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O. Henry

William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel Cabbages and Kings. Porter's stories are known for their naturalist observations, witty narration, and surprise endings.

Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Porter worked at his uncle's pharmacy after finishing school and became a licensed pharmacist at age 19. In March 1882, he moved to Texas, where he initially lived on a ranch, and later settled in Austin, where he met his first wife, Athol Estes Roach. While working as a drafter for the Texas General Land Office, Porter began developing characters for his short stories. He later worked for the First National Bank of Austin, where he wrote The Rolling Stone weekly in newspapers.

After moving to Houston in 1895, he was charged with embezzlement stemming from an audit of the bank and fled to Honduras before trial. During his stay in Honduras, he began writing Cabbages and Kings, which originated the term "banana republic". Porter surrendered to U.S. authorities when he learned his wife was dying from tuberculosis, and he cared for her until her death in July 1897. He began his five-year prison sentence in March 1898 at the Ohio Penitentiary, where he served as a night druggist. Porter wrote 14 stories from prison under various pseudonyms, one being O. Henry.

Released from prison early for good behavior, Porter moved to Pittsburgh to be with his daughter Margaret before relocating to New York City, where he wrote 381 short stories. He married once more to Sarah (Sallie) Lindsey Coleman before she left him in 1909. Porter died on June 5, 1910, after years of deteriorating health. Porter's legacy includes the O. Henry Award, an annual prize awarded to outstanding short stories.

Early life
William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina, during the American Civil War. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after giving birth to her third child, and he and his father moved into the home of his paternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favorite works were Lane's translation of One Thousand and One Nights and Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until he was 15. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore in Greensboro, and on August 30, 1881, at the age of 19, Porter was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed his natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk.

Life in Texas

Porter traveled along with James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. He took up residence on the sheep ranch of Richard Hall, James Hall's son, in La Salle County and helped out as a shepherd, ranch hand, cook, and baby-sitter. While on the ranch, he learned bits of Spanish and German from the mix of indigenous and immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time reading classic works of literature.

Porter's health did improve. He traveled with Richard to Austin, Texas, in 1884, where he decided to remain and was welcomed into the home of Richard's friends, Joseph Harrell, and his wife. Porter resided with the Harrells for three years. He went to work briefly for the Morley Brothers Drug Company as a pharmacist. Porter then moved on to work for the Harrell Cigar Store located in the Driskill Hotel. He also began writing as a sideline and wrote many of his early stories in the Harrell house.

As a young bachelor, Porter led an active social life in Austin. He was known for his wit, story-telling, and musical talents. He played both the guitar and mandolin. He sang in the choir at St. David's Episcopal Church and became a member of the "Hill City Quartette", a group of young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town.

Porter met and began courting Athol Estes, 17 years old and from a wealthy family. Historians believe Porter met Athol at the laying of the cornerstone of the Texas State Capitol on March 2, 1885. Her mother objected to the match because Athol was ill, suffering from tuberculosis. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped with Athol and they were married in the parlor of the home of the Reverend R. K. Smoot, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, where the Estes family attended church. The couple continued to participate in musical and theater groups, and Athol encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who died hours after birth, and then a daughter Margaret Worth Porter in September 1889.

Porter's friend Richard Hall became Texas Land Commissioner and offered Porter a job. Porter started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on January 12, 1887, at a salary of $100 a month, drawing maps from surveys and field notes. The salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers. In the GLO building, he began developing characters and plots for such stories as "Georgia's Ruling" (1900), and "Buried Treasure" (1908). The castle-like building he worked in was woven into some of his tales such as "Bexar Scrip No. 2692" (1894). His job at the GLO was a political appointment by Hall. Hall ran for governor in the election of 1890 but lost. Porter resigned on January 21, 1891, the day after the new governor, Jim Hogg, was sworn in.

The same year, Porter began working at the First National Bank of Austin as a teller and bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the GLO. The bank was operated informally, and Porter was apparently careless in keeping his books and may have embezzled funds. In 1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted at the time.

He then worked full-time on his humorous weekly called The Rolling Stone, which he started while working at the bank. The Rolling Stone featured satire on life, people, and politics and included Porter's short stories and sketches. Although eventually reaching a top circulation of 1,500, The Rolling Stone failed in April 1895 because the paper never provided an adequate income. However, his writing and drawings had caught the attention of the editor at the Houston Post.

Porter and his family moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for the Post. His salary was only $25 a month, but it rose steadily as his popularity increased. Porter gathered ideas for his column by loitering in hotel lobbies and observing and talking to people there. This was a technique he used throughout his writing career.

While he was in Houston, federal auditors audited the First National Bank of Austin and found the embezzlement shortages that led to his firing. A federal indictment followed, and he was arrested on charges of embezzlement.

Flight and return
After his arrest, Porter's father-in-law posted his bail. He was due to stand trial on July 7, 1896, but the day before, as he was changing trains to get to the courthouse, he got scared. He fled, first to New Orleans and later to Honduras, with which the United States had no extradition treaty at that time. Porter lived in Honduras for six months, until January 1897. There he became friends with Al Jennings, a notorious train robber, who later wrote a book about their friendship. He holed up in a Trujillo hotel, where he wrote Cabbages and Kings, which notably coined the term "banana republic". Porter had sent Athol and Margaret back to Austin to live with Athol's parents. Unfortunately, Athol became too ill to meet Porter in Honduras as he had planned. When he learned that his wife was dying, Porter returned to Austin in February 1897 and surrendered to the court, pending trial. Athol Estes Porter died from tuberculosis (then known as consumption) on July 25, 1897.

Porter had little to say in his own defense at his trial and was found guilty on February 17, 1898, of embezzling $854.08. He was sentenced to five years in prison and imprisoned on March 25, 1898, at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. Porter was a licensed pharmacist and was able to work in the prison hospital as the night druggist. He was given his own room in the hospital wing, and there is no record that he actually spent time in the cell block of the prison. He had 14 stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison but was becoming best known as "O. Henry", a pseudonym that first appeared over the story "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" in the December 1899 issue of McClure's Magazine. A friend of his in New Orleans would forward his stories to publishers so that they had no idea that the writer was imprisoned.

Porter was released on July 24, 1901, for good behavior after serving three years. He reunited with his daughter Margaret, now age 11, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Athol's parents had moved after Porter's conviction.

Later life
Porter's most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York City to be near his publishers. While there, he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. His wit, characterization, and plot twists were adored by his readers but often panned by critics.

Porter married again in 1907 to childhood sweetheart Sarah (Sallie) Lindsey Coleman, whom he met again after revisiting his native state of North Carolina. Coleman was herself a writer and wrote a romanticized and fictionalized version of their correspondence and courtship in her novella Wind of Destiny.

Death
Porter was a heavy drinker, and by 1908, his markedly deteriorating health affected his writing. In 1909, Sarah left him, and he died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart. According to one account, he died of cerebral hemorrhage.

After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His daughter Margaret Worth Porter had a short writing career from 1913 to 1916. She married cartoonist Oscar Cesare of New York in 1916; they were divorced four years later. She died of tuberculosis in 1927 and was buried next to her father.

According to the cemetery, as of 2023, people have been leaving $1.87 in change (the amount of Della's savings at the beginning of "The Gift of the Magi") on Porter's grave for at least 30 years. The cemetery says the money is given to area libraries.

Stories
Most of Porter's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th century. He had an obvious affection for New York City, which he called "Bagdad-on-the-Subway", and many of his stories are set there, while others are set in small towns or in other cities. They frequently feature working class characters, such as policemen and waitresses, as well as criminals and social outcasts. In his day he was called the American answer to French naturalist Guy de Maupassant, whose work was similarly concerned with the struggles of common people and often had twist endings.

Cabbages and Kings was his first collection of stories, followed by The Four Million. The second collection opens with a reference to Ward McAllister's claim that there were "...only 'Four Hundred' people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen—the census taker—and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the Four Million."

His final work was "Dream", a short story intended for the magazine The Cosmopolitan. It was never completed.

Among his most famous stories are:
 * "The Gift of the Magi" is about a young couple, Jim and Della, who are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his own most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. The essential premise of this story has been copied, re-worked, parodied, and otherwise re-told countless times in the century since it was written.
 * "The Ransom of Red Chief" in which two men kidnap a boy of ten years old to ransom him. The boy turns out to be so spoiled and obnoxious that the desperate men ultimately pay the boy's father $250 to take him back.
 * "The Cop and the Anthem" about a New York City hobo named Soapy who sets out to get arrested so that he can be a guest of the city jail instead of sleeping out in the cold winter. Despite his best efforts at committing petty theft, vandalism, disorderly conduct, and "flirting" with a young prostitute, Soapy fails to draw the attention of the police. Dejected, he stops in front of a church, where an organ anthem inspires him to clean up his life; however, he is charged with loitering, and sentenced to three months in prison.
 * "A Retrieved Reformation" tells the tale of safecracker Jimmy Valentine, a man recently freed from prison. He goes to a town bank to case it before he robs it. As he walks to the door, he catches the eye of the banker's beautiful daughter. They immediately fall in love and Valentine decides to give up his criminal career. He moves into the town, taking up the identity of Ralph Spencer, a shoemaker. Just as he is about to leave to deliver his specialized tools to an old associate, a lawman who recognizes him arrives at the bank. Jimmy and his fiancée and her family are at the bank, inspecting a new safe when a child accidentally gets locked inside the airtight vault. Knowing it will seal his fate, Valentine opens the safe to rescue the child. However, much to Valentine's surprise, the lawman denies recognizing him and lets him go.
 * "The Duplicity of Hargraves" tells the story of the Talbots, a father and daughter from the Old South, newly poor after the Civil War, who move to Washington, DC. An actor, Hargraves, offers Mr. Talbot money, which he is too proud to accept. But when Talbot is approached by an old man, a former slave who gives him money to settle an old family debt, he accepts it. It is later revealed that Hargraves secretly portrayed the slave.
 * "The Caballero's Way" in which Porter's most famous character, the Cisco Kid, is introduced. It was first published in 1907 in the July issue of Everybody's Magazine and collected in the book Heart of the West that same year. In later film and TV depictions, the Kid would be portrayed as a dashing adventurer, perhaps skirting the edges of the law, but primarily on the side of the angels. In the original short story, the only story by Porter to feature the character, the Kid is a murderous, ruthless border desperado, whose trail is dogged by a heroic Texas Ranger.

