Urania Blackwell (Prime Earth)

Urania "Rainie" Blackwell is Element Girl, or Element Gal, an agent of the United States Government with the ability to transmute her body into any component element of the human chemical makeup. She is a sometime-ally of the similarly-powered Metamorpho, the Element Man.

History

A metagene-positive,^[1] thrill-seeking operative of the United States Government's S.H.A.D.E. agency, Urania Blackwell was sent with her handler Agent Three to the pyramids of Egypt to locate the source of the metahuman Metamorpho's powers, a mutagenic meteor, and to acquire his ability to transform into any element in the human body for herself and her country. Though her appearance was dramatically altered, Blackwell survived exposure to the meteor and served the United States of America as the superpowered Element Gal, encountering, working with, and becoming attracted to Metamorpho. While all fellow S.H.A.D.E. agents exposed to the meteor were killed,^[2] Blackwell's colleague and one-time lover Samuel Reese was enlisted by the government to pose as a supervillain under the name Stingaree.^[1] Blackwell was also involved in a supposed accident staged by S.H.A.D.E. that led student Emily Sung to acquire powers akin to hers and Mason's.^[3]

Blackwell was discharged from government service after she was found to be unstable and later committed suicide,^[1] but lived on after her death and attempted to simulate a normal life and family by extending her powers to matter other than herself. She was ultimately unable to maintain the illusion, however,^[4] and eventually returned to S.H.A.D.E.. She was sent to Stagg Industries headquarters in Jump City, Metamorpho's current place of work and the site of a break-in by Mister 3—her former handler, who had since defected to S.H.A.D.E.'s opposition, an organization known as Cy.C.L.O.P.S., and developed the ability to shift between states of matter. There, she caught up with Metamorpho before they both fell into an ambush set by Mister 3, who disrupted the cohesion of their bodies by imitating the properties of the meteor that gave them their powers. At Metamorpho's urging, however, she was able to transmute her body into copper and conduct electricity into the gaseous Mister 3, converting him into plasma, the fourth state of matter in which he was helpless. Concluding that Cy.C.L.O.P.S. aimed to kill Metamorpho, Blackwell declared herself his bodyguard and took up residence at Stagg headquarters, to the displeasure of his fiancée, Sapphire Stagg.^[2]

In their time together, Blackwell antagonized Sapphire Stagg, which she tried to use to draw attention to her musical career. This made Blackwell a target of Sugar Sweet, a rival popstar who was in reality an android, now calling herself "Yesterday Woman." The android attacked Blackwell and Mason, but she conceived of a plan to defeat Yesterday Woman: transforming into sugar dust, she and Mason were ignited to create an explosion, destroying their foe while they simply reconstituted themselves.^[5] Thanks to a S.H.A.D.E. tracking intended for Stagg Industries head Simon Stagg but instead ingested by Cy.C.L.O.P.S. infiltrator the Mad Mod, Blackwell tracked the Mod to an Olmec temple in Santa Prisca bearing the likeness of ancient immortal Vandal Savage. With Java, a contemporary of Savage's, and Metamorpho, jealous at his recruitment, she entered the temple and stumbled upon its throne room, where a robotic duplicate of Savage was able to hold her and and Mason off with Orb of Ra cufflinks, but left himself open to attack by Java. Taking the Mad Mod prisoner, they returned to Jump City to find it under attack by Stagg Industries HQ, animated by its new security system and running amok.^[6]

Delivering the Mod to S.H.A.D.E. via autopiloted jet, Blackwell and Java entered the building to shut it down while Metamorpho diverted its attention from outside. Pinned down by its internal defenses, they disabled the HQ's central computer by cutting off its supply of cooling freon, replaced by Blackwell in the form of combustive sodium, though not before the computer constructed an android replica of Metamorpho's old foe the Thunderer, the product of Mister 3's infiltration of Stagg Industries.^[7] She and Mason learned from the android that their powers made them "solar gladiators" for the sun god Ra, champions bound to fight representatives of rival suns for the survival of their own. Fleeing the Thunderer, they traveled to Belmont, Michigan to recruit fellow metamorphs—and thus also solar gladiators—Emily Sung, Element Dog, and after a brief conflict, Algon, to fight with them for their sun. As the Thunderer arrived, however, they learned that it needed to kill only one of them to claim victory—and did so by disintegrating Algon. While Sung was able to destroy the android, it was too late to prevent its patron sun, the sentient, tyrannical Solaris, from extinguishing their own sun and taking its place over Earth.^[3]

When Simon Stagg sent Metamorpho into orbit to collide with and destroy the Tyrant Sun as super-dense "Staggium," Blackwell used her honed reflexes to remotely guide his space shuttle past Solaris' outer defenses, miniature "Solar Servitors," inspiring Sapphire Stagg to put their rivalry behind them. Though Mason succeeding in destroying Solaris and igniting a new sun, he was seemingly killed in the process. In the days that followed, Blackwell and Mason's other allies mourned his apparent death, only to discover that Simon Stagg had found signs of life in his remains.^[8]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Unique Physiology: Exposure to a mutagenic meteor gave Blackwell the power to shift the composition of her body to that of any of the individual elements of which it is composed.^[2]
- Metamorphosis: Blackwell can stretch and contort her body at will.^[2]
- Molecular Reconstruction: Blackwell can convert her body into any of its constituent elements, such as copper;^[2] she can also transform matter other than her own body, creating such things as convincing simulacra of foods and lifeless human bodies from the air.^[4]

Abilities

Espionage: Blackwell is an experienced spy.^[2]

Weaknesses

Orb of Ra: When exposed to the energy emitted by the Orb of Ra, an artifact carved from the meteor that gave her her powers, Blackwell's ability to transform and maintain her body's cohesion is diminished.^[2]

Notes

Urania Blackwell/Element Girl was created by Bob Haney and Sal Trapani, first appearing in Metamorpho #10. However, Urania Blackwell/Element Girl first appeared as part of Prime Earth continuity in Shade, the Changing Girl #4 by Magdalene Visaggio and Paulina Ganucheau.