Firestar

FIRST APPEARANCE: Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985)

Angelica Jones was a thirteen-year-old high school student who fell victim to a series of unfortunate events. She was bullied by the girls at her school, her beloved grandmother died suddenly, and Angelica was frightened to discover that she herself was manifesting a strange superhuman power to generate great heat. With her grandmother gone, Angelica lived alone with her father, who was unable to cope with helping Angelica deal with her new power. Angelica was desperately confused, lonely, and miserable.

Angelica was, in fact, a mutant, and her newly emerging mutant ability caused her presence to be detected by Cerebro, a machine designed by Professor Charles Xavier for the purpose of locating superhumanly powerful mutants. Angelica's presence was also registered by Multivac, a similar machine employed by Emma Frost, the White Queen of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. Xavier and the X-Men attempted to pinpoint the unknown mutant's location in order to recruit her for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where he trained mutants in using their powers.

Meanwhile, Frost did the same, hoping to enlist the unknown mutant in her school, where she could train her to use her powers in order to serve the sinister purposes of the Inner Circle. Frost reached Angelica and her father only moments before the X-Men could. Frost, in her public role as headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy, a renowned private school, persuaded Angelica's father to send her there to receive the special help she needed.

Thunderbird (James Proudstar), one of the Hellions, a team of adolescent mutants being trained by Frost, sought vengeance on Xavier and the X-Men for the death of his brother, the original Thunderbird, who had been killed in action while serving with the X-Men. Two other Hellions, Empath and Roulette, decided to help Thunderbird against the X-Men despite his refusal of their assistance. Empath used his power to control the emotions of others to force Firestar to fall in love with him so deeply that she would do anything he asked. He thus forced her to participate in the three Hellions' attack on the X-Men, whom Frost had taught Angelica to regard as enemies, at the military base at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. However, the X-Men defeated Firestar, Empath, and Roulette, and Thunderbird realized he was wrong to want vengeance on Xavier and the X-Men. Firestar, once free of Empath's control, felt despair and guilt over having helped the Hellions cause so much trouble at Cheyenne Mountain. She was pleased and touched, however, when Xavier offered to admit her into his school. She refused, though, out of loyalty to Frost, and returned to the Massachusetts Academy.

Eventually, however, Frost began to manipulate Firestar to fulfill her true intentions. Frost intended to employ Angelica as an assassin against her rival Selene, then the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. To this end, she used her telepathic powers, an armlet which allowed her to tap into Angelica's dreams, and her Hellfire lackeys to initiate alleged accidents with Angelica's powers, further driving her into isolation and Frost's arms. However, since her first day at the Academy, Angelica had been assigned a bodyguard named Randall Chase. Chase, who grew very close to Angelica, was aware of Frost's plans and became increasingly concerned about Angelica's welfare. Eventually, Frost had Chase restrained and scheduled for termination; Chase escaped, mortally wounded, and managed to relate the truth to Angelica before dying in her arms. In retaliation, Angelica turned against Frost, destroying the Academy's secret training center before returning to her father, with whom she reconciled.

Firestar was of the many mutants that joined the mutant nation of Krakoa upon its creation. She was seen alongside many other Krakoans grieving Charles Xavier's death at the hands of anti-mutant super-human criminals that had infiltrated Krakoa and killed many of its residents, including Xavier.

Firestar, along with the other street-level heroes who had participated in the previous battle with Carnage, were gathered by Iron Fist in aiding Misty Knight during Dark Carnage's latest attack. They battled various Carnage doppelgangers, only to face Demogoblin, and her pet, Man-Wolf. They were successful in defeating the monsters and freeing Man-Wolf. After that, they joined the other heroes at a warehouse in battling the remaining members of Carnage's group. In the end, the monsters reverted back to humans, as Venom absorbed Carnage's symbiote after killing him.