Firebird (Marvel Comics)

Bonita Juarez debuted as part of the superhero team the Rangers in the story "You Get What You Need!" in Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #265 (August 1981), created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema.{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HDnHo993Dv0C&pg=PA168 |title=Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Films, Television and Games |date=14 October 2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786458004 |page=168 |accessdate=December 15, 2013}} She appeared in the 1985 West Coast Avengers series.{{Cite web |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=November 22, 2021 |title=Marvel's Forgotten 'Texas Avengers' and the Weird Exorcism That Haunted Them, Explained |url=https://www.cbr.com/avengers-texas-rangers-exorcism-shooting-star-texas-twister/ |access-date=July 3, 2023 |website=Comic Book Resources |language=en}} She appeared in the 2009 Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth series.{{cite web |last= |date=May 21, 2010 |title=Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #11 |url=https://www.cbr.com/deadpool-merc-with-a-mouth-11/ |accessdate=June 13, 2020 |website=Comic Book Resources}} She appeared in the 2012 Scarlet Spider series.{{Cite web |date=August 3, 2012 |title=Scarlet Spider #8 |url=https://www.cbr.com/scarlet-spider-8-2/ |access-date=July 3, 2023 |website=Comic Book Resources |language=en |archive-date=July 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703133127/https://www.cbr.com/scarlet-spider-8-2/ |url-status=dead }}

Bonita Juarez is a Mexican-American woman born in the fictional town of Buena Vista outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.{{Cite web |title=Firebird Powers, Enemies, History {{!}} Marvel |url=https://www.marvel.com/characters/firebird |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.marvel.com}} A devout Roman Catholic and social worker, she was walking in the deserts outside her hometown when she came into contact with a radioactive meteorite fragment. The radiation altered her DNA and gave her the power to generate fire and fly. Believing her gifts came from God, she assumed the mythical bird's name and donned a costume.

As Firebird, she received a distress call from the Avengers and mistakenly battled the Hulk. She joined with other Southwestern heroes (forming a team called the Rangers) and fought the Corruptor, rescuing Rick Jones in the process, who had actually sent the signal.{{cite book |last1=Aldama |first1=Frederick Luis |year=2012 |title=Your Brain on Latino Comics: From Gus Arriola to Los Bros Hernandez |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BaIP7O8u15UC&pg=PT41 |pages=31–33 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=9780292749917 |accessdate=October 17, 2013}}{{Cite comic | writer = Sal Buscema (plot) | cowriters = Bill Mantlo (plot, script) | penciller = Sal Buscema | inker = Sal Buscema | colorist = Bob Sharen | letterer = Diana Albers, Jean Simek | editor = Al Milgrom | story = You Get What You Need! | title = The Incredible Hulk | volume = 2 | issue = #265 | date = Nov. 1981 | publisher = Marvel Comics | location = New York, NY}}

Firebird was alone when she fought against Master Pandemonium. Exhausted from her battle, she fell to the ground near the new Avengers Compound on the West Coast, where she was found by the Thing. She enlisted the aid of the Avengers in battling Master Pandemonium.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #4-5 She subsequently assisted the Avengers in several adventures, desperately seeking their invitation to join; however, their chairman Hawkeye remained oblivious, since he was trying to recruit the Thing.

Firebird accompanied the Avengers to the dimension of the Cat People.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #6 She battled her former teammate in the Rangers, the possessed Shooting Star, alongside the Avengers.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #8 She also faced Master Pandemonium again.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #9

When Mockingbird discovered Firebird's desire to join, she tried coaxing her husband Hawkeye to invite her, but he continued holding out for the Thing (who did eventually decide to become a member, but ultimately backed out before making it official). Frustrated, Firebird left on a spiritual journey.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #10 Hawkeye later changed his mind, and the Avengers sought out Firebird but could not find her.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #11

Firebird emerged from her retreat as the more religiously inspired La Espirita, arriving in the nick of time to stop Hank Pym's suicide attempt. With her help, Hank re-invented himself as the adventurer Doctor Pym and moved on from his past troubles.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #17-24 The two also shared a brief romance.

