Danielle Baptiste

Danielle Baptiste
Danielle Baptiste, featured in the cover art for Witchblade #104. Art by Adriana Melo and Stjepan Sejic.
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics/Top Cow
First appearance	Witchblade #100
In-story information
Partnerships	Sara Pezzini
Notable aliases	The Angelus
Abilities	Currently the host of The Angelus: The powers of The Angelus, an ancient light-power which grants her light manipulation, flight, superhuman strength,speed, senses, durability, endurance, etc, order manipulation, light-vision, night-vision, light-energy blasts, invulnerability, immortality, healing factor, semi-organic armor, surface-scale.

Daniella "Dani" Anastasia Baptiste^[1] is a fictional comic book superheroine in the series Witchblade, published by Top Cow. She was introduced in the one hundredth issue, becoming the series' co-lead. An athletic young dancer, Dani becomes the new host of the Witchblade, a mystical gauntlet which grants its host an assortment of powers. She later loses it to its original host and becomes the new and current host of the Angelus, one of the two primal forces of the universe.

Fictional character biography

Introduction

Dani, an impulsive but good-hearted young woman, was born in New Orleans. She moved to New York to pursue a dance career, a dream she had since she was nine years old. After graduating, she became increasingly frustrated about the lack of direction in her life.

After having a strange dream about a mystical gauntlet, Dani was drawn to an antiques shop owned by the mysterious Curator, who would later become a trusted confidant of hers. It was there that she encountered Sara Pezzini, the then-current host of The Witchblade. The two had also encountered each other previously on the steps of Sara's police department when Dani had bumped into Sara in issue #101. Dani instantly recognized The Witchblade as the entity in her dreams. She impulsively decided to accept it from Sara, who was expecting a baby and didn't want to deal with the adventures The Witchblade invariably drew. At first Sara was dubious about handing The Witchblade over to Dani. After seeing The Witchblade respond strongly to her, however, Sara relinquished it to its new host.^[2]

Progression

Dani would eventually learn that the Witchblade was actually the balance between two primal forces of the universe—a female entity of light known as The Angelus and a male entity of dark known as The Darkness. She was drawn back home after her father was taken into a hospital. While she waited for her father to recover, the nurse on duty told her to go out and relax. Dani complied, enjoying an evening out in New Orleans. However, she was harassed by three young men and punished them by drawing them into a dark alley and unleashing the Witchblade, almost choking one of them to death. It was then she realized that the Witchblade had a mind of its own and that she would have to exert more control over it.^[3]

Dani was confronted by a mysterious woman who urged her to go to a nearby graveyard if she wanted to get rid of the nightmares that had been recently haunting her. She did so and was confronted by rotting and deformed ghosts. They begged Dani to help set them free and explained that the ancient and mystical Madeline Desormeaux, who lived in a large mansion on the edge of the graveyard, had tortured them in life and had bound them to the land in death. Dani agreed and promised to bring Madeline to them.

Dani went into the house, and after a brief fight, emerged triumphant. The ghosts then had their revenge on Desormeaux, and were able to move on. The graveyard and the house disappeared.

Dani was left feeling increasingly unsure whether or not she could control the Witchblade. She returned to her father's bedside and was delighted to find him conscious. She promised to stay by his side for a few weeks to help his recover and then return to New York, resolving to get rid of the Witchblade after her ghostly encounter. However, she would end up changing her mind later.

First Born

Dani played a significant part during the First Born miniseries/crossover event, discovering more about her power (including the ability of flight) while helping the Magdalena and Jackie Estacado, the host of The Darkness, defend a pregnant Sara. After Sara's life was threatened by giving birth, Danielle returned half of The Witchblade in order to save her.^[4]

Aftermath

Later, Madame Kostigian, Dani's dance teacher asked her to take over introductory classes while she returned to Poland to be with her sister, who has cancer. In the first class she taught, Dani met a girl named Finch. While teaching another class with Finch, Dani sensed something wrong and asks Finch to explain why she is so sad lately. Over coffee Finch revealed that her boyfriend, Rock, was trying to turn her into a prostitute. When Dani stated that she may be able to help, Finch excitedly kissed her, surprising Dani. However, Finch immediately apologized and left. While accompanied by Finch, Dani had a brief skirmish with Rock at his apartment, using the Witchblade to frighten him. During this encounter, Rock was accidentally shot and killed by a friend of his, who quickly departed. A shaken Dani then went to Sara for help, and the two moved the body into the street, making it look like a suicide. An angry Sara then lashed out verbally, and she and Dani parted ways.

"War of The Witchblades"

As the "War of The Witchblades" story began, the Curator informed Dani that when The Witchblade was divided, so, too, were its essences. While Dani's half represented The Angelus, Sara's half represented The Darkness. Without balance, the chaotic nature of Sara's half was slowly corrupting her. Dani then considered giving The Angelus half of The Witchblade to Sara, but was told that doing so would not remove The Darkness's influence from Sara's body, as its effects had already become too great. As such, Dani resolved to recover the second half of the entity.^[5] She sets out to confront Sara in a final battle but is defeated and loses her half of The Witchblade. However, The Angelus, having finally possessed Finch, arrives and saves Dani by transferring its essence into Dani's body. Unlike most previous hosts, though, Dani's personality is not removed and she manages to stop The Angelus from killing Sara, instead using her newfound powers of Light to free her friend from the taint of The Darkness. She leaves New York after parting with Sara on good terms, and heads back to New Orleans with Finch.

Angelus

Dani then returned home to New Orleans and moved into an apartment with Finch. After leaving the apartment, she and Finch are attacked by a multi-headed chimera, Dani is forced to call upon The Angelus but is nearly defeated only to be saved by Sabine, one of The Angelus' followers. Sabine then takes Dani with her to The Angelus' home realm.^[1]

As Dani is not fully taken over by The Angelus, she only has a vague memory of the Angelus realm as she is guided through it by Sabine to the throne room where a copy of The Darkness, pierced by Angelus spear, is being kept. Sabine talks Dani into planning an attack on Jackie Estacado, however she rejects by saying that Jackie is a friend, she then remembers that Finch is left on Earth and returns just in time to save her from two men attempting to rape her.^[6]

Powers and abilities

The Witchblade

Dani is a professional ballet dancer; as such, she is very agile and dexterous. Dani is the former host of The Witchblade, during which time she possessed all powers that were associated with it.

The Angelus

Dani wields the powers of The Angelus, a universal force of order and light-creation. She possess superhuman strength, speed, senses, durability, and endurance. She is able to craft beam-like weapons of light, project light-beams, and create a semi-organic armor about herself. She can also grow wings from the armor giving her self-propelled flight. Additionally, she can manipulate all aspects of order in existence, and possesses near-invulnerability, healing abilities, immortality, teleportation, night-vision, light-vision, fire manipulation (an extension of her light manipulation ability) and most importantly, the ability to create objects and sentient beings of light. Her powers are limited, however, since functioning in the dark quickly drains her powers and turns anything she creates into dust. The source of her light power is the light energy that half the universe is composed of, the same energy also radiates from her body, while her physical abilities are granted to her by her status as an Angelus host.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Angelus #1. Top Cow Productions. Issue date, December 2009.
2. ^ Witchblade #103. Top Cow Productions. Issue date, February 2007.
3. ^ Witchblade #106. Top Cow Productions. Issue date, June 2007.
4. ^ First Born #3. 2007, Top Cow Productions.
5. ^ Witchblade #126. Top Cow Productions. Issue date, April 2009.
6. ^ Angelus #2. Top Cow Productions. Issue date, March 2010.