Pen name
Porter used a number of pen names (including "O. Henry" or "Olivier Henry") in the early part of his writing career; other names included S.H. Peters, James L. Bliss, T.B. Dowd, and Howard Clark. Nevertheless, the name "O. Henry" seemed to garner the most attention from editors and the public, and was used exclusively by Porter for his writing by about 1902. He gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909, he gave an interview to The New York Times, in which he gave an account of it:

"It was during these New Orleans days that I adopted my pen name of O. Henry. I said to a friend: 'I'm going to send out some stuff. I don't know if it amounts to much, so I want to get a literary alias. Help me pick out a good one.' He suggested that we get a newspaper and pick a name from the first list of notables that we found in it. In the society columns we found the account of a fashionable ball. 'Here we have our notables,' said he. We looked down the list and my eye lighted on the name Henry, 'That'll do for a last name,' said I. 'Now for a first name. I want something short. None of your three-syllable names for me.' 'Why don't you use a plain initial letter, then?' asked my friend. 'Good,' said I, 'O is about the easiest letter written, and O it is.' A newspaper once wrote and asked me what the O stands for. I replied, 'O stands for Olivier, the French for Oliver.' And several of my stories accordingly appeared in that paper under the name Olivier Henry."

William Trevor writes in the introduction to The World of O. Henry: Roads of Destiny and Other Stories (Hodder & Stoughton, 1973) that "there was a prison guard named Orrin Henry" in the Ohio State Penitentiary "whom William Sydney Porter ... immortalised as O. Henry".

According to J. F. Clarke, it is from the name of the French pharmacist Etienne Ossian Henry, whose name is in the U.S. Dispensary which Porter used working in the prison pharmacy.

Writer and scholar Guy Davenport offers his own hypothesis: "The pseudonym that he began to write under in prison is constructed from the first two letters of Ohio and the second and last two of penitentiary."

Legacy
The O. Henry Award is an annual prize named after Porter and given to outstanding short stories.

A film was made in 1952 featuring five stories, called O. Henry's Full House. The episode garnering the most critical acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem" starring Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".

Strictly Business is a 1962 Soviet comedy film, directed by Leonid Gaidai, based on three short stories by O. Henry: "The Roads We Take", "Makes the Whole World Kin", and "The Ransom of Red Chief". The premiere of the film was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the writer. Henry was particularly popular in Russia in the 1920s, and was described by the critic Deming Brown in 1953 as "remain[ing] a minor classic in Russia". In 1962, the Soviet Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating O. Henry's 100th birthday.

A 1957 television series, The O. Henry Playhouse, was syndicated in 39 episodes to 188 markets. Actor Thomas Mitchell portrayed O. Henry in each episode as he interacted with his characters or related his latest story to his publisher or a friend.

The 1986 Indian anthology television series Katha Sagar adapted several of Henry's short stories as episodes including "The Last Leaf".

An opera in one long act, The Furnished Room, with music by Daniel Steven Crafts and libretto by Richard Kuss, is based on O. Henry's story of the same name.

The O. Henry House and O. Henry Hall, both in Austin, Texas, are named for him. O. Henry Hall, now owned by the Texas State University System, previously served as the federal courthouse in which O. Henry was convicted of embezzlement. The O. Henry House has been the site of the O. Henry Pun-Off, an annual spoken word competition inspired by Porter's love of language, since 1978. (Dr. Samuel E. Gideon, a historical architect and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, was a strong advocate for the saving of the O. Henry House in Austin.)

Porter has elementary schools named for him in Greensboro, North Carolina (William Sydney Porter Elementary), and Garland, Texas (O. Henry Elementary), as well as a middle school in Austin, Texas (O. Henry Middle School). The O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro is also named for Porter, as is US 29, which is O. Henry Boulevard.

Asheville, North Carolina, where Porter is buried, has O. Henry Avenue, the location of the Asheville Citizen-Times building.

On September 11, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of O. Henry's birth.

On November 23, 2011, Barack Obama quoted O. Henry while granting pardons to two turkeys named "Liberty" and "Peace". In response, political science professor P. S. Ruckman Jr. and Texas attorney Scott Henson filed a formal application for a posthumous pardon in September 2012, the same month that the U.S. Postal Service issued its O. Henry stamp. Previous attempts were made to obtain such a pardon for Porter in the administrations of Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, but no one had ever bothered to file a formal application. Ruckman and Henson argued that Porter deserved a pardon because (1) he was a law-abiding citizen prior to his conviction; (2) his offense was minor; (3) he had an exemplary prison record; (4) his post-prison life clearly indicated rehabilitation; (5) he would have been an excellent candidate for clemency in his time, had he but applied for pardon; (6) by today's standards, he remains an excellent candidate for clemency; and (7) his pardon would be a well-deserved symbolic gesture and more. The pardon remains ungranted.

In 2021 the Library of America included O. Henry in their list by publishing a collection of 101 of his stories, edited by Ben Yagoda.