With Henry Pym and Moon Knight, Espirita rescued the Avengers who were trapped in the past.The West Coast Avengers #23 She later aided the Avengers against Dominus and Sunstroke.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #24 After joining the team on a few short adventures, she left to stand by Hank.The West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #25 Espirita later learns that she is seemingly immortal when the Collector fatally poisoned the other Avengers.The West Coast Avengers Annual #2

Bonita was captured by a group of aliens from the planet Rus, who revealed that the meteorite that gave her powers was allegedly waste material from a discarded alien experiment of a pupil named Yoof.Avengers Spotlight #24 Accepting this revelation with humility, she nonetheless maintains faith in her powers being a gift from God, but more indirectly; she subsequently readopts the Firebird alias and returns to social work.{{Cite web |title=Firebird Powers, Enemies, History {{!}} Marvel |url=https://www.marvel.com/characters/firebird |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.marvel.com}} She was later called in on various Avengers meetings, serving as a reservist when needed. At first, Bonita was not considered as an Avenger until she attended an all-membership meeting of the Avengers.The Avengers #305 After that she was called in on various Avengers events. She assisted Hellcat, Monica Rambeau, Moondragon, and Black Widow in subduing the Awesome Android,Avengers Spotlight #27 and encountered a small platoon of Atlanteans in Mexico getting help from a few Avengers.Avengers West Coast Annual #5 Firebird largely acts as a reserve member, preferring to spend her time as a social worker.

After the return of the main Avengers from the pocket universe created by Franklin Richards most of them were trapped in a curse created by Morgan Le Fay where she served in a guard called Queen's Vengeance under the name Firemaiden.Avengers vol. 3 #1-3

Her immunity to radiation later made her indispensable when a mysterious energy field engulfed a small Slavic country and turned everyone into zombies during the first blows of the Kang War. Firebird was one of the few individuals who could travel into the energy field without harm. Fellow Avenger Thor also surmised that Firebird may be immortal.Avengers vol. 3 #44 When Captain America is briefly transformed into an energy zombie, Thor, briefly believing him dead, begins to fear that he has become too close to his mortal comrades despite his knowledge that he would outlive them when forced to face such vivid evidence of his allies' mortality, and contemplates leaving the Avengers after the war was over.{{Volume needed|c=y|date=March 2021}}

Although troubled by the implications of her own apparent immortality for her faith, Firebird helped him to see that the bonds between him and the Avengers were so valuable precisely because they wouldn't last forever and he shouldn't neglect them just because he would outlive them. In recognition of her advice, Thor toasted her when he arranged for Asgardian cooks to prepare a feast for the Avengers to celebrate Kang's defeat, commenting that she had taught a god a lesson by treating him as the fool he was.Avengers vol. 3 #55

Firebird reappears in the limited series Beyond! along with other Marvel characters.{{cite web |last1=Singh |first1=Arune |title=Marvel Previews: "Uncanny X-Men," "Beyond," "Marvel Westerns" & "Incredible Hulk" |url=https://www.cbr.com/marvel-previews-uncanny-x-men-beyond-marvel-westerns-incredible-hulk/ |website=CBR |accessdate=13 June 2020 |date=13 June 2006}} She is depicted in a somewhat more revealing costume that bares part of her midriff. She is also shown to have a romantic attraction to Henry Pym which manifests when she kisses him after he has an argument with the Wasp.

After a vicious battle between Captain America's Secret Avengers and Iron Man's Pro-Registration forces during the Civil War, in which Bill Foster was killed by Ragnarok, Firebird, along with twenty other superheroes, joined the Secret Avengers in opposing the Superhuman Registration Act. Captain America's dialogue implies that the new members, including Firebird,Civil War #4 are registered heroes who have nonetheless turned against Iron Man's forces because of the Bill Foster debacle. Weeks after the conclusion to the Civil War, Firebird is seen as one of the members of the revived Rangers, as part of the 50 States Initiative Program.Civil War #7

