Zatanna
Zatanna Zatara, known mononymously as Zatanna, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, and first appeared in Hawkman #4. Throughout the character's history, Zatanna is depicted as one of DC Comics' most well-regarded supernatural superheroes.
The character is depicted as a renowned sorceress belonging to the fictional Homo magi race, a subset of humans endowed with innate potential to manipulate magic. She is also the daughter of Giovanni Zatara and Sindella, the former a renowned stage magician and sorcerer whom she models herself after and the latter whose lineage connects her to the royal line of Atlantis. Zatanna balances her life as an international celebrity stage magician and superhero who often fights against the forces of evil and serves as both a mystic consultant and a notable member of several teams such as the Justice League, Justice League Dark, and the Sentinels of Magic. Within the DC Universe, she is often regarded as one of the most powerful magic users.
Zatanna has appeared in several different media adaptations, including appearing in several television series in the DC Animated Universe, notably voiced by Julie Brown and Jennifer Hale. She has also appeared as a recurring character in the final three seasons of Smallville, portrayed by Serinda Swan. A younger version of the character appears in Young Justice and Justice League Action, voiced by Lacey Chabert, and DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Kari Wahlgren.
Publication history
Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman #4. When she is introduced, she is on a quest to find her father Zatara who made his first appearance in Action Comics #1 but had not been published regularly for several years. The storyline crossed multiple comics published by DC at the time, culminating in issues of Justice League of America, also written by Fox.Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earth
Original origin
In her original origin, Zatanna was born to human Giovanni Zatara and Homo magi Sindella, inheriting her mother's natural affinity for magical powers. Six months after her birth, her mother disappeared and was presumably dead, leading her to be raised by her father. Growing up to be a stage magician with genuine magical powers and modelling herself similarly to her father, Zatara later mysteriously disappears, leading her to travel abroad to perfect her magical craft while searching for her father. Unknown to her, the details of her parents' disappearance were revealed over time; her mother would later return to her people, a clan of Homo magi known as the "Hidden Ones" and her father was cursed by evil sorceress Allura that would kill both himself and his daughter should he see her again, leading him to reluctantly distance himself from her.Zatara Quest and the JLA
In her debut, she is introduced during her quest to find her father, first encountering Hawkman and Hawkgirl. During her quest, she encounters various other superheroes such as Batman and Robin and teams up with others including the Atom, Green Lantern, and the Elongated Man. Eventually, she learns her father's fate and finds him in the mystic dimension of Kharma and encounters the evil Allura, where her good counterpart forces her to lift the curse, reuniting father and daughter after 2 decades.Not long after, she is elected to become a valued member of the Justice League of America, although in her tenure her powers were originally diminished, allowing her only to control natural forces. Both her mother and her true background is later revealed to her, when Zatanna learns the cause of her mother's disappearance and reason for faking her death: possessing a "medula jewel" within her brain, it acted as a source of power for her clan of the Hidden Ones. Fearing her clan would hunt down her daughter, who also inherited a medulla jewel, she telepathically warns her, with Sindella's magic having the odd side-effect of transforming her costume to one resembling her own. With her father and JLA, they meet Sindella, where she explains her disappearances and sacrifices herself to save Zatanna and Zatara from captivity.
Post Crisis on Infinite Earths
Revised background
After the Crisis on Infinite Earth crossover event, much of Zatanna's history remained the same although several changes came about to her background; her new history reinforced her father's disappearance to have taken place when she was eighteen years old. At some point prior to her father's death, a young Zatanna also met John Constantine, with whom she once engaged in tantric sex. Her father later became aware of their relationship, disapproving of Constantine.The 1998 DCU Heroes Secret Files reveals her birth to be thirty years ago, placing her birth year at around 1968. Other key events for the character is referenced to having taken place, including her becoming a superhero and stage magician nine years prior and her attempt to rescue her mother alongside her father and the JLA five years prior. It is also eventually revealed she is childhood friends with Bruce Wayne, who came to be trained in escape artistry under her father in his training.
