Ravonna

Ravonna Lexus Renslayer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in Avengers #23 and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.

Ravonna
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceAvengers #23 (December, 1965)
Created byStan Lee
Don Heck
In-story information
Alter egoRavonna Lexus Renslayer
Team affiliationsThe Council of Kangs
Anachronauts
PartnershipsKang the Conqueror
Notable aliasesNebula, Terminatrix, Kang-Nebula, Hecate, Temptress
AbilitiesNone inherent

Publication history

Ravonna first appeared in Avengers #23 (December, 1965) and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.[1]

Fictional character biography

Ravonna Lexus Renslayer was the daughter of King Carelius (a puppet ruler of an unrevealed kingdom of Kang the Conqueror's in the 40th century). Ravonna first met Kang when he attempted to annex her time era into his empire. Kang loved Ravonna, but she hated him due to his attempt to conquer the kingdom. While the kingdom threatened rebellion, Kang let it be in the hope of winning the princess Ravonna's hand in marriage. Eventually, however, outright rebellion broke out, and as Kang was on the verge of winning the battle, he brought the Avengers there to witness his triumph. He hoped to defeat them and then marry Ravonna. Finally his army attacked the kingdom at his signal. One of his generals, Baltag, rebelled against him after he did not execute Ravonna, as he had done to the rulers of other conquered kingdoms. Kang then enlisted the aid of the Avengers to overthrow Baltag. He also enlisted the aid of citizens of the city, and, after stealing weaponry, the rebellion went ahead. Kang gained access to a chamber which could only be opened by the sound of his heartbeat, and activated a device that destroyed all the weaponry of his rebelling army. He released Ravonna from her dungeon, revealing he really loved her. However, Baltag attempted to shoot Kang as he sent the Avengers back to their own time, and Ravonna, realizing she loved Kang, threw herself in front of the blast, and fell into a deathlike coma, after which the general was executed.[2]

Kang preserved her in stasis for a time, but when he played a game with the Grandmaster in a tournament of champions, to gain the power to free Ravonna and kill the Avengers, he only partially won, and chose in anger to try to kill the Avengers instead. He failed due to the presence of the Black Knight, losing his chance to save Ravonna; the Grandmaster had only granted Kang the power of death over the Avengers, and the Black Knight was presently not a member of the team.[3] A temporal counterpart of Ravonna was later revealed to be a consort of Kang, and later learned to be a confederate of Immortus in his scheme to defeat Kang and destroy the Kang divergents. Kang rescued her from the moment before death due to the devices of Immortus when he was thrown into Limbo (later it was revealed this was due to mental manipulation), then learned this had created an alternate reality in which he was slain. He begins to destroy divergents of himself, not realizing this is part of a plan by Immortus. Ravonna does not alert Kang when the paralysis beam he is using to hold the Avengers is overloading due to the strength of Hercules, enabling the Avengers to escape. She then holds a Kang divergent double at gunpoint, and tells him if he really loves her he must not kill the other Kang. He refuses this and she lets him leave. That divergent is killed as his weapon was booby-trapped by the other Kang. Ravonna tells the other Kang that Immortus was all that was ever good in Kang as Immortus reveals himself.[4] In flashback, it was revealed that the real Ravonna was rescued by the Grandmaster, who revived her despite Kang's choice out of curiosity and told her of the choice Kang had made. She was embittered at Kang for not saving her when he had the chance, and she swore revenge on Kang.[5]

She became a subversive and assassin. She appeared to Doctor Druid in visions in a scheme to enlist his aid in acquiring the deadliest weapon in the omniverse. Assuming the guise of Avengers foe Nebula, she attempted to infiltrate the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. She completed her mental subjugation of Doctor Druid, and directed him to take over leadership of the Avengers. She used Druid to help her ensorcel the Avengers to accompany her to the center of a timestorm to retrieve the great weapon. She was ultimately thwarted by the Avengers and three Cross-Time Kangs, and fell into the timestorm with Druid.[6] As Nebula, she attempted to enlist the aid of the Fantastic Four to free her. She appeared in a vision to the Human Torch, and mind-controlled the Invisible Woman. She attempted to steal the Ultimate Nullifier, but was thwarted by the Fantastic Four.[7] She eventually escaped the timestorm to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1961, where she was thwarted by a rejuvenated Doctor Druid.[8]

Still later, she vainly attempted to enthrall Doctor Druid again. She convinced Druid to help her investigate Kang's 20th Century stronghold. Taking the name Temptress, she met the Fantastic Four, and used their time-sled to enter Chronopolis. She then fought openly with the prime Kang after taking on a guise as Terminatrix in a personal duel, a battle which ended with Kang apparently sacrificing himself to save her in the same manner she once had him. She became ruler of Chronopolis with his defeat.[9]

After ruling Kang's kingdom for a time, and becoming bored, she revived Kang — and stabbed him through the heart. She later revived him again, properly, and the two became lovers until Kang himself became bored and left to reassume his earlier identity of Rama-Tut and battle his younger self.

She was reported deceased in the destruction of Chronopolis, Kang's extra-temporal kingdom, in Avengers Forever.[10]

Powers and abilities

Ravonna has a gifted intellect, but other than superhuman durability she has no superhuman powers. She is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, and has mastery of various types of exotic weaponry. She also has mastery of a vast array of futuristic technology. She has received advanced schooling in the arts and sciences of the 41st Century.

She wears body armor of an unknown composition, and uses various futuristic technology including vibro-knives, concussion blasters, and shape-shifting technology enabling her to alter her appearance at will.

In other media

Television

Ravonna appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Meet Captain America" voiced by Cindy Robinson. In the series, she is portrayed as a dark-skinned woman with black hair wearing a blue-and-white royal dress. She ended up in a death-like coma as a result of accidental exposure to temporal energies that were rewriting the future era of Kang's timeline, causing her to slowly fade from existence to Kang's dismay. In the episode "The Kang Dynasty," Wasp ends up stumbling upon Ravonna's stasis area when the guards confront Wasp. When the Avengers take down Kang, Wasp appears with the guards revealing about what happened to Ravonna and what would happen to her if they send Kang back to his own time. After Kang's time-ship Damocles had been compromised by S.H.I.E.L.D., Ravonna was seen still in stasis with Mister Fantastic, Hank Pym, and other geniuses trying to find a way to save her.

Video games

Ravonna appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Kate O'Sullivan.[11] Her history of being Kang the Conqueror's mate upon her realm being taken over remains intact. As the game progresses, Ravonna secretly leaks information to the Avengers. Following Kang the Conqueror's defeat, Ravonna turns against Kang by using his time crystal to regress him to an infant. She later tells the heroes that she will return the components of Chronopolis back to their places in time and space once Kang's remaining forces are defeated. In the post-credits, Ravonna as Terminatrix appears in Manhattan with Cosmo the Spacedog, Man-Thing, the Supreme Intelligence, and an elderly Kang where she tells Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Iron Man about a new threat.

References
  1. DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. Avengers #23 - 24 (Dec. 1965 - Jan. 1966)
  3. Avengers #69-71
  4. Avengers #267-269
  5. revealed in Avengers Annual #21
  6. Avengers #291-297
  7. Fantastic Four #337-341
  8. Avengers Spotlight #37
  9. Captain America Annual #11; Thor Annual #17; Fantastic Four Annual #23; Avengers Annual #21
  10. Avengers Forever#9
  11. "Characters". IGN Database. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
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