Phantom Girl

Origin

Tinya Wazzo was born in the 30th century on the extra-dimensional world of Bgztl. While its people are able to pass through walls and other solid objects at will, she was the only member of her race with the ability to pass fully through the Phantom Zone and onto Earth, which shared dimensional space with Bgztl. After the death of her father and disagreements with her mother, Tinya was looking for an escape and found it on a newscast of the newly formed Legion of Super-Heroes. Tinya left her mother Winema and brother Gyma behind and smuggled herself onto Earth with all of her savings. After doing so, Tinya impressed the Legion by showing them how easily their defenses could be breached by a phantom and imploring them to induct her. She was promptly made a member and given the codename Phantom Girl.

Creation

Phantom Girl was created in 1961 by writer Jerry Siegel (the co-creator of Superman) and artist Jim Mooney. She was the second character to be recruited by the Legion of Super-Heroes following its three founding members, making her the third female member of the Legion and its fifth member overall.

Character Evolution

Original Continuity: New Earth

Tinya was sworn in alongside Luornu Durgo (Triplicate Girl) and the two became friends as well as the Legion’s first recruits following the three founding members. As a Legionnaire, Tinya’s unique phasing abilities made her a crucial contact between Earth and the Phantom Zone. Tinya and Jo Nah (Ultra Boy) became one of the earliest Legion couples. Tinya was so taken with Jo that she was willing to aid him even when it was thought he had betrayed the Legion. The two have since formed of the Legion’s most enduring couples. Phantom Girl became a founding member of the Legion Espionage Squad and became best friends with Tasmia Mallor (Shadow Lass), and Tinya and Jo would often double-date with Tasmia and her boyfriend Mon-el. After an incident when Ultra Boy was thought dead, Tinya mourned greatly. She was later ecstatic to discover he was alive but had simply had amnesia. Tinya eventually became the most senior Legionnaire, and has served in the Legion without any absences longer than anyone else in history. As a founder of the Legion Espionage Squad, Tinya displayed remarkable leadership qualities. Despite this, she remained the longest-serving Legionnaire never to be elected as Legion leader (until very recently).

Phantom Girl’s original costume consisted of white tights and a cape, with a stylized black ‘P’ on her chest. Like many Legionnaires she underwent a sexy makeover in the 1970’s, losing the cape and wearing a white jumpsuit with wide sleeves, bell-bottom pants, bare shoulders, and revealing rectangular openings down the front of her chest. This “portholes & bell-bottoms” costume became her signature look, and is the basis for her current costume.

Reboot: Earth-247

After the event called Zero Hour, Legion history was completely rebooted, with this reality later designated as Earth-247. Tinya was again one of the earliest Legion recruits, though in this continuity she took the code name Apparition rather than Phantom Girl. Bgztl was now an actual planet in the United Planets, rather than a dimensional neighbor, and Tinya’s mother, Winema, served as Bgztl’s ambassador. Tinya lived with her mother on Earth with no family, having been born to her mother and a drifter. Tinya and Winema were both unaware her father was a Carggite and that Tinya was as well. When she was born and Winema was asleep, he stole two of the three Tinya bodies and sold them off to the Luck Lords. Ignorant of this, Tinya was raised with all the spoils of Winema’s career. Apparition joined the Legion after she helped foil an assassination plot at a UP conference, the first recruit alongside Triad. While a Legionnaire, she often argued with her mother. This was especially so when Tinya started to fall in love with the unbecoming Ultra Boy of the Workforce. The two dated in secret and professed their love to each other just as a Daxamite terrorist fried them with heat vision, killing Tinya. She was buried on Earth and mourned by the Legion, Ultra Boy, and her mother.

Apparition wore a costume similar to Phantom Girl’s original outfit, but with a thick black stripe down the middle rather than a ‘P’ on her chest. This costume, as well as the Apparition code name, was derived from the “Batch SW6” duplicate of Tinya (see Alternate Versions below), who appeared towards the end of original continuity.

