Magenta (Frances Kane) is a fictional character in the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

' series

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

. She is a former hero turned villain. The character first appeared in ''

The New Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' #17 (March 1982) as Frances Kane, and debuted as Magenta five years later in ''Teen Titans Spotlight'' #16 (Nov 1987). An early concept design for Magenta by

George Pérez George Pérez (; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' and ''The Avengers (c ...

appeared in ''DC Sampler'' #2. The character's initial name was Polara and her color scheme consisted of red and blue rather than magenta and white. Magenta made her live-action debut in the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

season of ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'', portrayed by

Joey King Joey Lynn King (born July 30, 1999) is an American actress. She starred as Ramona Quimby in the comedy film '' Ramona and Beezus'' (2010) and gained wider recognition for her lead role as a late-blooming teenager in ''The Kissing Booth'' film ...

Fictional character biography

Frances Kane is

Wally West Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics as the original Kid Flash and the third Flash (DC Comics character), Flash. His power consists mainly of speedster (fiction), superhuman speed. T ...

's girlfriend during his time as

Kid Flash Kid Flash is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero The Flash. The first version of the ...

. After developing magnetic abilities, she becomes a superhero, but falters under the pressure of the job and breaks up with Wally. Later, Magenta develops an evil split personality and becomes an enemy of the Flash. She joins the Rogues and is among the villains exiled to another planet in ''

Salvation Run ''Salvation Run'' is a seven-issue 2007-2008 DC Comics limited series which was designed to tie into the company's major event series ''Final Crisis'' in 2008. Premise The series, which is based on a pitch from George R. R. Martin, follows a wor ...

''. Following the ''

DC Rebirth DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using the end of The New 52 (2011–2016) initiative in May 2016 as its launching point ...

'' relaunch, Abra Kadabra erases Magenta's memories of Wally before she eventually regains them and reconciles with him.

Powers and abilities

Magenta can generate and control magnetic fields, which she can use to move, lift, and manipulate

ferrous In chemistry, iron(II) refers to the chemical element, element iron in its +2 oxidation number, oxidation state. The adjective ''ferrous'' or the prefix ''ferro-'' is often used to specify such compounds, as in ''ferrous chloride'' for iron(II ...

metals as well as achieve

magnetic levitation Magnetic levitation (maglev) or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is levitation (physics), suspended with no support other than magnetic fields. Lorentz force, Magnetic force is used to counteract the effects of the gravitation ...

by surrounding herself in a magnetic aura attuned to the Earth's

geomagnetic Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from structure of Earth, Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from ...

field. Additionally, she can focus her powers into blasts of concussive magnetic force that can shatter steel, fire

electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also referred to as a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. The origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic field, as an ...

s to disrupt electronic systems, and create a shield capable of repelling metals and most physical assaults.

In other media

Magenta appears in a self-titled episode of ''

'', portrayed by

. This version was initially a regular orphan who lived with her abusive foster father, John James, and his wife Karen. Due to temporal changes made when the

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

undid the " Flashpoint" timeline and following an encounter with

Doctor Alchemy Doctor Alchemy is a name used by three different supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The most notable was Albert Desmond, who originally used the name of Mister Element. The character appeared as a recurring ca ...

, Kane develops a split personality called "Magenta" and becomes a

metahuman In the DC Universe, a metahuman is a human with superpowers. The term is roughly synonymous with the terms '' mutant'', '' inhuman'' and '' mutate'' in the Marvel Universe and '' posthuman'' in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In ...

with magnokinesis. She attempts to take revenge on John, but the Flash talks her down before Caitlin Snow arranges for Kane to be transferred to a new foster home while John is prosecuted.

References

External links

*
Profile from "The Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning" websiteCrimson Lightning
- An online index to the comic book adventures of the Flash. {{Flash Characters created by George Pérez Characters created by Marv Wolfman Comics characters introduced in 1982 DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics metahumans DC Comics supervillains Fictional characters with dissociative identity disorder Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities Flash (comics) characters