Vixen

Vixen (Marilyn "Mari" McCabe)
Vixen, Mari Jiwe McCabe
Faction	Heroes
Gender	Female
Race	Human
Location	Khandaq
Power	Nature
Origin	Magic
Movement	Acrobatics
Weapon	Martial Arts
Affiliations	Justice League of America, Legends of Tomorrow, Birds of Prey, Checkmate
Episode(s)

Vixen is an adventurer and hero from Africa who is gifted with the ability to harness the spirit and mimic the abilities of any animal on the planet thanks to a mystical totem she had inherited from her family.

Although short-tempered and sometimes overly self-righteous, Vixen possesses compassion that gives her a strong and unwavering moral compass. Beyond her role as a super hero, she is a model and animal-rights activist, allowing her to use both aspects of her life to protect from humanity those creatures unable to protect themselves.

Background

In ancient Africa, the warrior Tantu asked Anansi the Spider, the African trickster god, to create a totem that would give the wearer all of the powers of the animal kingdom. Anansi complied only on the condition that the wearer of the totem would use the power to protect the innocent. Imbued with such power, Tantu used the totem to become Africa's first legendary hero. The totem was passed down to Tantu's descendants until it reached the McCabes.

Growing up in a small African village in the nation of Zambesi, M'Changa province, Mari Jiwe McCabe heard the legend of the "Tantu Totem" from her mother until her mother was killed by poachers and she was raised by her father Reverend Richard Jiwe, the village priest. Reverend Jiwe himself was killed by his half-brother (Mari's uncle) General Maksai as Maksai wanted the Tantu Totem, which Jiwe had possessed.

Mari ultimately moved to America, where she established an identity as Mari McCabe and got a job as a model in New York City. She used her newfound wealth to travel the world. On a trip back to Africa, she came across Maksai and took back the Tantu Totem, using its power to become the costumed superhero Vixen.

As a solo crime fighter, Mari fought poachers in India and fought against the techno-psycho criminal Admiral Cerebrus but was largely a small-time hero until the Justice League of America was re-organised by Aquaman and relocated in Detroit. Hearing of the League's recruitment drive, she applied for full-time membership and was accepted.

During her time with the JLA, the totem was taken from her by General Maksai, who still sought its power, however the totem would only grant its full power to those who would use it to protect the innocent and it caused Maksai to be transformed into a raging beast which Mari had to kill. When the team faced the android Amazo, Vixen and several of her teammates were beaten into unconsciousness and then left bound and gagged in a walled off pit. Vixen saved the lives of herself and her fellow Leaguers by using her powers to shatter her bonds and dig to freedom. Vixen continued with that particular incarnation of the JLA until it was disbanded by the Martian Manhunter.

When the League disbanded, Mari returned to modelling; but a Caribbean photo session turned violent and Mari's colleagues were killed by drug smugglers. Appealing to the U.S. government for assistance in fighting the smugglers, the government turned the matter over to the Suicide Squad who aided Mari in capturing the drug kingpin and destroying the drug operation. However, during the operation Mari fell under the influence of her animal powers and went "feral"; killing the kingpin that had murdered her modelling friends. Revolted by what she had done, Mari agreed to continue working with the Squad until her animal instincts could be controlled again.

Being a major player in the hunt for Rick Flag and Senator Cray and the Janus Directive incident, Mari attempted a romance with fellow-Squad member Bronze Tiger (Ben Turner) but returned to modelling after the Squad was disbanded for a year following the Squad's engagement against the Louisiana Ordnance Association (L.O.A.) drug cartel.

After the Suicide Squad's brief reformation, Mari continued to do undercover work and was drafted for at least one mission for Checkmate. At some point, she also signed on to work with Oracle's Birds of Prey covert ops team to investigate a "superhero" cult that brainwashed heroes into supporting them.

In addition to this, Mari also worked alongside the Flash (Wally West) to stop Gorilla Grodd from taking over Keystone City with an army of animals, occasionally working with Animal Man (Buddy Baker), serving on one mission with the Justice League Task Force to aid Wonder Woman during a battle with Circe; and joined the loose-knit Ultramarine Corps until they moved on to another universe.

Experienced in team works and solo adventuring, Vixen continues operating as a hero when the situation calls for her.

Combat Statistics

• Vixen (A Rip in Time)

Involvement

• Vixen's Tantu Totem appears as a captured artefact within the Nexus of Reality. Due to it's presence, power pools will appear on the floor during the final battle that will cause damage to players and bosses alike.
• Vixen appears in the 4-Player Operation A Rip in Time where she leads Rip Hunter's team in retrieving the Kahndaqi relic lost in The First Piece Operation from a group of mercenaries led by Vandal Savage before aiding the team further in retrieving Rip Hunter; who has become stranded in ancient Kahndaq.

Associated Equipment

• Tantu Totem

Trivia

• Vixen first appeared in Action Comics #521 (July 1981).
• The Tantu Totem is a talisman shaped like a fox's head that enables the wielder to tap into the "Morphogenetic Field" of the Earth (also known as "The Red"). This allows the wielder to mimic the abilities of any animal they can think of, by simply focusing on a specific animal abilities and then drawing it directly from the field. It should be noted, however, that the Totem is not the source of the wielder's powers but rather acts as a device to channel the latent power from within the wielder.
• During the year when the Suicide Squad was disbanded, Mari launched a successful line of clothing to bolster her modeling career.
• While her ability to channel various animals has aided her immensely, Mari is vulnerable to the possibility of her human senses being overwhelmed by the channelled animal's instincts while channelling them. In addition, if an individual as the ability to gain control of a certain animal (say a fish or a rat), that individual can also control Mari if she is channelling that animal at the time.

Gallery

See also

• Legends of Tomorrow

External links

• Vixen (comics) Wikipedia
• Vixen DC Database