Note: This page is for Stormy Knight, DC’s Phantom Lady from 2006 – 2011.
For the original Phantom Lady (active from the Golden Age through 1989) see: Sandra Knight.
For the second Phantom Lady (active from 1989 – 2005) see: Dee Tyler.
For the current New 52 Phantom Lady (active from 2012 – ) see: Jennifer Knight.
Origin
Stormy Knight’s full origin story has not been revealed. She is the third woman to assume the mantle of Phantom Lady, following Sandra Knight (the original, retired from crime-fighting in 1989) and Dee Tyler (killed in 2005 during Infinite Crisis). Like her name suggests, Stormy has an edgier personality than her predecessors, and her career as Phantom Lady has often been a turbulent one. Her father was a U.S. Senator named Henry Knight, just like the original Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight), but no actual relation to Sandra has been established.
Creation
Stormy Knight was created in 2006 by writers Grant Morrison, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and artist Dan Jurgens, and made her debut in the Battle for Blüdhaven mini-series, which also introduced other revamped members of the new Freedom Fighters team.
Character Evolution
Stormy Knight was specifically intended to replace Dee Tyler, the previous Phantom Lady who had been killed in the Infinite Crisis storyline a year earlier. Stormy’s preliminary costume concept looked very similar to the original Phantom Lady costume worn by her predecessors, including the flimsy sling-bikini top that appeared prone to ‘wardrobe malfunctions.’ But it was decided that Stormy should stand apart from previous incarnations of the character, so her Phantom Lady costume became more form-fitting and black design elements were added. Like previous Phantom Ladies, she has the power to project light or darkness using high-tech wristbands. But Stormy’s more advanced wristbands also allow her to teleport, become intangible, and even bend reality — making her a far more powerful Phantom Lady than her predecessors. To further augment her abilities, Stormy was envisioned as a genius inventor who helped design the wristbands herself, unlike the earlier Phantom Ladies whose wristbands were created entirely by others.
Major Story Arcs
S.H.A.D.E.
Stormy’s first action as Phantom Lady was as a member of S.H.A.D.E.: a team of metahumans assembled by Father Time to guard the quarantined city of Blüdhaven during the Battle for Bludhaven crisis. She looked and acted like a spoiled movie star, treating most of her teammates with thinly-disguised contempt and expressing a fondness for drinking, sleeping in late, and other creature comforts. In battle, Stormy proved to be a ruthless fighter like the other members of S.H.A.D.E. She mentioned that a favorite combat tactic was teleporting the limbs off her opponents, and threatened to do so to her team leader, Major Force, if he continued to antagonize her.
It was later revealed that Stormy was secretly informing her Senator father of S.H.A.D.E.’s questionable activities, which prompted Father Time to have the Senator covertly assassinated and impersonated by a villainous cyborg called Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard. Gonzo began acting on Father Time’s behalf, backing legislation that would effectively allow the country to be run as a dictatorship, enforced by Time’s metahuman army.
Freedom Fighters
After the Battle for Bludhaven, S.H.A.D.E. was sent by Father Time to apprehend the mysterious figure known as Uncle Sam. But once they confronted Sam, they learned that he was actually acting in the best interests of America while Father Time was seeking to destroy it. Stormy and her teammates quit S.H.A.D.E. and joined Uncle Sam to form the new Freedom Fighters. While serving with the Freedom Fighters, Stormy revealed more depth to her personality, suggesting that she was in fact disturbed by what Father Time had ordered her to do during the Bludhaven crisis. She also revealed that she actually possessed a genius-level intellect, with a degree in quantum physics, and had helped design and build her powerful wristbands (unlike the previous Phantom Ladies, whose wristbands were created by others). Stormy explained that her spoiled idiot persona was an act, adopted so that she wouldn’t end up like other socialites.
