SERSI
Created By: Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The Eternals #3 (Sept. 1976)
Role: Team Slut, Matter-Rearranger, Deus ex Machina
Group Affiliations: The Eternals, The Avengers, The New Breed, The God Squad
PL 10 (296)
STRENGTH 6
STAMINA 7
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5
DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 4
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 5
Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+8)
Deception 3 (+8, +10 Attractive)
Expertise (Socialite) 4 (+9)
Expertise (History) 5 (+9)
Expertise (Dancing) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Fashion) 2 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+7, +9 Attractive)
Ranged Combat (Eternal Powers) 5 (+10)
Advantages:
Attractive, Daze (Deception), Diehard, Great Endurance, Languages 3 (Many), Ranged Attack 3, Trance
Powers:
"Eternal Physiology"
Immunity 7 (Disease, Poison, Aging, Drowning, Pressure, Cold, Heat) [7]
Immortality 6 (Flaws: Must Maintain Mental Control of Their Molecules- Can Be Dispersed Too Far) [6]
Flight 8 (500 mph) [16]
Regeneration 5 (Feats: Regrow Limbs) [6]
Power-Lifting 1 (3 tons) [1]
"Matter Manipulation" Transform Anything to Anything 13 (Extras: Ranged, Continuous) (91) -- [98]
- AE: "Telekinesis" Move Object 10 (20)
- AE: Cosmic Blast 10 (Feats: Split) (21)
- AE: Illusion (Visuals & Audio) 10 (30)
- AE: Teleport 8 (Extras: Extended, Affects Others) (Flaws: Tiring) (24)
- AE: "Telepathy" Mental Communication 2 & Mind Reading 4 (16)
- AE: Mind Control 8 (32)
- AE: Force Field 4 (Extras: Impervious 8) (12)
"Transmute Living Beings" Affliction 10 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Transformed) (Extras: Ranged, Continuous +3) (50) -- [51]
- AE: Affliction 10 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Transformed) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Shapeable, Continuous +3) (50)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Transmutation +10 (+10 Ranged Affliction, DC 20)
Transmute Groups +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Blasts +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Illusion +10 (DC 20)
Mind Reading (DC 14)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +7 (+11 Force Field), Fortitude +10, Will +7
Complications:
Motivation (Thrills)- Sersi is a thrillseeker, and enjoys human culture far more than any of her fellow Eternals.
Enemy (The Deviants)
Responsibility (The Eternals)- Though she dislikes many of her allies, and refuses to follow their exclusionary ways, Sersi will answer the call if her people need help.
Reputation (Bimbo)- Sersi sleeps around and LOVES to party. She's kind of the Paris Hilton of the super-community (before there was even a Paris Hilton, actually).
Power Loss (Mind Control/Reading)- Sersi cannot affect the minds of Deviants, the Eternals' natural enemies.
Relationship (The Black Knight)- Sersi & Dane Whitman were together for a while, though were tested by Proctor's intervention, and a Love Triangle involving Crystal. Crystal won.
Enemy (Proctor)- In a super-ass-complicated storyline, Proctor grew obsessed with Sersi and did some stuff.
Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 185 / Defenses: 18 (296)
Circe in Mythology: "Kirke" (pronounced with hard "K" sounds) is sometimes thought of as a Goddess; at other times a witch. She's most famous for her appearance in Homer's "Odyssey", in which she transforms much of Odysseus's crew into animals. On the advice of Hermes, Odysseus managed to survive his encounter, and she gave him advice. And three sons (DUDE! You spent ten years trying to get back to your WIFE!). In the "Telegony" (a lost Epic), one of these sons slays Odysseus unknowingly- another tale features Circe returning him to life with a potion.
-Though her role in mythology is small, she's proven be be one of the most iconic characters the Greeks produced- the idea of a sorceress who shapeshifts her victims has been used again and again, and in art and literature, she's become a shorthand for "Femme Fatale" and devious women all over. She's one of Wonder Woman's biggest foes in the comics, and has been seen numerous times in pop culture. She's also played by a young Idina Menzel in the "Hercules" Animated Series from Disney.
Sersi- Avenger For The Nineties:
-Sersi came out of the
Eternals books, representing the Circe of Greek Mythology (a chick who sat on her island, turning men into animals- Sersi met the Greek poet Homer, who based his character in
The Oddysey on her), and she got stuck onto the Avengers for a good long portion of their run (that late '80s, early '90s era where tons of people were on the team). Despite her biggest story being the lame Proctor one (it's just so ENDLESS and pointlessly-confusing), she was on the team for seemingly EONS (evolving from the green one-piece bikini to the infamous Leather Jacket era, where everyone was wearing X-Men-like "As" on their gear). But in recent years, she's fallen off the face of the Earth, and become little more than a limbo-ridden character in the Marvel Universe. She's only recently come to light in Neil Gaiman's
Eternals series as a result- she's last been seen as a retired ex-heroine. Will it be enough to make people remember her? Time will tell, but it sure hasn't happened yet.
