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| Spitfire | |
| Aliases: | Jackie Falsworth Lady Jacqueline Falsworth Jacqueline Falsworth Crichton Jacqueline Crichton |
| Continuity: | Marvel Universe |
| Notability: | Supporting character |
| Type: | Superhero |
| Gender: | Female |
| Race: | Altered human Vampire |
| Location: | Falsworth Manor, England |
| Associations: | Hellfire Club [1] Invaders [2] MI13 New Invaders V-Battalion Vampire Nation |
| Relatives: | Montgomery Falsworth John Falsworth Brian Falsworth Cedric Crichton Kenneth Crichton |
| Status: | Undead |
| First: | Invaders #7 |
Jacqueline Falsworth Critchton is a fictional superhero and a recurring supporting character featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in The Invaders, Volume 1 #7 in July, 1976 in a story titled "The Blackout Murders of Baron Blood!"
Biography[]
Lady Jacqueline Falsworth was the daughter of the British aristocrat, Lord Montgomery Falsworth, who had been known during World War I as the costumed champion Union Jack. In early 1942, Jacqueline was serving in Britain's Women's Voluntary Service when she was attacked by the vampire Baron Blood, an agent of Nazi Germany. Unknown to Jacqueline at this time, Baron Blood was actually her own uncle, Lord John Falsworth. Baron Blood was forced to flee by the original Human Torch, who took Jacqueline to her home, Falsworth Manor, where the Torch met her father. Lord Falsworth and Jacqueline befriended the Torch and his fellow members of the Invaders, a team of costumed adventurers who battled the Axis powers on behalf of the Allies during World War II. [3]
Baron Blood abducted Jacqueline but was defeated by Union Jack and the Invader Captain America. [4] Suffering from a great loss of blood from being bitten by Baron Blood, Jacqueline was rushed to a hospital by the Invaders. [5] There she received an emergency blood transfusion from the Human Torch. While she was recovering, the reluctant Nazi agent Blue Bullet attacked the hospital. To her surprise, the still-recuperating Jacqueline discovered that she could now move at superhuman speed. She courageously used her new powers to save the Human's Torch's life from the Blue Bullet's attack. The Blue Bullet was then defeated by another Invader, the Sub-Mariner. [6]
Jacqueline assumed that her new super-powers were a result of the combination of a foreign element introduced into her bloodstream by Baron Blood's bites and the artificial blood given her by the android Human Torch, though in later years she would discover they had actually jointly activated latent mutations in Jacqueline, granting her among others a mutant regenerative power. [7] Following her complete recovery from her injuries, Jacqueline made herself a costume, took the name Spitfire (after the British war planes of the period), and volunteered for Invaders membership. She was accepted into the team. Spitfire fought alongside the Invaders, including her brother who had become the new Union Jack, while the group was in the European Theater of Operations. At the war's end, she retired as a costumed adventurer.
In 1956, she married the British nobleman Lord Crichton. They subsequently had a son, Kenneth. Desiring a quiet life, Jacqueline informed people that her superhuman capabilities had gradually faded, though in truth they simply became more of a strain to use as she aged. After being widowed, Lady Crichton, as she was now known, moved back to Falsworth Manor to care for her aged father, who died a year after her return there. Lady Crichton continued to live in retirement at Falsworth Manor.
Later, Jacqueline helped assemble Namorita, Captain America, and Union Jack to aid the former Invaders, the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, who were captured by the latest incarnation of the Nazi villain, the Master Man. In attempting to rescue their ally, Jacqueline was badly wounded, and survived only thanks to yet another emergency blood transfusion from the android Human Torch, which had a side effect of making her young again, her body reverting to look approximately 16-years-old. [8] Lady Falsworth became involved in the day-to-day matters of Namor's company, Oracle, Inc., as she adjusted to her new situation. [9]
She later joined the New Invaders, but resigned with most of the other members after the Torch's death. She also had a brief relationship with the modern day Union Jack, Joey Chapman, but they broke up due to the large age difference. [10]
A short while later, she became aware she was beginning to display vampiric qualities, including fangs; finding she could control the bloodlust and remained unaffected by traditional vampire weaknesses, she initially kept this change secret, even from those closest to her. She joined MI13 as part of Britain's response to the Skrull Invasion by the Skrull Empire. In battle with two Super-Skrulls, Spitfire ripped out their throats with her teeth, openly revealing her new condition. When new MI13 recruit and vampire hunter Blade first met Spitfire, he staked her. She survived only thanks to the powers of fellow MI13 member Faiza Hussain, but later began a romantic relationship with Blade. [11][12] During Dracula's attack on Britain, Jacqueline's vampire son Kenneth visited her and led her into a trap, where Dracula magically forced her into servitude and membership of the Vampire Nation.[13] While she initially resisted, it seemed that he was eventually able to convince her to become one of his minions. It was later revealed that Spitfire had been a double agent the whole time, always helping Pete Wisdom in gaining intelligence on Dracula's whereabouts. [14]
Abilities[]
Altered human powers[]
- Unique physiology: Spitfire's entire body is oriented toward the rigors of high-speed running. Her cardiovascular and respiratory systems are more efficient than a normal woman’s. She metabolizes an estimated 50% of the caloric energy content of foodstuffs.
