Natasha Irons
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Natasha Irons is a fictional character in the DC Universe and the niece of John Henry Irons, the superhero Steel. Natasha first appears in Steel #1 (February 1994). She becomes the fourth superhero to use the name "Steel" when her uncle is injured. In the 2006 limited series 52, Natasha gains superpowers and uses the codename Starlight.
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[edit] Character History
Natasha Irons is the daughter of John Henry's brother, Clay, and Clay's wife Blondel. She is introduced in the first issue of Steel's solo series, where she is intially portrayed as being 13. Like the rest of her family, she knew about Steel's secret identity all along. Contrasting sharply with her brother Jemahl, Natasha is shown to be very level headed and practical. By issue #14, she is shown to be working (presumably as an intern) for a U.S. Senator. She appears to have aged forward to be about 16 somehow. Nat is a supporting character throughout Louise Simonson's run on the series. She is kidnapped by Hazard and Steel has to rescue her. She also uses the drug Tar to help fight at her uncle's side briefly. She is later kidnapped by the villain Plasmus and apparently kills him by shattering once Steel froze the villain (although he later turns up alive). Natasha was devestated at the loss of her beloved great-grandmother, Bess Irons, but is the only one of her family who stays with Steel when he moves to Jersey City (see the Steel entry for more details of the Irons family).
With Christopher Priest at the helm of Steel starting with #34, Nat was radically altered. She was transformed into a "modern," stereotypical, obnoxious teenager who was obviously completely bored with life in general. She is also shown to be very flippant and sardonic...also, all trace of her previous work for a U.S. Senator was apparently exercised from the canon. During this time she also meets a teen named Paul (who she dubs "Boris") whom she befriends. Her father also makes a return as the villain Crash. When an assassin named Skorpio poisons Nat, Crash has to turn himself in so that he can give a blood transfusion and save his daughter. He is never seen nor heard from again.
Nat later goes with Steel to Metropolis when he opens up Steelworks there. She becomes his assistant, even reprogramming Superman's Kryptonian robot Kelex to speak with hip hop slang.
[edit] The new Steel
When the Entropy Aegis of Darkseid traps John, Natasha designs a suit of armor that uses the Aegis's power, teleports to Apokolips, and fights Doomsday with the help of Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, and the pre-Crisis Supergirl.
John is too injured to continue operating as Steel. Having intended to pass his legacy as Steel on to Natasha, John made a new, more advanced suit of armor for her to use.
When Natasha hears that Superman has been injured by a ghostly ninja, she dons her armor and becomes the new Steel. She teams up with Cir-El and Girl 13 to stop the ninja.
During the adventure, she uses her hammer to fire an electric pulse into Superman's heart to start it again. When Cir-El hears that Superman has been captured by Lex Luthor, Natasha accompanies her and Superboy to rescue him. Natasha works with Batman to free the others when they fall into a trap.
[edit] Starlight
In 52, Natasha has a violent falling out with her uncle John, over John's open disgust over what he feels is the self-absorbed narcisism of DC Universe's super-hero community. When Natasha discovers that the Teen Titans, whose roster is devastated by the events of Infinite Crisis, are holding an open call for new members, John forbids Natasha from going and instead insists she continue the clearing out debris from the battle of Metropolis. When Natasha refuses, John dismantles her armor. Reminded by John that he built the armor, Natasha is left powerless. John also makes it clear that she will have to build her own armor if she truly wants to be a super-hero and act out.
Soon, Natasha attempts to rebuild her armor with little success. When she learns that John had his DNA rewritten by the Lex Luthor metagene, Natasha wrongly assumes John chose to have DNA altered and snaps.
After a fierce argument with her uncle, Natasha applies for Luthor's "Everyman Project" and becomes one of the first official subjects. When John, looking for Natasha, threatens to kill Luthor at a Lexcorp party, Natasha appears, along with a team of super-powered people in Luthor's employ, and beats him severely.
Gifted with new skills, Natasha is given the codename Starlight. While in battle, she witnesses her friend Eliza Harmon (a.k.a. Trajectory) killed by a new Blockbuster.
[edit] Powers
As Starlight, Natasha is able to fly, can exert superhuman strength, and is more durable. Her fists also emit large flashes of light.
Natasha's "Steel" armor boosts her strength to super-human levels, and rockets in her boots allow her to fly. The armor can grow to heights of up to 60 feet, and it is equipped with energy weapons and projectile weaponry. Natasha's main weapon is her hammer, which has inertial dampeners that cause the hammer's force to increase exponentially (the farther it is thrown, the harder it hits). The hammer can fire electromagnetic pulses and generate powerful electric and magnetic fields at Natasha's command. When the hammer is placed on the ground, it connects with the earth's magnetic field and cannot be moved except by Natasha or someone with similar DNA, such as her uncle John Henry Irons.
The original Entropy Aegis fueled-armor endowed her with enhanced strength and teleportation, and enabled her to fire blasts of strange purple energy from her hands.
[edit] Other versions
Natasha (as Steel) is a background character in the limited series Kingdom Come, wearing a giant version of her later armor with the head-tails.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Natasha appears in the episode of Superman: The Animated Series entitled "Heavy Metal" with her uncle. In it she was voiced by Cree Summer.
