Profiles in Supervillainy: La Dama

8 months ago 89

Eileen's superior literate emotion is comic books, but she’s ever connected the lookout for her adjacent literate escapade nary substance what signifier it takes. She has a Bachelor's successful media studies, a Master's successful integer communication, a smattering of published abbreviated stories, and a earnestly cute dog. Follow her connected Tumblr and Twitter.

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What is simply a superhero without a supervillain? Not much. Some supervillains, however, are worthy a batch much than others. I person truthful decided to spotlight immoderate lesser-known villains. Are they underrated gems oregon irredeemable losers who merit to beryllium forgotten? You decide! Today’s subject: La Dama!

In the eyes of Brenda Del Vecchio, 1 of Blue Beetle’s friends, Amparo was the champion aunt you could inquire for. She was surely amended than Brenda’s father, a convulsive abuser who serendipitously died successful a car mishap aft putting Brenda successful the hospital.

There was conscionable 1 problem: unbeknownst to Brenda, Amparo is besides La Dama, the caput of a transgression empire who is determined to physique her ain service of magical meta-humans. And she figures retired Blue Beetle is truly Jaime Reyes successful nary clip flat. Oops.

La Dama threatens to exposure Blue Beetle's existent individuality if helium crosses her. Blue Beetle realizes she killed her niece's abusive father.

Like galore criminals, La Dama has 1 large weakness, and that’s Brenda. She volition bash perfectly thing to support her harmless and happy, up to and including murder. She arranged her father’s car “accident” to support Brenda, and she tolerates her relationship with Jaime due to the fact that she knows the 2 genuinely attraction for each other.

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Amparo and Blue Beetle each person blackmail worldly connected each different — she knows he’s Jaime Reyes, helium knows she’s La Dama — truthful they hold to a truce astatine the extremity of her archetypal quality (Blue Beetle #3-6). Needless to say, that doesn’t past existent long.

Notable Appearances

Despite her ain emotion for Brenda, and contempt being an astute observer, La Dama doesn’t rather look to grasp that different radical person loyalties, too. She is continually amazed by the lengths to which Brenda’s different person Paco is consenting to spell for her.

She was, however, alert capable to support her existent vocation a concealed from Brenda, lone to person Brenda accidentally find retired astir it in…

Blue Beetle #19

Obviously, Brenda is precise upset by the news, but she does besides larn that Amparo had been making efforts to code down the worst of her transgression activities to beryllium a amended guardian for Brenda.

In 2 panels, Brenda realizes that her aunt has been scaling backmost her transgression activities ever since learning she mightiness person to instrumentality Brenda in.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get overmuch solution to this revelation. In aboriginal issues, Brenda moved successful with the Reyes household truthful she could process everything, and we saw a mates of little interactions betwixt her and La Dama that indicated they mightiness beryllium capable to repair their narration someday. And that was however things stood erstwhile the bid (and the full DC universe) got rebooted successful 2011.

Blue Beetle #1-5

I hatred this reboot. In summation to altering Jaime and the Scarab’s backstory and inserting immoderate questionable Spanish (why would you usage the informal You to speech to your boss, who is besides a transgression boss?), it revived Brenda’s dada and erased each cognition of La Dama’s existent individuality from the main characters’ minds. Oh, and she tin bash magic now, I guess.

La Dama prevents Jaime from moving done the usage of magic. She refuses to fto him spell until helium tells her what helium did with the Scarab.

On the upside, Amparo yet gets a past name: Cardenas.

Beetle’s archetypal brushwood with La Dama successful this reboot ends with her accidentally magicking her location — and herself — retired of this level of existence.

Justice League 3001 #8-12

In a far-off aboriginal wherever everything sucks, the Justice League is cloned and acceptable to combat Lady Styx, a supremely almighty despot who has conquered Earth. It goes benignant of atrocious and culminates successful the bid getting canceled without a wide resolution.

What does this person to bash with La Dama? Well…sigh…

Blue Beetle #13

This contented reveals that Amparo Cardenas is really an immortal being who has gone by galore names, including La Dama and Lady Styx.

Lady Styx reveals to a shocked Blue Beetle that she is besides la Dama.

Why bash I consciousness similar Oscar Isaac announcing Palpatine has someway returned?

I’ll get much into wherefore I hatred this successful a moment. But what truly burns my toast is the assertion that Lady Dama is incapable of emotion oregon lukewarm feelings for anyone, adjacent Brenda. Whereas Brenda was antecedently the focal constituent of Amparo’s beingness and adjacent inspired her to alteration (somewhat), the rebooted mentation conscionable wants powerfulness and volition measurement connected anyone to get it.

The contented ends vaguely (yes, again), with the accusation that Blue Beetle volition someday enactment for Lady Styx. As acold arsenic I know, though, she — and La Dama — person not appeared successful immoderate caller stories since this one.

Anything Else?

Not really. She seemingly showed up successful Catwoman: Hunted arsenic a subordinate of Leviathan. I haven’t seen it, truthful I can’t accidental which mentation of the quality this was.

The Verdict

Both.

The archetypal mentation of the quality is simply a refreshing alteration of gait from your mean villain. La Dama is simply a “big food successful a tiny pond” (as Batman puts it successful Brave & the Bold #3) connected purpose. She ne'er became a planetary oregon nationwide menace due to the fact that she doesn’t privation oregon request that benignant of trouble: her empire successful El Paso provides each the wealth and powerfulness she needs, and she is blessed with that. There’s thing to beryllium said for a villain who doesn’t fto their ambition get the amended of them for a change.

And past the reboot happened and threw each that retired the window. It pains maine to accidental this, since I usually similar Giffen and DeMatteis’s Justice League work, but the Lady Styx concern is perfectly the incorrect determination for this character. They took a morally analyzable antagonist and turned her into different generic supervillain. Maybe the information that Justice League 3001 got canned hampered their quality to soma retired Lady Styx, but the precise conception of that quality goes against everything that made La Dama interesting.

I would precise happily spot Lady Styx dropped into a volcano, but La Dama deserves different accidental — possibly successful a aboriginal Blue Beetle movie (hint, hint)?

Want to conscionable much overlooked villains? Check retired my profiles connected King Tut, the Matador, Peek-a-Boo, Man-Killer, Mad Mod, Big Wheel, KGBeast, the Living Monolith, Egg Fu, Mahkizmo, my One-Shot Special, Lord Manga Khan, and Deadly Nightshade!