You can find heroes in the darkest
of places and the most oppressive of environments. Even on a planet that is
supposed to be a new version of Hell, apparently. Thankfully, Darkseid isn’t
nearly as observant a taskmaster as Satan, Hades, or other overseers of the
afterlife. Otherwise someone like Barda couldn’t have gotten her start.
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| Be prepared for a concussion. |
Big Barda is one of the New Gods.
Which is good. Such a heritage comes with a lot of power and an exceedingly
long life. But of the two New God worlds, she was born on Apokolips. Which is
bad. Very, very bad. She’s relatively young, having only been born about 250 years
ago. Remember, Darkseid predates the human race. She is the daughter of Big
Breeda, an Apokoliptian warrior of some renown. Despite this, she was taken
away to be trained as a warrior by Granny Goodness, at her Home for Orphaned Youth.
Yes, most of the Orphans there are not in fact Orphans, and yes Granny Goodness’s
name is ironic. She’s a terrible human being…er New God. The motto of the
Orphanage is “Die for Darkseid,” an ideal she tries to instill into her
charges. Granny had big plans for Barda, grooming her to be the leader of
Female Fury Battalion. Again, Furies by definition Female, so I don’t
understand why you need to qualify them at all. Granny specializes in breaking
down young Apokoliptian psyches, turning them into the ever loyal minions of
Darkseid.
While in training, Barda met Scott
Free. In case you missed my Darkseid’s Profile, Scott is the son of the Leader
of the good New Gods, the Highfather. He and Darkseid exchanged sons as part of
a peace agreement between their peoples. While Highfather took Darkseid’s son,
Orion, in and raised him as his own, Scott was left to grow up under Granny’s tutelage.
Barda sensed an innate goodness and peace in Scott Free, something she’d never known
on Apokolips. It was a nice change. Do I even need to say she fell for the guy?
No? Alright, moving on. While most of her friends were eventually broken by
Granny and turned into Darkseid’s slaves, Barda kept fighting Granny’s control
while still pretending to be as loyal as others.
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| Just a normal night out for the Frees. |
Barda, possibly moved by Scott Free’s
innate goodness or an innate spark of rebellion fostered by Apokoliptian oppressive
regime, decided to work with rebel New God Himon. She and several Furies work
with Himon for a while before they decide to go with one of their crazier
plans, getting Scott Free off of Apokolips. While emotionally torn by Scott’s
departure, she elected to stay on Apokolips for a few years to help continue to
destabilize Darkseid’s regime. This was especially important since Scott’s
departure from Apokolips effectively broke the peace treaty between New Genesis
and Apokolips, allowing Darkseid to wage open war once more. Retrospectively
speaking, getting Scott to leave probably wasn’t the best idea. Just saying.
Eventually, Barda fled Apokolips
and was reunited with Scott Free, who had started a career as the escape artist
Mister Miracle. They were married a few years later by the Highfather. Big
Barda and Mister Miracle had an on again off again relationship with being
superheroes. They tried to retire for a bit, though Barda kept up her own
physical training by leading a defense-training program for women she called
the New Furies. Big Barda joined the Justice League after “temping” with them a
few times while guarding Scott. Barda, as kind of a nice twist on the usual
superhero relationship paradigm, is fiercely protective of the physically
weaker Scott. Any who attempt to harm him, which occasionally includes Scott
himself with his death defying stunts, must face her incredible wrath. I do not
envy him.
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| And I thought Hawkwoman's headgear was intense. |
Big Barda, as a New God, is blessed
with a lot of power. She’s immensely strong and resistant to injury, on par
with Superman and Wonder Woman. So yeah, avoid her fists if possible. She is
virtually invulnerable, immune to most disease and even largely immune to
aging. She’s been trained to use her immense strength most effectively. She’s
been trained in most forms of Apokoliptan combat. She’s got enough strength and
skill that she once fought Wonder Woman to a draw. Remember her, strong as
Superman and as skilled a fighter as Batman? So yeah, effectively as powerful
as the Big Three of the Justice League. Her preferred weapon is the Omega-Rod,
a weapon that fired powerful blasts of energy strong enough to bring Superman
to his knees. It can also let her teleport great distances, manipulate gravity,
and she can hit people on the head with it. Sometimes simple is best. She can fly
thanks to Apokolitian tech known as Aero-Discs. She’s got nearly indestructible
armor that adds to her durability. And a Motherbox that lets her make wormholes
to travel across the universe. She’s fully accessorized.
Big Barda has appeared in a number
of DC series.
She appeared in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Barda is
attempting to live a simple life in an Earth suburb. Not an easy task for a New
God. She is recruited by Bats, Sups, and… Wonds to get them onto Apokalpse to
save Supergirl from Darkseid and Granny Goodness. She smacks around her former
Furies while the others take on Darkseid and the brainwashed Supergirl. And,
while Scott Free himself doesn’t appear, his costume is next to all of Barda’s
tech in her secret room.
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| That's just a well designed costume. |
Big Barda and husband Mister
Miracle appear in a Justice League:
Unlimited episode entitled “The Ties that Bind.” In it, the pair are forced
to help their old slave driver Granny Goodness reclaim Kalibak, Darksied’s
oldest son. The old bat kidnapped the Frees’ friend Oberon. Granny’s main rival
on Apokolips, Virman Vundabar, copied Granny’s plan to try to brainwash Kalibak
to be used as a puppet dictator who he controls behind the throne. With help
from Wally West, (Flash 3) they liberate Kalibak. Expecting a doublecross, the
swap Kalibak for Martian Manhunter, whom them uses his telepathy to locate
Oberon. He’s liberated, and Kalibak is imprisoned on Earth, thus ensuring the
civil war on Apokolips continues. Oh, and Barda gets to punch Granny in the
face. Everybody wins!
Barda appears as part of a future
Justice League in Batman Beyond. She’s
less than thrilled at the young Batman joining the JLA. Unbeknownst to her,
Terry McGinnis had been recruited by Superman to locate a traitor in the
Leagues ranks. The traitor in fact turns out to be a brain controlled Superman.
After saving them all from the alien mind controller known as Starro, he earns
her respect. Again, Scott Free doesn’t appear in person, but Barda has a few
pictures of her husband in her room.
I like Big Barda for a lot of the
same reasons that I like Wonder Woman. She goes against the usual female
superhero stereotypes. She’s a no nonsense brawler that wants to fight at the
drop of a hat. Like I said before, in her relationship she’s the strong one and
the overprotective one. In a few regards she’s a lady Superman. She’ll smack
you around if you look at her funny. The burly, blunt, bruising Big Bertha.
Next time, the mystical Zatanna Zatara.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Barda
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/mister-miracle-barda-vs-gladiator-shapeshifter-683539/
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Barda_%28Superman/Batman%29
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/gen-discussion-1/2014-popularity-tournament-1544848/?messageId=11699064&page=72
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