Saturday, February 17, 2007

Solid Light Reanimation

So I've been trying to figure out this whole "Dazzler resurrection" thing going on in New Excalibur. My initial theory was that since we're dealing with Claremont, and Captain Britain, Dazzler was somehow drawing on the lives of other Dazzlers spread out across the multiverse (or whatever Marvel calls it), kinda like Jet Li in The One. But I couldn't figure out how that worked so I've come up with a new strategy: Dazzler has become like Ray Terrill. 

When Ray powers up, he becomes pure energy, immune to physical harm. This is why Lobo was once able to punch clean through Ray's head, with no ill effects for Ray, and why I was amused in Infinite Crisis when Psycho Pirate tried to control Power Girl into beating The Ray to death. I suppose we can forgive the Pirate for that, what with the Eye Gouge of Death he was about to receive from Black Adam. 

Clearly that isn't happening with Dazzler, seeing as she does keep getting injured. But there's another aspect to Ray's powers that I think could come into play. Once he took a bullet in the neck while in human form. The bullet was lodged next to his spine, and Ray was terrified to move. So Vandal Savage (who had taken an interest in Ray for some reason I've forgotten) staged an attack on the hospital to force Ray to get up. Lo and behold, when Ray had finished fighting, he found that converting to pure energy had atomized the bullet, and he was fully healed upon reverting to human form. 

I guess it could be explained by his converting his matter into energy, and when he reverts back to matter, his state is controlled in some way by his mind. So he reverted back sans bullet hole. But what's that got to do with Dazzler? 

Dazzler converts sound into light in any number of ways. Shields, flares, swords, lasers, and Claremont's captions say that she's feeling more comfortable with her powers all the time. So if she's no longer holding back, could she be using her powers subconsciously now? In each case where she's died, it's been in the middle of a fight, lots of noise all around. People shouting, guns, explosions, so on and so forth. Could she being absorbing that sound, and changing it, first into light, and then making that light into solid matter, to repair the physical damage that's been done to her? 

Of course, even if I'm right, it raises the question of what would happen if she died in the vacuum of space, or if someone tried to destroy her mind telepathically (almost a sure bet to come up, if what everyone says about Claremont's love of combat in the astral plane is true. I haven't read enough of his work to think it's that prevalent).

5 comments:

Marc Burkhardt said...

Given Claremont's "tendencies," Dazzler is more likely to be corrupted or mentally dominated than killed on the astral plane.

Hey, if she does turn evil then maybe then Dazzler can fight Psylocke!

SallyP said...

My brain hurts.

Anonymous said...

It wouldn't be out of the question. Klaw's made up of solid sound and look at how often he's received injuries that would be fatal to a human. You could also appeal to the ionic beings (Wonder Man and Atlas), who die and come back on a regular basis, so it's not something unheard of in the Marvel Universe. Granted, I haven't read the Excalibur in question, so I'm just throwing out parallels.

CalvinPitt said...

fortress: I figure corruption would happen to telepaths experienced enough to avoid dying, which would leave Dazzler out, but given that they entire team has already been taken over by the Shadow King once, it is very likely.

sallyp: Why? All it takes is an understanding of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, plus knowing how super-dense bodies bend light, and recognizing the effect the Morgan Freeman Corollary has on everything you observe.

kanedoras: Well in the scene in question Dazzler got shot in the back of the head at point blank range, and was apparently pronounced dead, only to be fine some time later.

And all those examples you provided (I'd forgotten about Klaw's resiliency) really make me think I'm on to something. Danke.

Jason D. Jones said...

In fact (just to tie the whole thread together) Dazzler once absorbed and "killed" Klaw, only to have him come back later.

Of course, there are so many cosmic beings interested in Dazzler, it could be anything -- Galactus had a crush on her when she was his Herald for a day. The Beyonder wanted to mate with her. Dazz has some powerful fans.

Oh, in case I forgot to mention it, huge closet Dazzler fan.