Stories
Collections:
 * Cabbages and Kings (1904), novel consisting of linked stories. Collection of 19 short stories:
 * "The Proem: By the Carpenter", "Fox-in-the-Morning", "The Lotus and the Bottle", "Smith", "Caught", "Cupid's Exile Number Two", "The Phonograph and the Graft", "Money Maze", "The Admiral", "The Flag Paramount", "The Shamrock and the Palm", "The Remnants of the Code", "Shoes", "Ships", "Masters of Arts", "Dicky", "Rouge et Noir", "Two Recalls", "The Vitagraphoscope"
 * The Four Million (1906), collection of 25 short stories:
 * "Tobin's Palm", "The Gift of the Magi", "A Cosmopolite in a Cafe", "Between Rounds", "The Skylight Room", "A Service of Love", "The Coming-Out of Maggie", "Man About Town", "The Cop and the Anthem", "An Adjustment of Nature", "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", "The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein", "Mammon and the Archer", "Springtime à la Carte", "The Green Door", "From the Cabby's Seat", "An Unfinished Story", "The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock", "Sisters of the Golden Circle", "The Romance of a Busy Broker", "After Twenty Years", "Lost on Dress Parade", "By Courier", "The Furnished Room", "The Brief Debut of Tildy"
 * The Trimmed Lamp (1907), collection of 25 short stories:
 * "The Trimmed Lamp", "A Madison Square Arabian Night", "The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball", "The Pendulum", "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen", "The Assessor of Success", "The Buyer from Cactus City", "The Badge of Policeman O'Roon", "Brickdust Row" (made into the 1918 film, Everybody's Girl), "The Making of a New Yorker", "Vanity and Some Sables", "The Social Triangle", "The Purple Dress", "The Foreign Policy of Company 99", "The Lost Blend", "A Harlem Tragedy", "The Guilty Party", "A Midsummer Knight's Dream", "According to Their Lights", "The Last Leaf", "The Count and the Wedding Guest", "The Country of Elusion", "The Ferry of Unfulfilment", "The Tale of a Tainted Tenner", "Elsie in New York"
 * Heart of the West (1907), collection of 19 short stories:
 * "Hearts and Crosses", "The Ransom of Mack", "Telemachus, Friend", "The Handbook of Hymen", "The Pimienta Pancakes", "Seats of the Haughty", "Hygeia at the Solito", "An Afternoon Miracle", "The Higher Abdication", "Cupid à la Carte", "The Caballero's Way", "The Sphinx Apple", "The Missing Chord", "A Call Loan", "The Princess and the Puma", "The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson", "Christmas by Injunction", "A Chaparral Prince", "The Reformation of Calliope"
 * The Gentle Grafter (1908), collection of 14 short stories:
 * "The Octopus Marooned", "Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet", "Modern Rural Sports", "The Chair of Philanthromathematics", "The Hand That Riles the World", "The Exact Science of Matrimony", "A Midsummer Masquerade", "Shearing the Wolf", "Innocents of Broadway", "Conscience in Art", "The Man Higher Up", "Tempered Wind", "Hostages to Momus", "The Ethics of Pig"
 * The Voice of the City (1908), collection of 25 short stories:
 * "The Voice of the City", "The Complete Life of John Hopkins", "A Lickpenny Lover", "Dougherty's Eye-opener", "Little Speck in Garnered Fruit", "The Harbinger", "While the Auto Waits", "A Comedy in Rubber", "One Thousand Dollars", "The Defeat of the City", "The Shocks of Doom", "The Plutonian Fire", "Nemesis and the Candy Man", "Squaring the Circle", "Roses, Ruses and Romance", "The City of Dreadful Night", "The Easter of the Soul", "The Fool-killer", "Transients in Arcadia", "The Rathskeller and the Rose", "The Clarion Call", "Extradited from Bohemia", "A Philistine in Bohemia", "From Each According to His Ability", "The Memento"
 * Roads of Destiny (1909), collection of 22 short stories:
 * "Roads of Destiny", "The Guardian of the Accolade", "The Discounters of Money", "The Enchanted Profile", "Next to Reading Matter", "Art and the Bronco", "Phoebe", "A Double-dyed Deceiver", "The Passing of Black Eagle", "A Retrieved Reformation", "Cherchez la Femme", "Friends in San Rosario", "The Fourth in Salvador", "The Emancipation of Billy", "The Enchanted Kiss", "A Departmental Case", "The Renaissance at Charleroi", "On Behalf of the Management", "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking", "The Halberdier of the Little Rheinschloss", "Two Renegades", "The Lonesome Road"
 * Options (1909), collection of 16 short stories:
 * "The Rose of Dixie", "The Third Ingredient", "The Hiding of Black Bill", "Schools and Schools", "Thimble, Thimble", "Supply and Demand", "Buried Treasure", "To Him Who Waits", "He Also Serves", "The Moment of Victory", "The Head-hunter", "No Story", "The Higher Pragmatism", "Best-seller", "Rus in Urbe", "A Poor Rule"
 * The Two Women (1910), collection of 2 short stories:
 * "A Fog in Santone", "Blind Man's Holiday"
 * Strictly Business (1910), collection of 23 short stories:
 * "Strictly Business", "The Gold That Glittered", "Babes in the Jungle", "The Day Resurgent", "The Fifth Wheel", "The Poet and the Peasant", "The Robe of Peace", "The Girl and the Graft", "The Call of the Tame", "The Unknown Quantity", "The Thing's the Play", "A Ramble in Aphasia", "A Municipal Report", "Psyche and the Pskyscraper", "A Bird of Bagdad", "Compliments of the Season", "A Night in New Arabia", "The Girl and the Habit", "Proof of the Pudding", "Past One at Rooney's", "The Venturers", "The Duel", "What You Want"
 * Whirligigs (1910), collection of 24 short stories:
 * "The World and the Door", "The Theory and the Hound", "The Hypotheses of Failure", "Calloway's Code", "A Matter of Mean Elevation", "Girl", "Sociology in Serge and Straw", "The Ransom of Red Chief", "The Marry Month of May", "A Technical Error", "Suite Homes and Their Romance", "The Whirligig of Life", "A Sacrifice Hit", "The Roads We Take", "A Blackjack Bargainer", "The Song and the Sergeant", "One Dollar's Worth", "A Newspaper Story", "Tommy's Burglar", "A Chaparral Christmas Gift", "A Little Local Colour", "Georgia's Ruling", "Blind Man's Holiday", "Madame Bo-Peep of the Ranches"
 * Sixes and Sevens (1911), collection of 25 short stories:
 * "The Last of the Troubadours", "The Sleuths", "Witches' Loaves", "The Pride of the Cities", "Holding Up a Train", "Ulysses and the Dogman", "The Champion of the Weather", "Makes the Whole World Kin", "At Arms with Morpheus", "A Ghost of a Chance", "Jimmy Hayes and Muriel", "The Door of Unrest", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", "Let Me Feel Your Pulse", "October and June", "The Church with an Overshot-Wheel", "New York by Camp Fire Light", "The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes", "The Lady Higher Up", "The Greater Coney", "Law and Order", "Transformation of Martin Burney", "The Caliph and the Cad", "The Diamond of Kali", "The Day We Celebrate"
 * Rolling Stones (1912), collection of
 * 23 short stories: "The Dream", "A Ruler of Men", "The Atavism of John Tom Little Bear", "Helping the Other Fellow", "The Marionettes", "The Marquis and Miss Sally", "A Fog in Santone", "The Friendly Call", "A Dinner at ———", "Sound and Fury" (1903), "Tictocq", "Tracked to Doom", "A Snapshot at the President", "An Unfinished Christmas Story", "The Unprofitable Servant", "Aristocracy Versus Hash", "The Prisoner of Zembla", "A Strange Story", "Fickle Fortune, or How Gladys Hustled", "An Apology", "Lord Oakhurst's Curse", "Bexar Scrip No. 2692.", "Queries and Answers"
 * 12 poems:
 * "The Pewee", "Nothing to say", "The Murderer"
 * Some Postscripts: "Two Portraits", "A Contribution", "The Old Farm", "Vanity", "The Lullaby Boy", "Chanson de Bohême", "Hard to Forget", "Drop a Tear in This Slot", "Tamales"
 * letters: "Some Letters"
 * Waifs and Strays (1917), collection of 12 short stories:
 * "The Red Roses of Tonia", "Round The Circle", "The Rubber Plant's Story", "Out of Nazareth", "Confessions of a Humorist", "The Sparrows in Madison Square", "Hearts and Hands", "The Cactus", "The Detective Detector", "The Dog and the Playlet", "A Little Talk About Mobs", "The Snow Man"
 * O. Henryana (1920), collection of 7 short stories:
 * "The Crucible", "A Lunar Episode", "Three Paragraphs", "Bulger's Friend", "A Professional Secret", "The Elusive Tenderloin", "The Struggle of the Outliers"
 * Postscripts (1923), collection of 103 short stories, 26 poems and 4 articles:
 * "The Sensitive Colonel Jay", "Taking No Chances", "A Matter of Loyalty", "The Other Side of It", "Journalistically Impossible", "The Power of Reputation", "The Distraction of Grief", "A Sporting Interest", "Had A Use for It", "The Old Landmark", "A Personal Insult", "Toddlekins" (poem), "Reconciliation", "Buying a Piano", "Too Late", "Nothing to say" (poem), "Goin Home fur Christmas" (poem), "Just a Little Damp", "Her Mysterious Charm", "Convinced", "His Dilemma", "Something for Baby" (poem), "Some Day", "A Green Hand", "A Righteous Outburst", "Getting at the Facts", "Just for a Change" (poem), "Too Wise", "A Fatal Error", "Prompt" (poem), "An Opportunity Declined", "Correcting a Great Injustice", "A Startling Demonstration", "Leap Year Advice" (article), "After Supper", "His Only Opportunity", "Getting Acquainted", "Answers to Inquiries" (article), "City Peril", "Hush Money", "Relieved", "No Time to Lose", "A Villainous Trick", "A Forced March" (poem), "Book Review" (article), "A Conditional Pardon", "Inconsistency" (poem), "Bill Nye", "To a Portrait" (poem), "A Guarded Secret", "A Pastel", "Jim" (poem), "Board and Ancestors", "An X-Ray Fable", "A Universal Favorite", "Spring" (poem), "The Sporting Editor on Culture", "A Question of Direction", "The Old Farm" (poem), "Willing to Compromise", "Ridiculous", "Guessed Everything Else", "The Prisoner of Zembla", "Lucky Either Way", "The Bad Man", "Slight Mistake", "Delayed", "A Good Story Spoiled", "Revenge", "No Help for It", "Riley's Luck" (poem), "Not So Much a Tam Fool", "A Guess-Proof Mystery Story", "Futility" (poem), "Wounded Veteran", "Her Ruse", "Why Conductors Are Morose", "The Pewee" (poem), "Only to Lie-" (poem), "The Sunday Excursionist", "Decoration Day", "Charge of the White Brigade" (poem), "An Inspiration", "Coming To Him", "His Pension", "Winner", "Hungry Henry's Ruse", "A Proof Of Love" (poem), "One Consolation", "An Unsuccessful Experiment", "Superlatrives" (poem), "By Easy Stages", "Even Worse", "The Shock", "The Cynic", "Speaking of Big Winds", "An Original Idea", "Calculations", "A Valedictory", "Solemn Thoughts", "Explaining It", "Her Failing", "A Disagreement", "An E for a Knee" (poem), "The Unconquerable" (poem), "An Expensive Veracity", "Grounds for Uneasiness", "It Covers Errors" (poem), "Recognition", "His Doubt", "A Cheering Thought", "What It Was", "Vanity" (poem), "Identified", "The Apple", "How It Started", "How Red Conlin Told the Widow", "Why He Hesitated", "Turkish Questions" (poem), "Somebody Lied", "Marvelous", "The Confession of a Murderer", "Get Off the Earth" (poem), "The Stranger's Appeal", "The Good Boy", "The Colonel's Romance", "A Narrow Escape", "A Year's Supply", "Eugene Field" (poem), "Slightly Mixed", "Knew What Was Needed", "Some Ancient News Notes" (article), "A Sure Method"
 * O. Henry Encore (1939), collection of 27 short stories, 7 sketches and 10 poems:
 * Part one. Stories: "A Night Errant", "In Mezzotint", "The Dissipated Jeweller", "How Willie Saved Father", "The Mirage on the Frio", "Sufficient Provocation", "The Bruised Reed", "Paderewski's Hair", "A Mystery of Many Centuries", "A Strange Case", "Simmons' Saturday Night", "An Unknown Romance", "Jack the Giant Killer", "The Pint Flask", "An Odd Character", "A Houston Romance", "The Legend of San Jacinto", "Binkley's Practical School of Journalism", "A New Microbe", "Vereton Villa", "Whisky Did It", "Nothing New Under the Sun", "Led Astray", "A Story for Men", "How She Got in the Swim", "The Barber Talks", "Barber Shop Adventure"
 * Part two. Sketches: "Did You See the Circus", "Thanksgiving Remarks", "When the Train Comes in", "Christmas Eve", "New Year's Eve and Now it Came to Houston", "Watchman, What of the Night?", "Newspaper Poets"
 * Part three. Newspaper Poetry: "Topical Verse", "Cap Jessamines", "The Cricket", "My Broncho", "The Modern Venus", "Celestial Sounds", "The Snow", "Her Choice", "Little Things, but Ain't They Whizzers?", "Last Fall of the Alamo"

Uncollected short stories:

