Ayla Ranzz

Ayla Ranzz, also known as Lightning Lass, Light Lass, Gossamer, and Spark, is a character appearing in media published by DC Comics. She is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries, as well as the sister of Lightning Lad and Lightning Lord.

There have been three versions of Ayla since her original debut; these versions are separated by the events of both the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! and Infinite Crisis limited series.

Silver Age
Ayla Ranzz first appeared in Adventure Comics #308 (May 1963). She is the twin sister of fellow Legionnaire Garth (Lightning Lad) and the younger sister of the villainous Mekt (Lightning Lord). All three gained their electric powers after being attacked by creatures called lightning beasts on the planet Korbal. She originally joined the Legion disguised as her brother Lightning Lad, claiming to be him resurrected after his apparent death at the hands of Zaryan. Her being an imposter was soon discovered, but she was admitted into the Legion as Lightning Lass. Later, Ayla gained gravity manipulation powers from Dream Girl, and became known as Light Lass.

Years later, Ayla left the Legion for a time, disillusioned with her Legion career and having ended a lengthy romance with fellow Legionnaire Timber Wolf. She broke up with him following a misunderstanding when she saw Timber Wolf embracing her sister-in-law Saturn Girl when both were stranded on a frozen asteroid. Eventually returning to Winath, Ayla was kidnapped by her brother Lightning Lord and a faction of the Legion of Super-Villains. When Ayla refused to join them, her brother tried to kill her, though she survived and discovered that her original lightning powers had been restored. After the LSV was defeated, she rejoined the Legion as Lightning Lass.

During the "Five Year Later" storyline, it was revealed that Ayla had entered into a long-term same-sex relationship with Shrinking Violet.

During the "Five Year Gap" following the Magic Wars, Earth falls under the covert control of the Dominators and withdraws from the United Planets. A few years later, the Dominators' highly classified "Batch SW6", temporal clones of the Legionnaires, escape captivity. After Earth is destroyed in a disaster reminiscent of the destruction of Krypton over a millennium earlier, a few dozen surviving cities and their inhabitants reconstitute their world as New Earth, and the SW6 Light Lass assumes the code name Spark.

Post-Zero Hour (Spark)


Ayla, known as Spark, originally joined the Legion as a replacement for her twin brother Live Wire, as their planet Winath decided to choose her rather than Garth, who had been classified as a runaway. Eventually, the "one member per planet" restriction was lifted, and he rejoined.

She was one of the Legion members stranded in the 21st Century for a time as a result of the Emerald Eye's machinations. Her team helped the modern superheroes during the Final Night crisis, where Earth's sun was slowly being devoured. Spark personally provides the electricity to Guy Gardner's Warriors facility when the power went out while it was being used as a hospital. Some time after the sun was restored, she travels into the Source, which replaces her electrical powers with anti-gravity powers (although she did not change her codename). Upon returning to the 31st century and reuniting with her brother, however, she began to experience debilitating headaches when using her powers; the headaches were diagnosed as psychosomatic. Apparently, she could not handle having different powers than her brother. In a desperate attempt to restore her old powers, she returned to Korbal, the planet where she and her brothers originally gained their powers after being shocked by Lightning Beasts, rendering them comatose for several months. Her altered genetic structure left her unable to take another blast, however, and she was killed. Shortly afterward, her brother and some of their teammates, who had followed her, arrived. In grief, Garth let off a huge blast which temporarily revived her, and Doctor Gym'll theorized that a greater blast could properly revive her and restore her electrical powers. By channeling a huge amount of atmospheric electricity, Garth succeeded. Shortly afterward, she became romantically associated with fellow Legionnaire Chameleon, who had a longstanding crush on her.

Later, the Legion was disbanded after the apparent death of several of her teammates (including her brother and Chameleon) and she returned to Winath. When these teammates returned, Garth was not among them, having apparently sacrificed himself so the rest could return home. After Chameleon broke this news to her, she apparently did not resume her relationship with him. She briefly took the name Live Wire after this, but shortly before his return, Kid Quantum convinced her that she would better honor her brother by being herself.

