Silver Swan (comics)

The Silver Swan are three fictional characters in the Wonder Woman stories. The first Silver Swan first appeared in "Wonder Woman" vol. 1 #288. The second Silver Swan first appeared in "Wonder Woman" vol. 2 #15. The third Silver Swan first appeared in "Wonder Woman" vol. 2, #171.

Pre-Crisis

Helen Alexandros

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caption=Helen Alexandros receiving her powers from Mars. Art by Gene Colan.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Wonder Woman" vol. 1 #288
creators=
character_name=Silver Swan
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
real_name=Helen Alexandros
status=Inactive
alliances=
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=
powers=Flight, creates powerful sound waves with her voice, super strength.|

Born to Leda Alexandros, Helen Alexandros is a bitter ballet dancer who, disgusted by being overlooked because of her homely appearance, struck a bargain with Mars to have a beautiful face and body in return for destroying man's champion, Wonder Woman. Helen becomes the mystically-created alter ego Silver Swan in the Pre-Crisis.

Diana Prince comes upon a gang of bank robbers, and a new arrival, a flying, costumed female who calls herself the Silver Swan, helps her bring them in. The Silver Swan flies off, and Wonder Woman discovers that the briefcase of secret documents she and Steve Trevor had been carrying is gone. Later, Diana and Etta Candy discover a rent raise has made it necessary for them to take on a new roommate. The first applicant, whom they accept, is Helen Alexandros, who has found the briefcase and returns it to Diana.

Unknown to both of them, the plain-faced, skin-blemished Helen is a former ballerina who has been badly hurt by rejections due to her "ugly duckling" face. After one performance in an ancient temple in Greece, Helen cried out to the gods that she hated men. At that point, Ares appeared from Mount Olympus and revealed to Helena that she was a descended on her mother’s side from Helen of Sparta, daughter of Zeus and Leda. When Ares asked if she was ready to accept her "heritage of blood", Helen agreed, and was transformed into the beautiful Silver Swan, with the powers of flight, great strength, and a "swan song" which could wreak destruction. Ares told the Swan that Helen would be able to change into her for an hour at a time, as long as she served him, and on the day that she destroyed Wonder Woman, she would become the Silver Swan forever.

Later, when Wonder Woman is attempting to return the briefcase, the Silver Swan snatches it away and defeats the Amazon in battle. But, unwilling to destroy Wonder Woman around witnesses, the Swan turns over the briefcase and convinces Gen. Darnell that she mistakenly thought Wonder Woman was stealing it. Meanwhile Doctor Psycho is able to use Steve Trevor to produce enough ectoplasm to turn him into Captain Wonder, in which identity he attacks Wonder Woman, and helps the Swan rope in Wonder Woman. Captain Wonder and Silver Swan fall in love with each other at first sight. They opt to take the captive heroine to the White House and kill her before the eyes of President of the United States Ronald Reagan. But Ares appears to the Swan and demands that she order Captain Wonder to send the Robot Plane crashing into the White House and thus murder the President.

However Steve Trevor awakens from Dr. Psycho's spell and is able to break Psycho's ability to maintain his Captain Wonder persona. Psycho crashes to Earth unharmed and Wonder Woman is able to break free. Wonder Woman battles the Silver Swan and defeats her, and the Amazon manages to prevent her plane from smashing the White House and endangering President Reagan. Disappointed in the Swan, Ares withdraws her powers and she returns to her Helen Alexandros identity.

The Silver Swan reappeared in a battle arranged behind the scenes by the Monitor as one of the tests he launched to prepare for the coming multiversal crisis. The Swan appeared late one night in a Pentagon storage facility, encountering the Angle Man, Captain Wonder, and the Cheetah. They were defeated when Etta Candy used Doctor Psycho's ectoplasmitron to create for herself a superpowered identity based on Wonder Woman. ("Wonder Woman" #323)

Post-Crisis

Valerie Beaudry

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caption=The second Silver Swan battles Wonder Woman. Art by George Pérez.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Wonder Woman" vol. 2 #15
creators=George Pérez
character_name=Silver Swan
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
real_name=Valerie Beaudry
status=Inactive
alliances=
previous_alliances=Captains of Industry
Suicide Squad
aliases=
relatives=
powers=Flight, creates powerful sound waves with her voice. |

In the Post-Crisis continuity, Valerie Beaudry was exposed to radiation from nuclear tests while in the womb. This caused her to be horribly deformed. Valerie had no friends except for a pen pal named Henry Cobb Armbruster. The head of Armbruster International, he exploited Valerie's need for acceptance by choosing her for his Silver Swan project. Valerie was mutated by the industrialist to become the Silver Swan, granting her incredible beauty as well as tremendous hypersonic powers. He extended his control over her by marrying Valerie. He also used her to battle Wonder Woman and Ed Indelicato. Eventually, thanks to Diana and another of her pen pals, Maxine Sterenbuch, who had formed a true friendship with her over the years, Valerie saw Armbruster for who he truly was and divorced him.

