Volcana
Real
Name: Claire Selton
Voiced by Peri Gilpin
As a teenager, young Claire Selton discovered that she possessed the mutant power of pyrokenesis—the ability to generate and control fire using her mind. Her parents, seeking to help her control and focus her power, sent her to Metropolis's Center for Paranormal Studies, but she was quickly spirited away by government agents in order to train her to become a living weapon. She resisted, escaped, and turned to a life of crime to survive.
Paul Dini on Volcana (circa 1998): "She's like a fire-starter character. She can generate heat and fire and throw fireballs. She's got kind of a tortured background—she was turned into a weapon by the government and the government wants her back, basically to kill her (courtesy of [website name removed])."
Images
Commentary
With only two appearances in
the Superman series to her name, Volcana’s appearance during the prison
break in Only a Dream was a welcome cameo for the hot-blooded criminal.
Her ill-fated team-up with Firefly provided levity to the dark episode,
but a relationship between the fire-powered villains would be a disaster.
As shown in the Superman episode Where There’s Smoke,
Volcana may be flirtatious and a tease, but she also hates to be controlled—which are qualities
that wouldn’t function well with Firefly’s possessiveness
and obsessive nature.
They might function well as a team, but any liaison between them would
quickly burn out of control.
A versatile character, Volcana may appear again in Justice League; perhaps as an opponent to J’onn J’onzz who, as a Martian, is extremely vulnerable to fire.
Images courtesy of The World’s Finest and the New Batman/Superman Adventures Homepage.
