RENO PHOENIX

Real Name: Reno Carlotta

Identity/Class: Human mutate (Old West era, circa 1868 A.D.) (see comments)

Occupation: Outlaw;
    former abolitionist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: The Avengers (Echo/Maya Lopez, Starbrand/Brandy Selby, Valkyrie/Jane Foster), Red, the Starbrand Kid

Enemies: The Devil's Posse (Dredge, others), the Kree, Mephisto, the Shi'ar, Skrulls

Known Relatives: Unidentified husband (deceased)

Aliases: Phoenix

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the American West

First Appearance: Avengers VII#50 (February, 2022)

Powers/Abilities: Reno Phoenix was host to the cosmic Phoenix Force, granting her the ability to utilize its fiery cosmic power for a variety of effects including projecting cosmic energy in the form of small shapes such as birds or lassos. The forms varied in strength from being able to carry a full-grown adult human aloft to halting an entire moving train. She could also empower other beings and object with the cosmic Phoenix Force including her horse, Red, and her guns.

    While Reno was empowering Red, the horse could run on air and heal from mortal wounds such as multiple gun shots. Her scattergun, also empowered by the Phoenix Force, projected fiery blasts in the shape of small birds. These blasts could blow holes through demonic hell-lords and could kill lesser demons with one shot. Reno could also utilize these bird-like projections in safe ways as well, such as firing multiple firebirds to connect together as a sort of cushion to slow a falling person without harm (whether physical or from the birds' flames).

    Reno also shared a low-level telepathic connection with other Phoenix Force hosts throughout time, allowing her to sense their intentions and desires.

    Reno carried a pair of six shooter guns capable of firing normal Earthly ammunition and she also carried a scattergun imbued with the Phoenix Force through which she often projected her Phoenix Force fire.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 160 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown

History:
(Avengers VII#59 (fb) - BTS) - Abolitionist Reno Carlotta and her husband were with a group of other abolitionists who were ultimately gunned down. Seemingly the only two survivors, Reno and her husband chose to jump from a bluff and, holding their hands together, they fell for what felt like forever, soon hitting the water below and sinking into its depths. While her husband died, Reno rose back up from the water, reborn as a host of the cosmic Phoenix Force. By 1868 A.D., the newly-dubbed Reno Phoenix had become an outlaw gunslinger alongside her partner, the Starbrand Kid, and the two made legends of themselves in the American West, battling all manner of extraterrestrial foes including Kree carpetbaggers and Skrull bushwhackers.

(Avengers VII#50) - As he passed through time towards his own present day, the time-traveling Ka-Zar briefly saw Reno Phoenix and the Starbrand Kid.

(Avengers VII#59) - Reno Phoenix and the Starbrand Kid came across a Shi'ar Sky Train carrying stolen slave cargo and began pursuing the fleeing train. When Reno noted that there were three Shi'ar Warbird ships waiting in orbit for the Sky Train, the Starbrand Kid destroyed the ships with his Star Brand Six-Guns. Reno then asked the Kid to cover her as she went for the Sky Train itself. Flying to the front of the Train, Reno ordered the Train to cease and desist in the name of the Phoenix, lassoing the front end with rope of cosmic fire and causing the Train to crash. Reno then helped get the humans onboard to safety, only to witness the demon-empowered Devil's Posse emerge from the Train. The Posse immediately fired on Reno, the Kid and the human passengers before one of them, the time-traveling modern day demon Mephisto, captured the passengers and flew off with them in tow. Rushing off after Mephisto, Reno ordered the Starbrand Kid to stay alive until she returned. While attempting to ride to the side of Mephisto to get a clear shot at him, Reno realized she was surrounded by members of the Devil's Posse hiding in the clouds. Reno pulled her scattergun and took down five of the Devil's Posse with fiery Phoenix Force shots and , just as she was becoming overwhelmed by numbers, the time-traveling modern era heroines Echo and Valkyrie came to her rescue. While the two modern day heroines took care of the Devil's Posse, Reno caught up to Mephisto and nearly made her way to the captives before Mephisto shot the rope holding the captives in two. Recalling her own fall off a cliff with her husband, Reno fired several Phoenix Force shots from her scattergun and the fiery birds that emerged from her gun formed together to catch the falling captives.

