Origin
One of the first mutants to emerge post AVX, Iara dos Santos lived in Brazil when her mutant powers kicked in. She suddenly had an amazing graving for fish, and went to the doks to eat the fish some illigela fisherman had just brought in. When the fisherman attacked Iara, she changed the shape of her hands into claws. Her mouth became something like that of a sharkmouth. She was found by Warren Worthington, the Angel, whom, after a fight against Mystique and Silver Samuarai, eventually convinced her to be recruited to the Jean Grey School.
Creation
Shark-Girl was created by Jason Aaron and Steven Sanders and first appeared in Wolverine & the X-Men Vol.1 issue 20 (2012).
Major Story Arcs
With the Jean Grey Institute
Shark-Gril joined the Jean Grey School just in time to catch the Murder Circus! She may want to consider skipping out on that fieldtrip.
Iara has made close friends with the alien super-genius Broo, Idie who controls fire and ice and Genesis, a proto-form of Apocalypse.
A training class to the Savage Land leads to trouble when Wolverine’s alleged brother tries to steal away all the students.
In the storyline called ‘Infinity: The Hunt’ Iara is chosen as part of the Jean Grey class to participate in a goodwill ‘Contest of Champions’ with other powered-schools from across the globe. It was just then Thanos’ forces chose to attack; and they had a mad-on for powered teens.
A S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltration of the school reveals that Iara has taken to sleeping in her shark form and in fact has caused bite damage to her bathroom.
Iara and her friends were shown to have been aware of the infiltration unit the entire time. They had hoped the two S.H.I.E.L.D. officers would instead see the benefits of the entire school and not turn on them.
The needs of mutants, plus bad luck, caused the Xaiver Institute to teleport to the middle of Central Park. The place, now under Headmistress Kitty Pryde, reformed and rebuilt. Iara is again a student in the pages of ‘Generation X’. She protects and assists in multiple incidents, such as a racist terrorist and attack and rescuing New Yorkers from a cave in caused by her old ally, a giant land entity called Krakoa.
Powers and Abilities
Iara has the mutant ability to transform into a humanoid shark. while in her hybrid form, she can walk around on her legs and still retain use of her hands. She still has her full human memories and consciousness while in transitional forms. She can stay underwater indefinitely or on land. Although like normal day sharks if she tastes blood she will go on a frenzy. She has superhuman strength, enough to shatter a cinder block. Superhuman speed, she can swim with impressive speed in the water. She has superhuman stamina, Iara has advanced musculature that produces less fatigue toxins while during physical activity than the musculature of humans. Amphibious breathing, Iara can breathe underwater with the use of her gills, although she can breathe on land too. She also processes sharp claws and fangs.
Other Media
Games
X-men: Battle of the Atom
Shark-Girl is featured in the mobile card game “X-Men: Battle of the Atom” based on the comic book story with the same name. Her cards are:
- Shark-Girl