Technically, Firestar first appeared in the Saturday morning show Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, which produced a one-shot comic of the same name. Her first appearance in Marvel continuity was supposed to be her self-titled limited series; however, the Uncanny X-men 193 actually made it to press first.

Angelica trained with the Hellions, where the White Queen tried to turn her into an assassin. However, Angelica remained uncorrupted and eventually turned against her mentor. She was drafted into the New Warriors by Night Thrasher. Although instrumental in halting an early rampage of Carnage during the Maximum Carnage storyline, Angelica was unable to bring herself to actually destroy the super symbiont (something, incidentally, several of her New Warrior teammates would have done without a second thought). She remains with the New Warriors, although the cancellation of their title leaves the group's status up in the air.

Angelica can generate and control microwave bursts. Firestar once resisted mental domination, defeating Empath, freeing the citizens of Nova Roma, and burying her former Hellion teammates.