Golden Glider

From Hey Kids Comics

The Golden Glider
Golden Glider.png
Interior artwork from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 9 (November 1985  DC Comics). Art by Irv Novick.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance The Flash #250 (June 1977)
Created by Cary Bates
Irv Novick
In-story information
Alter ego Lisa Snart
Species Human
Place of origin New Earth
Team affiliations Rogues
Black Lantern Corps
Notable aliases Lisa Star, Goldie, Glider
Abilities Olympic-level figure skater
Skilled inventor of jewel-themed gadgets and weaponry
Wears experimental skates
(New 52):
Astral form that grants:
Flight
Ribbon-like tendrils
Ability to move at extreme speeds

Golden Glider (Lisa Snart) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is the younger sister of Captain Cold and an enemy of The Flash.

Publication history[edit | edit source]

Created by Cary Bates and Irv Novick, the character made her first appearance in The Flash #250.

Fictional character biography[edit | edit source]

Lisa Snart is a figure skater, known by the alias Lisa Star, who has help in her career from her secret coach and lover, The Top, a foe of Flash Barry Allen who dies from complications of dueling with the scarlet speedster. Furious over his death, Snart vows revenge. She adopts an orange ice-skater's costume, a mask, and ice skates which create their own ice flow, allowing her to effectively skate on air. She also has diamonds and jewels that can be used as explosives or hypnotic devices. The Golden Glider seeks revenge against the Silver Age Flash for several years. She frequently collaborates in her heists with her brother, who is very protective of her.[1]

After the death of Barry Allen, Snart retires from crime (she blames Allen himself for the Top's death, not his successor Wally West). She and her brother embark on a career as mercenaries, forming the Golden Snowball Recovery Company. Eventually she returns to crime, with a series of partners, all code-named "Chillblaine", whom she supplies with a replica of her brother's cold gun. The last of these—described as more intelligent and ruthless than his predecessors—kills Snart[2] with the weapon she gave him before holding Keystone for ransom with the aid of Doctor Polaris, with Flash only just managing to defeat them. Chillblaine is then himself killed by Captain Cold in retaliation.[1] In the time since, her death had been a constant source of grief for her older brother.[1]

In Blackest Night #1, she is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. She and her fellow Black Lantern Rogues attack Iron Heights Penitentiary,[3] but Cold is able to maintain control of his emotions of grief long enough to destroy the Black Lantern Glider.[4]

The New 52 and Rebirth[edit | edit source]

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Lisa Snart's murder has been written out of continuity and she is alive again. In this continuity, she is now dying of a brain tumor.[5] She survives after the tumor is removed, but expresses shame over her brother's actions.[6] Later, she mysteriously appears in South America, now going by the name "Glider" and apparently wielding metahuman abilities. She is shown recruiting Weather Wizard for some unknown purpose after his battle with the Flash.[7] She recruits Heat Wave, The Trickster and Mirror Master to join her faction to exact revenge on Flash,[8] but is stopped with the help of Pied Piper, and her brother.[9]

Lisa and the Rogues later make their peace with Snart as they help him stop Gorilla Grodd, with the group pardoned by the U.S government. Later, revealed to in a relation with Mirror Master, Lisa managed to bring him back to their dimension at great risk to herself. She ended up in a deep coma soon after until she was revived by Piped Piper to come to the Rogues' aid when they are under attack by the Secret Society of Super Villains and the Royal Flush Gang.

In the DC Rebirth storyline, Lisa and the Rogues first made a cameo appearance in The Flash #3 as they are fleetingly watching a news report about the many newly created speedsters appearing throughout the city. They later make their first full-length appearance in The Flash #15, where they are attempting to steal a valuable golden statue of the god Mercury from the small island nation of Corto Maltese. The Flash arrives to stop them, but they turn out to be constructs of Mirror Master laid so that the Rogues can commit a crime spree in Central City before the Flash stops them.

Powers and abilities[edit | edit source]

The Golden Glider is an Olympic level figure skater. Thanks to a pair of experimental skates that create their own ice, she is able to skate on any surface, including mid-air. She invented or acquired (depending on the item) a number of jewel-themed gadgets and weapons, such as poisoned rings or hypnosis jewels, and used these to great effect in her crusade against the Flash.[1]

In the New 52, Glider has gained metahuman abilities due to being caught in the blast that also gave Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Weather Wizard their powers. Glider has become separated from her body, giving her an astral form that allows her to fly and move at extreme speeds. She also has ribbon-like tendrils that can easily cut and kill a person without any evidence of an attack. Unlike most phase shifters, Glider can remain solid enough to interact with physical matter; i.e. leaving a shard of glass in Elias's heart while physically impermeable. After having her astral body disrupted then reformed, Lisa not only regained her bodily mobility but can also use her powers while retaining flesh & blood semblance now.[10]