- Super-speed: Spitfire possesses the ability to move at superhuman speeds. She can run in excess of the speed of sound, and thanks to her vampire stamina, can maintain this pace almost indefinitely.
Vampire powers[]
Note: The following is a list of abilities that are common to traditional vampires. Jacqueline Falsworth did not become a vampire through conventional means, so some of the powers listed may not apply to her.
- Vampirism: In addition to the various mental and physical benefits that vampires are heir to, they also possess the ability to turn others into vampires as well. Each new vampire is traditionally subservient to the one who "turned" them, but some strong-willed vampires have been known to rebel against their masters.
- Enhanced senses: Vampires have improved several times higher than those of any human being of course these skills can vary depending on each person they will have some other stronger senses of his companions always given the dedication and training that each set to improve ways. Among the main ways that vampires have improved we find the following:
- Immortality: So long as vampires continue to consume blood, they will not age beyond the physical state they were in when they first became a vampire.
- Invulnerability: Vampires are invulnerable to most forms of injury (certain exceptions apply). Bullets, blades and blunt objects do little to no damage to a vampire's body.
- Regeneration: In addition to being virtually indestructible, whatever damage a vampire does in fact suffer can be healed through the consumption of human blood.
- Superhuman strength: A vampire's strength level is several times that of a normal human being and they are considered superhuman.
- Superhuman stamina: So long as they continue to consume human blood, a vampire can function tirelessly without rest or relaxation. However, a vampire's stamina wanes the closer it is to sunrise.
- Psychokinesis: Most vampires possess some form of psychokinesis. Some are clairvoyant, others can communicate telepathically, some possess mind control. Particularly powerful vampires can control the minds of several people at once.
- Hypnosis: Vampires possess the ability to hypnotize or mesmerize human targets. This may become difficult against opponents with an extremely high will power. It often doesn't work against other supernatural creatures. In some cases, vampire mesmerism may be referred to as "glamouring".
- Transformation: Vampires often possess the ability to transform into a variety of creatures or effects such as bats, wolves, rats or even mist. While their physical attributes may fluctuate during such states, a vampire's mental acuity is the same as that when they are in their human shape. A vampire who transforms into an animal may also benefit from that particular animal's attributes including razor-sharp claws, fangs or the ability to fly.
- Metamorphosis: Only vampires with a more advanced powers Control demonstrate the ability of altering either its appearance to imitate other people or in such cases selective transformation for creating claws to increase the lethal capability of its attacks in extreme cases and only vampires with a capacity of very advanced monitoring capabilities such change would show how elements, elasticity and other capabilities which vary depending on their ability, imagination and control, because as you know some vampires are stronger than others.
- Claws: Vampires can often turn their fingernails into sharpened claws, which are extremely durable and sharp. They are ideal for rending and tearing through flesh, though they are not as effective as the claws possessed by a werewolf.
- Fangs: A vampire's most often-used weapon are her fangs. They are enlarged sharpened canine teeth, which are often retractable so as to allow a vampire the ability to pose as a normal human. The primary purpose of fangs is for feeding, which they use to puncture the jugular vein of a victim in order to get to their blood.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Jacqueline Falsworth was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Frank Robbins.
- Spitfire was a playable character in the Marvel: Avengers Alliance video game. The game was shut down on September 30th, 2016.
- Spitfire is a playable character in the LEGO Marvel's Avengers video game.
- Spitfire received an appendix entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #11 in November, 1983.
- Spitfire received her own profile in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #14, "Book of the Dead and Inactive II" in March, 1984.
See also[]
External Links[]
- Jacqueline Falsworth at MDP
- Jacqueline Falsworth at Wikipedia
- Jacqueline Falsworth at Comic Vine
- Jacqueline Falsworth at Marvel.com
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
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- Earth X 9
- Exiles 31
- Marvel Zombies Destroy! 1
- What If? 4
- X-Men: Millennial Visions 2000