Kole

Kole Weathers is a fictional superheroine in DC Comics. She is a former member of the Teen Titans.

Fictional character biography

Professor Abel Weathers, paranoid of an impending nuclear holocaust, was attempting to find a way for humanity to survive the fallout through forced evolution. One of the test subjects in his experiments was his 16-year-old daughter, Kole, whom he grafted with crystal and Promethium (a fictionalized version of the real-world element promethium). Instead of evolving to survive a nuclear fallout as her father intended, Kole found herself with the ability to create and control pure silicon crystal at will.

Kole as shown in NEW TEEN TITANS #9 (1985).

Kole was then kidnapped by the mad sun Titaness, Thia. For two years, Thia forced Kole to use her powers to construct a crystal prison in which Thia could hold important prisoners. Thia eventually came into conflict with the Teen Titans, which ultimately led to the death of the goddess and Kole winning her freedom. Lilith, a member of the Titans with limited precognition, sensed the "dark clouds of destruction" around Kole and warned her that she would face a "grim future" should she return to Earth and invited her to remain in Olympus. Kole declined, electing to reclaim her life on Earth. Now back on Earth, Kole tried to reunite with her parents, only to find that her father's experiments had produced a house full of crystalline and insectoid monstrosities. When the Titans came to confront him, he had them captured and attempted to subject them to the same experiments. Kole helped them to escape and in the ensuing conflict, the lab self-destructed. Abel, his wife Marilyn, and the rest of their test subjects emerged from the wreckage, transformed into insect forms which would allow them to survive a nuclear holocaust. Having nowhere else to go, Kole chose to go with the Titans to New York City. Though she never "officially" joined the group she was certainly considered a Titan by some members (evidenced later in stories such as The Secret Origins of the Teen Titans, in which Dick Grayson laments how Kole was a "Titan for such a short time").

Lacking a home of her own, Kole lived with Adeline and Joseph Wilson. As a result of this Kole developed an immediate friendship with Jericho. She was deeply upset when Jericho along with a few other Titans went on a mission to deep space, yet could not accompany Jericho with whom she had fallen in love. Shortly after this, in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kole attempted to save the Earth-2 Robin and Earth-2 Huntress from the Anti-Monitor's shadow-demons. She failed, and all three were apparently killed, their bodies never found.

In Grant Morrison's Animal Man storyline "Deus Ex Machina", Psycho-Pirate, while in Arkham Asylum, recreated characters removed from continuity. Kole (or a Pre-Crisis version of her) was one of them. Kole appears as she originally did. Presumably, this character vanished from existence when the Psycho-Pirate's episode of madness ended, along with her colleagues.

She appeared in Team Titans #8-12, the implication at the time being that she was a ghost of some sort. Later on, in #24, after a year of not appearing, she was shown in Monarch's lair, implying she was one of his puppets and has been removed from continuity.

Years later during the Infinite Crisis event, Kole was briefly resurrected and placed under the control of Brother Blood, who forced her to battle the newest incarnation of Teen Titans. She was defeated and returned to the grave along with the other undead Titans.

Kole would briefly resurface one year later when Kid Eternity summoned her from the afterlife to help locate the soul of Kid Devil's Aunt Marla. After Kid Devil tells Kole that he had read about her in the Titans archives and thinks she is cool, she expresses gratitude and says she wishes that he could have been a member of the team while she was still alive. She then returns to her resting place, leaving the two heroes to continue on their own.

Powers and abilities

Kole has the power to "spin" crystal, which is to create silicon crystal into independent masses—anything from a crystal "sculpture to a safety slide". She is known to encase people in crystal, effectively immobilizing them. It is not clear what happens to the crystal she spins; whether it eventually breaks down or remains in existence has never been established (she once spun a crystal bridge to transport herself and Jericho from Manhattan to Titans Tower in the East River; what happened to that bridge is subject to debate).

Kole also has the ability to fly, but it is unclear whether this also comes from the experiments that gave her powers, or granted to her during her tenure as Thia's slave. Later in the Teen Titans comics, Kole is seen transporting herself on a crystal carpet. Only once has Kole been seen moving through crystal (or at least the crystal she spun herself).^[1]

Kole has been seen to have an apparently one-sided relationship with Jericho. It is unknown whether he returned her feelings. However, after he found out about Kole's death, he was very upset about it.

In other media

Television

Kole as seen in Teen Titans.

• Kole appears in a Teen Titans episode "Kole" voiced by Tara Strong. She is depicted as the partner of Gnarrk. As with the other characters in Teen Titans, it was decided to render a younger, more teenage version of Kole for the animated series. Her powers are very different from in her comic incarnation. Rather than creating crystal, she literally transforms herself into it, and is directly used as a club, axe, and a boomerang-like weapon by Gnarrk in her crystal form. Furthermore, she has the ability to absorb and even reflect energy blasts in her crystalline form. Unlike her comic incarnation, Kole's hair is pink rather than red, and two strands of her hair form a pair of fake antennae. Kole originates from the upper world, but chose a life as a recluse to escape those villainous people wanting to exploit her power. She lives with Gnarrk in a large underground cavern near the Arctic Circle that is filled with prehistoric creatures. They first encounter with the Titans when they accidentally discover their cavern while trying to stop the villainous Doctor Light. In this episode, Dr. Light wanted to use Kole's crystal form as a prism to focus and enhance his newly obtained light powers from the Aurora Borealis, but she was saved by the Titans and Gnarrk. They both become Honorary Titans, but Kole believed she would be safe from the Brotherhood of Evil, as no one knew about their location underground. Unfortunately, the Brotherhood had hacked into the Titans' communicators and used it to listen in on her communications and locate her. The Brotherhood later sent Billy Numerous and Gizmo to capture her and Gnarrk, but they failed. She, Gnarrk, and Cyborg (who had gone to rescue her) joined in the final battle against the Brotherhood of Evil. Kole and Gnarrk, as they rode into battle, take out Ding Dong Daddy as he rode up in his car.

Miscellaneous

• Kole appears in the Teen Titans Go! comic book series. In issue #32, Gnaark, along with several other Titans, are kidnapped and forced to participate in arena fights against Private H.I.V.E. and other villains for the amusement of spectators. Kole attempts to rescue him, only to end up being captured and forced to fight also. Luckily, the other Titans find out where the fights are being held and rescue them.

References