Death of Zatara and Timothy Hunter
In the "Murder of Crows" storyline, a seance is held by John Constantine, Zatara, Mento, and Sargon the Sorcerer, and Zatanna in an effort to come together and combat the entity known as the Great Evil Beast alongside demonic and divine forces at Wintersgate Manor, the home of Baron Winters in Georgetown, Washington D.C., which is a temporal threshold to other planes of reality. Due to her past history with Constantine, Giovanni is unusually more protective against Constantine. During the seance, the Beast becomes aware of the seance and after Sargon's death, targets Zatanna by attempting to burn her to death. Giovanni sacrifices himself by taking the effects instead, killing him but sparing his daughter's life. In Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic limited series, for a time, Zatanna looks after a young boy named Timothy Hunter, destined to become the most powerful wizard in the world, and his girlfriend Molly, cursed by the Queen of Fairies to unable to touch anything in the human world.Come Together, JLA, and the Sentinels of Magic
In her 1993 limited series titled Zatanna: Come Together, she battles the dark sorcerer Tannarak while her mother's spirit, Sindella, encourages her to battle the demon Xaos. Within the series, her lineage is revealed to be connected to the royalty of Atlantis and the Xaos demon was responsible for its sinking. She also undergoes a change in costume and opt out of using logomancy in favor of amplifying her magical powers with her mother's artifacts and traditional spell-casting.In the 1999 "Days of Judgement" storyline and mini-series, Zatanna is among numerous mystic superheroes who gathered to battle the demon Asmodel, who plotted to usurp the powers of the Spectre. With Earth's superheroes unable to properly contend with a significant mystical threat, the Sentinels of Magic is formed with Zatanna as a founding member. The team eventually prevails and is trusted with the Spear of Destiny as a contingency against Hal Jordan's Spectre should he ever lose control of himself. The next challenge to the Sentinels appears in the 2001 "Black Baptism" storyline, where mobster demons, the Diablos, targets the Sentinels to drain them of their souls and power. Zatanna is one of the first members to be felled to "Anita Soulfeeda", a "succubus" seeking to ascend their ranks. Due to efforts from Sebastian Faust and the Justice League, despite the former's negative reputation, Anita is revealed to be a disguised, vengeful Enchantress and is put under the control of Felix Faust, who himself also been possessed by the spirit of Hermes Trismegistus. In the "Obsidian Age", Zatanna and the Sentinels appears when the Justice League vanishes in the past searching for Aquaman. An emergency protocol created by Batman assembles a contingency League, with Jason Blood acting as the team's magical expert. When Gamemnae, ancient Atlantean sorceress and would-be conqueror, is identified, she uses a quagmire spell to absorb Zatanna and Tempest into herself. When Nightwing, the leader in the new league, asks for Blood to use Etrigan against Gamemnae, Blood instead insists Zatanna is the one needed and sacrifices himself in her quagmire spell to free Zatanna. She joins the others in travelling back to ancient Atlantis, where Aquaman has been trapped in a pool of water as a water wraith, Firestorm creating a channel between the pool and the sea before Zatanna casts a spell that allows the water-based Aquaman to control the entire ocean as his body, allowing him to sink Atlantis in the past and present and disrupt Gamemnae's power.
In her 2003 solo one-shot Zatanna: Everyday Magic, she battles Nimue Ravensong, a magic-user jealous of Zatanna's ability to use magic naturally and without committing sacrifices. Nimue seduced and cursed John Constantine, leading Zatanna into conflict with the sorceress.
Identity Crisis and the aftermath
During the 2004 Identity Crisis storyline, it was revealed that Doctor Light had years earlier raped the now-murdered Sue Dibny, the wife of hero Elongated Man. Opting for a magical lobotomization of Light due to threatening other JLA members' family. When Batman appears in the middle of the process and tries to stop it, Zatanna also erases his memories. In the present time, Light becomes a suspect as his memories return, prompting the League towards a manhunt but Zatanna's role in mind-wiping others is revealed. While Jean Loring's role in Sue's murder alongside implicating other villains is revealed, Zatanna's role in erasing various villain's memories throughout the years causes a moral rift within the League as her reputation deteriorates and her trustworthiness is called into questioned, especially by longtime friends such as Batman. In storylines exploring the aftermath such as "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman and the Secret Society of Super Villains are among those mind-wiped in earlier years, the former done to force her towards a more righteous path.A 2005 four-issue Zatanna limited series was published as part of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers event. In it, at a support group for superheroes, she recounts a failed magical ritual to search for her father's tomes, during which one of her past spells summons a shapeshifter named Gwydion, who kills her companions. This trauma, combined with her guilt from her former mind-wipes, robs her of her powers. With the help of her new apprentice, Misty Kilgore, she captures Gwydion to use as her own. She eventually regains her confidence and powers, and uses them to defeat Zor, a rogue Time Tailor who released the Sheeda as a plague to infect and degrade the universe. As a reward, the other Time Tailors allow her one last meeting with her father, who reveals that his books were written for her, his "greatest spell and gift to the world". In the final battle against the Sheeda, Zatanna casts a spell to move time and space, retroactively positioning the Seven Soldiers to overthrow the Sheeda.
