Monday, May 26, 2008

Dream Girl

Nura's home planet is Naltor, where virtually all the inhabitants possess precognitive abilities. After she foreseeing the deaths of several Legionnaires, she crafted an elaborate plan to save their lives. As part of that plan, she used Naltorian science -— of which she was an expert -— to change Ayla Ranzz' powers from lightning casting to the ability to make objects super lightweight. For many years thereafter, Ayla -- who had been known as Lightning Lass -- became Light Lass (However the Legionnaires she foresaw dying were actually robot doubles). Having joined the team under false pretenses, she left the Legion temporarily and became a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. There she was reunited with Star Boy, with whom she had become romantically involved. Star Boy had previously been expelled from the Legion for the self-defense killing of Nura's former love, Naltorian Kenz Nahor, who had tried to kill Star Boy over jealousy of his relationship with Nura.

Years later, Dream Girl served as Legion leader (only the second female Legionnaire to do so), with her first mission being perhaps the Legion's greatest challenge: defending the United Planets from an assault by the ancient villain Darkseid. Her sister Mysa, the White Witch, also served as a Legionnaire. Her mother was named Kiwa Nal, who was the High Seer of Naltor (Naltor's leader); the identity of her father was unrevealed.

Dream Girl's mastery of Naltorian science placed her in an elite group. Among the Legionnaires, her scientific prowess was surpassed only by Brainiac 5 and the original Invisible Kid, and perhaps equalled only by Mon-El. Additionally, she compensated for the non-physical nature of her powers by engaging in numerous training sessions with Karate Kid. Eventually, no Legionnaire was more skilled in nonpowered hand-to-hand combat except Karate Kid himself.

Reboot versions

After the events of the Zero Hour miniseries, Legion continuity was completed rebooted. The second version of Dream Girl claimed that her name was Nura Schappin, changing her surname to Nal because, as she put it, "It just says I'm from Naltor y'know." She also claimed to have been the first precognitive to be born on Naltor in seven generations (a claim that was later contradicted by other post Zero Hour Legion stories).

For most of this continuity's duration, Nura was not a Legionnaire (although she was still Star Boy's girlfriend). Additionally, she suffered from narcolepsy, falling unconscious whenever she had a vision. She was no longer the sister of Mysa, who was completely unrelated to her in this continuity. Eventually, Nura gained Legion membership under the codename Dreamer, shortly before the Legion was rebooted again in 2005.

Threeboot

In the 2005 reboot, her codename returned to Dream Girl. In this continutiy, she sometimes loses track of events in the present when tracking a future event (she once failed to get involved in a fight because she thought it had already happened).

Brainiac 5 was initially shown as resenting her ability to simply "know" things that he had to deduce, and he once questioned her abilities. Her response was a prediction that they would be married.

In current storylines she appears to have been killed in battle, however Brainiac 5 placed her body in stasis and worked to revive her. Although he failed to fully resurrect her, she is now a spirit with the ability to appear in anyone in their dreams or daydreams.

She was replaced in the Legion by a male Naltorian named Dream Boy.

Post-Infinite Crisis

The events of the Infinite Crisis miniseries have apparently restored a close analogue of the Pre-Crisis Legion to continuity, as seen in "The Lightning Saga" story arc in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, and in the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc in Action Comics. Dream Girl is included in their number. In this incarnation, her powers are implied to be linked to the realm of the Dreaming, ruled by Dream of the Endless. It is later revealed that Dream Girl somehow passed on her prophetic knowledge to Thom Kallor.

Powers and abilities

Like all natives of Naltor, Nura has the power to see the future in dreams and visions and she is rated one of the most powerful precognitives on the planet. She was skilled in Naltorian science, specializing in biology, and trained with Val Armorr aka Karate Kid. Her hand-to-hand fighting skills, combined with her ability to glimpse the future, made her a formidable short-term opponent in battle, capable of taking on The Persuader, but the sheer number of expanding possible futures in each second of a battle made it difficult for her to keep the advantage. She is highly charismatic, capable of convincing men and women to do what she wants. Her precognitive abilities also give her an edge in strategic planning

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