Who's Who: Phantom Girl

Phantom Girl
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name:  Tinya Wazzo

Super-Power(s): Ability to make all or part of herself immaterial 
Planet of Origin: Bgtzl

Legion Seniority: Phantom Girl was the second member to join the Legion of Super-Heroes after it was founded, making her Member #5.

Legion Log 
Phantom Girl made her debut appearance as a guest-star in a Supergirl story in Action Comics #276. It was later established that she had heard of the Legion of Super-Heroes when it had first started. She went to the club-house and walked through the walls, surprising the four members. They offered her membership in exchange for improved security measures. So she was already a member when the three founders went back in time to ask Superboy and Supergirl to join.

Phantom Girl held the longest consecutive membership in the Legion, fourteen plus years. During Year Three, Ultra Boy pretended to be a traitor in order to stop an alien invasion force; she refused to believe the charges, standing by him. This sparked a romance that lasted the rest of their careers. 

Phantom Girl was in general easy-going and friendly, but had a strong independent streak and was often strong-willed to the point of stubbornness. For example, when the Khunds planned their initial invasion of Earth, Phantom Girl strongly suspected Karate Kid. These suspicions blinded her to the true spy, who turned out to be Nemesis Kid. As a member of the Legion Espionage Squad she sometimes commanded others, but was never interested in actually leading the Legion. Her best friends were her boyfriend Ultra Boy, Shadow Lass and Mon-El (whom they often double-dated with), and fellow Espionage Squad agents Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet, and Invisible Kid. She argued most often with Timber Wolf, whom she considered hopelessly slow, and Dawnstar, whom she considered intolerably arrogant.

Following the Magic Wars, Phantom Girl is thought to have been killed in a shuttle accident. In reality, the time sorceress Glorith sends her to the 20th century where she is stripped of her memory, assumes the name Phase and joins the interstellar law enforcement agency, L.E.G.I.O.N.

Back in the late 30th century, Phantom Girl was also one of the members of the SW6 Legion, and appeared in Legionnaires when it was spun-off into its own series. At this time she used the code-name Apparition.

Due to various time travelers' attempts to rewrite reality, continuity shifts again and Phase is now revealed to instead be Enya Wazzo, Phantom Girl's previously unknown cousin. The Time Trapper then returned the original Phantom Girl to be reunited with Ultra Boy moments before Zero Hour ends the original Legion continuity.

After the Reboot, Tinya Wazzo, daughter of the Bgtzlian ambassador, is also the fifth member to join the Legion under the codename Apparition. As in pre-Zero Hour reality, she becomes romantically involved with Ultra Boy.

Apparently killed by Daxamite terrorists, Apparition survives in a phased, ghostly state only Ultra Boy and her mother can see (and eventually, Saturn Girl). She still helps the Legion in this state, and is transported to the 20th century with others in time to participate in the events of Final Night. During her stay in the past, she is revealed to be half-Carggite, with Phase as another of her bodies. Joining with her other self restores her ability to solidify. She and Ultra Boy get married there/then.

Apparition is not among the Legionnaires later lost in the far reaches of the universe, but Saturn Girl creates a mental illusion of her to control Ultra Boy. Meanwhile, Tinya is pregnant with his child and gives birth to a boy she names Cub. During this period, she grows close to Timber Wolf, putting some strain on her marriage when Ultra Boy returns.

After the Threeboot, Tinya Wazzo is again Phantom Girl, Bgztl now exists in the same location as Earth, but is out of phase with it. Phantom Girl is the only Bgzltian who can shift between her home reality and Earth. When she phases, she is visible in both universes and often engages in conversations or activities in both realities at the same time, confusing people around her. 

After Infinite Crisis, Phantom Girl's original history has more or less been re-established. She was elected leader just as things took a dark turn for the Legion, and she fell prey to overwhelming grief when Sun Boy was killed on a mission.

Phantom Girl had a cameo in Superman: The Animated Series ("New Kids in Town"); appeared in Justice League Unlimited's "Far From Home", with the additional power of invisibility and voiced by Joanne Whalley; and starred regularly in The Legion of Super-Heroes animated series, voiced by Heather Hogan.

Important Phantom Girl Stories:

Adventure Comics  #247

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1)

Phantom Girl cameo?
perhaps one of those shadowy heads belongs to Phantom Girl

Action Comics #276

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1)

Phantom Girl makes her true debut

Adventure Comics #316

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2)

Phantom Girl refuses to believe Ultra Boy is a traitor,
starting their romance

Adventure Comics #337

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 4)

 Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy pretend to get married and quit the Legion

Superboy #147

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8)

It's firmly established that Phantom Girl was Member #5

Adventure Comics #379

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol.9)

 Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy depend on each other

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #195

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)

Phantom Girl gets her "modern" uniform, designed by Dave Cockrum

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #215

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 12)

Phantom Girl visits her family on Bgtzl, then
brings back a "phantom" who eclipses Sun Boy

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #220

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 12)

Phantom Girl insists that a rescue mission occur against direct orders

DC Special #28

Phantom Girl helps save Metropolis from nuclear annihilation

Legion of Super-Heroes(v3) #7-8 
  (reprinted in The More Things Change TPB)

Phantom Girl insists on destroying the Sun Eater factory

Legion of Super-Heroes(v3) #19-20

Phantom Girl figures out how to stop Tyr's Deathworld

Legion of Super-Heroes(v3) #23

 Phantom Girl helps save Mon-El from lead poisoning

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual  #4 (1986)

Phantom Girl commands the Espionage Squad against Starfinger

Secret Origins #42

 Phantom Girl's reasons for coming to Earth are revealed

L.E.G.I.O.N.'89 #9
 
After the Magic Wars, an amnesiac Phantom Girl is sent to the 20th century and becomes Phase

Legionnaires #0

The Reboot Tinya Wazzo, Apparition, makes her first appearance and joins the Legion

Legionnaires Annual #2

Apparition is apparently killed by Daxamite terrorists

Legion of Super-Heroes(v4) #82

 Apparition returns as a ghost only some people can see
  
Legion of Super-Heroes(v4) #96

Apparition and Ultra Boy's wedding

Legion of Super-Heroes(v4) #98 and 100

Apparition and Phase meet and merge, restoring Tinya's ability to take solid form

Legion Worlds #6

Apparition's son is born

Legion of Super-Heroes(v5) #4

Threeboot Phantom Girl recounts her origin

Legion of Super-Heroes(v5) #24

Phantom Girl is instrumental in rescuing Mon-El from the Phantom Zone

Legion of Super-Heroes(v5) #46-49

Phantom Girl pays a heavy price for noticing Projectra's instability

Legion of Super-Heroes(v6) #17

As Legion leader, Phantom Girl reels from the death of Sun Boy on her watch

Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon (2007)

Phantom Girl, voiced by Heather Hogan