Danielle Baptiste

Danielle Baptiste
Danielle Baptiste, featured in the cover art for Witchblade #104. Art by Adriana Melo and Stjepan Sejic.
Publication information
Publisher	Top Cow
First appearance	Witchblade #100 (Nov. 2006)
Created by	Ron Marz (writer) Adriana Melo (penciller)
In-story information
Abilities	None Formerly the powers of the Angelus, including: Light manipulation Flight Superhuman strength Superhuman speed Enhanced senses Enhanced durability and endurance Light-vision Night-vision Light-energy blasts Invulnerability Immortality Healing factor Semi-organic armor Surface-scale

Daniella "Dani" Anastasia Baptiste is a fictional, comic book superheroine in the series Witchblade, published by Top Cow. The character was introduced in the one-hundredth issue, becoming the series' co-lead. An athletic young dancer, Dani becomes the new host of the Witchblade, a mystical gauntlet that grants its host an assortment of powers. The series' story arc then shows the character losing the gauntlet to its original host, but later taking hold of the Angelus, one of the two primal forces of the universe.

Dani, an impulsive but good-hearted young woman, was born in New Orleans. She moved to New York to pursue a dance career and fulfill her childhood dream. However, following graduation, she became increasingly frustrated about the lack of direction in her life.

Following a strange dream about a mystical gauntlet, Dani was drawn to an antiques shop owned by the mysterious Curator, who later became a trusted confidant of Dani's. At the antiques shop, Dani encountered Sara Pezzini, who at the time of meeting was the host of the Witchblade (Dani and Pezzini previously encountered each other on the steps of the police department where Sara worked). Dani instantly recognized the Witchblade as the mysterious entity in her dreams and impulsively decided to accept it from Sara, who was focused upon motherhood rather than the adventures that accompany the gauntlet. Sara was initially hesitant about handing the Witchblade over to Dani but changed her mind when she noticed how the gauntlet reacted strongly to Dani's presence.

Dani eventually learned that the Witchblade was actually the balance between two primal forces of the universe — a female entity of light known as the Angelus and a male entity of darkness known as the Darkness. She was drawn back home after her father was taken into a hospital. While Dani was enjoying an evening out in New Orleans, she was harassed by three young men and punished them by drawing them into a dark alley and unleashing the Witchblade, almost choking one of them to death. It was then she realized that the Witchblade had a mind of its own and that she would have to exert more control over it.