Who's Who: Dawnstar

Dawnstar
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Dawnstar

Super-Power(s): Ability to track anything through outer space, ability to survive outer space without the aid of any environmental support apparatus 
Planet of Origin: Starhaven

Legion Seniority: Dawnstar joined when Legion Leader Wildfire introduced her to the team and she successfully helped them capture the Resource Raiders. She is Legionnaire #30.

Legion Log 
Dawnstar made her debut when she helped the Legion track down and capture a group of terrorists calling themselves the Resource Raiders. In recognition of her abilities, she was offered Legion membership. She had been using her powers as a guide, tracker, and bounty hunter, and Legion membership offered her something more meaningful to do with her life. 

Dawnstar's membership with the Legion was consistent for the six years she remained a member. Due to the nature of her powers she was often in the lead during battle, as she could match the flying speed of such powerhouses as Superboy, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, and Wildfire. She did not show any particular interest in becoming a leader, however. 

Almost immediately upon her induction, she was shown to have feelings for Wildfire. Perhaps it was their similar personalities that brought them together. Regardless, due to his lack of a physical form, their relationship remained platonic. Yet when Dawnstar went on her peoples' traditional quest to find a mate, the signs seemed to point to Wildfire to be her intended mate. 

Dawnstar has not made many deep friendships with other Legionnaires besides Wildfire. She prides herself on her professionalism, and is quick to point out flaws in others. This doesn't lead to her being on intimate terms with them. Still, she is a staunch ally, no matter her complaints.

Dawnstar attended the Legion Academy for some time in order to hone her fighting skills. There she met and became friends with Laurel Kent. When Laurel Kent turned against the Legion, it hurt Dawnstar badly.

Late in her third year as a Legionnaire, Dawnstar was stranded on a planet known only as Exile. There she met and felt an attraction to a priest named Jhodan. This confused her for a long period of time, but eventually she forgot about him and dedicated herself once again to the Legion. Later still, when Wildfire was able to convert his anti-matter energy into the form of a human body, she tried to be intimate with him. However, his energy burned her skin, and they gave up on any hope of a physical relationship.


But she still loved him, and stuck with the Legion mostly for his sake, even when Earthgov started persecuting Legionnaires. When he disappeared during Black Dawn, a heartbroken Dawnstar left the Legion to return to her old life as a bounty hunter. It was during this period of her life that an alien entity entered her body, taking it over and using it to feed on the physical exertion it craved. After getting itself into much trouble using Dawnstar's identity, including one incident which necessitated the amputation of her wings, it renamed itself Bounty, and hooked up with Celeste Rockfish's detective agency. In the period known as Five Years Later, these two were hired by Earthgov to track down Roxxas the Butcher, and during these events they met up with the re-forming Legion and became members.
 
The Legionnaires suspected some connection between Bounty and Dawnstar, but Bounty acted so radically different from the Dawnstar they knew, they refused to believe that the two were one and the same. Bounty was one of the Legionnaires who was sent to Earth to assist in the liberation effort, but when the war ended, her need for constant stimulation went unfulfilled. Before she could quit the Legion, she had an encounter with Monica Sade, a woman with a billion-credit bounty on her head, who gravely damaged Dawnstar's body, forcing Bounty to abandoned it. The catatonic Dawnstar was returned to Starhaven, healing and returning to the Legion in time for Zero Hour.

There is no post-Reboot Dawnstar, although Shikari, a winged Legionnaire with similar powers and connection to Wildfire acts as her replacement.

In the Threeboot continuity, Dawnstar only briefly appears as a character in a campfire story showing the Legion's influence, and the urban legends and myths that have sprung up around it. It is not known how, or even if, this cameo fits into continuity.

After Infinite Crisis, Dawnstar's original history has more or less been reestablished. During a mission to the 21st century, her flight ring is tracked to Thanagar where she left it with a woman implied to be her lover. She meets up with the Legion later, and after completing the mission, returns to her own time along with other Legionnaires and resumes a relationship with Wildfire.

In the New52, Dawnstar and a small group of Legionnaires are trapped in the 21st century while pursuing a time-traveling genetic terrorist. In the Future's End: 5 Years Later event, he is revealed to have joined, and left, the Justice League. As of Justice League United Annual #1, she seems to have returned to the 31st century under unknown circumstances.

Dawnstar appeared in The Legion of Super-Heroes animated series' second season, though she had no dialog. She appears as a main character in the animated movie JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, voiced by Laura Bailey. In the film, she and Karate Kid are rejected as members by the Legion.

Important Dawnstar Stories: 

Superboy/Legion #226

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 13)

Dawnstar makes her debut, helping the Legion track the Resource Raiders

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #229

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 13)

Dawnstar leads the Legion to the Dark Circle home planet

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #240

 
Dawnstar tells Laurel Kent her life story

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #264-265 

Dawnstar travels to Marzal just as it disappears forever

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #280-282

Dawnstar's first time travel mission to Smallville

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #311

Dawnstar goes on her "spirit quest" and winds up with Wildfire

Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #316-319

Brainiac 5 tries to boost Dawnstar's natural tracking abilities

Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #321-323

Dawnstar and Brainiac 5 share an odd adventure on the planet "Exile"

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #37

Wildfire surprises Dawnstar with his New Look

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #38

Dawnstar rejects New Look Wildfire

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #46

Dawnstar and Phantom Girl have a disagreement over a mission on Rimbor

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #49

Dawnstar strongly disagrees with Phantom Girl

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #51

Dawnstar accepts Phantom Girl's apology/request for help

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #57

Dawnstar decides to give New Look Wildfire a try after all

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #58

New Look Wildfire burns Dawnstar wherever they touched

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #6

Bounty first appears, inhabiting the body of Dawnstar

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #12

Bounty fights Roxxas the Butcher, joins the Legion

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #36

Bounty is severely wounded by Monica Sade and leaves Dawnstar's body

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #50

A traumatized Dawnstar is returned to Starhaven

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #55

Dawnstar works through her trauma

Legionnaires #17

Dawnstar returns to the Legion is a terrible new costume, 

so terrible, it is immediately wiped from the timeline  

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #15

Dawnstar is just an element of a campfire tale in the Threeboot universe

Justice League of America (v2) #9

After Infinite Crisis, Dawnstar takes part in a 21st-century mission

Action Comics (v1) #858-863

Dawnstar returns to the 31st century with a new costume

Legion of Super-Heroes (v6) #15

Dawnstar changes her costume once again

Legion Lost (v2) #1-16

After Flashpoint, Dawnstar is one of the Legionnaires trapped in the 21st century

Legion Lost (v2) #5

Dawnstar fights alone!

Justice League United: Futures' End #1

In the Futures End timeline, Dawnstar was a member of the Justice League

The Legion of Super-Heroes animated series

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time featured a Dawnstar voiced by Laura Bailey