In Detective Comics #833, it is stated that Zatanna's father was a friend of Thomas Wayne. Zatara trained Bruce Wayne in the art of escape, and Bruce and Zatanna were childhood friends, although Batman believes that he has never met her in Justice League of America #51, and her only memory of meeting him is while she was disguised. Bruce helps Zatanna investigate the death of one of her former assistants; all clues point to performer Ivar Loxias. Loxias is revealed to be the Joker in disguise; he shoots Zatanna in the throat and incapacitates Batman. Zatanna is able to heal herself by writing a curing spell in her own blood, and she is instrumental in foiling the Joker's scheme, driving Joker insane in the process. Bruce puts Zatanna's betrayal behind him, allowing the two to renew their friendship.
On the "Roll Call" of Justice League of America #22, Zatanna is listed as a part of the team. Called upon to help with the Red Tornado's restoration in his android form, she aids the League when they are attacked by a new, powerful iteration of Amazo. During the battle, Zatanna has her mouth magically removed with her spells, and once again uses her blood to write out spells and restore it. After that Wonder Woman throws off Amazo's concentration and free Zatanna. Zatanna then defeats Amazo once and for all by using the Red Tornado's soul. Following this battle, Zatanna rejoins the team.
Zatanna later accompanies Firestorm, Black Lightning, and Batman to Metropolis after they come to believe Kimiyo Hoshi has been kidnapped by agents of the Shadow Cabinet. After a brief conflict, Zatanna and the others are informed by teenage superheroine Rocket that Kimiyo's perceived abduction was actually a misunderstanding caused by the Shadow Cabinet's mission to seek out her help in dealing with the cosmic vampire Starbreaker. With assistance from Hardware and Icon, Zatanna and her comrades are able to defeat Starbreaker in a battle in the Himalayas.
In the 2009 Gotham City Sirens series, Zatanna is visited and restrained by Poison Ivy, who interacts via a tree and asks her if her encounter with Catwoman changed Selina in any way. She later a leave of absence from the JLA, only to reappear during a battle with Despero. Once he is defeated, Zatanna informs the League of the apocalyptic events of the Blackest Night taking place across the globe. After taking the team to the Hall of Justice to find Firestorm, she is forced to fight the undead form of her father, continually pitting the black magic he wields against her own. it is implied while she was successful in banishing the Black Lantern, she was left psychologically scarred from having to kill her father again. In the aftermath, Kimiyo mentions that Zatanna is one of the members who has left the team.
In her self-titled solo series in 2010, no longer an active member of the JLA, Zatanna is asked by officer Dale Colton to help solve a murder case at a restaurant frequented by mobsters. Zatanna informs Dale that the murderer was the sorcerer Brother Night, who rules the supernatural crime scene in San Francisco. After Zatanna shows up at Night's demonic nightclub and threatens him, he responds by summoning a demon, but Zatanna defeats and imprisons the demon to aid her later. A crooked casino owner who had made a deal for eternal youth with the demon of avarice by selling the souls of his brides to the demon attempts to use a love potion to win Zatanna's soul. When her cousin Zachary Zatara breaks the spell, the casino owner begs Zatanna to turn him into a soulless lump of gold in order to escape torment in Hell. Aside from Brother Night, Zatanna faces other threats, such as Oscar Hample, a man who tried to murder her when she was a child and was turned into a puppet by her father. The Zatanna series ended with issue #16.
The Black Canary and Zatanna graphic novel Bloodspell written by Paul Dini and drawn by Joe Quinones was to be released in 2012, but was delayed until May 2014. The story centered around a 16-year-old Black Canary's first meeting with Zatanna.