YVETTE DOUGLAS

Real Name: Yvette Steckley Douglas

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Unrevealed; maybe a full-time homekeeper

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Arthur Douglas, Heather Douglas

Enemies: Czar-Doon, Thanos

Known Relatives: Arthur Douglas (husband), Heather Douglas (daughter), Pamela Douglas (niece)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Douglas family home in Los Angeles, California

First Appearance: (Mentioned, unnamed) Daredevil I#105 (November, 1973); (seen, named) Captain Marvel I#32 (February, 1974)

Powers/Abilities: She was a caring mother and wife, but beyond that we don't know anything about her. She was apparently a regular human being with regular human being abilities and weaknesses like dying in a car crash.

Height: Unrevealed (5'3"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (110 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

History:
(Legendary Star-Lord#12 (fb)) - At some point Arthur, Yvette and Heather took a family picture together.

MASSIVE POST-SECRET WARS III RETCON

(Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian#1) - Yvette and a pre-teen Heather (clearly far older than 3 years) were sitting at a bar in Las Vegas and listening to Arthur and his band, who had a gig at the location. After the concert Yvette suggested to take a room and stay for the night instead of driving back home during the night, but Arthur didn't want to and suggested Yvette and Heather to just sleep in the car while he drove home.

   During their ride home Heather saw something that looked like a falling star while they were driving through the desert. The three were shocked when the object got closer and eventually stopped in front of their car. A young Thanos jumped out of the spaceship and crushed the front of the car with his landing. Yvette died, but Arthur and Heather survived and were picked up by Thanos' father Mentor, who offered Arthur a chance to survive and get his revenge.

MASSIVE POST-SECRET WARS III RETCON ENDING

(Captain Marvel I#32 (fb) / Warlock and the Infinity Watch#11-12 (fb)) <12/31/1953> (see comments) - Yvette was a mere passenger in her husband Arthur's car when they drove home with their three-year-old daughter Heather after a visit to the International Hotel in Las Vegas to see Elvis Presley (see comments). They were on their way home through the Mojave Desert from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Thanos was on his first scouting mission to Earth and wished to keep it secret, but due to a miscalculation his ship could be seen. Because he couldn't afford any witnesses...

(Warlock and the Infinity Watch#11 (fb)) - ...Czar-Doon fired at the car on Thanos' order.

(New Defenders I#143 (fb)) - While driving through the desert, Yvette pointed out, what looked like a shooting star, to Heather and told her to make a wish on it. Yvette and Arthur were shocked when the supposed shooting star suddenly around and headed straight for them. Yvette told Heather to get down before their car was hit by the energy blast.

(Captain Marvel I#32 (fb)) - The blast destroyed the engine and the burning car ran off the road through the guard rail on the side. Yvette and Arthur were tossed from the car.

(Logan's Run#6 (fb)) - Arthur saw his dead wife Yvette and Heather laying on the ground near the burning car.

(Captain Marvel I#32 (fb)) - The last thing Arthur saw before his death were Thanos and his assistant Czar-Doon. Unbeknownst to Thanos at the time, Heather survived and was taken to Titan by his father Mentor.

(Daredevil I#105 - BTS) - Moondragon revealed to Daredevil how her parents died in a car crash after a blue light hit their car.

(Captain Marvel I#32 - BTS) - Thanos restored Drax's full memory of the incident that led to the death of Drax, when he was still known as Arthur, and his wife Yvette. Thanos tried to break Drax with the memory, but it backfired and actually gave Drax renewed determination to fight Thanos.

(Captain Marvel I#44 - BTS) - Rick Jones' subconscious creation Fawn made Drax recall his past life once again, including his and his wife's death.

(Logan's Run#6/2 - BTS) - Drax the Destroyer fought Thanos again on a distant planet, but upon seeing Thanos toss a mother and her daughter off a mountain, Drax remembered his dead wife and unconscious daughter after the car crash. He decided to save the two women from falling to their certain doom instead of going after Thanos, who escaped.

(Avengers Annual I#7) - Heather once again recalled how she lost her parents at the hands of Thanos (nothing new).

(Thor I#314 - BTS) - Heather once again recalled the events that led to her parents' death-

(New Defenders I#143 - BTS) - Heather once again re-lived the death of her parents Yvette and Arthur during meditation.

(Warlock and the Infinity Watch#12 - BTS) - Moondragon spoke to Drax about his first death and she experienced the event once again while he remembered it.

(Guardians of the Galaxy II#21 - BTS) - The Universal Church of Truth's Matriarch psychically tortured Drax with the memories of all the women he had lost in his life, including Yvette.

(Legendary Star-Lord#12 - BTS) - The Collector got his hands on an old family picture of Drax, Yvette and Heather. He showed it off to Victoria of Spartax, daughter of J'son and sister to Star-Lord (Peter Quill).

Comments: Created by Jim Starlin, Mike Friedrich & Dan Green.

   There was a massive retcon between Daredevil I#105 and Captain Marvel I#32. The person bringing Heather to Titan changed from Emlot to Mentor (A'Lars). Her parents died as the result of a Titan missionary expedition and Thanos was still a child at the time in the DD story. In the CM story Thanos' ship was the one that attacked the car. Starlin clearly had different plans than Gerber.

   The year of Yvette's death was first revealed in Captain Marvel I#32. The complete date for Yvette's death was given as 12/31/1953 in Giant-Size Avengers I#4 (June, 1975) by the Elder Cotati. Both are almost 100% topical!

   I am also pretty sure that the reference to Elvis Presley is topical at this point or is he still alive on Earth-616? Maybe the Douglas family attended the concert of a really good Elvis impersonator.

   Heather Douglas used the alias H.D. Steckley as a reference to her mother's maiden name. She first used it in Quasar I#11 (June, 1990).

About Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian#1 and pretty much all other flashbacks involving Yvette. They were all part of memories and dreams of two people (Drax and Moondragon) that went through a lot of trauma and had their minds screwed with. While every appearance up to Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian#1 stayed pretty consistent about Heather's young age and that Thanos' ship blasted the car and caused Yvette's death, Yvette's look changed constantly. Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian#1 is still the one that was more different than any other previous flashback, but it could've been part of another faulty dream by Arthur inside the Soul Stone...and speaking of the Soul Stone.

A version of Yvette not only appeared in events that were clearly part of a new life Arthur Douglas was allowed to live through inside the Soul Stone. This version was not a mother yet, but her pregnancy was revealed during the issue. Another version of Yvette also appeared inside the Soul Stone in Infinity Wars#5-6 (January-February, 2019). This version survived a car accident with Arthur unscathed and the tree they ran into turned out to be Groot, who recruited Arthur to join other heroes in their final battle of the series as Drax while Yvette stayed behind. Maybe both versions are the same, but I am not sure about that.

Profile by Markus Raymond.