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Petra (comics)
Encyclopedia
Petra is a fictional character
, a mutant
appearing in the comic book
s published by Marvel Comics
. She first appears in the limited series
X-Men: Deadly Genesis
#1 (2006). Petra was created by writer Ed Brubaker
and artist Pete Woods
and is one of the "Missing X-Men".
. Her mother, father, and brother emigrated from Denmark
while her mother was pregnant with Petra. They lived the typical American life in the suburbs of New York City
for most of Petra's childhood.
Shortly after her thirteenth birthday, Petra's family was killed by a rockslide while on a camping trip. Unknowingly, Petra used her mutant powers of earth manipulation to avoid getting hurt.
After spending weeks in Child Protective Services, Petra was sent to live in New Jersey
in a foster home. She was placed in a home that had five other children that were forced to share the same bedroom. Her foster mother was old and uncaring and her foster father was too caring, trying to hold and touch Petra all the time.
One day on an outing to Central Park
, Petra's foster father tried to touch her but sank knee deep into the ground. It was then that Petra realized that she was a mutant
, and she ran away. She found a cave and hid there for days crying, knowing that with her abilities she could have either killed or saved her family.
She camped in Central Park for a couple years, using her power to manipulate rock caves into shelters to avoid being arrested and sent to juvenile detention centers. When she was sixteen, she discovered another useful aspect of her ability. By concentrating hard enough, she could turn coal
into diamond
s. For a year she used this aspect of her power to make diamonds of varying size to sell to pawn shops so she could buy food and survive.
One day though, a pawn shop employee said he was going to call the owner of the store, but he really called the police. Running to her rock shelter, the police found Petra before she could hide, and took her into custody after a brief battle. When she awoke, a female guard informed her that she was being released into the custody of a woman who was there to help Petra, who was later revealed to be Dr. Moira MacTaggert
. This at first frightened Petra because she had never known anyone to try and help her because of her abilities, only hurt her.
After some time with Dr. MacTaggert, her friend Professor Charles Xavier
took Petra and the other children within the doctor's custody, Sway
, Darwin
, and Vulcan, and sent them to rescue the original team of X-Men
trapped on the mutant island Krakoa
. After she instinctively used her mental powers to bury Vulcan and Darwin, she became incinerated by the volcano creature.
—sand, stone, rock, lava, and/or dirt—and could even transform the consistency of earth and rock, such as turning a lump of coal into a diamond. She also could use this power to cause minor earthquakes and create shapes out of solid rock.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, a mutant
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
appearing in the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. She first appears in the limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
X-Men: Deadly Genesis
X-Men: Deadly Genesis
X-Men: Deadly Genesis is a comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in late 2005 and early 2006. The series was written by Ed Brubaker with interior art by Trevor Hairsine and covers by Marc Silvestri. Starring the X-Men, this series celebrates the 30th anniversary of Giant-Size X-Men #1...
#1 (2006). Petra was created by writer Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime...
and artist Pete Woods
Pete Woods
Peter "Pete" Woods is a comic book artist, illustrator and penciller. He is best known for his work on titles such as Backlash, Deadpool, Robin, Catwoman, Amazons Attack and Action Comics.-Biography:...
and is one of the "Missing X-Men".
Fictional character biography
Petra was the first of her family to be born in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Her mother, father, and brother emigrated from Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
while her mother was pregnant with Petra. They lived the typical American life in the suburbs of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for most of Petra's childhood.
Shortly after her thirteenth birthday, Petra's family was killed by a rockslide while on a camping trip. Unknowingly, Petra used her mutant powers of earth manipulation to avoid getting hurt.
After spending weeks in Child Protective Services, Petra was sent to live in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in a foster home. She was placed in a home that had five other children that were forced to share the same bedroom. Her foster mother was old and uncaring and her foster father was too caring, trying to hold and touch Petra all the time.
One day on an outing to Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, Petra's foster father tried to touch her but sank knee deep into the ground. It was then that Petra realized that she was a mutant
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
, and she ran away. She found a cave and hid there for days crying, knowing that with her abilities she could have either killed or saved her family.
She camped in Central Park for a couple years, using her power to manipulate rock caves into shelters to avoid being arrested and sent to juvenile detention centers. When she was sixteen, she discovered another useful aspect of her ability. By concentrating hard enough, she could turn coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
into diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s. For a year she used this aspect of her power to make diamonds of varying size to sell to pawn shops so she could buy food and survive.
One day though, a pawn shop employee said he was going to call the owner of the store, but he really called the police. Running to her rock shelter, the police found Petra before she could hide, and took her into custody after a brief battle. When she awoke, a female guard informed her that she was being released into the custody of a woman who was there to help Petra, who was later revealed to be Dr. Moira MacTaggert
Moira MacTaggert
Dr. Moira Kinross MacTaggert is a fictional character appearing in X-Men stories in the Marvel Comics universe. She works as a geneticist and is an expert in mutant affairs. Olivia Williams played a minor role of Dr. Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: The Last Stand...
. This at first frightened Petra because she had never known anyone to try and help her because of her abilities, only hurt her.
After some time with Dr. MacTaggert, her friend Professor Charles Xavier
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
took Petra and the other children within the doctor's custody, Sway
Sway (comics)
Sway is a fictional comic book superhero, a mutant in the Marvel Comics Universe. She first appeared in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #3 as one of the "Missing X-Men"...
, Darwin
Darwin (comics)
Darwin is a mutant character in the Marvel Comics Universe. He first appeared in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2, and was created by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Pete Woods. Darwin was one of the "Missing X-Men"...
, and Vulcan, and sent them to rescue the original team of X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
trapped on the mutant island Krakoa
Krakoa
Krakoa is a fictional character in Marvel Comics, commonly associated with the X-Men. It is a living island, an intelligent ecosystem able to command all the living things native to its island body, and even its terrain...
. After she instinctively used her mental powers to bury Vulcan and Darwin, she became incinerated by the volcano creature.
Powers and abilities
Petra was a "terrakinetic" or "geo-morph", having the ability to psychokinetically manipulate, control, levitate and reshape the classic element of earthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
—sand, stone, rock, lava, and/or dirt—and could even transform the consistency of earth and rock, such as turning a lump of coal into a diamond. She also could use this power to cause minor earthquakes and create shapes out of solid rock.
Television
- In the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Past Discretions", Christy Nord (voiced by Kari WahlgrenKari WahlgrenKari K. Wahlgren is an American voice actress who has provided English language voices for dozens of anime titles and video games. Her debut role was as one of the main characters of FLCL, Haruko Haruhara. She had a live-action role as Tinker Bell in the 2003 Damion Dietz film Neverland...
) has a striking resemblance to Petra in both appearance and powers, having the mutant ability to manipulate earth and stone. Christy is also as the daughter of Chris Nord (Maverick). In "Stolen Lives", Christy was abducted by Maverick, causing WolverineWolverine (comics)Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
to team-up with MystiqueMystique (comics)Mystique is a fictional character associated with the Marvel Comics' franchise X-Men. Originally created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in Ms...
. After her father's memories were restored by Emma Frost, Christy reunited with her father.