    Facing Mephisto, Reno Phoenix was offered a chance to be reunited with her deceased husband, and Mephisto asked what she would be willing to trade to be loved again and not forgotten. Reno responded by shooting Mephisto through the abdomen with her Phoenix Force scattergun and reminding him that she would always being remembered by those she defeated. Unfazed, Mephisto gloated that Reno Phoenix was nothing without her partner, the Starbrand Kid, at which point the time-traveling Starbrand (Brandy Selby) flew into Mephisto and disappeared in a flash of light. Regrouping with the Starbrand Kid, Reno informed him of what she had just experienced and remarked on the fear she saw in the eyes of the modern day Starbrand. Reno then suggested the heroes of the future would need their help as they chased their Mephisto through time, at which point the two stopped at a crossroads where a corpse hung in a tree. When the Kid mentioned they had their own devils to deal with in their own time, the corpse spoke, revealing itself as the Old West era Mephisto and asking if they were looking to make a deal. The two gunslingers responded by demanding Mephisto draw and the two fired on Mephisto, who fired back with his own hell-forged gun.

(Avengers VII#64) - From the prehistoric era of 1,000,000 B.C., the time-traveling modern day Phoenix Force host Echo telepathically reached out to history's greatest heroes and both Reno Phoenix and the Starbrand Kid heard the call in 1868 A.D. Reno proclaimed that Echo could count on the guns of both outlaws.

(Avengers VII#59 - BTS) - Not long after working with the Avengers, the legends of the Starbrand Kid and Reno Phoenix began to fade.

(Avengers VII#50 - BTS) - Over succeeding generations, the Starbrand Kid and Reno Phoenix's legend eventually became completely lost to time and their very names became long forgotten.

Comments: Created by Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder, Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Ed McGuinness and Javier Garron.

    Despite the Phoenix Force often picking mutants as its hosts, Reno Phoenix did not seem to be a mutant. Although to be frank, we only ever saw her after she became a Phoenix Force host so we don't really know if she had any powers before becoming a host. With that in mind, we really don't know how much of the power she displayed as a Phoenix came from the Phoenix Force itself or her own possibly inherent powers. For the purposes of this profile, I've listed Reno as a human mutate (given powers by the Phoenix Force).

    Despite being named Red, Reno's horse was more of a gray color.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Reno Phoenix should be distinguished from:

Red

Red was the horse of Reno Phoenix and was empowered by Reno's connection to the Phoenix Force. Reno rode Red when Reno and the Starbrand Kid tracked down and confronted a Shi'ar Sky Train housing potential slaves. Running alongside the Train, Red got Reno close enough to lasso the Sky Train, causing it to crash. When the Devil's Posse emerged from the Train and the time-traveling modern era demon Mephisto captured a group of slaves, carrying them into the air, Red flew Reno into the air, where they attacked by several Devil's Posse members from the clouds. During the battle, Red was hit multiple times by the Posse's hell-forged bullets but the horse continued moving and assisting Reno until the time-traveling Valkyrie and Echo arrived to turn the tide. Following the battle, Red's injuries were apparently healed and Red later carried Reno to a crossroads, where Reno and her partner, the Starbrand Kid, fought the Old West-era incarnation of Mephisto. Red was later seen carrying Reno when Echo reached out from the prehistoric era for history's heroes.

Empowered by the Phoenix Force, Red was capable of running on air and healing from most physical injuries, including getting riddled with hell-forged bullets.

--Avengers VII#59 (#64,
images: (without ads)
 Avengers VII#50, p22-23, splash page (Reno Phoenix in green outfit, main image)
Avengers VII#59, p16, pan3 (Reno Phoenix, headshot)
Avengers VII#59, p7, pan1 (Reno Phoenix firing her guns)
Avengers VII#59, p9, pan3 (Reno riding Red)
Avengers VII#59, p9, pan5 (Reno with Phoenix Force scattergun)
Avengers VII#59, p3-4, pan2 (Red)

Appearances:
Avengers VII#50 (February, 2022) - "An Earth Unlike Any Other (Just Like All the Rest)" story - Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder, Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Ed McGuinness, Javier Garron (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#59 (October, 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Javier Garron (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers VII#64 (March, 2023) - Jason Aaron (writer), Javier Garron (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 09/11//2023
Last updated: 09/14/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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