During the Secret Invasion storyline, Firebird was with the Rangers when they, Delroy Garrett / 3-D Man, and Eric O'Grady / Ant-Man were fighting a Skrull that was posing as Lobo, Red Wolf's wolf.{{Cite comic | writer = Dan Slott | cowriters = Christos N. Gage| penciller = Harvey Talibao | inker = Bong Dazo | colorist = Jay David Ramos, Chris Sotomayor | letterer = Chris Eliopoulos | editor = Tom Brennan | story = V-S Day | title = Avengers: The Initiative | issue = #19 | date = Jan. 2009 | publisher = Marvel Comics | location = New York, NY}}{{cite web |url= https://www.cbr.com/avengers-the-initiative-19/ |title=Preview: Avengers: The Initiative #19 |date=December 11, 2008 |website=CBR |accessdate=June 13, 2020}} The Rangers come into conflict with Kaine, alias Scarlet Spider in Houston,{{cite web |url=http://sciencefiction.com/2012/08/11/comic-book-review-scarlet-spider-8/ |title=Comic Book Review: 'Scarlet Spider' #8 |first1=Scott |last1=West |website=sciencefiction.com |date=11 August 2012 |publisher=SF |accessdate=October 17, 2014}}{{Cite comic | writer = Chris Yost| penciller = Khoi Pham | inker = Tom Palmer | coinkers = Chris Sotomayor, Rick Ketcham | colorist = Edgar Delgado, Antonio Fabela, Chris Sotomayor | letterer = Joe Caramagna, Clayton Cowles | editor = Tom Brennan | story = The Second Master | title = Scarlet Spider | volume = 2 | issue = #7-9 | date = Sept.–Nov. 2012 | publisher = Marvel Comics | location = New York, NY}}{{cite web |url= https://www.cbr.com/scarlet-spider-8/ |title=Review: Scarlet Spider #8 |first1=Doug |last1=Zawisza |date=August 10, 2012 |website=CBR |accessdate=June 13, 2020}} then they joined forces with him to battle a monster made of pure energy.{{cite web |url= https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/13/scarlet-spider-9-review|title=Scarlet Spider #9 Review: Kaine plays the reluctant hero once more. |first1=Jesse |last1=Schedeen |date=September 12, 2012 |website=IGN |accessdate=June 13, 2020}}

Bonita Juarez acquired a range of superpowers due to bombardment by radiation from a meteorite containing energy waste from an alien's scientific equipment.{{Cite web |author1=Jason Wiese |date=September 4, 2021 |title=5 Marvel Characters Rosa Salazar Would Be Perfect To Play |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2572944/marvel-characters-rosa-salazar-would-be-perfect-to-play |access-date=March 25, 2023 |website=CinemaBlend |language=en}} She has the power of pyrokinesis, which enables her to mentally excite the atoms in an object until it spontaneously combusts.{{Cite web |last=Rook |first=Stacie |date=January 30, 2022 |title=10 Female Marvel Heroes That Should Come To The MCU |url=https://screenrant.com/marvel-female-superheroes-join-mcu/ |access-date=November 10, 2022 |website=Screen Rant |language=en-US}} By using her powers to ignite the air around her, she can surround herself with an aura of flames that often takes the shape of a bird, and if she focuses her flames downwards in a tight stream, she can propel herself through the air like a rocket. She can channel her powers through her hands to seemingly project searing thermal blasts from her body (actually from her mind), capable of melting steel. She can fly by riding wind currents stirred up by the nimbus of fire with which she surrounds herself while flying.{{Cite web |last=Pereira |first=Mike |last2=Collura |first2=Scott |date=April 24, 2015 |title=Every Avenger Ever |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04/24/every-avenger-ever |access-date=November 10, 2022 |website=IGN |language=en}} Although she can propel herself at superhuman speeds, she cannot breathe at those speeds without skin protection and an oxygen supply. Fatigue impairs her performance after approximately one hour of peak expenditure of power. She has also displayed a limited power of precognition, allowing her to have glimpses of the future.{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=John |date=September 22, 2019 |title=10 Avengers People Always Forget About (Who Are Actually Super-Powerful) |url=https://www.cbr.com/strong-avengers-people-forget/ |access-date=November 10, 2022 |website=Comic Book Resources |language=en-US}}

Firebird also seems immune to most forms of radiation, poison, and even demonic possession, as well as the physical effects of her mental powers; she has also displayed the ability to survive in the vacuum of space. She may be immortal, but the precise details of this are unclear beyond the fact that she has twice survived apparently fatal attacks that only Thor—himself an immortal—could withstand.

Jason Wiese of CinemaBlend asserted, "Firebird is one of the most popular and important female Marvel superheroes of Latin origin."{{Cite web |last=Wiese |first=Jason |date=April 14, 2021 |title=6 Superhero Characters Jenna Ortega Would Be Perfect To Play |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2565660/superhero-characters-jenna-ortega-would-be-perfect-to-play |website=CinemaBlend}} Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Firebird a "role model" and "truly heroic."{{Cite web |last=Kaye |first=Deirdre |date=November 16, 2020 |title=Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic |url=https://www.scarymommy.com/marvel-female-characters |access-date=November 10, 2022 |website=Scary Mommy |language=en}} Joseph Phillip Illidge of Comic Book Resources said, "Bonita may very well be the first mainstream Latina hero in American superhero comic books."{{Cite web |last=Illidge |first=Joseph Phillip |date=November 9, 2015 |title=The Lasting Power of Latina Superheroes and Future Visibility |url=https://www.cbr.com/the-lasting-power-of-latina-superheroes-and-future-visibility/ |access-date=July 3, 2023 |website=Comic Book Resources |language=en}}

