MARRINA
Real Name: Marrina Smallwood
Group Affiliation: Former member of Alpha Flight, former associate of the Avengers, former member of Beta Flight.
First Appearance: Alpha Flight v1 #1
Creator: John Byrne

      Thousands of years ago a colony ship of the alien Plodex crash landed on Earth. Standard operating procedure for the Plodex was to discover the dominant lifeform of a planet, imprint the thousands of eggs in the colony ship's hold with the genetic data, and then send the new Plodex out to breed and conquer. In this case, something went wrong: All the eggs were expelled on the crash landing, before imprintation.
      One night roughly twenty or so years ago, Thomas Smallwood, a Newfoundland fisherman, was washed overboard in a storm and tangled in his nets. He thought he was dead until he grabbed a strangely glowing object on the sea bottom. The object had sufficient buoyancy, once free of the sea muck, to carry him back to the surface. Curious, Smallwood took it home with him.
      There, his wife Gladys noticed what seemed to be a form inside, and broke open the object. Although she thought for a moment that the form was not human, when she lifted it out, it was humanoid, and female... albeit a bit strange looking.
      The object was a Plodex egg, and Gladys Smallwood imprinted it with her genetic code, rendering it female. One thing happened though... as a result of being underwater for a few thousand years the being developed amphibious traits.
      Marrina grew up quite happily, as the community she was in was quite small and clannish. However, on her sixteenth birthday she demonstrated that her non-human traits went beyond looks. The Smallwoods decided to have it checked out, and eventually Marrina came to the attention of James MacDonald Hudson. She soon joined Department H as part of the training team known as Beta Flight. Marrina moved up to Alpha shortly after H's original disbanding by the Federal Government.
      Marrina came to know her complete origin during Alpha Flight's first encounter with the being calling himself the Master of the World. Indeed, the encounter happened because of Marrina. It was after this adventure that Marrina first encountered Prince Namor, the Sub-Marriner. Intrigued by the notion of an underwater civilization, Marrina accompanied Prince Namor back to Atlantis, where the two soon fell in love.
      Marrina remained in Atlantis for some time, until summoned by her fellow Alphan Puck to investigate a series of murders on Toronto's waterfront. During the investigation she found that the murders were being done by another Plodex, who, having "hatched" without being imprinted, was "sampling" every genetic structure it could find. This Plodex was Marrina's genetically designed mate and its presence unleashed an uncontrollable animalistic rage in her. The beast was under control of the Master of the World. This time around the Master was defeated by the efforts of the Sub-Marriner (who had followed his love) and Puck. Full of shame over her inbred reactions, Marrina avoided Namor afterwards and began wandering on her own.
      Shortly thereafter Marrina was captured by the then-conquerer of Atlantis, the warlord Attuma. He used Marrina's then-monstrous appearance (a result of her encounter with her mate) to turn public opinion against Namor. She was freed by a joint rescue effort of Alpha Flight and the Avengers.
      However, Marrina once again fled from Namor. Encountering her mate once again, nodules resembling Plodex eggs formed on her body. Marrina was apparently pregnant. During Alpha's battle with the Plodex though, she rejected her heritage and the nodules disappeared. She and the Sub-Marriner were then married. The two lived and reigned over the new undersea colony of Deluvia.
      Their happiness was not to last, however. Marrina's association with Namor was apparently enough to activate her reproductive system. She spawned three eggs, and transformed into a monstrous Leviathan to protect them. Namor was finally forced to kill her, using the Black Knight's Ebony Sword.
      In Alpha Flight #78 the being known as Llan the Sorcerer informed the Master that Marrina was merely "sleeping a false death beneath the waves." This is a plot thread that was never picked up again.
      [Compiler's notes: Marrina's spirit made an appearance in Namor's last book, in which the Ebony Blade was made out to be a copy of Katana's Soultaker (Read the Outsiders for more details.) True Marrina fans should forget this storyline exists. Trust me.]
      Marrina derived numerous super-human abilities from her amphibious and alien natures. She was capable of indefinite survival on either land or in water, and apparently did not suffer from her husband's oxygen deprivation or intoxication difficulties. [Namor can develop insane rages if he stays over-long in water (oxygen deprivation) or on land (oxygen intoxication.) He controls this problem with a blood exchange machine. -C]
      Marrina was well suited to underwater life. While submerged she gained enhanced senses that compensated for the lack of light at the lower depths. Her strength was greater than human, enabling her to survive the crushing depths of the ocean floor. The exact limits of Marrina's strength are unknown. She could also swim at extremely high speeds, and literally turn "on a dime" while doing so. Marrina's speeds during swimming were greatly higher than those of her husband.
      Marrina also possessed the ability to create waterspouts through an unknown process. These spouts were capable of stretching extreme distances from their source, up to five miles. Marrina used these waterspouts for travel purposes, and one such spout was instrumental in the defeat of the Great Beast called Tundra.
      Finally, Marrina's skin secreted an oil that can cause extreme dilation of the pupils when it comes in contact with the eyes. The effect causes temporary blindness in the victim. This is a trait of the Plodex race, and not something that developed from Marrina's amphibious nature.