 * "Tictocq, the Great French Detective" (1894)
 * "Tictocq, the Great French Detective; or, A Soubrette's Diamonds" (1894)
 * "A Blow All 'Round" (1895)
 * "A Chicago Proposal" (1895)
 * "A Fishy Story" (1895)
 * "A Foretaste" (1895)
 * "A Literal Caution" (1895)
 * "A Philadelphia Diagnosis" (1895)
 * "A Thousand Dollar Poem, was what the Literary Judgment of the Business Manager Lost for the Paper" (1895)
 * "All Right" (1895)
 * "And Put Up a Dime" (1895)
 * "Arrived" (1895)
 * "As Her Share" (1895)
 * "Ballad of the Passionate Eye" (1895)
 * "Cheaper in Quantities" (1895)
 * "Didn't Want Him Back" (1895)
 * "Do You Know?" (1895)
 * "Enlarging His Field" (1895)
 * "Entirely Successful" (1895)
 * "Extremes Met" (1895)
 * "False to His Colors" (1895)
 * "Family Pride" (1895)
 * "He Was Behind With His Board" (1895)
 * "Her Reckoning" (1895)
 * "His Last Chance" (1895)
 * "Making the Most of It" (1895)
 * "Might Be" (1895)
 * "Military or Millinery?" (1895)
 * "No Chestnuts Were Served" (1895)
 * "No Earlier" (1895)
 * "Not Hers" (1895)
 * "Not Official Statistics, However" (1895)
 * "Palmistry" (1895)
 * "Prodigality" (1895)
 * "Professional, But Doubtful" (1895)
 * "Prudent Precautions" (1895)
 * "Same Thing" (1895)
 * "Self Conceit" (1895)
 * "Silver Question Settled" (1895)
 * "Sunday Journalism, Memoranda of the Sabbath Editor of the New York Daily for Next Sunday's Contents" (1895)
 * "The Fate It Deserved" (1895)
 * "The Man at the Window" (1895)
 * "The Modern Kind" (1895)
 * "The New Hero" (1895)
 * "The Odor Located" (1895)
 * "The Teacher Taught" (1895)
 * "The White Feather" (1895)
 * "Uncle Sam's Wind" (1895)
 * "Whole Handfuls" (1895)
 * "Will She Fight as She Jokes? Here Are Some Translations of Recent Spanish Humour" (1895)
 * "Yellow Specials, Latest Style of News Write Ups adopted by the sulphur-hued journals" (1895)
 * "A Tragedy" (1896, as The Postman)
 * "At an Auction" (1896)
 * "Telegram" (1896)
 * "His Courier" (1902)
 * "The Flag" (1902)
 * "The Guardian of the Scutcheon" (1903, as Olivier Henry)
 * "The Lotus and the Cockleburrs" (1903)
 * "The Point of the Story" (1903, as Sydney Porter)
 * "The Quest of Soapy" (1908)
 * "A Christmas Pi" (1909, as O. H-nry)
 * "Adventures in Neurasthenia" (1910)
 * "Last Story" (1910)

Poems
Uncollected poems:

 * "Already Provided" (1895)
 * "Archery" (1895)
 * "At Cockcrow" (1895)
 * "Honeymoon Vapourings" (1895)
 * "Never, Until Now" (1895)
 * "Ornamental" (1895)
 * "The Imported Brand" (1895)
 * "The Morning glory" (1895)
 * "The White Violet" (1895)
 * "To Her" (XRay) Photograph" (1895)
 * "Unseeing" (1895)
 * "Promptings" (1899)
 * "Sunset in the Far North" (1901)
 * "The Captive" (1901)
 * "Uncaptured Joy" (1901)
 * "April" (1903)
 * "Auto Bugle Song" (1903)
 * "June" (1903)
 * "Remorse" (1903)
 * "Spring in the City" (1903)
 * "To a Gibson Girl" (1903)
 * "Two Chapters" (1903)
 * "A Floral Valentine" (1905)

Non-fiction

 * Later Definitions (1895)
 * The Reporter's Private Lexicon (1903)
 * Letter 1883 (1912)
 * Letters 1884, 1885 (1912)
 * Letters 1905 (1914)
 * Letters from Prison to his Daughter Margaret (1916)
 * Letter 1901 (1917)
 * Letters (1921)
 * Letters to Lithopolis: from O. Henry to Mabel Wagnalls (1922)
 * Letters (1923)
 * Letter (1928)
 * Letters 1906, 1909 (1931)
 * Letters, etc. of 1883 (1931)

title: O. Henry


text:
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is a 1981–1983 American animated television series produced by Marvel Productions, considered to be a crossover series connected to the 1981 Spider-Man series. The show stars already-established Marvel Comics characters Spider-Man and Iceman, along with an original character, Firestar. As a trio called the Spider-Friends, they fight against various villains of the Marvel Universe.

Production
The series was an attempt by NBC to replicate some of the success ABC enjoyed with the Super Friends franchise. The makers of the show originally intended the stars to be Spider-Man, Iceman, and the Human Torch. However, legal issues about the rights to the Human Torch character (which had also plagued Marvel once before for the 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon) led to the Human Torch being replaced by a new character, Firestar, who had similar powers, but was a mutant like Iceman. Due to Firestar's popularity with fans, she has since become a part of the mainstream Marvel Universe. In pre-production, Firestar's codename changed frequently; the unused names include Firefly, Starblaze, and Heatwave.

Marvel Comics maintained a high level of creative control over the series, with Stan Lee (co-creator of both Spider-Man and Iceman) working with the screenwriters and involving himself in the casting and animation.

Some of the sound effects used in the series originated from Universal Television's Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Adding Ms. Lion, a pet, as a character was another attempt to emulate the Super Friends (specifically the characters Wonder Dog and Gleek).

Firestar actress Kathy Garver recalled that though the storyboards for each episode were completed before the voices were recorded for it, "... we really just worked from script. We'd do a roundtable to get the feeling of how the show was going, and then we would record".

Broadcast schedule
Originally broadcast on NBC as a Saturday morning cartoon, the series ran first-run original episodes for three seasons, from 1981 to 1983, then aired repeats for an additional two years (from 1984 to 1986). Alongside the 1981 Spider-Man animated series, Amazing Friends was later re-aired in the late 1980s as part of the 90-minute Marvel Action Universe, a syndicated series that was used as a platform for old and new Marvel-produced animated fare (the newer programming featured RoboCop: The Animated Series, Dino-Riders and on occasion X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, which was a pilot for a potential X-Men animated series). Mihahn and Toei Animation contributed some of the animation for this series.

Season changes
During the first season, each episode contained a cold open, which was and remains unusual for a children's cartoon. When the same episodes were re-aired later in the series' run, these teaser sequences were edited to fit after the titles and episode card. Still, the original sequence infrequently showed up on NBC's re-airings. Stan Lee did not originally narrate the episodes from this season.

In the second season, the show aired along with a newly produced Hulk animated series as The Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spider-Man. The two shows shared one intro which showcased the new title. In place of the cold opens from the first season, Marvel Productions created 12-second previews aired immediately preceding the episodes. Stan Lee began narrating the episodes in the second season. Marvel Productions also added narrations by Lee to the first-season episodes at this time to give the series cohesion. Neither first nor second season narrations appear on the current masters, and they have not aired since the NBC airings (as seen on the Stan Lee narration list at Spider-Friends.com).

For the third season, the characters' billing was reversed and the show was called, The Amazing Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk. It remained that way for most of the remaining years. NBC did air the show individually in mid-season (post 1986) after it was not initially announced for their fall schedule. Only some of the Stan Lee narrations for the third season are on the current masters. The missing narrations have not aired since the NBC airings.

Storyline
Peter Parker (Spider-Man), Bobby Drake (Iceman), and Angelica Jones (Firestar) are all college students at Empire State University. After working together to defeat the Beetle and recovering the "Power Booster" he stole from Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) the trio decide to team-up permanently as the "Spider-Friends". They live together in Peter's aunt's home with her and a pet dog named Ms. Lion, a Lhasa Apso who was adopted by Firestar. Together, the superheroes battle various supervillains.

Some stories featured team-ups with other superheroes including but not limited to Captain America, Thor, Sunfire, and the mid-1970s X-Men.

Original characters
A number of characters in the series were original characters that did not appear in the comics prior to the premiere of the series:

Firestar
One of the series' main characters, Firestar was created specifically for this series when the Human Torch was unavailable (due to licensing issues). The original plan was for Spider-Man to have fire and ice based teammates, so Angelica Jones/Firestar was created. Her pre-production names included Heatwave, Firefly, (both having already been names of DC Comics villains) and Starblaze.

Firestar did not appear in Marvel's mainstream comic book universe until Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985). She appears as a member of the Hellions, a group of teenage mutants who functioned as rivals to the New Mutants (a similar group under the tutelage of Charles Xavier). After leaving the Hellions, Firestar becomes a founding member of the New Warriors and later serves as a distinguished member of the Avengers along with her fellow New Warrior, Justice. She is currently a member of the X-Men.

Hiawatha Smith
Hiawatha Smith is a college professor at the Spider-Friends' university. He is the son of a heroic Native American chief who fought against the Axis during World War II.

Hiawatha Smith's home is adorned with decorations from various cultures including Hindu and native African tribes. Producer and story editor Dennis Marks created the character and admits to basing him on Indiana Jones.

Smith's father passed down to his son the mystic knowledge of their people and a map leading to a vast Nazi treasure of wealth and advanced technology sought by the Red Skull. Smith often employs a boomerang in battle. He possesses a supernatural ability to communicate with animals.

Lightwave
Lightwave's real name is Aurora Dante. Like her older half-brother Bobby Drake (a.k.a. the superhero Iceman), Lightwave is a mutant. She can manipulate and control light. Her other light-based powers include laser blasts, photonic force fields and solid light pressor beams. She can also transform herself into light; in such a form, she is able to exist in the vacuum of outer space.

Lightwave's only appearance was in "Save the Guardstar", the final episode of the 1980s cartoon. She is voiced by Annie Lockhart. Bobby Drake explains that they share the same mother.

An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Lightwave is considered a traitor, due to mind control by rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Buzz Mason. Mason induces Lightwave to steal assorted devices to create a "quantum enhancer" which would increase her powers 1,000 times. With such power, Lightwave would be able to control the Guardstar satellite which orbits the Earth and controls all defense systems and communications systems for the United States. Mason expects world conquest since he controls Lightwave.

Iceman, Firestar, and Spider-Man attempt to stop Lightwave. However, she is powerful enough to defeat them. Aboard a space vessel, Buzz Mason forces Iceman into outer space, dooming Iceman if he remains there for long. Spider-Man convinces Lightwave to realize that the half-brother she loves is in mortal danger. Her reaction breaks Mason's control over her, and she saves Iceman and disables Mason long enough for Spider-Man to subdue him.

Presumably, with Mason's role realized, S.H.I.E.L.D. restores Lightwave's good standing. As this is Lightwave's only appearance, her fate is unknown.

Videoman
Videoman is an intangible two-dimensional being with lightning bolt-shaped horns that is mostly composed of electronic data gleaned from a video arcade. Videoman makes three appearances in the series where there are two versions of him.

