Real
Name: Selene
Occupation: Goddess (self-styled)
Identity: Selene's power and history are unknown to the
general public
Legal Status: Former citizen of the Roman Republic and
of Nova Roma
Other Aliases: The Black Priestess
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Widowed
Known Relatives: Marcus Domitius Gallio (husband, deceased)
Group Affiliation: Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club
Base of Operations: New York City
First Appearance: NEW MUTANTS #9
History: Selene's origin is yet unrevealed,
but she is known to have lived for several millennia,
and to have been a foe of the sorcerer Kulan Gath. In
past ages she was renowned as a sorceress whose power
was feared and respected by practitioners of black and
white magic. She eventually came to live in the ancient
Roman Republic. For unknown reasons, she accompanied the
large number of Roman citizens who fled Rome in the First
Century B.C. and sailed to the New World, where they founded
Nova Roma ("New Rome") in a hidden section of
the Amazon jungle in what is now Brazil. The founders
of Nova Roma fled Rome because they foresaw that its republican
government would be replaced by an imperial one. For reasons
that remain unknown. Selene found herself unable to leave
Nova Roma, and remained there for roughly two thousand
years. Nova Roma she led the dreaded Cult of Fire as its
Black Priestess.
In recent years Selene married Marcus Domitius
Gallio, a senator of Nova Roma who plotted to abolish
its republican government. The intervention of the New
Mutants both thwarted Senator Gallio's schemes and led
to Selene's apparent destruction. However, Selene not
only survived, but somehow found herself able to leave
Nova Roma. She soon traveled to New York City. Over the
two millennia that she was trapped in Nova Roma, a religious
cult worshipping Selene as a goddess had continued to
survive in the outside world. Selene made contact with
a leader of the cult, Friedrich von Roehm, in New York
City. Von Roehm was also a member of the Inner Circle
of the Hellfire Club, an elite group secretly dedicated
to achieving world domination. Von Roehm successfully
sponsored Selene for membership in the Inner Circle, and
she rapidly rose to the high rank of Black Queen of the
Inner Circle.
Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 130 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: Black
Strength Level: Selene possesses superhuman
strength, enabling her to lift (press) about 1500 pounds
under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Selene is a mutant
with various superhuman attributes. She sustains herself
by psionically draining the life force of other human
beings into herself. Because of this, she is often referred
to as a vampire, although she is not a true supernatural
vampire, like Dracula. If she drains a person's entire
life force from him of her, the victim dies and the victim's
body crumbles into dust. If Selene drains only part of
victim's life force, Selene achieves a measure of psychic
control over her victim's mind. Through unknown means,
Selene can also cause a human being to become a psychic
vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene's own
will.
It is not known how often Selene must drain life
force from another human in order to survive. It is known
that great expenditure of power causes Selene to age,
but she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing more life
force. Selene will not age as long as she maintains her
supply of absorbed life force. She is also unaffected
such as knife wounds.
She has physical strength, stamina, speed, and
reaction time that are all several time greater than those
of a normal woman.
Selene possesses telekinetic abilities that give
her complete psionic control over inanimate object and
fire. She can cause inanimate objects to move according
to her will by projecting part of her absorbed life force
into them. She can cause inanimate objects in her presence
to disintegrate. She cannot, however, rearrange the atomic
or molecular structure of matter.
Selene can include a momentary hypnotic trance
state in people around her. She can also momentarily move
at speeds rivaling those of Quicksilver.
