Volcana (Claire Selton) is a

supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are oft ...

in '' Superman: The Animated Series''. Voiced by

Peri Gilpin Peri Gilpin (born Peri Kay Oldham; May 27, 1961) is an American actress. She portrayed Roz Doyle in the television series ''Frasier'' and Kim Keeler in the ABC Family television drama ''Make It or Break It''. She is due to reprise the role of R ...

, she made her first appearance in the episode " Where There's Smoke".

Fictional character biography

;''Superman: The Animated Series'' The supervillainess known as Volcana was originally named Claire Selton. As a teenager, Claire showed an aptitude for

pyrokinesis Pyrokinesis is the purported psychic ability allowing a person to create and control fire with the mind. As with other parapsychological phenomena, there is no conclusive evidence in support of the actual existence of pyrokinesis. Many alleged c ...

— the ability to start fires with one's mind. Her parents sent her to Metropolis' Center for

Paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

Studies so that she could learn to control and develop her power, but she was soon taken by government agents who had big plans for her. According to the director of the center, the agents "stripped away her past, code-named her Volcana, and tried their hardest to turn her into a living weapon". Volcana would not go along with the plan. She escaped from the agents, became a hunted fugitive and survived the only way she could: by stealing. Following the fire activity on a ship, Volcana contacted her

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

Donnie to find a way to get her out of town and to meet at the "usual place". After the call with Volcana, Donnie was approached by three men in suits who ask him about where the "usual place" is. Superman later had contact with Volcana. They fought briefly, then Volcana escaped. When she arrived at the "usual place" to meet with Donnie only to run into Kurt (one of the three men in suits) who mentioned that he was the one who originally kidnapped her. Before Volcana could retaliate, she was hit by a powerful flame retardant by the other agents and captured. Superman later arrived at the same spot and managed to interrogate one of the men that worked for Kurt. Volcana was held in a gas tank in an underground facility where Kurt stated that he will sell Volcana to another government where they will dissect her and discover the source of her abilities. When Superman arrived, he indicated that Kurt was doing this for his own reasons; the original "Project Firestorm" was shut down. During Superman's fight with Kurt's men, the gas tank housing Volcana was damaged enough for her to break out of it. Volcana managed to wreak havoc on the facility to take revenge on Kurt. Her attacks ignited several hydrogen tanks. The explosion stunned her while Superman evacuated the endangered combatants. Superman placed her on a deserted island where Superman delivered her food in exchange that she stayed on the island and did not harm anyone. She made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

in the later episode "Unity", having a brief fight with

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

. It is not explained why she left the island or why she returned to villainy despite having been on good terms with Superman. ;''Justice League'' and ''Justice League Unlimited'' Volcana made appearances in the episodes " Only a Dream" and "

Hereafter The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

" of ''

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

'', voiced again by Peri Gilpin. In the episode "Only a Dream" Volcana is incarcerated at a Metropolis jail and takes advantage of a prison riot to escape with fellow villain

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

. She shows a willingness to use her powers lethally in this episode, which brings the character to a more sinister level than before. It was established that the government project that created her was part of a long-running collaboration between the US military and major corporations to secretly experiment on

metahumans In DC Comics' DC Universe, a metahuman is a human with superpowers. The term is roughly synonymous with both ''mutant'' and ''mutate'' in the Marvel Universe and ''posthuman'' in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In DC Comics, the term ...

and alien technology. An early version of Project Cadmus existed in the wake of Superman's attempted invasion of Earth while under

Darkseid Darkseid () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer-artist Jack Kirby to serve as the primary antagonist of his "Fourth World (comics), Fourth World" metaseries, and was firs ...

's control, producing the metahuman teenagers of the

Royal Flush Gang The Royal Flush Gang is a group of supervillains appearing in DC Comics. The group, which debuted in ''Justice League of America'' #43 (March 1966), use a playing card theme. Their code names are based on the cards needed to form a royal flush in ...

and the creature

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

that fought the Justice Lords. The Justice Lords' attack gave Cadmus renewed focus under

Amanda Waller Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Legends'' #1 in 1986 and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and ...

, as the government realized it had no way to counter an attack by the Justice League should they go rogue, and led to the creation of Galatea and the Ultimen. She appears briefly also in a cameo in the episode "To Another Shore", seen onscreen by Mr. Terrific, while she battles the

Red Tornado Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

. She has also appeared as a member of

Gorilla Grodd Gorilla Grodd is a supervillain character appearing in American comic books and other media published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of The Flash. The character was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, and first appeared in ''The F ...

's Secret Society and was seen battling the invading forces of Darkseid in the series finale. In this episode she is shown to fly under her own power, which is could explain how she left her island to rejoin society. Volcana witnesses Darkseid's return and was saved by Star Sapphire and

Sinestro Thaal Sinestro () (or simply Sinestro) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, particularly those featuring Green Lantern. Sinestro is a former Green Lantern Corps member who was dishonorably discharged for abu ...

. She is one of the survivors alive at the end of the battle and was last seen taking advantage of the "five minute head start" the Justice League gives her after fighting with Darkseid ceased.

Power and abilities

Claire was known to have the ability to mentally control fire, which is called/known as

. She was also seen to turn her body, completely into fire. She can project blasts of it without harming herself, but without

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

it will prevent her from create fires. Because she, as part-human, also requires oxygen to breathe, she is particularly vulnerable to

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

Comics

Volcana has only made two single appearances in the ''Superman Adventures'' comics based on her original appearances on the ''

DC Animated Universe The DC Animated Universe (DCAU; also referred to as the Timmverse or Diniverse by fans referring to the creators and producers Bruce Timm and Paul Dini respectively) is a shared universe consisting primarily of superhero-based animated televis ...

'', in issues #20 and #41 respectively.

In other media

Video games

She appears as a boss in '' Superman: Shadow of Apokolips'' and '' Superman: Countdown to Apokolips''. Peri Gilpin reprises her role in both games.

Toys

In 2007, Volcana received her very own action figure as part of Mattel's ''Justice League Unlimited'' action figure line. The figure was released as part of a three-figure pack with

Hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

and

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 in November 1941. His secret identity, real name is Olive ...

and is about 10 cm tall. Due to poor distribution of many of the 2007 assortments of JLU action figures, Volcana quickly became one of the rarest and most sought after pieces in the ''Justice League'' line.

References

External links

Volcana bio
on the official Batman Superman Adventures homepage

in The Justice League Watchtower at toonzone.net
Volcana
i
the DC Animated Universe Wiki
at wikia.com {{DC Animated Universe Animated characters introduced in 1998 Characters created by Bruce Timm DC Animated Universe characters DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics metahumans Female characters in animation Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities Fictional professional thieves Television characters introduced in 1998