Threeboot: Earth Prime

Legion history was rebooted yet again, in a continuity that became known as the “Threeboot.” This reality was later designated as Earth-Prime. Tinya Wazzo again went by the Phantom Girl codename and was a member of the Legion. She was a fan of old Earth comic books and had the biggest collection among the heroes. Bgtzl was now a world that was slightly out of phase with Earth and her phasing ability was actually her transporting herself between the planets. She was able to pass back and forth these worlds at will and could often be seen in both, regardless of what she might be doing in one. This led to strange situations and misunderstandings with her teammates. A friend and teammate, Karate Kid, had shown interest in Tinya. But when he finally got the courage to profess his feelings to Phantom Girl, he discovered that she was already in a relationship with a boy from her own dimension who was ironically breaking up with Tinya at the time. Phantom Girl became a member of the Legion’s Espionage Squad and assisted covertly on many stealth missions, and was also instrumental in entering the Phantom Zone to help rescue Mon-El. Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy never became an item in this continuity.

The Earth-Prime Phantom Girl had a darker skin tone than her predecessors and brown eyes instead of the usual blue, giving her a more exotic look. She wore a sexy white costume with revealing oval-shaped openings on her arms, thighs, and midriff, and one large oval opening on her chest (reminiscent of Power Girl‘s famous cleavage window).

Retroboot: New Earth

The events of Infinite Crisis brought together the Legions of all three continuities. Afterward, the current Legion of Super-Heroes returned to being a close approximation of the original Pre-Crisis team, once again set on New Earth. Phantom Girl’s history was now unaltered from before the Five Years Later. Phantom Girl remains the longest consecutively-serving Legionnaire and is still in a close relationship with Ultra Boy. At long last, Phantom Girl was finally elected by readers to serve as leader of the Legion.

Phantom Girl’s current costume is a reworked version of her classic “portholes & bell-bottoms” costume from the 70’s, though it is now sleeveless and more form-fitting.

Major Story Arcs

Original Continuity: New Earth

Five Years Later

Following the cataclysmic events of the Magic Wars, Legion continuity jumped ahead five years in what is known as the “Five Year Gap.” Ultra Boy finally proposed to Tinya, after which she boarded a shuttle to Bgztl to shop for a wedding dress. But a mechanical error tragically caused the ship to explode, apparently killing Phantom Girl.

Her death would leave Ultra Boy in mourning for years. She was once thought to have survived the explosion by being hurled backwards in time (see Alternate Versions below), though this turned out to be a duplicate of Tinya rather than Tinya herself. When original Legion continuity was eventually wiped out by Zero Hour, the Time Trapper fetched Tinya from the moment just before her death to say one last good-bye to Ultra Boy before the timeline collapsed.

Reboot: Earth-247

Return as a Ghost

Though Tinya’s physical body had been killed by the Daxamite assassin, her spirit ultimately survived, with her energies tethered to Ultra Boy. Only Jo and her mother could initially see her, but soon Saturn Girl detected her and clued the rest of the Legionnaires in telepathically. While stranded in the 20th century, an encounter with Deadman and a mystic entity made Apparition’s spirit visible to all onlookers. Shortly thereafter, Tinya and Jo were secretly married. While in the past, Apparition encountered the heroine Phase. The pair were absorbed into their touchstones when they came near each other and learned Phase was actually one of Tinya’s missing bodies, having been lost in time after being sold into slavery. Pulling together to save Ultra Boy, the girls merged for the first time and Apparition was restored to a physical form. Apparition then returned with the Legion to the 30th century and reunited with her mother.

Pregnancy

Tinya was on a mission in deep space when the Blight attacked, crippling space travel and forcing Tinya to spend a month in a shuttle just to return to Earth. There, she found Ultra Boy had been blighted and aided the Legion in freeing Earth. Subsequently, Ultra Boy and several other Legionnaires were lost in a spatial rift and presumed dead. The Legion disbanded and Apparition, discovering she was pregnant after Jo had “died,” fled to his homeworld of Rimbor to start a new life. Her Bgztlian pregnancy lasted a year, where she came under the protection of Timber Wolf and his Wolf Pack gang.