Uncle Sam eventually discovered what had really happened to Stormy’s father and exposed the cyborg impersonator. Devastated by her father’s death, Stormy began to take drugs and drink heavily in order to cope. This led to a horrific incident where, during the heat of battle, she murdered a supervillain called Thunderer in front of live television cameras. Stormy’s teammate Black Condor took her to Uncle Sam’s extra-dimensional sanctuary called The Heartland, where Sam informed her that she would not be leaving until fully rehabilitated. Sinking further into despair, Stormy attempted suicide by slitting her wrists, but was found in time by her teammate Doll Man. After being nursed back to health, she fully recuperated when teammate Miss America removed all of the remaining toxins from her system. Stormy decided to temporarily retire from crime-fighting to pursue her acting career, and earned awards and critical acclaim for her role in a feature film called “The Kindness of Strangers.”
Later, Stormy received an offer from Oracle to join the Birds of Prey, but declined the invitation. Instead, she re-joined the Freedom Fighters and once again became fully active as Phantom Lady.
New 52
At the end of 2011, DC rebooted their universe with the New 52 event. The role of Phantom Lady has been taken by a completely new character, Jennifer Knight. Though they all share the same last name, Jennifer is of no apparent familial relation to either Stormy or Sandra (the original Phantom Lady). Stormy Knight has not appeared in the New 52 universe, and it can be assumed that her character, though not dead, is on indefinite hiatus. But with comic book realities constantly in a state of flux, Stormy could still make an appearance at a later date.
Personal Data
Height: 5′ 6″
Weight: 128 lbs (58 kg)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Citizenship: American
Place of Birth: Unrevealed
Marital Status: Single
Education: Degree in quantum physics
Occupations: Quantum physicist, government agent, actress, member of the Freedom Fighters, former member of S.H.A.D.E.
Known Relatives: Senator Henry Knight (father, deceased)
Powers and Abilities
Wristbands
Stormy Knight is equipped with unique high-tech wristbands called the Black Light Ray which serve as her primary weapons. These wristbands grant her formidable dimensional powers:
Teleportation: Stormy can instantly teleport herself and the entire Freedom Fighters team across great distances, and can even teleport herself and others between different dimensions. Her teleportation targeting is very precise, allowing her to remove individual organs or body parts from opponents if she chooses to be so ruthless.
Dimensional Manipulation: Her wristbands also give her the power to manipulate matter between dimensions, which effectively allows her to bend reality (Reality Manipulation).
Phasing/Ghost: Stormy can use her wristband’s dimensional and reality manipulation powers in order to make herself or other objects completely immaterial.
Invisibility: Stormy can use her wristbands to alter light waves around her person, making her invisible to those with normal sight.
Darkness Manipulation: In the tradition of her Phantom Lady predecessors, Stormy can use her wristbands to completely remove light and create fields of intense darkness, effectively blinding her opponents.
Other Equipment and Abilities
Enhanced Vision Visor: Stormy wears a special visor as part of her costume. The visor’s high-tech lenses enable her to see in total darkness, and also protect her eyes from the intense visual effects created by her wristbands.
Intellect: Stormy possesses a genius-level intellect, and is a brilliant quantum physicist who helped design and build her wristbands and visor. Due to her intelligence as well as the immense capabilities of her wristbands, opponents of the Freedom Fighters have come to regard her as the most dangerous member of the team.
Unarmed Combat: Stormy is an excellent athlete and hand-to-hand combatant who can hold her own quite well in a fight, even when not using her powers.
Attractive Female: Stormy is blessed with movie-star looks and an hourglass figure, and has been shown to provoke intense jealousy from other women. As Phantom Lady she continues the long-standing tradition of wearing a sexy and revealing costume, which both distracts her male opponents and causes them to severely underestimate her.
Acting: Stormy is a talented actress who has won awards and critical acclaim for her performances in feature films.
Other Media
Animation
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2010)
The Stormy Knight version of Phantom Lady appeared along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters team in the episode Cry Freedom Fighters! She and the Freedom Fighters joined forces with Batman and Plastic Man to save Earth from invading forces sent by the Supreme Chairman of the planet Qward. Though Phantom Lady’s name was given as Stormy Knight, she wore a costume that resembled the classic Phantom Lady costume worn by Sandra Knight and Dee Tyler, rather than Stormy’s updated costume. Plastic Man had a lustful ‘Tex Avery’-like reaction to Stormy upon first sight.