RENASCENCE

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Real Name: Sofia Mantega
Aliases: Sofia Mantega-Barrett, Wind Dancer
Identity: Wind Dancer (Public), Renascence (Secret)
Occupation: Waitress, former Student
Citizenship: Venezuela (U.S. green card)
Place of Birth: Caracas, Venezuela
Known Relatives: Walter Barrett (father), Miranda Mantega (mother, deceased), Paolo Mantega (uncle), three unnamed cousins
Group Affiliation: New Mutants, New Warriors
First Appearance: New Mutants #1 (2003)
History: Growing up in the streets of Caracas, Sofia was told by her mother to use her powers openly; and that they had been a gift to her, just as she had been a gift to her mother. Her mother had always showered her with love and caring; something that helped give Sofia an optimistic view on life.

Her mother, however, would eventually be killed during a riot, leaving Sofia alone until she was sent to Colorado to live with her father; a man whom she had never met, and never got to know. Her father, Walter Barrett was an American Businessman who had very little time to deal with such things – like a daughter. Walter wanted little to do with his daughter, and thus left most of her fatherly needs to be tended to by his butler, a man named Derek Newton.

Despite losing her mother in the riots, and despite having a father who gave her no time, Sofia maintained what her mother had taught her and kept a cheerful attitude. This however, would come to haunt her at the American schools where she was often mocked for it, and her unusual accent.

When her uncaring father forgot her sixteenth birthday, the cheery façade that Sofia had maintained crumbled; this lead her to paying a visit to one of her father’s stores and destroying it with her powers. Just before her father had sent her away, the New Mutant Danielle Moonstar offered her a place at Xavier’s School for The Gifted.

At Xavier’s School for the Gifted, Sofia was able to make new friends; and she found that here, it was much easier to be who her mother had always told her to be. Her optimistic attitude returned, and for once, in a long, long time, Sofia was finally happy again.

Given the name Wind Dancer, Sofia would eventually come to lead the newest version of The New Mutants; but her headstrong ways often got in the way and made her an unlikely candidate. She eventually handed leadership over to Prodigy, her team mate with a genius level IQ; but Prodigy convinced Wind Dancer that, as Wind Dancer, she was the very heart and core of the team; and the two agreed to co-lead the New Mutants.

As the New Mutants, they seemed to be plagued with trivial problems; such as Sofia being romantically interested in the Hellion leader, Julian Keller – but because he was the leader of the Hellions, she kept her emotions in check.

Tragedy would find Sofia one more time, when the events of “M-Day” robbed her of her powers, leaving her powerless. While Julian, leader of the Hellions had hoped to keep seeing her; his remarks towards other de-powered mutants had ruined any chance of the two of them developing something more.

Sophia adopted quickly to the change, becoming a waitress for a small diner. One day, while heading home, a homeless man told her he had been given one hundred dollars to hand a PDA to her. She took the PDA and came to find that someone knew who she was and how she had lost her powers. Later, a computer message on the screen tells her to meet them. She finally agrees, and it turns out to be the mutant, formerly known as Beak. He takes her, and together – they stand before a man believed to be dead – Night Thrasher.

And so Sofia’s life, one chapter has closed; but another has clearly opened.

During a battle between the New Warriors and Zodiac, a little boy had put himself in danger by getting in the middle of the battle. Sofia, witnessing this, quickly ran out to save the boy by attacking Scorpio – the leader of the Zodiac. With no powers of her own, she was quickly beaten and gravely injured.

She was rushed to the hospital where she was paid a visit by Jubilee, who once again offered her membership to the New Warriors. Once again, Sofia declined – but eventually changed her mind and checked out what the New Warriors had to offer.

She eventually joined and adopted the name Renascence.

Early in this newly formed team of “New Warriors” the team suffers a casualty when Longstrike, Phaser’s sister is killed. Night Thrasher is hard on the New Warriors and tells them that this is a war, and there will be casualties.

Sometime later, at the Appalachian Safehouse, Night Thrasher finds that the entire area is undisturbed. He had hoped that if Dwayne were still alive he would be hiding here. He does however, managed to snag some of Dwayne’s DNA for testing. As he exits the house however, he discovers he’s not alone and is confronted by Counter Force which consists of: Justice, Rage, Debrii, Slapstick and two of the Scarlet Spiders.

Both Rage and Justice try to talk to Night Thrasher but he refuses to discuss it with them and a fight breaks out – and just when it seems like Night Thrasher’s been captured – the arrival of the New Warriors tips the balance once more.

Throughout the fight Night Thrasher is thinking about how Justice and the rest of Counter Force think he’s a Skrull – while he’s wondering if it was Skrull who perished at Stamford, not his own half-brother. As the fight processes, Night Thrasher realizes that this has to end quickly.

He decides to stop the fight and unveil who he is. He explains his actions about looking for the truth about Dwayne – and whether he would ever take part of some reality television show as a part of the “New Warriors.” Justice steps up and informs Donyell that he can help – because he knows the location of Dwayne’s body.

The New Warriors, along with Counter Force, arrive at the Helicarrier only to find it under attack by Skrulls. The New Warriors and Counter Force get out of the plane as Night Thrasher crashes it into one of the Skrull ships. After that, they follow Justice onto the Helicarrier and begin helping the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents against the Skrulls.

As the New Warriors and Counter Force battle the Skrulls, Night Thrasher grabs Justice and enables “ghost mode” – allowing them to phrase through the floor. The others continue to battle the Skrulls – and just when it seems like they might be doing all right – the arrival of a Super Skrull, looking a lot like Nova, appears and tilts the odds back in favor of the Skrulls.

