| Thara Ak-Var | |
|---|---|
 Thara Ak-Var as Flamebird, as depicted inAction Comics #886 (April 2010). Art by Pere Pérez. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Superman #681 (October 2008) |
| Created by | Geoff Johns James Robinson |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Thara Ak-Var |
| Species | Kryptonian |
| Place of origin | Krypton |
| Partnerships | Nightwing (Lor-Zod) Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) |
| Notable aliases | Flamebird |
| Abilities | Powers and abilities identical to those of Superman: Superhuman strength, super speed, flight, stamina and freezing breath, super hearing, multiple extrasensory and vision powers Flamebird powers:
|
Thara Ak-Var is a fictional character appearing in comic books published byDC Comics, created byGeoff Johns andJames Robinson. The character first appeared during theSuperman: New Krypton storyline inSuperman #681 (October 2008). She is the latest character to take on the role ofFlamebird.[1] Along withNightwing (Chris Kent), Thara is the feature character inAction Comics beginning with issue #875 (May 2009). Thara Ak-Var's name is a reference to Ak-Var, the second pre-Crisis Flamebird, and his wife Thara.
Esmé Bianco portrays Thara in thethird season ofSupergirl.
In theSilver Age, Thara is the wife of Ak-Var, the assistant of her uncle, scientist Van-Zee. Van-Zee dons theNightwing costume to rescue a capturedSuperman. After Superman andJimmy Olsen's departure from Kandor, Van-Zee assumes the role of Nightwing full-time. Ak-Var later becomesFlamebird, Van-Zee's crime-fighting partner.[2]
Thara Ak-Var lived inArgo City and was a childhood friend ofKara Zor-El. While Kara's parents were members of the Science Guild, Thara's parents were both of the Military Guild and had served underGeneral Zod.
Thara was among the few survivors ofKrypton’s destruction.Zor-El created a force field around Argo City to protect it using technology found afterBrainiac’s capture ofKandor. Sensing his own technology being used, Brainiac tracked down Argo City and began to integrate it with Kandor, and killing those who tried to stop him, including Thara's parents. While Zor-El andAlura assisted their daughter in escaping, everyone else in Argo City was captured by Brainiac, including Thara.
Life in the shrunken city continued, though at a slower rate than the rest of the universe. Despite her young age and inexperience in actual combat, Thara was made chief of security for Kandor.[3]
Shortly afterward, Thara is approached by Kandor's religious guild, who give her a vision of the Flamebird, a mythical Kryptonian creature. The religious guild, believing Thara to be the avatar of Flamebird, take her into their ranks. Thara later gains a physic connection withChris Kent, who is connected to Nightwing, Flamebird's partner deity. Reclaiming her position as chief of security, Thara frees Chris from thePhantom Zone and brings him to Kandor in secret.[4]
After Superman liberatesArgo City and Kandor, Thara moves to Earth and begins operating on Earth as the superhero Flamebird, aided by Chris as Nightwing.[5] In the 2010 miniseriesSuperman: War of the Supermen,Sam Lane andLex Luthor turnReactron into a living bomb that destroysNew Krypton. At the same time, Lane and Luthor use elements from the Rao construct to turn the sun red, which depowers the surviving Kryptonians and causes many of them to die in space. Flamebird sacrifices herself by unleashing her power within the sun to restore its original color.[6]
Thara has all the standard abilities of a Kryptonian exposed to the light of a yellow sun: super strength, super speed, invulnerability, flight, heat vision, super-breath, x-ray vision, and super hearing. She also possesses an undefined connection to the mythic "Flamebird" entity, which gives herpyrokinesis, immunity to goldkryptonite, and a psychic link with Chris Kent.
Like all Kryptonians, Thara is weakened by kryptonite radiation and fatally vulnerable to prolonged exposure.