Valerie, wanting to repay Diana for helping her, offered her assistance during her time as a fugitive during War of the Gods. Diana refused her however, not wanting Valerie to be put in harm's way, despite her incredible power. Nevertheless, she joined many of Earth's heroes in the battle against Circe. She later joined a short lived superteam known as the Captains of Industry. Eventually, Valerie retired her identity as the Silver Swan, but not before serving a stint in the Suicide Squad. She also appeared in Underworld Unleashed as one of many characters whom the demon Neron approached to exchange their souls to him for additional power. This was likely an editorial error, as Valerie had reformed long before this. As such, she rejected his offer, opting instead for a quiet life in suburbia, not far from her good friend Maxine.

Vanessa Kapatelis

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caption=Vanessa Kapatelis as the third Silver Swan. Art by Phil Jimenez.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
publisher=DC Comics
debut=As Vanessa: "Wonder Woman" vol. 2, #3
As Silver Swan: "Wonder Woman" vol. 2, #171
creators=George Pérez
character_name=Silver Swan
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
real_name=Vanessa Kapatelis
status=Inactive
alliances=
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=
powers=Flight, creates powerful sound waves with her voice, telepathy with birds|

Born in Boston, Massachusetts Vanessa "Nessie" Kapatelis had the chance to meet the Amazon princess when her mother, Julia Kapatelis, took in young Diana Prince when she first arrived in the United States. At first, she was jealous of Wonder Woman's beauty, but after Diana rescued her from Decay and the two got to know each other better, Nessie started to love her as the elder sister. The high-school student dreamed of fighting evil alongside Diana.

The trauma of her father's death while she was a kid and the suicide of her best friend Lucy, made Vanessa go over the edge and she started to blame herself for all the bad things that happened to people she cared about. Meanwhile Doctor Psycho started to cause her to have nightmares. To help her daughter recover, the school counselor (under Psycho's influence) told Julia that Diana had to leave their house.

Nessie eventually recovered but she could not forgive her mother for making Diana leave and she then started to blame Diana for abandoning her. Her mixed emotions were a perfect target for Circe who decided to use her to get to Diana. Thus, using Sebastian Ballesteros as a lure, Dr. Psycho and Circe used periodical mental conditioning and physical implants to gradually transform Vanessa into a new Silver Swan and set her against her former friend. They programmed Nessie's brain and turned the young woman into a killing machine, releasing her upon Diana and Wonder Girl, whom she considered an usurper of her "entitled" role. The result of this brought about the destruction of Cassie Sandmark's school and the death of over a hundred people. Vanessa had become, effectively, a terrorist but before Diana could do anything about it, the Imperiex attack and the battle with Circe on New York.

After Circe was defeated, Diana took Nessie to a hospital in Buenos Aires where she could heal. While she was recovering Sebastian Ballesteros abducted her. Veronica Cale, who hated and envied Diana very much, bought Nessie from him and transformed her further into a cyborg, sending her back to fight Diana. However, this time when Diana defeated Nessie, she begged Doctor Leslie Anderson to operate on her and remove the cyborg implants. Diana then sent Vanessa to Themyscira for surgical recovery. As Themyscira has since vanished from this plane of existence, it was assumed that Vanessa was in the care of her mother, however, this is disputable since she has been sighted in "Salvation Run" amongst the other exiled villains, showing no signs of recovery, nor regret for her murderous actions.

Powers & Weapons

The Silver Swan can create powerful sound waves with her voice. Her "swan song" is capable of devastating a small area of land with its destructive force. By creating a low-level humming, the Silver Swan can form a protective shield around herself that can deflect bullets and projectiles.

The Silver Swan can fly, but she needs her artificial wings to control her flight motion.

External links

Helen Alexandros:
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=silverswanprec The Unofficial Silver Swan I Biography]
* [http://www.amazonarchives.com/ww288.htm "Wonder Woman" #288 (First Appearance)]

Valerie Beaudry:
* [http://uk.msnusers.com/AmazingAmazons/silverswan1.msnw Amazing Amazons Profile]
* [http://www.rapsheet.co.uk/RapSheetMain/Character.asp?UniqueId=529 Silver Swan Rapsheet]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=silverswan The Unofficial Silver Swan II Biography]

Vanessa Kapatelis:
* [http://uk.msnusers.com/AmazingAmazons/silverswan.msnw Amazing Amazons Profile]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=vanessakapatelis The Unofficial Vanessa Kapatelis Biography]

ee also

*List of Wonder Woman enemies