As a villain
In Season 1, Videoman first appeared as an angular humanoid energy construct created by Electro. Its abilities include moving through and manipulating electronic circuits and projecting rectangular pulses of energy. Videoman is used by Electro to suck in and entrap Spider-Man, Flash Thompson, Firestar and Iceman into a video game display where Electro attempts to destroy the four. However, Flash is able to save himself and the others by escaping through the monitor and into Electro's electronic components to save the others.

This first villainous version of Videoman makes one other appearance in Season 2's "Origin of Ice-Man", with the additional abilities of bringing video game characters to life and draining the unique bio-energy of mutants, temporarily suppressing Iceman's powers and weakening Firestar, as well as being able to emulate their powers for its own use. This time, Videoman is defeated when the Spider-Friends trick it and its video game minions into attacking one another.

As a superhero
In the Season 3 episode "The Education of a Superhero", nerdy Francis Byte is an avid video game player who is especially engrossed into gaining the high score on a game called Zellman Comman at the local arcade. The villain Gamesman sends a hypnotic signal that entrances over 300,000 people in the city. This does not affect Francis' girlfriend Louise, Spider-Man, and Firestar, nor does the signal affect Francis' mind, which is distracted from entrancement by Louise and the game. Louise walks away from Francis, then also gets affected and hypnotized after having her pleas disregarded by Francis. He (unbeknownst to any others) plays the arcade machine so rigorously that it and other arcade machines (most of which are emitting the hypnotic waves) explode. The explosion somehow transforms Francis into Videoman.

Francis discovers that he can become his new blue and white, red-eyed alter-ego Videoman at will. However, he is completely inexperienced with his handling of such powerful abilities. He tries to help the trio (which has awakened Iceman from his trance) against a hypnotized mob, but they repel his offers due to his inexperience. He then tries to save Louise from the Gamesman, but he is easily blackmailed into manipulating a military communications satellite system in return for Louise's freedom, an offer that is then reneged upon by the Gamesman. Enraged at the trickery, Videoman helps Spider-Man and the others free Louise and also reverses his stoppage of the military computer. After the Gamesman is defeated, Francis accepts an invitation to join the X-Men, while Louise accepts him and his abilities.

Videoman made a cameo appearance in the 2023 film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He is depicted as a prisoner of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society among other universe-displaced villains.

Credited cast

 * Hans Conried - Chameleon (in "7 Little Superheroes")
 * Jerry Dexter - Sunfire (in "Sunfire")
 * George DiCenzo - Captain America (in "7 Little Superheroes" and "Pawns of the Kingpin"), Lance Macho
 * Alan Dinehart - Boris (in "The Fantastic Mr. Frump"), Sam Blockbuster (in "Spidey Goes Hollywood"), Helicopter Pilot (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Norman Osborn's Pilot (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Police Officer #2 (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Thief #1 (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Security Guard #1 (in "The Crime of All Centuries")
 * Walker Edmiston - Kingpin (in "Pawns of the Kingpin")
 * Michael Evans - Professor Wells
 * Al Fann - Swarm (in "Swarm")
 * June Foray - Aunt May, Crime Computer, Judy
 * Kathy Garver - Firestar/Angelica Jones, Sally, Storm (in "The X-Men Adventure")
 * Dan Gilvezan - Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Zoltan Amadeus/The Arachnoid (in "Attack of the Arachnoid"), Biker Gang Leader (in "The Crime of All Centuries")
 * John Haymer - Skelton (in "The Crime of All Centuries"), Security Guard #2 (in "The Crime of All Centuries")
 * Sally Julian - Mona Osborn (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Jungle Girl (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin")
 * Annie Lockhart - Honey Dove, Storm (in "A Firestar is Born")
 * Keye Luke - Sunfire's Uncle Genju (in "Sunfire")
 * Dennis Marks - Dr. Faustus (in "Pawns of the Kingpin"), Green Goblin/Norman Osborn (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Police Officer #1 (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Thief #2 (in "Triumph of the Green Goblin"), Cyberiad/Nathan Price (in "The X-Men Adventure")
 * Alan Melvin - Electro (in "Videoman")
 * Shepard Menkin - Doctor Doom (in "The Fantastic Mr. Frump")
 * John Stephenson - Colossus (in "The X-Men Adventure"), Eric the Viking (in "The Vengeance of Loki"), Loki (in "The Vengeance of Loki"), Modred the Mystic (in "Knights and Demons"), Shocker (in "Along Came Spidey"), Surtur (in "The Vengeance of Loki"), Thunderbird (in "The X-Men Adventure"), Ymir (in "The Vengeance of Loki")
 * Janet Waldo - Shanna the She-Devil (in "7 Little Superheroes"), Zerona (in "The Vengeance of Loki")
 * Frank Welker - Iceman/Bobby Drake, Ms. Lion, Flash Thompson, Matt Murdock (in "Attack of the Arachnoid"), Mr. Jones (in "A Firestar is Born"), Uncle Ben (in "Along Came Spidey")
 * William Woodson - Doctor Strange (in "7 Little Superheroes"), Sub-Mariner (in "7 Little Superheroes"), J. Jonah Jameson (in "Spider-Man Unmasked!")
 * Alan Young - Mr. Frump (in "The Fantastic Mr. Frump")

Notable guest stars

 * Michael Ansara - Hiawatha Smith (in "The Quest of the Red Skull")
 * Marlene Aragon - Lightwave (in "Mission: Save the Guardstar")
 * Michael Bell - Ariel and Bartow's father (in "Spidey Meets the Girl of Tomorrow"), Doctor Octopus (in "Spidey Meets the Girl of Tomorrow")
 * Bob Bergen - Bartow (in "Spidey Meets the Girl of Tomorrow")
 * Susan Blu - Louise (in "The Education of a Superhero"), Monica (in "Attack of the Arachnoid")
 * William Callaway - Angel (in "A Fire-Star is Born"), Wolverine (in "A Firestar is Born")
 * Cathy Cavadini - Ariel (in "Spidey Meets the Girl of Tomorrow")
 * Christopher Collins - Sandman (in "Spider-Man Unmasked!"), Beetle (in "The Origin of the Spider-Friends")
 * Peter Cullen - Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner (in "Spidey Goes Hollywood"), Mysterio (in "Spidey Goes Hollywood"), Red Skull (in "The Quest of the Red Skull")
 * Jeff Doucette - Scorpion (in "Attack of the Arachnoid")
 * Ron Feinberg - Frankenstein's Monster (in "The Transylvanian Connection")
 * Stanley Jones - Professor X, Cyclops (in "A Firestar is Born"), Dean Wilmer (in "A Firestar is Born"), Dracula (in "The Transylvanian Connection"), Nightcrawler (in "The X-Men Adventure")
 * Harvey Korman - Black Knight (in "Knights and Demons")
 * Jennifer Kyle - Sprite/Kitty Pryde (in "The X-Men Adventure")
 * David Landsberg - Videoman/Francis Byte (in "The Education of a Superhero")
 * William Marshall - Juggernaut (in "A Firestar is Born"), Tony Stark (in "The Origin of the Spider-Friends")
 * Vic Perrin - Thor (in "The Vengeance of Loki!"), Zerona's Soldier (in "The Vengeance of Loki!"), Burglar (in "Along Came Spidey")
 * Robert Ridgely - Kraven the Hunter (in "The Crime of All Centuries")
 * Neil Ross - Cyclops (in "The X-Men Adventure")
 * Michael Rye - Magneto (in "The Prison Plot")
 * Steve Schatzberg - Wolf-Thing (in "The Transylvanian Connection")
 * Marilyn Schreffler - Bonnie (in "A Firestar is Born")

Crew

 * Dick Tufeld - Announcer (Season 1)
 * William Marshall - Announcer (Season 2)
 * Ron Feinberg - Announcer (Season 3)
 * Stan Lee - Narrator (Seasons 2 & 3 and added to re-reruns of Season 1)
 * Alan Dinehart - Voice Director

Season 2 (1982)
This season features the origins of all three Spider-Friends.

Home media
No Region 1 or other NTSC release is planned at this time.

Region 2
In April 2008, Liberation Entertainment secured the home media rights to select Marvel shows from Jetix Europe in select European territories, including Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. On November 10, the company released the first season of the series on DVD followed up with a Series 2-3 set and Complete Series DVD sets on November 24. These releases were distributed through Lace International, due to Liberation closing their UK branch a few weeks prior in October. The Liberation releases did not include any of the Stan Lee narrations from the first or second season. Only some of the Stan Lee narrations were in the third season.

Clear Vision later took over European rights and re-released the series on August 2, 2010 (Season 1) and September 6, 2010 (Seasons 2 and 3) in the United Kingdom respectively, with a German release following afterwards. These newer editions have improved image quality and include German dubbing, while removing the 5.1 audio track and English subtitles. A Complete Series release followed on February 11, 2013.

Budget distributor Walk released a small number of DVD releases in the United Kingdom containing two episodes each for sale in Poundland stores in 2013, under the "Treat Size Introduces..." banner.

Streaming
The series was available for instant streaming via Netflix from 2011 to August 2015. As part of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, the copyrights to the New World library were transferred to TFCF America, Inc., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, effective on March 15, 2019. Consequently, the series became available on the Disney+ streaming service, as a part of U.S. launch on November 12, 2019.

Censorship
The episode "The Quest of the Red Skull" was excluded due to its direct depictions of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi swastika and the phrase 'Heil Hitler'. In 2020, Disney+ placed a warning on the 3rd episode (entitled "Sunfire") for a racially insensitive portrayal of Sunfire. In the episode, Sunfire is portrayed as speaking English with a Japanese accent.

Critical response
Adam Levine of Looper said: "The mutant duo became a memorable pairing for Spider-Man, and the series has been fondly remembered in the decades since for its quaint stories, colorful villains, light-hearted nature, and iconic introductions by creator Stan Lee. The animation was a step up from previous attempts, even if it was still relatively simplistic, and stories explored more of Peter Parker's personal life than the 1960s series before it". James Whitbrook of Gizmodo ranked 5th in their "Spider-Man's Best Cartoons" list, writing: "The trio had an excellent dynamic that elevated Amazing beyond its sister show, and as campy as it could be, there's a reason why it remains beloved by many".