She had a healthy phase birth on the day the lost Legionnaires were revealed to be alive. Apparition resolved to rejoin the Legion with her newborn son, Cub, and Timber Wolf accompanied her to protect her. She learned that Ultra Boy had an affair with Saturn Girl during their year of being lost in space, but ultimately forgave him. The pair dealt with their son’s rapid aging until Earth-247 was destroyed, leaving Apparition and her Legion the sole survivors as they were lost in the timestream. Tinya was equipped with a utility belt with rations and a transuit that allowed her to breathe in space.

The Missing Body

Late in Earth-247 continuity, it was revealed that Tinya’s father was actually a Carggite (teammate Triplicate Girl‘s race), with the ability to split into three separate bodies, and Tinya had inherited this ability at birth. However, her father was also an chronic gambler who owed a fortune in gambling debts, so when Tinya was just a baby, he made a deal with the mysterious Luck Lords to sell off two of her bodies in order to pay off his debts. Her mother Winema never knew that Tinya’s father was a Carggite and never knew about Tinya’s other two bodies. One of Tinya’s bodies was sold into slavery and her fate remained unknown. The other missing body later turned up in the 20th century in the form of Tinya’s “cousin,” Enya Wazzo aka Phase (see Alternate Versions, below). Tinya traveled back in time to be reunited with Enya and upon meeting, they merged back into a single body and returned to the 30th century.

Threeboot: Earth Prime

Projectra’s Betrayal

Phantom Girl developed a close bond with fellow Legionnaire Princess Projectra, who in Threeboot continuity was a selfish and troubled aristocrat. Tinya helped Projectra cope with the recent death of her parents by reading her ancient comic books from the 20th century, and politely tolerated Projectra’s bratty and abusive behavior towards her. Tinya’s closeness to Projectra enabled her to learn that Projectra secretly blamed the Legion for her parents’ death and the loss of her family fortune. Upon further investigation, Tinya discovered that Projectra was plotting to destroy the Legion in revenge. But before Tinya could alert the Legion, Projectra found her out and savagely attacked her. Tinya initially defended herself by entering her phased state, but Projectra used her powers of illusion to trick Tinya into becoming tangible again and then beat Tinya nearly to death.

Her comatose, disfigured body was discovered just in time by Timber Wolf, who activated Tinya’s alarm beacon. Tinya was brought to the Legion infirmary, where she began to recover, but Projectra then used her powers to alter Tinya’s memories before she could tell the Legion what had happened. This plotline was left unresolved when Threeboot continuity was ended by Infinite Crisis.

Personal Information

• Civilian Name: Tinya Wazzo
• Occupation: Legionnaire
• Base: Legion World, U.P. Space
• Height: 5ft 6in
• Weight: 131 lbs
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: Black

Powers and Abilities

Intangibility

Phantom Girl has the ability to turn intangible by shifting her existence partially or fully into the extra-dimensional space known as the Phantom Zone. When fully phasing out of reality, Tinya is able to enter the Phantom Zone of her own accord. She has also shown the ability to draw people into the Phantom Zone with her. Tinya is the only member of her race known to be able to phase herself completely through the Phantom Zone and onto Earth, which shares extra-dimensional space with her home planet of Bgztl.

While phased, Phantom Girl is immune to physical harm, can maneuver through solid objects, and float weightlessly like a ghost under her own power. Phantom Girl has demonstrated the ability to phase with split-second timing as well as the ability to phase certain parts of her body selectively, feats very few Bgztlians can accomplish. In her “ghost” incarnation she has demonstrated the ability to disrupt the workings of electronic devices by moving through them while half-phased.

Hand-to-Hand Combat

Phantom Girl has mastered a Bgztlian form of martial arts that takes full advantage of her ability to phase in and out of tangibility during combat. Her skill at striking opponents while solid and becoming intangible when they attack has made her a formidable fighter. By partially materializing a portion of herself (usually her arm/fist) inside her opponent’s body she can also deliver a severe shock to their system, though she rarely resorts to this form of attack.

Equipment

As a member of the Legion of Super Heroes, Phantom Girl possesses a Legion Flight Ring. The ring gives its wearer the ability to fly, the speed and range of which is determined by the wearer’s willpower. It also acts as a long-range communicator (enabling constant vocal contact with other Legionnaires, even across vast distances of space), a signal device, and a navigational compass, all powered by a micro-computer built inside the ring.

