Starlight (comics)

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caption=
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Starlight
real_name=Tania Belinsky (Belinskaya)
species=
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Defenders" #35 (May 1976) (as Red Guardian)
"Quasar" #19 (Feb 1991) (as Starlight)
creators=Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances=Defenders
partners=Presence
aliases=Red Guardian
powers=|

Starlight is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. Created by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema, she first appeared in "Defenders" # 35 (May 1976).

Fictional character biography

Tania Belinsky was born in Leningrad, in the former Soviet Union. Tania became a young neurosurgeon, though after her dissident father Andrei had been sent to Siberia, she adopted a costume and identity similar to the original Red Guardian's, and fought crime and protected dissidents in an attempt to reform Soviet society. She left the USSR at the request of Doctor Strange staying in America and joining the Defenders.

Dr. Belinsky fell under the influence of Sergei Krylov, alias the "Presence", a mad scientific genius who had become one of the most influential men behind the scenes of the Soviet government. He used a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster to transform Tania into his super-powered thrall with nuclear powers, currently called Starlight. Since her mutation by the Presence, Tania continually emits harmful radiation which she can harness for a variety of effects, including superhuman strength and durability, flight, and energy blasts. She and the Presence left Earth for a time, when their radiation levels were too dangerous to remain on Earth. ["Incredible Hulk" #259]

Tania was last seen in the company of the Presence during his attempts to conquer Russia by mutating its citizens and armies into radioactive zombie-like beings, including some of the Avengers, who fell under his power. He was defeated by Thor and Firebird, who proved immune to the transformations and Tania offered to restore all those who had been transformed back to normal. She also revealed that she had come to genuinely love the Presence and felt that she would have no one else in her life if she left him. Later Tania and the Presence aided the Avengers in battling Kang. The Presence was planning to capitalize on the chaos Kang had sown on Earth by attempting to conquer Russia again once he was defeated, but Tania refused to allow it and threatened to desert him if he did so.

References

External links

* [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/starlightredguard.htm Her profile in the Appendix to the Marvel Handbook]