Threeboot (Light Lass)
Following another reboot of Legion continuity, Ayla Ranzz is again called Light Lass, and has gravity nullifying powers. In Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #26, it is revealed that she, like her siblings, had previously gained lightning powers after the accident on Korbal before another unspecified accident gave her gravitational powers.

Light Lass had a reputation as the Legion's "party girl", and had relationships with Ultra Boy, Timber Wolf, and Sun Boy, as well as a one-night stand with Karate Kid. Brainiac 5 commented that he finds it aggravating that the ability to negate one of the fundamental forces is in the hands of someone who treats things so flippantly. She however has been shown to take some things seriously, most notably dealing with her brother Mekt.

Ayla took a serious and active role in assisting her brother Garth when he became Legion Leader following Supergirl's return to her time. Ayla also assisted Brainiac 5 and Star Boy in stabilizing gravity after an intruder planet appeared in the Sol system.

Post-Infinite Crisis - Return of original Lightning Lass
The events of the Infinite Crisis miniseries restored a close analogue of the pre-Crisis Legion to continuity, as seen in "The Lightning Saga" story arc in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, and in the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc in Action Comics, Ayla Ranzz is included in the Legion, possessing her original powers as Lightning Lass.

In the Lightning Saga, it was initially implied that she was presumed dead by Timber Wolf, who said "I'm coming, Ayla" as he was about to sacrifice his life. It was later revealed that the two have reconciled and are once again in a romantic relationship. She appears in the Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes arc, serving as the power source for the hidden Legion headquarters.

Ayla is next seen in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1, where she used her abilities to hold open the entrance to the Phantom Zone so her fellow Legionnaires Shadow Lass and Phantom Girl can rescue Mon-El. Ayla destroyed the Zone machine before Kryptonian criminal Zod has a chance to escape. She and her counterparts were later used as part of an experiment by Brainiac 5 to restore Bart Allen, with Ayla and Spark providing XS with lightning charges, and Light Lass using her gravity powers to prevent XS from becoming a singularity. Light Lass is later needed to extract the Kryptonian Chrysalis buried in Superman's Fortress of Solitude, buried there a thousand years ago by Starman.

Ayla was later seen in issue #6 of Paul Levitz's new Legion of Superheroes series, where she was shown preparing to go on a holiday vacation with Shrinking Violet. It is subsequently revealed that the two are romantically involved. Following the cancellation of the Legion of Superheroes series (and the Legion's disbanding), Ayla is depicted back home on Winath, but it is unclear whether Shrinking Violet is living with her there.

Powers and abilities

 * As Lightning Lass, Ayla has the superhuman ability to generate electricity, usually in the form of lightning bolts.
 * As Spark, Ayla has the ability to generate electricity and direct bolts of it accurately, which she commonly refers to as "lightning". She briefly possessed the ability to reduce objects' density, but has shown no sign of this since the restoration of her electrical powers.
 * As Light Lass in the Threeboot continuity, Ayla has the power to control gravity.

Equipment
As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Ayla Ranzz is provided a Legion Flight Ring, which allows her to fly and protects her from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments.

Reception
Ayla Ranzz was ranked 47th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.

Television

 * Ayla Ranzz as Lightning Lass makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "New Kids In Town".
 * Ayla Ranzz appears in the Legion of Super Heroes episode "Chained Lightning", voiced by Kari Wahlgren. This version, 10 years prior to the events of the series, she was transformed into an incorporeal energy being and presumed dead during the incident that gave her brothers Garth and Mekt their powers. In the present, Imperiex attempts to use Ayla to power a tachyon cannon, but Mekt and Garth work together to restore her.

Film
Ayla Ranzz as Lightning Lass appears in a photograph in Justice League vs. the Fatal Five.

Miscellaneous

 * Ayla Ranzz as Spark appears in Adventures in the DC Universe #10.
 * Ayla Ranzz as Lightning Lass appears in the one-shot comic Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes.