RAPTRA
Real Name: Raptra
Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (Saurian)
Occupation: Pirate
Group Membership: Reptyl's crew
Affiliations: Avengers, Mantis, Quoi;
formerly Kid Syn, Reptyl,
Enemies: Primo, Reptyl, Rot, Thanos
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Her starship
First Appearance: Avengers: Celestial Quest#2 (December, 2001)
Powers/Abilities: Raptra possesses the normal abilities of her species, and thus has a scaly hide allowing superhuman durability to an certain degree. Raptra is a superb pirate and hand to hand combatant. She secrets limited amounts of acid in her skin. She is often armed with a powerful gun, and also a starship that is quite fast and formidable.
Raptra possessed a Cloak of Invisibility, stolen from Thanos.
History: Not much is known of Raptra before her first appearance. At one point she became a pirate, and became affiliated with Reptyl.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#2)- Raptra, with Reptyl and Kid Syn, is chasing a ship carrying two Priests of Pama. The priests go into a class three nebula where Raptra and her allies' ships cannot follow due to their lack of necessary shields. Reptyl and Kid Syn argue over what to do. Raptra takes Reptyl's side.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#3)- Raptra, Reptyl, and Kid Syn get into a little space battle with an Avenger's Quinjet. The Avengers defeat the space pirates and their crews, who all load into escape pods. Raptra disobeys an order from Reptyl and instead rescues Kid Syn. Reptyl reprimands her and yells at her for disobeying him. She says she doesn't need to take his orders. Suddenly, Thanos' ship appears. The pirates and their crews prepare to attack Thanos when he boards Reptyl's ship. Thanos kills every member of every one of their crews with a wave of his hand. Raptra stands defiant, but Thanos says he is not there to kill them. He says that he is now a god and he is making a pantheon, which he is inviting them to join. If they agree, he will grant them godly powers. Raptra and Kid Syn decline, knowing how evil Thanos was, but Reptyl accepts. Thanos kills Kid Syn by draining his energy and giving it to Reptyl. He offers to Raptra again, but again, Raptra declines. Thanos says that if that is the case, she will be used as one of the life forces he drains to give power to another.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#4)- Thanos tells Raptra she has one day to live, then she will serve him or die. But during a battle with some Eternals of Titan, Raptra takes the Cloak of Invisibility and uses it to escape. Raptra races off to get the Celestial Messiah (Mantis' son Quoi) before Thanos can, knowing it to be the only way to beat Thanos.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#5)- Raptra jumps
Quoi, knocks him unconscious, and loads him onto her ship. She
avoided being noticed by the sentient Cotati plants by using the
cloak of invisibility. Raptra flies away in her ship, thinking
about Quoi, and how she will now have the Avengers and Thanos
chasing her. Raptra radios Thanos and makes him a deal: She will
give him Quoi in exchange for him promising not to kill her.
Thanos declines.
Thanos sends Primo and Reptyl to capture
Raptra and Quoi. Later, when Quoi wakes up, Raptra tells him
where he is, and lies to him that she rescued him from Thanos
after Thanos knocked him out. She says that they are flying into
the Rot, a patch of dark space to hide in (or so she thought).
They enter the Rot.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#6)- Raptra and Quoi talk. They talk about Mantis, the Avengers, Thanos and then about Quoi being the Celestial Messiah. They start playfully roughhousing, and then kiss. Raptra says that while Reptyl always wanted humans and dinos separated, she never cared much. She feels guilty about trying to sell him out. Later on, Reptyl and Primo corner Raptra and Quoi, and a fight ensues. Raptra fights with Reptyl while Quoi fights with Primo. Both Primo and Quoi are taken out of the fight, and before Reptyl and Raptra can finish their business, Thanos shows up. He says that he will spare her if she gives him Quoi. She quickly accepts. But then, he takes both her and Quoi anyway.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#7)- Thanos stands before Mantis, Vision, Raptra, and Quoi, who are all bound up and captured. He goes over how he will kill each one. He says Raptra will die last and alone. After Thanos leaves, Raptra tries to tell Quoi that she only sold him out so she could rescue him. He says that it was the second time she sold him out. She tries to convince him it wasn't like that, but Quoi won't buy it. When Quoi is taken away, Raptra breaks her restraints using the acid in her skin. She goes to try to rescue him, subduing a guard, and uses his keys to free Vision as well. Raptra and Vision free Quoi, and Thanos attacks Raptra. She dodges, but then Thanos just keeps on going past her. Everything then gets pretty hectic, with the Avengers showing up, and then suddenly the ship is entirely encompassed by Rot.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#8)- While Quoi and Mantis create a bubble to protect the ship from Rot, Raptra explains to Quoi that she sold him out to teach him how bad the universe could be, since he didn't know growing up around plants. She says he would have died if he didn't find out. She promises that is her reason. Quoi actually believes her (I still don't see how you save someone by putting them in the hands of someone who will immediately kill them). After the ordeal with Rot is over, and Rot is destroyed by Death and Thanos going against their natures, Quoi goes to heal space from the wound inflicted by Rot. Raptra goes with him.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart and Jorge Santamaria
Raptra's reasons for selling out Quoi have got
to be the most unlikely ridiculous reasons imaginable. She sold
him out to save her own desperate self and she knows it. Also,
this has got to be the weirdest couple ever: A half human-half
plant and a reptile. Only in the Marvel Universe!
Englehart writes some great stuff, but he's
always got these weirdo rationalizations that make no sense, but
just allow him to make what he wants happen. A perfect example
was a gas attack on the Avengers in this storyline. The gas took
out Thor ( a god) and the Vision (an android), but Haywire was
spared because he was from an alternate Earth and his molecules
were slightly different. OK. say it over and over: "Suspension
of Disbelief...Suspension of Disbelief...Suspension of Disbelief..."
CLARIFICATIONS:
Raptra has no connection to:
The Saurian race represented by Raptra has no KNOWN connection to:
Appearances:
Avengers: Celestial Quest#3-8 (January-June 2002) - by Steve Englehart (writer), Jorge Santamaria (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 07/13/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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