Olivia Fitzpatrick of Collider ranked Spider-Man and His Amazing Friend 3rd in their "Every 'Spider-Man' Animated Series" list. Jason Serafino of Complex ranked 25th in their "25 Best Animated Comic Book TV Shows Of All Time" list. IGN ranked Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends 59th in their "Top 100 Animated Series" list, stating that "the animation was predictably budget for the time, particularly when viewed in this post-Spectacular Spider-Man world of ours, but it was fun nonetheless".

Impact

 * Scenes from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends were re-cut, edited, and re-dubbed into comical shorts as part of Disney XD's "Marvel Mash-Up" shorts for their "Marvel Universe on Disney XD" block of programming that includes Ultimate Spider-Man and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes where scenes from Spidey and His Amazing Friends were also mixed with some scenes from the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon. The cast consists of Dave Boat as Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson, Beetle, Sandman, Norman Osborn, Shocker, Thor, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Thunderbird, Red Skull, and Magneto, Tom Kenny as Iceman, Firestar, Aunt May, Green Goblin, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, Swarm, Captain America, Professor X, Nightcrawler, and Loki, J. P. Karliak as Black Cat and Bruce Banner, James Arnold Taylor as Chameleon, Captain America, Iron Man, and Cyberiad, Dee Bradley Baker as Lizard, Jeff Bennett as Cyclops and Juggernaut, and Travis Willingham as Storm, Ka-Zar, and Doctor Doom.
 * In the 1984 film Missing in Action starring Chuck Norris, the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends episode "Along Came Spidey" can be seen on a television.
 * In her civilian identity, Angelica Jones resembles Peter's girlfriend from the comic books, Mary Jane Watson. This was played up in issues of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane in which Firestar appeared.

Accolades
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was nominated for Best Children's Television Series at the 1982 Young Artist Awards.

Adaptation
The first comic book that directly referenced the Amazing Friends show was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends #1 (December 1981), a one-shot that adapted the pilot episode, "The Triumph of the Green Goblin". Though the comic version altered the story to bring it in line with established Marvel Universe continuity (such as making the Green Goblin identity a costume as in the comics, rather than a physical transformation as in the episode), it was not considered part of said continuity. It is the first appearance of Firestar in a comics story, though the version of Firestar that exists within Marvel continuity would not appear until Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985).

The story was reprinted in England in late 1983 in the weekly Marvel UK title Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. It was reprinted in the U.S. as Marvel Action Universe #1 (January 1989), released to coincide with the airing of Amazing Friends reruns on the television series of the same name and on the 2017 trade paperback X-Men Origins: Firestar.

In the Marvel mainstream continuity, Spider-Man, Firestar and Iceman have made sporadic team-ups in Amazing X-Men #7 (July 2014) and Iceman #3 (November 2018).

Firestar
The mainstream Marvel Universe version of Firestar debuted in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #193 as part of Emma Frost's Hellions team. Firestar was given an origin story in a self-titled mini-series (March – June 1986). The character went on to be a founding member of the New Warriors, and later a member of the Avengers.

One change to Firestar from the TV show to the comic books was her powers. In the cartoon, they were fire based. However, Marvel had a number of characters who could control and/or create fire, so they changed her mutant ability to the power to emit and control microwave energy.

Amazing Friends 2006
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show, Marvel released Spider-Man Family: Amazing Friends #1 on August 9, 2006. The comic starts with an all-new story, "Opposites Attack", which is officially set before Web of Spider-Man #75. After that is a Mini Marvel tale, "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends Co-Workers" (note that the strikethrough of "Friends" was a deliberate inclusion in the title). Both stories were written by Sean McKeever.

The remainder of the one-shot is composed of reprints of Untold Tales of Spider-Man #2 and Spider-Man 2099 #2.

Ultimate Spider-Man
An arc in Ultimate Spider-Man is titled "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends" and issue #118's cover, showing Spider-Man, Iceman, and Firestar, is a homage to the series title screen. Johnny Storm and Kitty Pryde are also said to be members of the team. Instead of Angelica Jones, Firestar is Liz Allan. Since then, in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Spidey, Iceman, and the Human Torch have begun living together at Aunt May's house and have been working as a team as another homage to the series (because Liz, as Firestar, was a member of the X-Men in this continuity; this team roster also reflects the original intent of Amazing Friends to use the Human Torch before licensing issues forced the creation of Firestar).

Amazing Friends in-continuity?
In 2007's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe—Spider-Man: Back in Black one-shot, the villain Videoman is given a brief biography from his "retcon" appearance in the Spider-Man Family one-shot. There is also an annotation describing an "Earth 8107", where an alternate reality Videoman was created by Electro to battle that world's Spider-Man. Later, in the same reality, Francis Byte is mutated by an exploding arcade console to become a new Videoman, and later "possibly" join the X-Men. Essentially, this places the events of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends — or at the very least, the episodes "Videoman" and "The Education of a Superhero" — in an alternate-Earth continuity of the Marvel Comics Multiverse.

Spider-Verse
The Spider-Friends of Earth-1983 (described as a "kinder, gentler than most" world), except for Ms. Lion, are apparently killed by a dimension-hopping Morlun, set on draining the life out of every variation of Spider-Man across the multiverse.

Iceman 2018
At the "Street Cart Named Desire Festival", Peter sees Angelica, but doesn't seem to recognize her when explaining to Mary Jane that she's the only redhead that he's interested in. Bobby and Angelica briefly catch up before returning to their dates which are then interrupted by an ice monster attack. Iceman, Firestar, and Spider-Man suit up and defeat the attacker together. The team-up is called "Iceman and His amazing Friends" both on the issue's cover and by Iceman in the story. Afterward, the trio chat and Angelica and Bobby commiserate about men on dating apps.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends


text:
Firestar (Marvel Comics character)

Firestar (Angelica "Angel" Jones) is a superhero appearing in media and American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by John Romita Sr., Rick Hoberg, and Dennis Marks, the character first appeared in 1981 on the NBC animated television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Firestar has the ability to generate and manipulate microwave radiation, allowing her to fly and create intense heat and flames. In the comics, she has acted as a solo hero and also as a member of the Hellions, New Warriors, Avengers, and X-Men.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Firestar – spelled as Fire-Star – was created for the NBC animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, with Kathy Garver providing her voice. This version of the character has the ability to control heat in all its forms, as stated in the 1981 Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends one-shot comic.

The creators had wanted to use the Human Torch, but the rights to the character were tied up. Firestar's pre-production names included Heatwave, Starblaze, and Firefly. Dennis Marks, one of the original writers of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, stated in a 2002 interview that he had come up with the name of Fire-Star's alias, Angelica Jones, taken from one of his old girlfriends.

In the series, Fire-Star is identified as a former member of the X-Men, along with Iceman, with whom she occasionally appears to have a flirtatious relationship, and with whom she is sometimes seen on dates. At times, she dates Peter Parker (Spider-Man) as well, resulting in a relaxed love triangle of sorts. Fire-Star also has a one-episode romance with Sunfire.

Her origin is explained in "A Fire-Star is Born." Young Angelica Jones was subject to constant bullying by a schoolmate named Bonnie, who calls her "Miss Angelica Jinx" on account of mysterious events that occur in Angelica's presence, which unbeknownst to Bonnie and others around Angelica, are triggered by her newly emerging powers, of which Angelica is gradually becoming aware. As Angelica becomes fully aware that she is a mutant with superhuman abilities, she saves her father at one point during an accident while disguised.

Early in her senior year of high school, Bonnie and her boyfriend framed Angelica for the theft of a school trophy, causing Dean Wilmer to temporarily suspend Angelica from school. A strong need to correct this situation leads Angelica to become Fire-Star for the first time. She finds proof of Bonnie's deception, retrieved the missing trophy, and compels Bonnie to confess, which justifies her expulsion from school. She is later approached by Cyclops, Angel, and Iceman to join the X-Men. She accepted and was seen helping them against Magneto and the Sentinels.

The animated series and the one-shot Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends comic book (which adapted an episode for print) are not considered part of standard Marvel Universe continuity. However, the 2006 one-shot comic Spider-Man Family: Amazing Friends (August 2006) features an in-continuity story, "Opposites Attack!", in which the three superheroes work as a short-lived team. This story takes place shortly after the up-and-coming hero Firestar becomes a founding member of the New Warriors.

Firestar mini-series
Firestar's first in-continuity comic book appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985). She next appeared in her own mini-series, which presented her definitive, in-continuity origin. The Firestar four issue mini-series depicts events both before and after Firestar's appearance in Uncanny X-Men #193, showing her development from a shy, insecure girl afraid of her developing powers to a confident young woman capable of easily defeating Emma Frost.

The mini-series also established that Firestar's powers were microwave-based, rather than the more common fire-generation power that her animated counterpart displayed; the comic-book Firestar essentially harnesses ambient microwave radiation from her environment, making her powers far stronger in an environment such as space, where the concentration of microwaves is much greater than within a planetary atmosphere.

Established character
Despite the mini-series' efforts to flesh out the character, Firestar was not featured in any stories for a few years (aside from a five-part serial in the Marvel Comics Presents anthology series; issues #82–87) and seemed destined to fade into obscurity until she joined the New Warriors. She would go on to appear as a regular character in Avengers, and the informal all-female team "Marvel Divas".

After the special Firestar one-shot issue (April 2010), Firestar returned to full-time superheroics as a character in the short-lived comic series Young Allies. Firestar appears as a main character in the I Am an Avenger comic book mini-series.

Firestar was one of the feature characters in the 2011 six-issue limited series Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt.

At the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, Firestar was announced "to take her place as a major X-Men character for the first time" starring in the new comic book Amazing X-Men in November 2013.