Meanhile Justice leads Night Thrasher to the bodies of what appears to be Dwayne and Microbe, with Nita’s ashes in a jar. Night Thrasher takes a sample from Dwayne’s body and begins the DNA comparison. All three turn out to be positive identifications – proving that the Dwayne, Namorita and Microbe did indeed die at Stamford. Night Thrasher turns to Justice and explains, he’s taking the remains with him. Justice, after a brief pause, agrees to help.

They bury the New Warriors and create a memorial plaque for Dwayne, Namorita and Zachary.

Later, the New Warriors burst in through the roof and the Dread Dealers are subjected to Pym Particles and reduced in size.

Their victory is short lived however, with the sudden appearance of Sykes, Givens and the New Warriors Task Force. The New Warriors make a break for it – but Blackwing, who is carrying Night Thrasher gets tagged and the two crash to the ground. Panicking, Tempest screams out and doesn’t see the net shot at her – Wondra tries to push her out of the way but gets snagged.

One of the New Warriors Task Force members fires a shot – but Ripcord kicks him at the last moment. The shot hits the flame tank of another New Warriors Task Force member – and Ripcord stops to try and help him. Skybolt seeing that the tank is about to explode tries to get to Ripcord – he manages to grab her and start flying away – but the tank explodes, causing a blinding flash. Night Thrasher gets the other New Warriors together, and they quickly make their escape – unsure of the fate of both Skybolt and Ripcord. They later learn that both perished in the fire.

The New Warriors are later teleported to an alternate reality, in which Dwayne Taylor has become Iron Man, and Tony Stark has become Night Thrasher. Dwayne has become an evil corporate leader, and while Donyell struggles to not betray his brother, in the end he knows he has to stop him. After a long fight, the New Warriors defeat Dwayne, and return to their own time.

Donyell tells them to keep their tech equipment regardless, because they had definitely deserved it. As everyone exits the room, Wondra approaches Night Thrasher and the two seem to be ready to say something – instead, Wondra kisses Night Thrasher on the cheek then follows the others out of the room, leaving Donyell there to sit and think about all that he had done – and what he was going to do next.

Wind Dancer next appears trapped in the Mojo-Verse, where she is forced to be killed. Members of X-Factor go and recover her body and resurrect her on Krakoa, where she reveals that Spiral, Adam-X and Shatterstar had all tried to help her escape. 

Wind Dancer begs X-Factor and the others to go back and help Adam-X, Shatterstar and Spiral escape – but Lorna Dane, Polaris, explains that after they had taken Sofia’s body, they were permanently banned from entering Mojo World again.

However, X-Factor, along with several other mutants, including Sophia do indeed return to the Mojoverse and help free all who are trapped there. Sophia is then appointed to keep watch over Mojo. Her experience within the Mojoverse has her assigned in helping film and direction promotional videos for X-Corp.

Wind Dancer would next launch a show called “So I’m Dating A Pop Star” in which they would take pop stars (such as Dazzler and Lila Cheney) and disguise them and have them go on dates and see if their dates would still appreciate them for who they are before realizing who is they’re on a date with.

Wind Dancer next shows up as a temporary member of the Marauders, appearing in the Artic Ocean area, at an Oil Rig to help put out a massive fire that was started by an small group of mutants calling themselves “X-Men Green” (made up of: Curse, Nature Girl, Sauron, and two others). She is designated to help control and put out the fires. The Marauders successfully put out the fires and know they must deal with “X-Men Green.”

Sofia would turn up again, this time as the Public Relations/Manager for the mutant musician known as Dazzler as Dazzler is about to begin a world tour. Sofia informs Dazzler that her music is being heard by both mutants and humans alike, which is helping break down the barrier and mistrust/hatred many humans feel towards mutants. However, in an effort to keep tensions down between humans and mutants, Sofia asks Shark Girl (who looks like a humanoid female shark), who happens to be the drummer in Dazzler’s band to wear an Image Inducer, similar to what Nightcrawler often wore, to make him appear human and hide his true physical self. Shark Girl naturally agrees, and when the show starts, Dazzler is taken aback by Shark Girl’s human appearance.

During the show, a woman by the name Scorpia (a female version of the villain Scorpion) attacks Dazzler; and Dazzler is forced to defend herself (easily, without every stopping her singing) and calls out to Shark Girl to reveal her true self, because mutants shouldn’t need to hide. Sofia even stops Domino, who is Dazzler’s personal security, from going out there and stopping the fight between Dazzler and Scorpia.

Sofia notes that after the fight, it isn’t long before there’s a negative spin about how Dazzler is leaving her human fans behind.

Height: 5’5”
Weight: 122 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown (Dyed Blond)

Powers: Sofia was able to do a number of things, with her ability to control air. She had, through experience, developed a wide variety of powers based off her ability to control air. She could fly on wind currents; use the wind to bring her sounds from a distance or create silence. She could also create intense winds that were capable of physically harming a human being. One final thing she was able to do is to “launch compressed air” into a person’s ear, disrupting their equal Librium.

Accessories: As Renascence, Sofia had displayed a number of technology based powers. One of them is a force field that protects her against physical attacks. She also displayed the ability to use “Doctor Octupus'” technology of additional limbs. She has also been practicing to use a gun with incredible skill.

Note: Sofia speaks her native tongue (Spanish) flawlessly; and has also learned to speak English flawlessly (though with an accent). She is also capable of speaking some Portuguese.