thao-La believed that Superman would save them, and the Phaelosians secretly wore his "mark" as a symbol of hope. Thao-La was one of several children who listened to an old man called Byla tell stories about Superman and the House of El, but he would tell stories of the future as well as the past. Thao-La once asked him if he was from the future, but he would not give her a straight answer.

Mission to Earth

When Mongul's son and successor Mongul MDCCXCII learned what the Phaelosians were doing, he tortured them by burning them with branding irons shaped like the S-shield. He told Thao-La he would spare her people in exchange for her going to Earth to kill Superman's loved ones, although in reality, he sent her to lure Superman back to Warworld. Thao-La and a handful of others entered Earth's atmosphere in a ramshackle ship, pursued by Mongul's Warzoons. They were rescued by Superman and Superboy, who flew them to the Fortress of Solitude for emergency medical treatment, while the Warzoon crews were imprisoned by the Atlanteans. As the refugees spoke an ancient Kryptonian language called Falkiri and Thao-La had the House of El family sigil branded into her palms, the Superman Family suspected they may be Kryptonians. Supergirl and Lois Lane determined that they could not be Kryptonians who left Krypton shortly before the planet exploded, but Lois discovered an old book in Kandor's library which spoke about the Phaelosians.

Thao-La regained consciousness in the Fortress and realized her chains had been removed. She panicked and quickly put them back on, destroying Kelex when he tried to talk to her. Superman tried to convince her she was safe but she blasted him away with beams of energy from her eyes when he tried to take her chain. Terrified and confused over the powers she was developing under Earth's sun, she broke down and Lois comforted her. Her powers increased as she absorbed more yellow sun radiation, but her friends remained unconscious. Jon was hostile to her as he had learned in the future that Superman was fated to leave Earth and he feared the Phaelosians may be the reason. Meanwhile Lois attempted to bond with her but Thao-La was unsure how to respond to Lois' kindness.

Without her friends to support her, she didn't feel able to do what she had been sent to do, but also knew the consequences if she did not. Back on Warworld, Mongul and his advisors were watching and sensed that Thao-La was wavering in her mission. He activated a teleportation device called an Orphan Box surgically implanted within one of his soldiers, and his fellows ripped it out of him. They used the device to enter the Fortress and attacked her, but Lois defended her with a raygun.

She and Lois fought the attackers but were eventually overwhelmed. Their leader killed her friends and in a rage she obliterated them all with her optical blast. Thao-La tearfully told Lois that Mongul would kill all the Phaelosians on Warworld unless she completed her mission and attacked the Superman Family. Thao-La battled Superboy and Supergirl but Lois convinced Superman that Mongul was forcing her to attack them. He promised her that they could free the slaves together and told her to trust herself to make the right choice. She broke her chain, rejecting Mongul, but he hit her with a massive surge of Genesis energy through the Orphan Box. She begged Superman to save her people and he was able to pull the Orphan Box away from her and destroy it. Thao-La survived but was left severely injured and comatose, so she was put in a healing tank in the Fortress of Solitude to recover.

Conduit

Several months later, Thao-La began to suffer seizures and power surges while still unconscious in the tank. Kelex suggested she may be suffering withdrawal from the Genesis energy as her body recovered from her initial injury, and low doses of Genesis may be able to heal her. Lois went to John Henry Irons, who Clark had given the Genesis Fragment to and asked for his help. They moved Thao-La's tank to the Steelworks and attempted to treat her withdrawal with limited doses of Genesis. Unfortunately the Genesis exposure only made her seizures worse, and her body drained the energy from her life support tank in an attempt to charge herself. Supergirl broke her out of the tank and took her into space to draw energy directly from the sun in the hope of easing her withdrawal.

Natasha Irons called from Warworld and told John that raw Genesis was too volatile to help Thao-La and it needed to be refined before it could be used to cure her. They were able to filter the mutative radiation out of Genesis and use the refined energy to treat her. She began to quickly improve, and John predicted a full recovery in a matter of days. However, before the treatment was completed Conduit broke into the Steelworks and stole the Genesis fragment. The Superman Family were eventually forced to destroy the Genesis fragment when Conduit attempted to absorb its power and overloaded his cells.

Red Moon

Despite this, Thao-La made a full recovery by herself just in time to witness Superman return to Earth, bringing Warworld and the Phaelosians with him. He told her that Mongul was dead, and that the Phaelosians were free.

Mongul's former chief advisor Chaytil Ironbled, who had gone into hiding after Mongul was killed, came to Earth with a band of Warzoons seeking revenge. The Superman Family spread out across Earth to look for them and protect any areas significant to Superman that the Warzoons may target. Thao-La and Supergirl were sent to protect Metropolis, and shortly after they arrived Thao-La's super-hearing activated. This allowed her to hear Chaytil underground and she and Supergirl dug down to where Chaytil was hiding in a cavern under Metropolis, with a giant beast he had created from the bodies of his own men. Thao-La was initially terrified of Chaytil, but overcame her fear and defeated him. She imprisoned him in the dungeons of Warworld and journeyed back to New Phaelosia with the rest of her people.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Phaelosian Physiology: Phaelosians are an evolutionary offshoot of Kryptonians. As such they possess superpowers under the light of a "yellow" sun such as Earth's.
  • Solar Radiation Absorption: Under optimal conditions, this is the main source of Thao-La's super powers as they are contingent upon exposure to solar radiation from a yellow sun star system. Her biological make up includes a number of organs which lack analogues in humans and whose functions are unknown. It is believed that between one or more of these and her bio-cellular matrix, "yellow" solar energy is stored for later use. This allows for the use of these powers to fade when yellow solar radiation is not available instead of immediate failure.
  • Genesis Energy Absorption: Thao-La can absorb and process energy from a mysterious material known as "Genesis" as a substitute for yellow sunlight to fuel her powers.

Thao-La, depicted blasting energy from her eyes

• • Optic Blast: Thao-La can, as a conscious act, fire powerful blasts of blue-coloured energy from any part of her body. She most typically does this as concentrated beams from her eyes similar to Kryptonian heat vision, or alternatively as concussive blasts from her hands.
  • Superhuman Strength: Thao-La develops enhanced physical strength after absorbing a sufficient amount of yellow solar radiation. This radiation interacts with the greater than human density, resilience and biological efficiency of her musculature to trigger superhuman levels. While the exact magnitude of her strength is unknown, it is generally accepted that it is sufficient to lift 100,000 tons or more. The specific range is unknown as her strength, like the other powers, may fluctuate over time. Her strength is more an act of conscious will on energy fields than actual physical strength. In terms of strength, Phaelosians are seemingly as strong as Kryptonians and Daxamites.
  • Flight: Thao-La is able to manipulate graviton particles to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering to moving in any posture, in any direction.
  • Super-Hearing: Thao-La's hearing is sensitive enough to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. With skill and concentration, she can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.

Abilities

• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)

Weaknesses

• Solar Energy Dependency: Like Kryptonians and Daxamites, Phaelosians rely on solar radiation from the yellow sun as a source of their powers. Their abilities will eventually weaken without replenishing their energy reserves with normal (yellow) sun radiation.
• Vulnerability to Kryptonite: Unlike Daxamites, Phaelosians are vulnerable to Kryptonite despite centuries of genetic drift from baseline Kryptonians.

Other Characteristics

• PTSD (Formerly)

Related

• 13 Appearances of Thao-La (Prime Earth)
• 5 Images featuring Thao-La (Prime Earth)
• Quotations by or about Thao-La (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Thao-La (Prime Earth)