Hellions
A lonely girl raised by her single father Bartholomew and paternal grandmother, Angelica Jones discovered that she possessed mutant powers. After her grandmother's death by heart failure and her revelation that she was a mutant, her father sent Angelica to the Massachusetts Academy. The Hellfire Club's original White Queen Emma Frost began training Angelica in the use of her powers for the Hellfire Club's team of young mutants. She was never sent on field missions with the other Hellions, however, because of her lack of control over her lethal powers and because the White Queen wished to instill cruelty and callousness in Firestar's personality, and befriending other young mutants would work against that goal. The White Queen manipulated Angelica into perceiving Frost as a loving mother figure, unaware that Frost was secretly grooming her to be a potential assassin and bodyguard. Angelica did meet the New Mutants at a Massachusetts Academy dance and, with the White Queen's telepathic prompting, formed a crush on Cannonball.

Firestar was later emotionally manipulated by Empath, and accompanied the Hellions Thunderbird, Empath and Roulette on a mission against the X-Men, in which Thunderbird sought revenge on Xavier, thinking him responsible for his brother's death. Angelica felt terrible guilt over the incident once she was free of Empath's power, however. Professor Xavier offered her a place at the Xavier School, but although she declined out of loyalty to the White Queen, she was touched and pleased by the offer.

While a student of the Massachusetts Academy, Angelica had Hellfire mercenary Randall Chase assigned to her as a bodyguard. Growing close to Angelica, Randall eventually began to suspect the White Queen's true motives and was to be terminated. He escaped, mortally wounded, and managed to warn Angelica of Frost's duplicity just before he died. In retaliation, Jones attacked and defeated the White Queen, and decimated the hidden training complex beneath Frost's Massachusetts Academy. Afterwards, she returned to living with her father (as she was still a minor at the time) but kept the unique costume and identity of Firestar given to her by Frost.

Firestar was later to become one of the few surviving original Hellions after most members were murdered by Trevor Fitzroy. She, Warpath and Empath were the only members of the team not present during the massacre. Firestar and Warpath (accompanied by Warpath's X-Force teammate and Firestar's former love interest Cannonball), travelled to Nova Roma in Brazil to inform Empath and former New Mutant Magma of their teammates' deaths. The trio then went to the Massachusetts Academy where they removed the few remaining files on record of the Hellions' existence.

New Warriors
Shortly after her resignation from the Massachusetts Academy, Firestar became a founding member of the New Warriors when she was invited (or rather blackmailed) by Night Thrasher into joining, and helped them battle Terrax. She also aided Night Thrasher against Midnight's Fire. She also helped Thor defeat the Juggernaut alongside the New Warriors. The team battled the Mad Thinker and Primus, and then battled Psionex.

The team battled the second Star Thief and Stane International's Mandroids. With teammates Marvel Boy and Namorita, and the Star Thief, she launched into space aboard a Stane rocket. They encountered the Inhumans and the Watcher on the Moon. With the help of Black Bolt and the Star Thief, she destroyed the Stane rocket containing hazardous waste.

Back on Earth, the New Warriors battled the Force of Nature in a Brazilian jungle, and rescued teammate Speedball's mother. The New Warriors also battled the White Queen and her Hellions.

Eventually, she fell in love and became engaged to teammate Vance Astrovik (also known as Justice, formerly Marvel Boy). She later discovered that using her microwave powers could eventually render her infertile.

During a revenge scheme by a gang of thugs called the Poison Memories, Firestar's father was shot in the chest. He nearly died but recovered. Firestar also faced a time without Vance, as he had to serve a prison term for the involuntary slaying of his own abusive father.

Firestar also provided vital assistance in helping Spider-Man tackle Carnage during "Maximum Carnage", when he was also forced to ally himself with Venom, Black Cat and Morbius to stop Carnage's reign of slaughter. Her microwave power proved the only weapon truly effective against Carnage following his 'upgrade'—his vulnerability to sonics having been weakened—but she still refused to kill Carnage, even to stop his murders. For a time, she was briefly attracted to Spider-Man's clone, Ben Reilly, when he joined the New Warriors under the identity of the Scarlet Spider, but their relationship never went beyond an interest due to Firestar's engagement to Justice and Reilly's secrecy causing him to avoid revealing his identity.

Avengers
Firestar and Justice eventually left the New Warriors together. Some time later the two joined the Avengers after an alternate-universe adventure and a struggle against Morgan le Fay. Firestar helped demonstrate her fitness for the position when she and Vance took down Whirlwind, a villain that had foiled most of the other Avengers at once.

Firestar demonstrated a more restrained fashion sense, refusing to wear a cleavage-baring costume designed by the Wasp. Though she is seen wearing exactly that costume in an Avengers promo poster and in some early Avengers appearances, she quickly altered the costume to be more modest, which was consistent with her personality.

During this period, Henry Pym determined that the cause of her potential infertility was her natural immunity to the effects of her own powers (which all mutants possess) had never fully developed. He designed a costume for her that would siphon off the excess radiation, give her natural immunity the opportunity to manifest fully and heal the damage already done. After a distinguished tenure with the Avengers, including going undercover in a bizarre cult,  facing a horde of Ultron robots, and struggling against Kang the Conqueror's takeover of modern-day Earth, she and Justice left the Avengers. She also made a tentative peace with Emma Frost during this time.

Angelica started college and enjoyed a "normal life", but she abandoned wedding preparations, leaving Vance with all of the responsibility. When Vance confronted her about this, she confessed that she needed more life experience before settling into married life. Vance left in anger and presumably ended their engagement.

Retirement
Firestar is one of the few mutants left on the planet with her powers intact after the Scarlet Witch altered reality and decimated the mutant population. Firestar was not among the New Warriors who died in the catastrophe that sparked the events of Civil War. She was presumed to be among the Warriors who confronted the operator of an anti-Warriors hate site created in the wake of the catastrophe, revealed to be former Warriors member Carlton LaFroyge (Hindsight Lad). She is seen flying in the background, above the confrontation.

Firestar responded to the Superhuman Registration Act by effectively retiring from her career as a costumed hero. She was seen as part of a New Warriors reunion of sorts with Nova and Justice, with whom she seems to be on good terms again.

Marvel Divas
In the limited series Marvel Divas (which was pitched as "Sex and the City in the Marvel Universe"), it is revealed Angelica's closest friends are Black Cat, Hellcat and Photon. At the very end of the first issue, Firestar announces she has been diagnosed with cancer. She's later diagnosed by Doctor Strange and the Night Nurse as being in the earlier stages of the illness, provoked seemingly by the same inability to shield herself from her microwave emission powers that's making her infertile. Despite her bravery in dealing with the illness (she asks Patsy to write a book and a blog to relay her experience to other cancer survivors, strongly believing in her ability to heal), and Henry Pym offering her a second opinion (despite Pym actually being a biochemist, and not a physician), she is still in visible distress; enough for Daimon Hellstrom to approach his ex-wife Patsy, ensuring her fast healing in exchange for Patsy remarrying him (and giving him her soul in the process). Learning about Patsy's brave move to help in her recovery, Angelica and her supportive friends travelled to Hellstrom's dimension to rescue her, thereby rejecting his 'healing' help for Hellcat's freedom and taking her chances against the cancer. After returning to Earth, Angelica had a follow-up exam that revealed her cancer to be in complete remission. During this series, she is a New York University graduate student in art history, specializing in Medieval European art. Due to her chemotherapy, Angelica began to lose her hair. Initially opting for a wig, she decided to cut her hair short instead.

One-shot and Young Allies
Firestar continues her education while engaging in super heroics part-time. In her one-shot issue, she is wearing a long-haired red wig as her natural hair has not grown back yet.

When the Bastards of Evil attack at the World Trade Center Ground Zero, she is the first of New York's heroes to respond. Shortly after, she is joined by Gravity, Nomad, Spider-Girl and Toro. The five heroes unite to defeat the menace, but are not taken seriously by the established teams (the Fantastic Four and Avengers) to arrive after the battle.

The group worked to track down the Bastards of Evil, Firestar partnering with Gravity while the others pursued independent leads. In addition to tracking the Bastards, Firestar and Gravity begin to patrol the city at night fighting street level crime. During this period, Angelica is dismissive of Nomad and Spider-Girl, which she later regrets as it wasn't that long ago that she was an adolescent super hero.

When Nomad and Spider-Girl are captured by the Bastards on their way to meet Gravity and Firestar, Angelica is able to use her microwave powers to track the Bastards and is able to drain the radiation that empowers them. With Gravity's help, she is able to expel the energy harmlessly into space. Nomad suggests that they remain together as the Young Allies, which everyone objects to, and they appear to go their separate ways.

In the final issue of Young Allies (issue #6), Emma Frost attempts to recruit Angelica to move to Utopia with the rest of the mutant population. No offer to join the X-Men was explicitly made, but as most of the mutants living in Utopia appear to be on call as needed, it can be assumed that if Firestar moved she would have been available to the team. Angelica refused the offer, eventually burning down Emma's hotel room to be left alone. Gravity and Firestar continue their evening patrols, and Frost suggests that Gravity has a romantic/sexual interest in her. He also appears to recognize her civilian identity when he sees her in a coffee shop, but she does not notice him.

The Young Allies are continuing to operate as a loosely affiliated team to fight Onslaught alongside the Secret Avengers in Onslaught Unleashed, despite the cancellation of their own series. Then Firestar appears at a meeting held by Prodigy regarding magical hammers that have crashed into the earth. She and Gravity agree to co-lead an Initiative team to help keep order during the crisis. After Gravity is injured in a fight with Crossbones, she assumes full command until she and Prodigy travel to Las Vegas to assist with the damage control efforts after the Juggernaut's attack on the city and subsequent battle with the Heavy Hitters. Reunited with Gravity, who also went to Las Vegas to confront Heavy Hitters leader Hardball regarding civilian casualties during the fight, Firestar joined Gravity, Hardball and Telemetry on a mission to prevent seismic damage to the area. Believing they were going to die, she and Gravity revealed their secret identities to each other. Following the end of Fear Itself, Firestar has been seen with Gravity and their former Young Allies associate Spider-Girl fighting Hydro Man, indicating the group is still working together.

