APALLA

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Sentient stellar body

Occupation: Sustaining the life of Earth, Defender of the other stars

Group Membership: Stars of the Universe (Grand Nebular named)

Affiliations: Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Clea, Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange);
Ardina (created using her power)

Enemies: Creators, In-Betweener, Visimajoris, unidentified terrorists

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Appala, Queen of the Sun, the Sun Queen; Sol, the sun, Mary Sunshine

Base of Operations: Earth's solar system; formerly Earth

First Appearance: Doctor Strange II#22 (April, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: Apalla possesses the full power of Earth's sun, although there are limits to the powers she can unleash without destroying that which she would preserve. She can take on human form, generate nova explosion level heat and force, etc. It is likely that her powers are somewhat decreased in humanoid form.

History:
Apalla is the living manifestation of Earth's Sun.

(Doctor Strange II#22, 24, [25-28]) - The Creators plotted to replace the stars in order to gain their power. Doctor Strange opposed the Creators, and Apalla created her humanoid form and traveled to Earth to assist Strange. After Strange accessed the realm of the Creators, Apalla learned his location from Clea and Wong, and journeyed there as well. She saved Strange from the attack of the demon Visimajoris, blasting him into submission, and then accompanied him to confront the Creators themselves. However, as the two battled the Creators, Strange saw the Cosmic Wheel of Change, and (he was suffering from some sort of madness) apparently destroyed it. Rather than halt the Creators' plans, this freed them from conventional rules of Reality, and allowed them to complete their plans. Apalla was not very happy with Doc at this point.
The Creators replaced the stars, who were shunted into inert human form. Strange placed the inert humanoid stars in orbit around what was once Alpha Centauri while he went on to defeat the Creators and reverse the changes.

   Apalla was not seen during this time, and I'd guess that she lost her power as a result of the transfer, and was one of the inert figures amongst the humanoid stars.

(Marvel Super-Heroes III#3/6 (fb)) - Although the sun returned to its rightful place in the cosmos, Apalla (referred to as Appala throughout the issue) remained on Earth. Apparently some portion of Apalla enjoyed being human and was unwilling to relinquish her newfound humanity. However, her memory was submerged, leaving her unaware of her true nature and abilities.

(Marvel Super-Heroes III#3/6) - Some time later, a group of unidentified terrorists stole a cache of radioactive waste. Captain Mar-Vell battled the terrorists, but they escaped. The effects of the radiation altered Mar-Vell's solar powers so that every time he accessed them, he drained power directly from Apalla. Not really understanding who she was or what she was doing, Apalla began appearing to Mar-Vell, telling him to stop hurting her. He didn't know how he was hurting her, or how to stop, but when he continued to use his powers, she punished him by removing his Cosmic Awareness.

   Mar-Vell finally managed to locate Apalla, and though she attacked him, he managed to help her regain her form and power, but not all of her memory. She assumed her true form, although she still blamed him for his "attacks" on her. She continued his assault, but after Mar-Vell saved her from an attack by these terrorists, she realized that he was not to blame. Together they defeated the terrorists, and then with a kiss, she imbued Mar-Vell with her entire self, and he used his powers to return it to the sun.

(Order I#4 - BTS) - Clea invoked the name of Apalla to drain power from the Silver Surfer to create a feminine counterpart to oppose him: Ardina.

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman and Rudy Nebres, expanded by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.

   The Master of the Sun is referred to as the Master of Earth's sun. This may make him a masculine form of Apalla, or perhaps, even better, he could be the Grand Nebular.

   Cloud, of the Defenders, is a sentient nebula, which is sort of a precursor to a star (at least as far as my understanding goes). Although she's from a distant galaxy, she may know or be associated with Apalla.

   I guess if you wanted to get nit-picky, you could put Apalla behind the scenes in virtually every comic taking place in Earth's solar system.

New and additional images by Markus Raymond.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:

• Apollo, the Olympian God of Light (among other things)--Thor Annual I#5
  --I'm not sure if the name Apalla was just derived from Apollo from Marvel, or if there any other character/goddess by that name.
• any other character with a similar name