CHARACTER NAME: Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl
CHARACTER AGE: 18
DESCRIPTION: Courtney Whitmore has something of the All American Homecoming Queen about her. She is slightly built, and a little over average height. She has cornflower blue eyes, and a wealth of golden curls atop her head. Her accent is Californian, and her general demeanour confident, and perhaps a little too eager. She often acts before she thinks, but always out of a real desire to help others.

When in her costume, she is the sort of person who stands out of a crowd even more. A tight blue jacket, emblazoned with large white stars, is finished with red gloves. It leaves her midriff bare, which is probably not a wonderful idea when going into combat, but Courtney has always been someone who prefers form over function. She wears blue and white shorts, and blue ankle boots. The whole ensemble is finished with a blue domino mask. The outfit is not remotely subtle, and skirts along the edges of violating the American Flag Code a little too closely for comfort.

SKILLS: Courtney has a few useful skills. She is a skilled gymnast and kickboxer. However, while she is a clever person generally, her educational level is that of a girl from the late 1950s. By modern standards, her knowledge of science, history, and general knowledge is decades out of date.

POWERS: Stargirl has no powers of her own, and gets her powers from her equipment. Specifically:

The Cosmic Converter Belt enhances her physical characteristics. It increases her strength, agility, stamina, speed, and pain resistance to beyond-human levels. She can also fire star-shaped blasts from the belt.

The Cosmic Staff allows her to fly, and can shoot powerful blasts of cosmic starlight energy, which can be extremely potent. The staff itself has a personality, and a degree of intelligence and insight - it can refuse to do things which it knows are unwise. At the same time, it has a rather aggressive attitude to justice, and has been known to act on this against the wishes of the wielder. It is not above starting a fight, even if Stargirl is trying to avoid one, or even when she is hiding. The personality of the staff is rather like the personality of the owner, but reduced to the most primal aspects of that personality - and cranked into overdrive. It has no concept of tact, or self-control. It sees things in black and white, and can be a major nuisance at times.

This equipment was all created by other people. The Cosmic Converter Belt was devised by Sylvester Pemberton, and the Cosmic Staff by Ted Knight. Both of these ended up in the care of Pat Dugan when the JSA's first incarnation first came to a tragic end. Dugan kept them locked away for years, believing them to be too dangerous to be in the hands of anyone else. They eventually were discovered by his stepdaughter, leading to the creation of Stargirl.


FACTION:  GOOD or EVIL
Stargirl is most definitely dedicated to the side of Good.

CHARACTER'S BRIEF BACKGROUND:
Courtney Whitmore's history as Stargirl is extremely convoluted. It all began long before her own life had really begun. When World War Two broke out, she had not even been born. But in that conflict, two people came forward to fight for the cause of Justice and Freedom. One of these was Theodore Knight, the original Starman. Using his remarkable scientific skills, he had created a staff that could draw power from stellar radiation (principally in the form of starlight) and store it for use in amazing feats. The other was a youngster called Sylvester Pemberton, also known as the Star-Spangled Kid, who obtained his powers from a belt which drew on energy in a similar manner to the staff invented by Ted Knight. During the war, the two had very little to do with one another, however, and operated entirely independently. They did not become compatriots until 1948, when the Justice Society of America was created.

The JSA was originally devised to draw together the remarkable individuals who could best ensure the safety of the nation's interests, and defend against the wickedness of evil individuals - and ensure that there would not be a third world war so soon after the first two. Starman was one of the original members, and in time many others came and went. This would include Superman, Wonder Woman, and the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Naturally, they had official liaison with the government and the United Nations, in the form of Steve Trevor.

Time passed, as it always does, and the JSA encountered many strange and dangerous beings. During this time, Ted Knight was gravely injured, and forced into retirement. Since his own children were neither old enough, nor willing, he was unable to pass on his role as Starman to his own family. Instead, he gave the Cosmic Staff to Pemberton, as the best suited to use it properly. The Star-Spangled Kid became the second Starman, and along with his loyal sidekick Pat Dugan - aka Stripesy - spent several years successfully carrying on the tradition started by Ted Knight.


However, things went very badly for the JSA in the 1950s. The anti-American witch-hunt of McCarthyism targeted many different areas, and masked heroes were not free from suspicion. Rather than reveal their identities, the majority of the JSA left the team, which ultimately disbanded as trust and morale fell apart. This naturally led to a sudden rise in activity from the villainous, and fragmented as they were, the former JSA members were ill-prepared to take on this new threat. Many of them failed to respond effectively. Starman was amongst this number, and he was fatally wounded while fighting the second incarnation of the Injustice Society of the World, in 1954 - slain by the Icicle.

Pat Dugan managed to retrieve Starman's equipment, and went into deep hiding himself, to avoid being both attacked by the Injustice Society, or persecuted by the excessively paranoid government. He spent ten years hiding who he was, and keeping the Belt and Staff locked away in his basement. During this time he met Barbara Whitmore, and the two came to fall in love and marry. They relocated from California to Blue Valley, Nebraska, to start a new life, along with his son Mike, and her daughter, the sixteen year old Courtney, who bitterly resented the presence of her new stepfather in her life. As an act of rebellion against him, she deliberately searched his private possessions, and uncovered the costume and equipment that had been hidden away for years.

She also discovered that the staff and belt seemed to respond to her presence, and attempted to use them. This was impossible to hide from Dugan, who was extremely angry at her behaviour - but since the staff had made up whatever passed for its mind that Courtney was its new owner, it was impossible to stop it getting her into mischief. Resigned to the situation, Dugan decided to become her mentor and partner, and once again had to take a young and inexperienced teenager under his wing. This was in 1962.

Dugan devised the enormous war-machine robot known as S.T.R.I.P.E. - Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer. Over the next two years, the two began to gain recognition, and some success, foiling several very serious plots by former Injustice Society members. When the JSA reformed in 1963, Stargirl (as she was now known) was invited to join as a junior member - an appreentice, so to speak. Superman and Wonder Woman were once again able to unite the JSA, and bringing former members back into the fold: Jay Garrick (the Flash), Alex Scott (Green Lantern), Wesley Dodds (Sandman), Carter Hall (Hawkman), Rex Tyler (Hourman) and Kent Tyler (Doctor Fate) all rejoined, and the JSA once again became a force for good in the world. And also, of course, a very obvious target for the villainous machinations of those who used their powers for evil.

One such individual was Per Degaton, an Injustice Society member, with power over time. Having identified Stargirl as a weak link, owing to her youth and inexperience, he set about targeting her, and her family. Early in 1964, having discovered the identities of her family, Per Degaton launched an outright assault upon the family home. Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. arrived to fight him off, but their attempts were not successful. During the combat, Per Degaton unleashed a devastating temporal blast, throwing Courtney and Dugan through time. History records that Stargirl died in 1964, a victim of Per Degaton, who killed her and all her relatives. However, they did not die, and they were each thrown to a different point in time. Where the rest of her family ended up, Courtney cannot know, but she ended up being thrown decades into the future, winding up in the early 21st Century...