Francine Langstrom
| She-Bat | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #402 (August, 1970) |
| Created by |
Frank Robbins Neal Adams |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Francine Evelyn Lee |
| Team affiliations | Outsiders |
| Notable aliases | Francine Langstrom |
| Abilities | Flight, echolocation, enhanced sight and hearing, superhuman strength |
She-Bat (Francine Evelyn Lee, later Langstrom) is a fictional character, a supervillain and occasional superhero, and fiancée, later wife, of scientist Kirk Langstrom in the DC Comics universe. She first appeared in Detective Comics #402.
She-Bat first appeared in Detective Comics #402 and was created by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams.
Francine Lee was the fiancée of scientist Kirk Langstrom at the time that she first encountered the Batman. It was the Batman who first revealed to Francine that her husband-to-be, Kirk Langstrom, had mutated himself into a hideous Man-Bat. At one point, the Batman had captured the Man-Bat and tried to give him an antidote to his condition, but the Man-Bat fought him at every turn. He even tried bringing Francine to the Batcave in the hopes that she could convince Langstrom to take the antidote willingly.
Kirk escaped however and when he next reunited with Francine, forced her to take the same bat gland extract that he had taken as proof of her love and devotion to him. Although Francine was terrified, she knew that somewhere within the Man-Bat's insanity laid the soul of the man she loved. Francine took the serum and like Kirk, mutated into a creature with bat-like qualities. The two "Man-Bats" decided to marry one another. At their wedding, they donned latex masks to disguise their features, but the Batman interrupted the ceremony and exposed them in front of all their guests. Batman fought against Francine and Kirk and was finally able to defeat them by using the cathedral’s bells to incapacitate them. Upon doing so, Batman administered his cure to both of them, turning them back to normal.
A few months later, the Langstroms traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to study a rare breed of vampire bat that had surfaced following underground nuclear tests in New Mexico. While examining one of the bats, Francine pricked her finger one a fang and the toxin activated the dormant Man-Bat gene that still resided in her body. She transformed into a monster once again, but this time with more vampiric characteristics, including enhanced strength. In this iteration, Francine could only transform into a She-Bat during the nights of the full moon.
An uncontrollable savage, Francine began terrorizing the streets of Las Vegas, biting victims upon the neck and drinking their blood. When news of her rampage reached Gotham City, Batman believed that it was Kirk Langstrom who had become the Man-Bat. He flew out to Vegas and fought the She-Bat on the roof of a Vegas casino. After the initial fight, Batman deduced that his opponent was not Kirk Langstrom at all, but Francine. Finding Kirk, the two tracked Francine to an underground cave where Batman ensnared her with his batrope. He then administered the same antidote he had used in this past and Francine was once again cured.
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Wikipedia