Other Versions

20th Century: Phase

For further details: Phase

After Tinya Wazzo apparently died when her starship exploded (following the Five Year Gap), she seemingly reappeared in the 20th century, but with no memories of her life in the 30th century. She joined that era’s team known as L.E.G.I.O.N. and adopted the codename of Phase. It was later revealed in Earth-247 continuity that the original Tinya was half-Carggite (Triplicate Girl’s race), meaning that she could split into three separate bodies but had lost the ability because one of her bodies was missing in the timestream. Phase, also known as Enya Wazzo and originally believed to be Tinya’s time-lost cousin, turned out to be that missing body. Upon learning of this, the 30th-century Tinya traveled back in time to find Enya. After finally being reunited, their two bodies merged back into one being and returned to the 30th century.

Five Years Later: Batch SW6

After the Five Year Gap, duplicate teenaged versions of the Legion mysteriously appeared, initially known as “Batch SW6” since they were believed to be clones of the original team created by the Dominators prior to the death of Ferro Lad. Batch SW6 were later revealed to be time-paradox duplicates of the original Legion, rather than clones. They formed their own team and operated separately from the original Legion, calling themselves the Legionnaires and starring in their own series with that title. The Tinya Wazzo of SW6 initially called herself Phantom Girl and wore the original “P” costume. But she soon decided to differentiate herself from the original Tinya by changing her codename to Apparition, and adopted a black and white costume that became the prototype for the Earth-247 Apparition costume. As with her original counterpart, the SW6 Tinya was in a committed relationship with the SW6 version of Ultra Boy. The timeline of the SW6 duplicates was eventually wiped out by the Zero Hour event.

Elseworlds: Superboy’s Legion

Phantom Girl appeared as a member of the Legion in Superboy’s Legion, an Elseworlds story. In this reality Tinya’s mother Winema was the queen of their homeworld of Bgztl, making Tinya a princess. In appearance she closely resembled the Phantom Girl of original continuity and wore the original white costume with a stylized “P” on the chest. Series artist Alan Davis drew her without pupils, giving her character a slightly more alien appearance.

Other Media

Television

Superman: The Animated Series

Phantom Girl had a cameo in the episode New Kids in Town, as one of several Legionnaires stationed in the 30th century. Her costume was patterned after her Apparition uniform from Earth-247 continuity. She did not have a speaking role.

Justice League Unlimited

The same Phantom Girl, but now in her original “P” costume, later appeared in the JLU episode Far From Home. She was one of many Legionnaires who became possessed by the power of the Emerald Eye, wielded by the villainous Emerald Empress. Phantom Girl had only one line (voiced by Jennifer Hale), honoring the heroes of the past as honorary Legionnaires.

Legion of Super-Heroes Animated Series

Phantom Girl finally appeared as a main character in the Legion’s own animated series. She was voiced by Heather Hogan. This version of Phantom Girl was one of the youngest of the group and desperate to prove herself to the rest of the team. Her mother was president of the United Planets, which Tinya hated. Tinya’s powers now allowed her to phase other objects from a distance. She was one of the biggest cheerleaders of the team and a bit of a princess. She wore a black and white costume patterned after her Earth-247 Apparition costume, but with a stylized ‘ghost’ logo on her chest.

In Season One, she stood against the Fatal Five in Man of Tomorrow. She warded off the villainous Scavengers in Legacy and attended the Intergalactic Games in Champions. She helped against Phantom Zone invaders in Phantoms and was instrumental in getting the Sorcerers’ World to deal with a rogue magician in Child’s Play. Although paired with Ultra Boy in Sundown, a romance between the two was never explored. By Season Two, Phantom Girl had formed a close friendship with Timber Wolf. He found her in debris during Man from the Edge of Tomorrow, Part 2 and she was willing to turn against the Legion to protect him in Cry Wolf. She returned to the Sorcerer’s World to defeat Mordru in Trials.

Popular Recognition

Citing the revealing ‘peekaboo’ design of her costumes, Phantom Girl was ranked 96th in Comic Buyer’s Guide’s 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list. She was one of five Legionnaires to make the list (along with teammates Shadow Lass, Duplicate Girl, Lightning Lass, and Saturn Girl).