Sersi- Eternal-Turned-Avenger:
-Sersi started out as a thrillseeking Eternal, who'd spent more time with humans than almost any other member of her race (and encountering the younger versions of Merlin and Thor), but after a few adventures in which she helped out The Avengers, she was invited onto their roster. She was pretty much used as a multi-powered Swiss Army Knife chick who could solve any kind of problem and "fix" any sort of plot (see below), while as a CHARACTER she was meant to throw some team dynamics around because of her constant flirting with Captain America (who, naturally, was completely embarrassed). She started growing more aggressive after an encounter with the alien Thane Ector, culminating in a big situation with Proctor, a failed antagonist of the Leather Jacket Era Avengers.
-Proctor manipulated her emotions and attempted to kill her because the Sersi of HIS universe had jilted him. She kills him when he nearly destroys the universe using her as a tool, and ends up travelling to the Ultraverse with The Black Knight (who had hooked up with her, but then went after Crystal, but then stepped away when Quicksilver tried to reunite with Crys, who was his ex-wife- this "Love Triangle" was meant to give some angst to the Bomber Jacket Avengers, but it never went anywhere because they used much less popular characters than normal). There, they interact with a new Infinity Gem (which modern writers are only TOO HAPPY to ignore completely like it never existed), meet up with The Avengers again, opt to stay in the Ultraverse, then come back when Malibu Comics died. The two split up, needing some time apart, and basically vanished from comics for years in the wake of The Avengers falling apart post-
Crossing and assorted terrible storytelling- she wasn't a part of things when Kurt Busiek & George Perez resurrected the squad.
-This gives the odd effect of Sersi being on the Avengers for a huge length of time... but a rarther unmemorable one, as it takes place almost entirely within that 1990s period preceding the legendary Busiek/Perez run. The Sersi/Knight/Crystal thing was particularly weak, and the Ultraverse wasn't a big deal. And of course, the character essentially disappeared for almost ten years, reappearing in Neil Gaiman's
Eternals, mind-wiped into acting as a mortal "party planner"- a life she enjoys and returns to, deciding she didn't want to be either an Eternal OR an Avenger again.
Sersi's Insane Powers:
-People like Sersi completely alter a team's dynamic with their endless supplies of powers. Case in point: during
Operation: Galactic Storm, one team is caught in a cataclysmic explosion that destroys the Kree Empire in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, and face certain death. It's all dramatic and "how will they get out of THIS one?"-ish, until it turns out that Sersi frickin' FROZE THE ENTIRE TEAM in statis bodies that could survive the explosion, and all they had to do was wait for Starfox, ANOTHER Eternal, to pop by and bring them all out of it, "just like the game we played as children". ... the HELL? Crap like this just ruins any sense of drama, as characters can seemingly do anything, and pull whatever they want out of their asses, and I despise that type of character in situations where heroes should be coming up with original ideas or using powers in new ways- not just using one of their enormouse supply of powers to save things easily. A similar situation occurs any time Doctor Strange shows up on a team, or when the more-powerful Telekinetic/Telepaths show up in X-Books- it can be a FAR too easy "Writer's Tool" for one character to come along and solve everything. Sersi's not a bad character (her flippant, flirtacious nature makes her a good bet on a super-team, especially one with lots of dudes), but her powers are problematic and she never really ended up being that memorable to most fans- I know very few Sersi Fans.
-Sersi, as expecting, is as expensive as all hell. That'll happen when you're technically a Flying Brick AS WELL as having one of the most powerful transmutative effects in Marvel Comics history- a PERMANENT one, too (meaning it's outside the Eternal Power Array, forcing her to add its cost separately). She's terrifyingly cheesy in battle for that reason, but is a bit of a Glass Cannon unless she's using the Force Field part of her Array, which holds back her other abilities. But then there's that Regeneration power as well. Kind of a pain in the arse in a combat situation, really. She can Blast you, Mind Control you, lip you off, bluff you to death (Attractive plus Presence 5), make you see things that aren't there, or turn you into a stone statue. She can alternately transform large objects, single humans OR entire groups (she once simply waved her arm and transformed Asp, Black Mamba & Impala into harmless snakes like she was brushing her damn hair or something), etc. A ridiculous amount of high-level abilities exist in that Array, but she's still only PL 10 in my book, because she was never quite a devastating attacker. She was more handy & versatile than destructive.