Alternate versions[edit | edit source]

Flash Annual[edit | edit source]

Glider and one of her Chillblaines are featured as one of the villains draining Wally of his speed. Despite being slowed, Wally defeats the pair and leaves them for the police.[11]

Flashpoint[edit | edit source]

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Lisa Snart and her brother, Leonard were being brutally beaten by their own father. Later, Lisa killed her father with a gunshot and was arrested for the crime.[12] Lisa is taken to Iron Heights and is then kidnapped by the Rogues. Citizen Cold arrives to try to rescue her, but finds she has been killed by the Rogues member Fallout.[13]

Teen Titans Go![edit | edit source]

A teen version of Golden Glider named Ice Kate appeared in an issue of Teen Titans Go! as part of a supervillain duo consisting of herself and her brother, Kid Kold. The two villains were defeated by Kid Flash and Jinx after a botched robbery.[14]

Injustice: Gods Among Us[edit | edit source]

In "Year Five" of the Injustice: Gods Among Us tie-in comic, Golden Glider appears as a member of the Rogues alongside Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, and Mirror Master. They agree to join Batman's Insurgency to stop a dictatorial Superman, because Batman respects their code against killing. Lisa mentions that her brother, Captain Cold went into hiding after escaping the Regime prison. When the Rogues begin their attack on the Regime and attack Regime bases, they succeed in destroying them after evacuating the people inside, but, during their last mission, they are intercepted by Bizarro, who attacks them. During the fight, Mirror Master gets knocked unconscious. When Weather Wizard mocks Bizarro, Bizarro becomes furious and incinerates Heat Wave and Weather Wizard, but Lisa survives thanks to her abilities. When Trickster arrives, he manages to distract Bizarro long enough for Lisa and Mirror Master to get to safety using his mirror belt. Later, the two of them hold a memorial service at the bar for Weather Wizard and Heat Wave, where Glider and Mirror Master are revealed to be in a relationship as they share a kiss. When the Flash arrives, Lisa and Mirror Master angrily confront him for coming over to mock them and turn them in while they're grieving. Flash though admits that he's always respected the Rogues as enemies and came here to pay his respects. He then promises to not turn them over to Superman and shares a beer with them.

In other media[edit | edit source]

Television[edit | edit source]

File:Golden Glider (Peyton List).png
Peyton List as Lisa Snart / Golden Glider on The CW's The Flash.
  • Lisa Snart / Golden Glider appears on The CW's The Flash, portrayed by Peyton List. Described as sly, charming, a little sadistic, and not afraid to use her sexuality to get what she wants, this version is a wild child who is anxious to prove to her cold and calculating older brother, Leonard Snart / Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), that she has what it takes to be in his criminal gang.[15] Making her first full appearance in "Rogue Time", Lisa forces Cisco to make her a gun like her brother's "cold gun", which can transmute anything into gold. Armed with a "gold gun", she becomes the Golden Glider. In season two's "Family of Rogues," Lisa asks the Flash team for help rescuing her supposedly kidnapped brother from their father, Lewis. The character is also referenced in Legends of Tomorrow, in which Captain Cold is a main character.

Video games[edit | edit source]

  • In Injustice 2, Lisa's death at the hands of the regime, prior to the events of the game, is frequently brought up in Captain Cold's interactions with the other fighters. In his ending, Cold visits her grave, which has her Golden Glider mask on it. She was 19 years old when she died.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Beatty, Scott (2008), "Golden Glider", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 140, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017 
  2. Flash (vol.2) #113 (May 1996)
  3. Blackest Night: The Flash #1 (February 2010)
  4. Blackest Night: The Flash #2 (March 2010)
  5. Flash (vol. 4) #6 (April 2012)
  6. Flash (vol. 4) #7 (May 2012)
  7. Flash (vol. 4) #10 (August 2012)
  8. Flash (vol. 4) #11 (September 2012)
  9. Flash Annual (vol. 4) (October 2012)
  10. Flash (vol. 4) #52 (July 2016)
  11. Flash Annual (vol. 2) #4 (1991)
  12. Flashpoint: Captain Cold #1 (June 2011)
  13. Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #2 (July 2011)
  14. Teen Titans Go! #53 (May 2008)
  15. "The Flash' Casts 'Mad Men' Actress as Villain 'Golden Glider". TV Line. November 17, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014. 

External links[edit | edit source]

(Appears in flashback and main story)