APALLA
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Sentient stellar body
Occupation: Sustaining the life of Earth, Defender of the other stars
Group Membership: Stars of the Universe (Grand Nebular named)
Affiliations: Captain Mar-Vell, Clea, Dr. Strange;
Ardina (created using her power)
Enemies: Creators, In-Betweener, Visimajoris, unnamed terrorists
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Appala, Queen of the Sun, the Sun Queen; Sol, the sun, Mary Sunshine
Base of Operations: Earth's solar system; formerly Earth
First Appearance: Dr. Strange II#22 (April, 1977)
Powers: Apalla possesses the full power of Earth's sun, although there are limits to the powers she can unleash without destroying that which she would preserve. She can take on human form, generate nova explosion level heat and force, etc. It is likely that her powers are somewhat decreased in humanoid form.
History:
Apalla is the living manifestation of Earth's Sun.
(Dr. Strange II#22, 24, [25-28]) - The Creators plotted
to replace the stars in order to gain their power. Dr. Strange
opposed the Creators, and Apalla created her humanoid form and
traveled to Earth to assist Strange. After Strange accessed the
realm of the Creators, Apalla learned his location from Clea and
Wong, and journeyed there as well. She saved Strange from the
attack of the demon Visimajoris, blasting him into submission,
and then accompanied him to confront the Creators themselves.
However, as the two battled the Creators, Strange saw the Cosmic
Wheel of Change, and (he was suffering from some sort of madness)
apparently destroyed it. Rather than halt the Creators' plans,
this freed them from conventional rules of Reality, and allowed
them to complete their plans. Apalla was not very happy with Doc
at this point.
The Creators replaced the stars, who were shunted into inert
human form. Strange placed the inert humanoid stars in orbit
around what was once Alpha Centauri while he went on to defeat
the Creators and reverse the changes.
Apalla was not seen during this time, and I'd guess that she lost
her power as a result of the transfer, and was one of the inert
figures amongst the humanoid stars.
(Marvel
Super-Heroes III#3/6 (fb)) - Although the sun returned
to its rightful place in the cosmos, Apalla (referred to as
Appala throughout the issue) remained on Earth. Apparently
some portion of Apalla enjoyed being human and was unwilling to
relinquish her newfound humanity. However, her memory was
submerged, leaving her unaware of her true nature and abilities.
(Marvel Super-Heroes III#3/6) - Some time later, a group of unnamed
terrorists stole a cache of radioactive waste. Captain Mar-Vell
battled the terrorists, but they escaped. The effects of the
radiation altered Mar-Vell's solar powers so that every time he
accessed them, he drained power directly from Apalla. Not really
understanding who she was or what she was doing, Apalla began
appearing to Mar-Vell, telling him to stop hurting her. He didn't
know how he was hurting her, or how to stop, but when he
continued to use his powers, she punished him by removing his
Cosmic Awareness.
Mar-Vell finally managed to locate Apalla, and though she
attacked him, he managed to help her regain her form and power,
but not all of her memory. She assumed her true form, although
she still blamed him for his "attacks" on her. She
continued his assault, but after Mar-Vell saved her from an
attack by these terrorists, she realized that he was not to
blame. Together they defeated the terrorists, and then with a
kiss, she imbued Mar-Vell with her entire self, and he used his
powers to return it to the sun.
(Order I#4 - BTS) - Clea invokes the name of Apalla to drain power from the Silver Surfer to create a feminine counterpart to oppose him: Ardina.
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman and Rudy Nebres, expanded by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.
The Master of the Sun is referred to as the Master of Earth's sun. This may make him a masculine form of Apalla, or perhaps, even better, he could be the Grand Nebular.
Cloud, of the Defenders, is a sentient nebula, which is sort of a precursor to a star (at least as far as my understanding goes). Although she's from a distant galaxy, she may know or be associated with Apalla.
I guess if you wanted to get nit-picky, you could put Apalla behind the scenes in virtually every comic taking place in Earth's solar system.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:
Apollo, the Olympian God of Light (among other
things), @ Thor Annual#5
--I'm not sure if the name Apalla was just derived from Apollo
from Marvel, or if there any other character/goddess by that
name.
Apalla invoked the Grand Nebular, who would presumably be the ruler of some council of stars/stellar bodies. However, he is neither seen, nor described any further...unless, of course, he is the Master of the Sun...which I would prefer.
Appearances:
Dr. Strange II#22 (April, 1977) - Marv Wolfman (writer/editor), Rudy Nebres (artist)
Dr. Strange II#24 (August, 1977) - Jim Starlin (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Rudy Nebres (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Dr. Strange II#25 (October, 1977) - Jim Starlin (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Dr. Strange II#26 (December, 1977) - Jim Starlin (writer/pencils), Rudy Nebres (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Dr. Strange II#27-28 (February-April, 1978) - Roger Stern (writer), Tom Sutton (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Marvel Super-Heroes III#3 (Fall, 1990) - Peter Gillis (writer), Jerry Bingham (pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Order I#4 (July, 2002) - Jo Duffy, Kurt Busiek (writers), Dan Jurgens (penciler), Bob Layton (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 04/06/2002
Last updated: 09/03/2002
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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