Madeline Joyce

Madeline Joyce is a fictional comic book superhero featured in titles published by Marvel Comics. She is known by the code name Miss America and is associated with the 1940s era of super-hero comics. She first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #49 in November, 1943. She has been a member of the All-Winners Squad, the Liberty Legion and the Invaders.

Origin
Madeline Joyce was the niece of a millionaire who was financing electrical experiments of an unknown nature in a converted lighthouse on the East Coast of the United States. One evening, Madeline was visiting the lighthouse during a violent electrical storm and was caught in a powerful electrical discharge from the equipment triggered by the storm outside. Joyce miraculously survived the accident, but laid in a coma for a week. The discharge, however, activated her latent superhuman abilities. She decided to use these abilities to become the costumed adventurer known as Miss America.

Early career
It was during World War II that Miss America became nationally famous. Shortly after the United States entered the war, the team of Allied champions known as the Invaders were captured and brainwashed by the Nazi agent the Red Skull. Under the Red Skull's influence, the Invaders attacked a domestic defense plant. Bucky Barnes, who had escaped capture, commandeered a New York City radio station, and began a marathon broadcast to round up available superhumanly powered crime fighters to counter the threat. Barnes had located existing FBI files on several such crime fighters, including the Whizzer, and broadcast specifically to contact them. Miss America heard the message while battling a Nazi spy ring in upstate New York, a mission in which she first met and fought alongside the superhuman crime fighter the Whizzer.

The Whizzer and Miss America were attracted to each other, and travelled together to New York City to join Bucky Barnes. Bucky's effort was successful, and after the Invaders were rescued from the Skull, the group stayed together to combat Nazi espionage in the United States under the name the Liberty Legion. While active with the Liberty Legion, the Whizzer and Miss America were engaged to be married. Once during this period, they left the Liberty Legion to fight in Europe alongside the Invaders.

Post-War
After the war ended, the Whizzer and Miss America became members of the short-lived All-Winners Squad. The Squad disbanded after a few years, and the Whizzer and Miss America resumed their civilian identities of Robert Frank and Madeline Joyce and were married. In 1949, they began work for the United States government as non-costumed superhuman security agents at a secret nuclear project located in New York City. Unknown to Frank, Isbisa, a former enemy of the All-Winners Squad, sabotaged the facility and staged a nuclear accident which exposed the Franks to massive amounts of radiation. Although Isbisa's act of revenge did not kill the Franks, Madeline was pregnant at the time, and several months later gave birth to a radioactive mutant son, Robert Frank Jr.

Because the baby emitted dangerous levels of radiation, the United States government took custody of him and placed him in an experimental chrono-module. There he would be kept in suspended animation until he ceased to emit dangerous levels of radiation.

Later years
Leaving the research facility with a generous government pension, the Franks decided to travel the world. Madeline Frank became pregnant again, and was in the tiny Balkan country of Transia when the pregnancy came to term. The Franks had found refuge in the scientific citadel atop Wundagore Mountain at the recommendation of nearby villagers who believed it to have modern medical facilities. With the evolved cow called Bova Ayrshire as midwife, Madeline gave birth to a stillborn child, even more radioactive and mutated than her first child. Madeline died of radiation poisoning hours later.

Years later, a mysterious villain resurrected Madeline alongside a number of other heroes and villains in order to use them as his elite soldiers.

Abilities

 * Flight
 * Superhuman durability
 * Superhuman stamina
 * Superhuman strength - Equitable to 1,000 men.
 * X-ray vision