Celebrating Black History Month – #BHM – Meteorite

Real Name: Valerie Barnhardt
Aliases: None
Identity: Known to the Authorities
Occupation: Air Force, Government Agent
Citizenship: US Citizen With A Criminal Record (Expunged)
Place of Birth: Unknown
Known Relatives: Amelia Barnhardt (Sprocket, Mother), Donald Joshua Clendenon (Cardinal, Father)
Group Affiliation: Redeemers
First Appearance: Thunderbolts (Volume One) #48
History: Valerie was the daughter of Amelia Barnhardt (Sprocket) and Donald Joshua Clendenon (Cardinal) during a one night stand in Rhodesia, during their days as mercenaries. Amelia never told Donald that she was pregnant and Valerie never knew who her father was. By the age of six, she was enrolled in a military academy and when Valerie was old enough, she left home and joined the Air Force, where she became an accomplished pilot. Amelia, her mother, was also an accomplished (helicopter) pilot. However, during her time with the Air Force, Valerie was raped by her commanding officer. Valerie would later retaliate, in an attack that left her commanding officer paralyzed. Because the rape was never properly reported, Valerie was held accountable for her actions that left her commanding officer paralyzed, and was charged as a criminal.

Valerie was eventually offered a chance to expunge her criminal record if she agreed to join the Redeemers program, using an experimental suit based off the Alpha Flight member known as Windshear. She adopted the name Meteorite and agreed to become a part of the Redeemers. During her time with the Redeemers, Valerie struck up a friendship with her fellow teammate, Leila Davis (who had become Beetle II).

Valerie would meet a (seemingly) tragic end, when during a fight with Graviton, he reversed her gravity from Earth and launched her into space, where she apparently suffocated and died.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was eventually able to locate and recover Meteroite’s body and did a DNA test that confirmed that Valerie was indeed Amelia’s daughter. After learning this, Amelia paid Donald (Cardinal) a visit in prison and explained why she never told him that they had a daughter together. Donald is furious and Crimson Cowl eventually shows up and convinces Donald that Hawkeye is to blame for Valerie’s death; and that the Crimson Cowl was forming a team to take down Hawkeye and the rest of the Thunderbolts.

He joins and becomes Harrier and seeks revenge against Hawkeye (and the rest of the Thunderbolts), but eventually accept that it wasn’t ever Hawkeye’s fault. He returns to jail with Abner Jenkins (better known as Beetle/Mach V).

Height: 5’5″
Weight: 110 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

Powers: None

Armor: Valerie wore an armor based off of Windshear, from Alpha Flight. The Meteorite suit utilities hard air technology in a variety of ways, allowing her to fly, protecting her with a limited force field (which also maintains a limited air supply), and allowing her to use their force field to turn herself into a battering ram.