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Thursday, August 30, 2018

The Secret of Seraph

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.

This panel of Seraph comes from New Defenders #130.

3 comments:

Terry Washington said...

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!

Terry Washington said...

How do we KNOW that Sera ph's powers are psi onic in nature?

Terry Washington said...

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!