SALLY AVRIL

Real Name: Sally Avril

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Student, amateur photographer, former crimefighter

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Liz Allan, Jason Ionello, Sean "Tiny" McKeever, Seymour O'Reilly, Spider-Man, Eugene "Flash" Thompson, Raymond Warren

Enemies: Eel (Leopold Stryke), Electro (Maxwell Dillon), Scarlet Beetle

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Bluebird

Base of Operations: Queens, New York

First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy I#15 (August, 1962)

Powers/Abilities: Sally was an accomplished gymnist who won 3 blue ribbons. As Bluebird, she used a retractable rope line to swing from rooftops. Her "Bluebird's eggs" (also called ether eggs) were thrown capsules that would release ether upon impact. However, they seldom worked against opponents.

History: (Amazing Fantasy I#17 (fb)) - Sally was friends with Peter Parker when they were younger, attending his eleventh birthday party. They started to drift apart in junior high as Peter showed more interest in scholastics than social gatherings.

(Amazing Fantasy I#15) - Peter Parker tried to ask Sally out, but she turned him down, preferring Flash Thompson.

(Amazing Fantasy I#16) - Sally caught Liz Allan talking to Peter Parker in the school hall, and reminded her that they had a social studies engagement, thinking she was doing Liz a favor by getting her away from Parker. Just then, Flash arrived and showed the gang a Daily Bugle advertisement taken out by Maxie Shiffman to try and locate Spider-Man.

(Amazing Fantasy I#18) - Flash showed the gang his tickets to "It's Amazing," where Spider-Man would be appearing. Sally tried to go with him, but he had already made the date with Liz.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#5) - Sally was present as Flash taunted Peter with a pair of glasses he had rigged with the bottoms of Coke bottles for lenses. Later, Jason stole Peter's gym bag so that they could play another prank, but Sally and the others agreed that it was going too far.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#6) - Sally and the rest of the gang observed the excitement of the Wizard's public challenge to the Human Torch. Later, while practicing for the gymnastics meet, Sally was approached by Jason, who suggested that they take up the Daily Bugle's offer of a $1,000 reward for whoever gives them Spider-Man's secret identity.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#7) - Sally and Jason tried to secretly observe Spider-Man from a rooftop, but he quickly discovered them trailing him, and told them it was lucky for them that he wasn't the menace the Bugle made him out to be. On another evening, Sally and Jason saw Spider-Man steal from a bank while under the influence of Dr. Winkler. They followed him as he gave the money to Winkler and his partner Electro. Sally helped jolt Spider-Man back to his senses by setting off her camera's flash in his face. As Spider-Man fought Electro, Sally entered the fray and kicked Electro in the back of the head, giving Spider-Man an opportunity to knock him down. Jason was upset at Sally for getting into the fight, but Sally observed that she could handle herself. Spider-Man then snapped a picture of Jason and Sally over Electro's beaten body, letting them take credit for his defeat. The next day, Jason and Sally were the most popular people at school. They decided to give up the search for Spider-Man's identity, but Sally's brief taste of heroism had given her a wish for more.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#8) - Flash was bragging about his football career to Sally and Jason when a roll of film from Peter's camera rolled by. Peter quickly came after it, took the film from Jason, and ran off. Sally wondered what Peter's hurry was.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#9) - Sally questioned Jason about his father's engineering props, and asked Peter about how Spider-Man got his pictures in the Daily Bugle. She did not explain to Peter what she was thinking about.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#10) - Sally visited the Daily Bugle, and was surprised to find that Peter was there and had been secretly acting as a freelance photographer. He asked her to keep it a secret, and she agreed. Later at school, she asked Liz about a jewelry exhibit her father was holding, and Liz arranged for get Sally and the others access to the event. Later she and Jason visited Peter's Aunt May to try and find Peter as part of Sally's plan.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#11) - Garbed as the Bluebird and using equipment Jason had designed, Sally visited Peter and revealed her new costumed identity to him. She asked him to be her personal photographer as she believed he was for Spider-Man, thinking that the publicity could help her get into the Avengers, but Peter turned her down. When Sally threatened to blackmail Peter by revealing his photography hobby at school, he preemptively revealed it himself the next day.

When the villains Electro and Eel teamed up and planned to take out a power plant, Sally became the Bluebird and responded to the emergency. Finding Spider-Man was already there, she claimed that she was his sidekick. She tried to ensnare the Eel, but he slipped out of her hands. She threw one of her ether eggs at Electro, but he observed that the ether dissipated too quickly to knock anyone unconscious. Spider-Man used an anti-magnetic inverter to force the Eel and Electro to be magnetically bound together, but Bluebird knocked them into the river, thinking she was helping. Instead, the two villains were able to escape. Jason, Flash and Liz arrived, and Bluebird happily signed autographs for them.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#12) - Bluebird showed up to aid Spider-Man against the Scarlet Beetle, much to his chagrin. Once again, she had Jason at hand to photograph him. Bluebird was hit by a wave of mental energy that was emanating from the Scarlet Beetle, and from it learned the creature's origin, and that it was seeking some means to halt its uncontrolled growth. Spider-Man threw one of Bluebird's ether-eggs into the Scarlet Beetle's mouth, and it caused it to shrink back to normal. Spider-Man once again admonished Bluebird for taking risks.

(Untold Tales of Spider-Man#13 (fb)) - Bluebird spied on some criminals and learned that the Black Knight (Nathan Garrett) was looking to hire muscle. She was discovered and had to fight her way through the thugs, but Spider-Man came to her aid once again. Spider-Man tried to reason with her, but she ignored him until one of the thugs punched her in the gut. Bluebird was enraged that Spider-Man allowed her to be injured, but he countered that he couldn't be there to protect her all the time, and that if she wasn't willing to risk losing her life, she shouldn't be playing super-hero. She was finally convinced to give up being a crimefighter, and shared her knowledge of the Black Knight with Spider-Man.

Sally decided that if she couldn't be a super-hero, she would be a photographer like Peter, and had Jason drive her in his jeep so that she could follow an aerial battle between Spider-Man and the Black Knight and take pictures. Sally insisted that Jason drive through a red light, when they were struck by a bus. Sally was thrown from the jeep and killed. After her death, Jason shared the details of her double identity as Bluebird with Flash and Liz. Flash, Liz, Peter and Betty Brant attended her funeral.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; significantly expanded and developed into Bluebird by Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe.

Sally's death continued to haunt Jason for the remainder of the Untold Tales of Spider-Man series.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Sally Avril should not be confused with:

• Bluebird, Zora Loftus, Spider-Man foe, @ Spider-Man Annual 1982
• Bluebird Brothers, of the "Color Criminals", @ Amazing Spider-Man: A Book of Colors and Days of the Week