Firestar applied for a teaching job at the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning but when she admitted that she had a thing for Iceman she was rejected as Kitty Pryde, the headmistress of the school who was doing the interviewing, was at the time Iceman's girlfriend.

X-Men
Firestar joined the X-Men as a new teacher in the Jean Grey School assigned to teaching physics. After being dragged to Hell with other members of the X-Men, she was pulled into a quest to search for the deceased Nightcrawler, at one point setting Hell itself on fire to stop a wave of demons attacking her and Iceman, an action that notably impressed Nightcrawler. Later on, after returning to Earth, Firestar and Iceman encountered Spider-Man.

Powers and abilities
Firestar is a mutant whose body stores ambient electromagnetic energy, which she can project and manipulate for various effects. As she alters the electromagnetic wavelengths, they form a microwave aura around her body, at which point she mentally "pushes" the microwaves away from herself. Doing this allows her to release heat, light and radiation into her environment at various intensities. By focusing microwaves on a specific target, she can cause it to burst into flames, explode or melt. She can project microwave energy blasts which have a thermo-concussive effect, heating objects to the point of melting or being incinerated, while the superheated and pressurized air created by the directed microwaves produces impact. Firestar can also sense microwave signals (such as cellular phone signals or remote-control devices) and disrupt electronics with her own microwave emissions. By superheating the air around her, Firestar can generate enough upward thrust to fly at high speeds and lift objects as heavy as the X-Man Colossus. Firestar's mutant abilities do not grant her any particular immunity to the effects of intense heat other than that generated by her own microwave powers. During training exercises with Emma Frost in her limited series, she was chastised by her teacher for clumsiness and warned that she could have been "severely burned" by a laser. During a fight between the Avengers and Fantastic Four years later, the Human Torch was afraid of burning her with his own flames. However, she eventually displayed the ability to siphon heat energy and to detect electromagnetic signatures from broadcast transmissions.

Though exposure to high levels of microwave radiation can be harmful or fatal to living beings, Firestar is apparently immune to most of the damaging effects of her powers. Unlike most mutants, her immunity to her own power was not complete; she was in danger of rendering herself sterile until a cure was discovered by Henry Pym. He designed a suit of micro-circuitry to be worn under her costume that absorbed the excess microwave energy that was affecting her cells, and diverted it in a way that would "kick start" her natural immunity to her own powers. Pym claimed it would take about six months for process to be complete, and over time Firestar appeared to be functionally immune to microwave radiation. She was later diagnosed with breast cancer which was attributed to long-term exposure to her own power. Though the cancer is in remission, the current status of her immunity is unknown.

On rare occasion, Firestar has demonstrated the ability to disrupt the psionic powers of others using her own power (namely, Emma Frost, Empath, and the Darkling). She is not immune to psychic assault, but when using microwave abilities at a high level she is capable of disrupting it. Onslaught, and the Gamesmaster, were both able to use telepathy against her effectively.

The nature of Firestar's power grants her the capacity for large-scale destruction. She typically limits how much of her own power she accesses for fear of permanently damaging the planet, its atmosphere and electromagnetic field. In space, she is far less inhibited, and can access greater levels of ambient electromagnetic energy to fuel her powers. She easily produced an attack that injured Garthan Saal when he possessed the energy of the entire Nova Corps, and also used her enhanced abilities to power a massive Shi'ar interstellar transport gate with very little effort.

Critical reception
Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Firestar a "role model" and "truly heroic." Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Firestar 34th in their "Let's rank every Avenger ever" list. CBR.com ranked Firestar 4th in their "10 Most Powerful Members of The New Warriors" list, 8th in their "20 Most Powerful Mutants From The '80s" list, CBR.com ranked Firestar 4th in their "10 Most Powerful Members of The New Warriors" list, and 15th in their "20 Most Powerful Female Members Of The Avengers" list.

Anthony Orland of Digital Trends called Firestar one of the "12 new Marvel characters we want to see in the Spider-Man 4 movie." Jordan Iacobucci of Screen Rant included Firestar in their "10 Marvel Superheroes From The ‘80s Who Should Join The MCU" list, while Lukas Shayo named her one of the "10 Iconic New York City-Based Marvel Superheroes We Haven't Seen In The MCU" list.

Impact
In July 2022, Marvel Comics announced that Firestar was the winner of the second annual X-Men fan vote.

Spider-Verse
Appearing in Edge of Spider-Verse: Web of Fear, Spider-UK (a British Spider-Man who is a member of the Captain Britain Corps) witnesses Morlun kill Spider-Man, as well as Firestar and Iceman lying dead. This universe is an alternate version of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (Earth-1983).

Exiles
An alternate version of Firestar was forced to join the team known as Weapon X, a group of alternate reality-hopping super-people bound to repair broken worlds. Joining the team, Angelica was soon killed in a mega-blast unleashed by her own powers, opposing the evil Hyperion. In the process, her sacrifice also killed Spider. Because her body was reduced to ash, it was not returned to its native universe (Earth-3062).

Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness
In issue #3 of this miniseries, she is shown, in flashback, to be among the reserve members of the Avengers answering Colonel America's distress signal (unaware it was a trap), and subsequently leaving the mansion (with fewer people than went in) infected and hungry for human flesh.

MC2
Firestar appeared in a flashback detailing the last adventure of the original Avengers. Firestar was among the team members who died in the team's final battle.

Mutant X
In the Mutant X Universe, Firestar's powers had evolved to the point where her entire body was composed of microwave energy. She was one of the many people trying to resist the rule of Madelyne Pryor. She, along with numerous other heroes, died in battle in the final issue of Mutant X.

Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane
Firestar appeared in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. In the initial Firestar story, Mary Jane watched Spider-Man and Firestar battling crime together and became very jealous. In subsequent issues, Firestar expressed a true romantic interest in Spider-Man. The Firestar story arc took place in issues #16-20 of the series and was compiled in digest format as Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Vol. 4. Also, Iceman appears in a few pages of the final issue of the story arc, showcasing a rare comic-book moment in which the "Spider-Friends" are shown together.

Ultimate Marvel
Brian Michael Bendis, writer of Ultimate Spider-Man, revealed his intentions to have the Ultimate Marvel version of Firestar appear in the book in an interview on Comic Book Resources on July 20, 2007. Bendis further stated he had spent 120 issues working toward this and making it an "organic" event and not something "I pulled out of my ass".

Ultimate Firestar makes her debut in Ultimate Spider-Man #118, when Liz Allan claims to be suffering from some bizarre ailment shortly after kissing the Human Torch, and at the close of the issue catches fire while at a beach party with her friends. In the final moments of the story, Liz's body becomes a living mass of flames, signaling her transformation into what could be considered Ultimate Firestar.

The next issue (#119) deals with Liz as she tried to come to grips with her powers. The Human Torch is forced to deal with a call from the Fantastic Four, while Shadowcat is grounded, leaving only Iceman and Spider-Man able to go after Liz, an homage to the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends television series. After some friendly banter, Magneto shows up, asking Liz to come with him so that he can take her to her biological father. Unsure of what to do, Liz goes home to confront her mother who reveals that her uncle Frank is in fact her real father. Magneto and the X-Men, summoned by Spider-Man, then show up asking Liz to side with one of them. Liz chooses neither and flees to Mary Jane's house.

Spider-Man quickly follows her there, and to convince her of his words, he reveals his true identity. She is greatly moved by this and refers to him as an "amazing friend". Swayed, Liz then thinks it might be cool to join the X-Men, leaving for the mansion alongside Iceman. The issue ends with a flashback that reveals that Liz's father is in fact the Blob. It was revealed in Ultimate X-Men #94 that Liz has chosen the codename Firestar, and has some control of her powers.

Liz Allan was believed to have been missing in action after Ultimatum, but survived and is featured in Ultimate X beginning with issue #4. In this issue, it is revealed she, her mother and her newfound half-brother Teddy (and son of the Blob) try to make a fresh start in California. She often teases Teddy because, as she says, he reminds her of her father, though her mother speculates it might be because he reminds her of what she is. When Teddy's friend kills the high school's principal, Teddy's powers manifest, and the situation goes awry. When approached by Jean Grey's Tomorrow People and Quicksilver's Brotherhood, Liz chooses to follow Jean whereas Teddy joins Quicksilver. After briefly working with the team, she settles in Tian, a safe haven for mutants, until its destruction. She then rejoins the X-Men. She also attended a small party that commemorated Peter a few years after his death with Iceman and Human Torch.

Television

 * Firestar appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Tara Strong. This version possesses fiery hair while using her powers and hails from a Sentinel-dominated future.
 * Firestar appears in The Super Hero Squad Show, voiced by Laura Bailey. This version is a high school student and classmate of Reptil and Amadeus Cho in her civilian identity.

Video games

 * Firestar appears as an assist character in Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage.
 * Firestar appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Kimberly Brooks. This version is an ally of Captain America in opposing the Superhuman Registration Act and appears as a mini-boss in the pro-registration campaign and as a boss in the anti-registration campaign.
 * Firestar appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced again by Tara Strong.

Miscellaneous
In 1987, Firestar appeared as a guest in Marvel Comics' live reenactment of Spider-Man's wedding to Mary Jane Watson.

Merchandise
Numerous items were marketed that feature Firestar. In 1994, a Firestar Real Heros cup was available at Pizza Hut. Wizard Entertainment introduced a Firestar action figure offered in Toyfare Magazine #2 in 1997. Wizkids marketed Firestar HeroClix figurines (set of 4) in November 2004. Art Asylum produced a Firestar Minimate action figure in 2005. In December 2007, Diamond Select released a 6-inch Firestar minibust. Firestar is featured on cards in the Marvel Universe Trading Cards Series 1 (1990, card #85), Series 2 (1991, cards #32 and 156), Series 3 (1992, card #174), Series 4 (1993, card #20), and Series 5 (1994, cards #20 and 73). Firestar was also included in a number of T-shirts, posters, and art prints featuring New Warriors. In 2021 Hasbro released a 6” Marvel Legends action figure of Firestar.

title: Firestar (Marvel Comics character)