Featuring the following heroine!

Red Guardian

by Sean McQuaid

Real name: Doctor Tania Belinsky
AKA: Starlight

First appearance: as Red Guardian, Defenders 35; as Starlight, Quasar 19
Incidentally: Tania was the third superhero to have the Red Guardian moniker.

Favorite quote: "My nature, Nighthawk, is essentially activist. I make no apologies." -- Defenders Annual 1. Tania, icy cool as always, recovers quickly after single-handedly engaging and narrowly escaping a bloodthirsty mob of crazed French Bozos ... but that's a long story...

Team affiliation: As the masked Russian crimefighter Red Guardian, Tania was a valued core member of the early Defenders until her abduction and brainwashing by the Presence. Sadly, she remains in his thrall to some extent even today, years later.
Powers: As the Red Guardian, Tania was an Olympic-level athlete, acrobat and unarmed combatant armed only with her skill, her wits, and her belt buckle throwing disc. Since her mutation by the Presence, Tania continually emits harmful radiation which she can harness for a variety of effects, including superhuman strength and durability, flight and energy blasts. As Tania Belinsky, she was renowned as the world's greatest neurosurgeon; she first became involved with the Defenders when they recruited her to transplant Nighthawk's brain back into his body (another long story). Remarkably, she did it--and without even once saying, "Brain and brain! What is brain?!?" (Sorry, old Star Trek flashback.)

Favorite storyline: Tania's prominent role in Defenders 35-46 and Annual 1, classic Steve Gerber stories. Highlights included brain transplants made easy (Defenders 35) and single-handedly subduing a steel-fisted assassin and his confederates with both a sound physical thrashing and an ideological tongue lashing (Defenders 40).
Least favorite storyline: An atrocious Marvel Comics Presents tale in which the mad Presence decides he isn't satisfied with one brilliant Russian superwoman in his thrall and sends Tania to recruit Russian super-gals Black Widow and Darkstar for his proposed harem--which is even more slimy than you think, seeing as how Darkstar is his natural daughter. Tania complies until Black Widow slaps her silly and forces her to regain some measure of her senses, but in the end she returns to the Presence, saying she loves the bum despite everything he's done to her. A sadly demeaning, misogynistic fate for a once-great character.

Nostalgic note: The early Defenders series was a unique breeding ground for some of Marvel's strongest female protagonists: Valkyrie, Hellcat and Red Guardian, one or more of whom were central characters throughout the series. Naturally, the book's since been canceled and all three characters are languishing in distasteful forms of comic book limbo. *sigh*

And the Editor agrees: The stories found in the first 40 issues of the Defenders had a lot to do with my becoming a Marvel zombie. They were challenging and innovative; many of them addressed still-current social issues. If you find any old issues in the bargin bin, snatch them up -- especially the ones by Steve Gerber! --editor Jeanne