Insect Queen (DC Comics)
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Insect Queen is the name of several fictional characters, created by the DC Comics company.
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[edit] Earth-One Lana Lang
The first Insect Queen was Lana Lang, Superman's romantic interest from his youth on Smallville. In Superboy (first series) #124 (Oct. 1965), Lana rescues an insect-like alien trapped under a tree. In gratitude, he gives her a ring that allows her to gain the powers of insects or arachnids (by giving her lower body the form of a particular bug; each form could only be gained once per day, however.) She decides to use it to develop the costumed identity of the superheroine Insect Queen. Lana does not pursue the career for long, though she did gain reserve status in the Legion of Superheroes (in Adventure Comics #355, April 1967). The last appearance of this version of the character was in the (non-canonical) "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" story, where an adult Lana retakes it to help Superman and dies in battle.
[edit] Earth-Two Lana Lang
The second Insect Queen was also Lana Lang, but the one from the parallel universe of Earth-2. In Superman Family #213 (1981), she as an adult receives a scarab found by her archeologist father in an Egyptian tomb, not realizing that it was magical. Possessed by it, Lana became a supervillainess called Insect Queen, with the ability to control and enlarge insects. She briefly worked with the Ultra-Humanite, while the latter's mind was housed within a gigantic ant, until she was saved by the Earth-2 Superman and his wife, the original Lois Lane. Later, she became an occasional superhero, aiding Superman on at least one occasion. Note that in the reality changed by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lana never became either Insect Queen.
[edit] Lonna Leing
The third Insect Queen is Lonna Leing of the planet Xanthu, in the 30th century. Lonna Leing (obviously a tribute to Lana Lang) was a member of the Xanthuan hero team, the Uncanny Amazers. She first appeared in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #88 (July 1996). Her costume is similar to the original Insect Queen, and she even has similar powers, as she is able transform her body from the waist down into an insect or arachnid's body (like an arthropodic centaur) and assume their abilities. Once she parodied Marvel Comics' Spider-Man, when she assumed the powers of a spider and fired webbing from her wrists (using his trademark hand gestures) to wrap an alien attacker.
[edit] Anti-Matter Insect Queen
The fourth Insect Queen is a former member of the Justice Underground, a team of heroes who oppose the Crime Syndicate of America in DC's Anti-Matter Universe. The Justice Underground is seen in JLA Secret Files 2004.
As the Justice Underground comprises "good twins" to Justice League villains, this Insect Queen is probably the counterpart of the Queen Bee.
[edit] Alternate versions
In the Amalgam Comics universe, Insect Queen (Amalgam Comics) is Mary Jane Watson, a model who gained insect-like powers from the strange radiation of a meteorite.
