RED STAR (Leonid Kostantinovitch Kovar, aka Starfire I)
Created by: Len Wein & Marv Wolfman
First Appearance: Teen Titans #18 (1968)
Role: Non-Evil Foreigner
Group Affiliations: The U.S.S.R., The Teen Titans
PL 10 (154)
STRENGTH 9 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Government Agent) 8 (+10)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 5 (+7)
Perception 5 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 2 (+10)
Stealth 4 (+6)
Technology 3 (+5)
Vehicles 3 (+6)
Advantages:
Benefit (Russian Government Agent), Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 5
Powers:
"Physical Abilities"
Protection 4 [4]
Speed 4 (30 mph) [4]
"Red Star Energy Form"
Flame Aura 3 [12]
Flame Blast 10 (20) -- [21]
- Dynamic AE: Flame Aura 5 (20)
Unarmed +10 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Flame Blast +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Flame Aura +10 (+3-5 Damage, DC 18-20)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8, Fortitude +6, Will +6
Complications:
Relationship (Pantha & Baby Wildebeest)- The three have formed a kind of strange surrogate family, despite their disparate origins.
Responsibility (Mother Russia)- Red Star is a patriot, and was generally depicted as a proud communist until the fall of the Soviet Bloc.
Rivalry (Wally West)- Kid Flash was the most anti-commie member of the Titans, and argued with Kovar whenever they met- Kovar generally tried to ignore things, but Wally would always press the issue.
Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 41 / Defenses: 12 (155)
-Red Star actually has the honour of being the first DC comics-based Russian superhero (gaining his powers in the most stereotypical way possible- exposure to a meteorite), as he came onto the scene in the late '60s, butting heads with the sidekick-era Titans as the first "Starfire", insulting them with pro-Commie rhetoric and the like. The '80s revealed a more sensitive, noble "Red Star" (as now the TITANS had their own Starfire kicking around), since the Cold War was less-hostile by that point. He usually just ended up arguing with Kid Flash (and Wally was made to look like the big douchebag in most of those cases).
-The only appearance by him where I really cared was a bit in The New Teen Titans that featured him hunting down some Russian woman who'd gained superpowers that were killing her. His mission was to finish her off before she could kill any more innocents, which brought him into conflict with the Titans (Wally in particular, whose "Midwestern values" apparently included being an ass to anyone from Russia)- he came across as kind of heartless until the very end, when he revealed that the woman he'd been sent to stop was actually HIS FIANCE. The Titans kind of felt like a bunch of judgmental dicks after that.
-It wasn't until Wolfman's early-'90s crap run that Red Star actually joined the team (he was being chased down by some Russian agents, and made to look like a traitor to his own people), being on the team for an astonishing TWO YEAR RUN, but he ultimately quit with Pantha & Baby Wildebeest in tow, forming a messed-up family unit. And so they sat in comics limbo until the big Titans events happened, and finally Superboy-Prime eliminated the chaff from Red Star's wheat in Infinite Crisis by massacring several Titans, include Pantha & Baby. A furious Red Star insists "you will BURN for that", but he's unrelated to the eventually defeat of Prime. This frees up a semi-decent character, but he ultimately goes nowhere, joining the Titans during their "One Year Later" interim and going on to become a Russian National Hero again. He didn't really get any major revenge on Superboy-Prime though (since he's still a D-level DC hero, like him or not), and pretty much got no other play, other that fighting Tim Drake for some dumb reason.
-Red Star is part super-soldier, part Blaster. He's fast, strong and tough, and can turn into energy and blast away at people. I eventually just said "screw it" and turned his Flame Aura into a Dynamic AP of Blast, since that kinda makes sense, and makes him a lot cheaper. He's an all-around decent hero, which suits a guy who is essentially his entire country's only line of defense, since DC never bothered with a cool Russia-themed roster of characters like Marvel did.