Scintilla is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe

Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...

.

Publication history

The character first appeared in 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...

#107-109 (October 1977-February 1978), and was created by Chris Claremont

Chris Claremont

Chris Claremont is an award-winning American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 17-year stint on Uncanny X-Men, far longer than any other writer, during which he is credited with developing strong female characters, and with introducing complex literary themes into superhero...

 and Dave Cockrum

Dave Cockrum

David Emmett Cockrum was an American comic book artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus...

. She was not named on-panel initially.

The character next appears as Midget in X-Men: Spotlight on Starjammers #2 (June 1990). The character subsequently appears as Scintilla in Avengers West Coast #81 (April 1992), Quasar #32-33 (March-April 1992), Starjammers #4 (January 1996), JLA/Avengers #1 (September 2003), Uncanny X-Men #477 (October 2006), #480 (January 2007), and X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #3 (January 2008), and #5 (March 2008).

Midget appeared as part of the "Imperial Guard" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...

#6.

Fictional character biography

Scintilla is a long-time member of the Shi'ar

Shi'ar

The Shi'ar are a fictional species of aliens in the Marvel Comics universe. The Shi'ar Empire also called the Aerie, is a vast collection of alien species, cultures and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires, and alongside them, is one of the three main alien empires...

 Imperial Guard

Imperial Guard (comics)

The Imperial Guard is a team of fictional super-powered alien warriors in the Marvel Comics universe. The Imperial Guard serves the rulers of the Shi'ar Empire, both by enforcing Shi'ar Imperial law on all planets within the Shi'ar Galaxy and as the Emperor or Empress's personal guard...

. She was with the Imperial Guard the first time they fought the X-Men.

She is one of the few who survived the battle with Vulcan.

Powers and abilities

Scintilla can reduce her size to at least 1/20 of her normal stature. She can also choose whether her body's density becomes relative to her diminutive size, or retains the density she possesses at full height. If the latter, Scintilla's strength and durability become proportionately augmented.

Inspiration

Several of the members of the Imperial Guard are at least partly based on members of the DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

' team Legion of Super-Heroes

Legion of Super-Heroes

The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....

. (Dave Cockrum

Dave Cockrum

David Emmett Cockrum was an American comic book artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus...

, co-creator of the Guard, also had a long run as artist on the Legion.) Scintilla appears to be an homage to LSH member Shrinking Violet.