Isabelia Herrera of The New York Times included Firebird in their "5 Latinx Superheroes to Inspire Your New York Comic Con Look" list.{{Cite news |last=Herrera |first=Isabelia |date=October 3, 2019 |title=5 Latinx Superheroes to Inspire Your New York Comic Con Look |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/style/new-york-comic-con-latinx-superheroes.html |access-date=March 25, 2023 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Kara Hedash of The Mary Sue ranked Firebird 6th in their "7 Female Superheroes Who Should Join Marvel's Cinematic Universe" list, writing, "Bonita Juarez portrays Firebird and remains one of the most notable Latina superheroes."{{Cite web |last=Winkle |first=Dan Van |date=May 24, 2018 |title=7 Female Superheroes Who Should Join Marvel Movies |url=https://www.themarysue.com/7-women-superheroes-for-marvel-movies/ |access-date=March 25, 2023 |website=The Mary Sue |language=en}} Pablo Valdivia of BuzzFeed ranked Firebird 7th in their "15 Incredible Latino Superheroes You Need To Know" list.

Screen Rant included Firebird in their "10 Iconic West Coast Avengers" list,{{Cite web |last=Hernandez |first=Gab |date=February 28, 2022 |title=10 Iconic West Coast Avengers, Ranked By Likability |url=https://screenrant.com/marvel-most-likable-west-coast-avengers/ |access-date=November 10, 2022 |website=Screen Rant |language=en-US}} in their "9 Strongest West Coast Avengers" list, and in their "10 Female Marvel Heroes That Should Come To The MCU" list. Anthony Avina of Comic Book Resources ranked Firebird 7th in their "10 Comic Characters We Hope To See Added To The MCU Avengers" list,{{Cite web |last=Mello |first=Nicole |date=December 17, 2020 |title=10 Comic Characters We Hope To See Added To The MCU Avengers |url=https://www.cbr.com/avengers-still-needed-for-mcu/ |access-date=July 3, 2023 |website=Comic Book Resources |language=en}} 9th in their "13 Most Powerful Hispanic Heroes In Marvel Comics" list, and 11th in their "Marvel Comics: 15 Most Powerful Marvel Superheroes Who Control Fire" list.{{Cite web |last=Avina |first=Anthony |date=May 5, 2022 |title=Marvel Comics: 15 Most Powerful Marvel Superheroes Who Control Fire |url=https://www.cbr.com/marvel-comics-most-powerful-marvel-superheroes-control-fire/ |access-date=July 3, 2023 |website=Comic Book Resources |language=en}}

• An alternate universe variant of Firebird from Earth-982 appears in A-Next #7.{{Cite comic | writer = Tom DeFalco| penciller = Ron Frenz | inker = Al Milgrom | colorist = Bob Sharen | letterer = Jim Novak | editor = Bob Harras | story = After the Fall! | title = A-Next | issue = #7 | date = April 1999 | publisher = Marvel Comics | location = New York, NY}}
• A zombified alternate universe variant of Firebird from Earth-2149 appears in Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #11.{{Cite comic | writer = Victor Gischler | penciller = Bong Ty Dazo | inker = Leonardo Ito | colorist = Matt Milla | letterer = Jeff Eckleberry | editor = Axel Alonso, Sebastian Girner | title = Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth | issue = #11 | date = July 2010 | publisher = Marvel Comics | location = New York, NY}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Marvelwiki|Firebird|Firebird}}
• {{Comicbookdb|character|4855|Firebird}}
• {{Comicbookdb|character|26597|La Espirita}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061105104301/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2855/firebird.html The Women of Marvel Comics Firebird Page]

{{Avengers characters}}

Category:Avengers (comics) characters

Category:Characters created by Bill Mantlo

Category:Characters created by Sal Buscema

Category:Christian superheroes

Category:Comics characters introduced in 1981

Category:Fictional characters from New Mexico

Category:Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities

Category:Fictional characters with precognition

Category:Fictional Hispanic and Latino American people

Category:Marvel Comics American superheroes

Category:Marvel Comics female superheroes

Category:Marvel Comics mutates

Category:Mexican superheroes