Tonight’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow sees the team add one more to the Waverider this season, Zari Adrianna Tomaz (Tala Ashe).
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While some savvy fans might recognize the character from a 1970s live-action Saturday morning adventure show, for most this is the first time they’re seeing Zari, a character showrunner Marc Guggenheim hinted back in March wouldn’t beoriginal to Legends, but also isn’t from the comics.
Still confused? Don’t worry, we have you covered! Read on for everything you need to know about Zari Adrianna Tomaz, or as she is better known in DC history: Isis.
‘The Secrets of Isis’
First appearing on the Saturday morning television series, The Secrets of Isis, the character was first known as Andrea Thomas, a high school science teacher who mystically gains the ability to call upon the Egyptian goddess Isis after she finds an amulet during an archaeological dig.
Being able to call on a goddess for power gave Thomas a myriad of powers to tap into whenever she needed to. Those powers included flight, super speed, and strength on par with another DC heroine, Wonder Woman, and many more abilities — including the ability to act as a human lightning rod. Thomas even had a pretty cool pet crow, Tut, in the series.
Thomas was later given a comics tie-in in Shazam! #25 before getting her own title, The Mighty Isis which ran for eight issues. After 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths event, however, Thomas’ Isis appeared to disappear.
The goddess, without Thomas, would reappear in DC Comics in 2002 as one of the gods worshipped by the Bana-Mighdallian Amazons in the Wonder Woman comic.
52
Nearly 30 years after her comics debut, the superhero Isis returned to DC Comics in the third week of 2006’s 52 series. This time around the heroine was an Egyptian woman named Adrianna Tomaz, a nod to the previous Andrea Thomas version. A refugee enslaved and given to Black Adam as a gift by Intergang, Tomaz was freed by Black Adam. Black Adam’s intervention into Tomaz’s life didn’t stop there, though. Black Adam retrieved the magical amulet of Isis and asked Captain Marvel to confer its power onto Tomaz, allowing her to hold the amulet and simply say “I am Isis” to be transformed with the powers of the goddess.
Black Adam and Tomaz began traveling the Middle East, freeing enslaved children and trying to find Tomaz’s brother, Amon. Black Adam and Tomaz eventually marry. Tomaz later dies after she is infected with diseases during the Black Marvels’ battles with the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Before she dies, she begs Black Adam to avenge both her and her brother’s deaths which leads to Black Adam instigating World War III. However, unbeknown to Black Adam, Tomaz may be trapped inside the Isis amulet — which is taken by an unknown figure.
Isis later appeared in Black Adam: The Dark Age and in Brightest Day where, resurrected, she declares herself ruler of Khandaq, withdraws the country from the United Nations, and threatens that anyone who tries to stop her will start World War III.
The New 52
The character would see further changes in DC comic’s continuity reboot The New 52. This time around, Adrianna Tomaz is a pacifist fighting against Khandaq’s evil rule. She’s also opposed to her brother, Amon, joining The Sons of Adam terrorist group, but when he is killed by Khandaq’s forces, Tomaz resurrects Black Adam before deciding to follow her own path of violence.
Legends of Tomorrow
The Arrowverse version of the character looks like she will draw more from The New 52 incarnation. While her heroic name Isis is unlikely to appear on television, Zari is an also involved with trying to change the world around her. Described as a Muslim-American woman from the year 2030, Zari is a “grey hat hacktivist” using her computer skills to combat the fear, prejudice, and neglect of the planet in her time.
And she isn’t just a computer nerd. Zari is also combative and living a double life complete with secret powers derived from an ancient, mystical source. Those secret powers will no doubt be useful for the Legends as they head towards battling the “greater evil” that is coming this season.
Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c after The Flash on The CW.
