Introduced as a formidable operative of the Secret Empire, Seraph led a mission to kidnap the Vision in Defenders #123. Yet in a surprising turn of events, Seraph then helped the Defenders defeat the Secret Empire in #129-130. Here, Seraph revealed herself to be a Soviet agent who had infiltrated the Secret Empire to thwart the criminal organization's plot to manipulate the United States and Soviet Union into starting the next world war.
While undercover, however, Seraph had used her psionic powers to give Cloud false memories that the Secret Empire had killed her parents, turning Cloud's loyalty away from the Secret Empire and to the side of the Defenders. Cloud's complicated true past remained unknown until #149-150.
Posts
4 comments:
This enigmatic albino has intrigued me since her first appearance in #Defenders 123. Firstly what are the provenance of her powers/ They seem to bear a suggestive similarity to those of the Hellion known as Empath(who is KNOWN to be a mutant(which strongly suggests that she is one herself). Secondly,in this panel, Seraph appears to be genuinely saddened by the deaths of Cloud's parents at the hands of the Secret Empire. Does she mean it? Secret agents are of course trained to fake any and all kinds of emotions(including remorse or grief) but what if she REALLY means it?(esp as she claims to be r eligious in an official ly atheistical sovi ety) I have become intrigued enough by Seraph to feature her in a book I am writing- hope we can see more of her after a long hiatus!
How do we KNOW that Sera ph's powers are psi onic in nature?
Even though she's just a character in a comic book, something about this scene makes my heart go out to Seraph- she sounds so sad and troubled, almost as if her very HEART is breaking. Could she be telling the truth? - as a Soviet secret agent, Seraph is of course not just trained to kill (even though she significantly NEVER exercises this capability) but to lie convincingly if necessary. Like Blanche Du Bois in "A Streetcar Named Desire", I daresay she has NEVER"lied i n her heart"! So many unanswered questions about this enigmatic albino!
Even more so than her outre physical appearance, there are things tha intrigue me about Seraph-namely indications of her deep emotional and spiritual sensitivity. I particularly liked the scene in which she took her leave of the Defenders before preparing to return home to the then USSR, esp her observations that she could get in trouble with the US authorities for being a Soviet agent(although there are NO indications that national security was being imperilled by anything she did), although ironically as Gargoyle (Isaac Christians) noted, she was in far greater risks from the displeasure of her "superiors" in Soviet Intelligence as she arguably failed in her mission- although this was the Gorbachev rather than Stalinist era, punishments for failure included execution by firing squad or deportation to the Siberian Gulag)Seraph dryly replied that she could use her powers to protect herself before giving Bobby Drake(Iceman) a big hug, noting that in differing ways BOTH of them felt the deepest love for Cloud, symbolically pressing her own heart against his!
Post a Comment