DR. RAMONA NAPIER
Real Name: Dr. Ramona Napier
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Volcanologist
Group Membership: None; formerly Stark Enterprises
Affiliations: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Iron Man (Tony Stark)
Enemies: Termini Stage 1;
indirectly Fin Fang Foom, Firebrand (Rick Dennison)
Known Relatives: Unidentified father, unidentified grandmother
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Her home in Seattle, Washington;
place of birth somewhere in Iowa
First Appearance: Captain America Annual I#9 (1990)
Powers/Abilities: She has a PHD in volcanology (and presumably undergraduate degrees in geology, earth science, chemistry and/or physics). She is a fearless thrillseeker and superhero fangirl.
Height: Unrevealed (5'7"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (125 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
History:
(Iron Man III#16 (fb) - BTS) - Ramona was born somewhere in Iowa. Her family moved around a lot due to her father's job in the Air Force.
(Captain America Annual I#9 (fb) - BTS) - Her grandmother considered Captain America a legend while Ramona was growing up.
(Iron Man III#5 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Ramona Napier became the chief volcanologist in a Stark Enterprises research project.
(Captain America Annual I#9 (fb) - BTS) - The project involved the Persephone-1 capsule, which was created to predict volcanic eruptions in the future.
(Captain America Annual I#9) - The Persephone-1 capsule with Napier and Captain America aboard was dropped from the Whirlybird-3 helicopter into the newly active volcano Mt. Saint-Cloud. Captain America was glad Napier was okay with him joining the mission, but she was okay with it because Tony Stark told her that the capsule needed extra anti-sabotage protection. She asked Cap to call her Ramona and told him how he had been a legend back home when she was growing up. During their descent the capsule was suddenly surrounded by Termini stage 1, whose light blinded Ramona and jammed the capsule's controls. The capsule began to sink to the heart of the volcano and Ramona passed out. Iron Man brought the capsule back to the surface where Captain America kicked open the door and jumped out with Ramona. He called for a medic, but Ramona quickly regained consciousness. She still didn't know what the glowing thing was that had damaged the capsule.
Later Ramona, Cap and Iron Man attended Georgeville's annual trout feast. Ramon and Cap didn't eat any fish because they still felt a bit queasy after their misadventure inside the volcano. Captain America was suddenly attacked by Georgetown's mayor, who had fallen under control of the Termini infection. Ramona called Iron Man for help, but he had also fallen under control of the Termini, which he had ingested through the fish. More townsfolks surrounded Cap and Ramona before Iron Man attacked them. Cap jumped with Ramona out of the way. They watched a man and a child run to terminal box. The man was electrocuted, but the child was saved by Cap and dumped in a barrel filled with ice, which cured the child. Cap took Ramona to the helicopter and flew to the nearby mountain to lured Iron Man there. Iron Man shot them down and Ramona injured her leg. She wondered why Cap had brought them to the snow and watched Iron Man fight Captain America until the former crashed into the snow. Iron Man continued his attack on Cap until the cold eliminated the Termini infection. The townsfolks that had followed them were also healed by the cold air. Ramona finally realized that everyone got infected by something inside the fish and that the cold could reverse the effect. Ramona was impressed by Cap's deductions and was sure that the source of the infection was the light they had seen inside the volcano. Ramona, Cap and Iron Man were not sure if the threat was over though Ramona assumed that it could've dissipated harmlessly after everything got absorbed by the fish the townsfolks ate. (It was not because a bear ate some of the fish and became a next stage Termini)
(Iron Man III#5) - During his fight against Firebrand on Isla Suerte, Tony called Dr. Ramona Napier. Though she lived three timezones west in Seattle and it was late at night, she woke up and took the call. She was happy to hear from Tony and was ready to help him because she still owed Iron Man for saving her. Unfortunately she had to tell Tony that there was no way to stop a volcanic eruption because whatever he did the pressure behind the lava had to go somewhere, which gave Tony an idea. He thanked Ramona and told her that he owned her dinner the next time he was in Seattle. Though she didn't know how she had helped Tony, she promised to hold him to his dinner offer.
(Iron Man III#5 - BTS) - Iron Man took control over Firebrand's harness and used it to bore a hole into the cliff side on the uninhabited shoreline of Isla Suerte to release the lava from the volcano through it and save the people on the island from the eruption.
(Iron Man III#15) - Tony called Ramona to accompany him as his date to a reception, but she declined. Instead she asked him to go out with him for dinner the next Tuesday.
(Iron Man III#16) - Tony had dinner with Ramona at the Columbia Seafirst Center. He was surprised that they could see the Space Needle from the restaurant. Ramona told Tony about her family and how she moved to Seattle because the area excited her as a volcanologist. They talked about how Ramona had indirectly given Tony the idea to use Firebrand's harness to divert the lava on Isla Suerte when Tony suddenly left when a news report spoke about a large creature rampaging through the Pike Place District. Tony claimed to rendezvous with Iron Man and Ramona wanted to come along, but Tony declined. Ramona asked Tony for a full report upon his return.
(Iron Man III#17 - BTS) - Tony called Pepper to interfere with his date because he had realized that Ramona was more interested in Iron Man than in him.
(Iron Man III#17) - Tony returned and apologized to Ramona because it took him so long. She was ready to hear the story about Iron Man's encounter with a dragon, but they were interrupted by Pepper Potts, who claimed that she needed to talk with Tony about a problem with a contract. Tony offered Pepper's taxi to Ramona, who accepted that it just wasn't their night and asked him to call her some other time. Tony was glad when she was gone because Fin Fang Foom was still out there and he needed to deal with him.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas & Jim Valentino.
A coloring snafu in Iron Man III#15 temporarily made Ramona a gray-haired woman with brown eyes.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dr. Ramona Napier has no known connection to:
images (without ads)
Captain America Annual I#9, p22, pan4 (main)
Iron Man III#5, p16, pan2 (head shot)
Iron Man III#17, p14, pan4 (full body)
Appearances:
Captain America Annual I#9 (1990) - Roy & Dann Thomas (writers), Jim Valentino (pencils), Sam De La Rosa (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Iron Man III#5 (June, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Sean Parsons & Eric Cannon (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Iron Man III#15 (April, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (co-plotter), Roger Stern (co-plotter/script), Sean Chen, Salvador Larocca & Terry Shoemaker (pencils), Eric Cannon, Lary Stucker, Mark Morales, Harry Candelario & Scott Koblish (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Iron Man III#16 (May, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (co-plotter), Roger Stern (co-plotter/script), Patrick Zircher & Anthony Williams (pencils), Andy Lanning, Larry Mahlstedt & Scott Koblish (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Iron Man III#17 (June, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (co-plotter), Roger Stern (co-plotter/script), Sean Chen (pencils), Larry Stucker & Eric Cannon (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted:
Last updated:
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