Origin
Jenni Ognats is the granddaughter of Barry and Iris Allen from their time in the 30th Century, and her mother is Dawn Allen, one of the Tornado Twins. Jenni and her cousin Bart Allen were raised to adolescence, a short span of time for Bart who aged rapidly. Eventually, the Tornado Twins were killed in battle and Jenni’s Grandma Iris took Bart back to the 20th century for his safety as he had manifested speed powers. This left Jenni alone with her father, having not developed any abilities of her own. She was captured by the Dominators, an alien race with a long-standing interest in metahumans who knew of Jenni’s heritage. Knowing that stress was likely to bring latent superpowers to the four, they forced Jenni to watch as they tortured her father. This had the desired effect and her super-speed kicked in. She used it to rescue her father and escape from the Dominators.
Creation
XS was created by Tom McCraw and Jeff Moy.
Character Evolution
Reboot / Earth-247
She worked with the United Planets scientists to gain some control of her powers and was thus drafted into the Legion of Super -Heroes as the representative from Aarok. She became a valued member of the team, her super speed saving the whole team early on when she single-handedly rescued them from the funeral bombing of Kid Quantum. She developed a crush on leader Cosmic Boy and later M’Onel; both went unrequited. XS had a lot of familiarity with time travel, having traveled to the 20th Century several times, where she met her cousin, Bart Allen. When a team of Legionnaires were once stranded in the 20th century, XS was ironically left at home in the 30th. Following the team’s reuniting, she accepted her crush on Cosmic Boy would go nowhere and discovered she had accidentally been shooting down advances from ex-Legionnaire Magno. The two began to flirt but were soon separated by the Legion’s dissolution following the Blight invasion.
XS joined Star Boy and Dreamer on the planet Xanthu, where they succeeded in rescuing countless people from the Robotica invasion. She and Star Boy stayed behind on Xanthu while the planet evacuated and single-handedly staved off Robotican forces for sometime. They were eventually rescued by a reformed Legion of Super-Heroes who recruited them back into the fold. XS served with the team until an encounter with the Teen Titans and her cousin Bart and the Fatal 500 left the Legion trapped in the timestream. Eventually, Earth-247 was destroyed and being stuck in the timestream was the only thing that saved Jenni’s existence. Her team of Legionnaires was plucked to New Earth to team with two other Legions in stopping Superboy-Prime. During this encounter, Jenni learned that she was originally born on New Earth. She finds out that her family escaped to Earth-247 because Professor Zoom was after them. Soon after they arrived on Earth-247, her mother and uncle were killed under unknown circumstances. After suffering the loss of her father when Earth-247 collapsed, Jenni opted to stay on New Earth following the mission to try and seek out estranged family members. Gates elected to accompany her, while the rest of her team of Legionnaires returned to the Multiverse.
Major Story Arcs
In Dead Heat, Jenni meets her cousin Bart Allen and other speedsters in 20th century to take on Savitar. XS appeared in Infinite Crisis, where she and her teammates are back on Earth-247, trying save world from the Crisis. She reappeared in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, where it reveals that Jenni and her family were from New Earth.
Powers and Abilities
Super Speed
Jenni can run at superhuman speeds and projects an aura that makes her immune to the extreme heat she puts off while running. She can vibrate at super-human speeds, allowing her to eventually phase through matter. While XS’ top speed has yet to be clocked, it is readily apparent that she can move at super-sonic speeds (at least MACH 10). She is fast enough to run on water and was also able to break through the timestream without the Cosmic Treadmill thanks to some coaching from her grandfather, Barry.
Equipment
As a Legionnaire, Jenni carries a flight ring and utility belt. The flight ring enables Jenni to maneuver in the air in fly, though at slower speeds than she could run. It is also a communication, tracking, and projection device. Her utility belt includes rations, a Legion transuit that acts as a space suit, telepathic ear plugs to communicate in space, and a mini-omnicom for computing purposes.
Physical Characteristics
- Height: 5’6
- Weight: 126 lbs
- Eyes: Amber
- Hair: Brown
In Other Media
Arrowverse
Supergirl
XS first appears in the third season of Supergirl in the Arrowverse TV crossover “Crisis on Earth-X Part 1“. However, XS’s secret identity in the Arrowverse is Nora West-Allen, the daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West from the future and not Jenni Ognats. XS makes a cameo as a nameless caterer at her own parent’s wedding ceremony and giving her father some pep talk. Immediately Barry senses something eerily familiar about her.
XS is portrayed by Jessica Parker Kennedy.
Oddly enough, there is another version of Nora West-Allen in DC Comics’ Justice League comic book series with a character called Cruise, the future daughter of Barry Allen and Jessica Cruz/Green Lantern. Her secret identity is simply Nora Allen II.
The Flash
Following her cameo appearance from Supergirl, XS next appears in a few cameos in the fourth season of The Flash starting with “The Elongated Knight Rises“. By the end of the fourth season, XS introduces herself to her family as Nora West-Allen. By the start of the fifth season, XS takes center stage as a main character. It is revealed that she grew up in a future without her father because he “vanished” from the Crisis, and had to learn about her speedster abilities on her own. Nora was called XS by her mother as a nickname for the excellence in her work.
Nora does use the name Jenni Ognats as an alias.
XS is still portrayed by Jessica Parker Kennedy.