Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Duo Damsel or Duplicate Damsel

I pictured her in Science Police riot gear, with a large shield, armor and a stun device, quickly multiplying in row after row.
The shield (and her body) would push people down or over and she could stun them.
Pretty effective, in my mind, anyway.

As do the powers of the Marvel characters Timeshadow and Flashback, and the DC characters Multiplex and Silent Majority. It's not the most common power out there, but Lu was first was the first duplicator, even if she could only split into three dupes.

1) Her power internalizes. She no longer creates duplicates at all, but calls up additional resources within herself, doubling her strength, resilience, intellect, etc. every couple of seconds as she summons up more of herself. There is no physical sign of her doing this, but it wears off quickly and requires a bit of focus, so she doesn't wander around pumped up to 100x strength. Her power remains multiplicative in nature, but becomes more of a massive boost-self effect.

2) She develops the ability to retain her triplicate strength, endurance, intellect, etc. while in single form. She can still split into three completely normal Carggites, or go into the form of one that's three times tougher than expected. She becomes more of a combat junkie, being three times stronger, faster, smarter, etc. than a normal woman of her abilities.

3) She develops the ability to create and re-absorb duplicates at range (pretty rare, even among this rare power set). What sort of range? Sight, perhaps, allowing her to cross distances quickly (create a dupe as far away as she can see her, then have that dupe absorb her, then do it again. Pop. Pop. Pop.). She may also be able to re-absorb them so fast that they can't really die, with even those apparently shredded by an explosion just 'letting go' of their current hold on the physical plane and 'going home' to Lu instead of dying.

4) Her dupes become solidified ectoplasmic creations, appearing like flesh and blood, but being all contiguous matter within. She literally becomes Fodder Lass, throwing disposable non-people at a problem. (Note that I don't actually love that idea, just throwing it out there.)

5) She goes all quantum, and no longer calls up duplicates of herself in this universe, but duplicates of herself from other quantum realities, and / or other points in the Multiverse. The Earth 1 'Lone Lass' (who lost one self to Computo and one to the Time Trapper) can now call up the Threeboot Lu or the Reboot Trijutsu Lu or any of a dozen other unknown Lu's from other quantum realities, some of which might have other powersets, other appearances or be otherwise surprisingly different (a non-humanoid Carggite from Universe-23 or Duplicate Dude from Universe-41 or Decimal Lass, who can create nine duplicates of herself, from Universe-10, for instance). She becomes the living bridge between the Legions of Three Worlds (and others besides), as she can call up and coordinate multiversal team activities between many different Legions of Super-heroes.

6) Similar quantum dealie, only she summons single duplicates at a time, each of which represents a 'path not taken.' Most of them look like Lu, but have radically different powersets, making her a kind of 'Dial H for Hero' or 'Ben 10' sort of character, able to call up other super-powered avatars. Unlike those two, she doesn't necessarily *turn into* a different superhero, but, like Aladdin with his lamp, just calls them up. "Oh no, we need someone with the power to turn all this radiaoctive fallout into pure water! Luckily, the Luornu Duorgu of quantum plane 715423 was born on Trom, and can do that!"

7) Her duplicates become mentally linked, even across potentially unlimited distances, and she often has one self stationed in Metropolis, and another on a mission, and another on Legion World, or whatever, so that no matter the situation, the Legion is always in real-time contact with each other. (Kind of a moot power on a team with apparently infinite range flight-ring communication, but it would have been spiffy back in the day...)

8) She takes up riot squad / advanced teamwork training (and becomes the official team hand to hand and team tactics trainer for the team, since 'Karate Kid may be able to make you the best solo fighter in the galaxy, but only *I* can make you the best *team* player...'). Armed with body armor, a stun baton and an expanding bracer that turns into a shield, she uses 'wolf tactics' on lone foes, with the one in front of them fighting defensively and keeping him busy, while the other two go for the legs or attack from behind. When the poor fool turns to face the one hitting him, she goes defensive, while the others get in their cheap shots. Like lions pulling down an elephant, she wears her targets down, and she serves as a combat trainer for the rest of the team, showing them how to coordinate their own attacks (knocking foes into other teammates attacks, intercepting attacks aimed at allies, etc.). Her powers change not at all, she just decides to use training (and gear) to reach a higher potential. The Legion code says nothing about using gadgets (see Flight Rings, Transsuits, Telepathic Earplugs and Force Field Belts), just that the member has to have an actual super-power that doesn't come from a device.

9) She becomes able to use her power on others. "Gosh, we could really use three Mon-El's for this fight..." Alternately, she becomes Gestalt Gal, able to absorb up to two other people and form a kind of composite person with their combined powers (and a motley blend of their appearances...), "Oh, if only we had someone with Imra's telepathy and Brainy's, uh, brain! Just relax you two, this won't hurt a bit..."

Or you could go with some combination of these. Combining 'Luornu of Many Worlds' with the telepathic link / hive-mind option could turn Luornu into a mental bridge between the Legions of Three (plus) Worlds, keeping them in constant contact, and allowing for multiversal coordination between Legions.

Or you could mix 'combat trainer Lu' with 'triple strength Lu' and have her not only switch at a moments notice between three normal strength foes and one triple strength foe, but also design her own stun-baton, shield-bracer, etc. with her new ability to triplicate her brainpower. (Brainy will be so thrilled to have someone else using the labs...)

Those are all interesting, Set. However none of these ideas are about her power-up or using the power-up in a unique way. I would have said #8 did use it, but then you limited it to her original power.

I'll predict right here that this power-up will eventually be forgotten or reversed.

I misread your original post. I thought you were talking about her power, and the basic duplication/multiplication power, not what Johns did specifically, which, frankly, we know nothing about. Are her new dupes 'real girls' or just clones of Lu-Prime? Are they mentally linked? Are they some sort of constructs? Can she create them at range? Does the death of one have any effect on her? Does she have an upper limit? I know none of this, so I can't help you.

I can only offer unique ways to either play with Luornu's original power, or some variation of a duplication power that would be very much unlike that of Jamie Madrox, which was, I mistakenly thought, what you wanted, a Lu who would not be mistaken for a 'Madrox clone.'

Hmmmmm I may be misremembering....but did I recall correctly that Triplicate Girl did gain multipility powers temporarily by Dynamo Boy or Dynamo Kid in the Adventure Comics? That the same issue where Shrinking Violet gain by having a power to enlarge too?

it was adventure comics 368 the mutiny of the super heroines where she temporarily had a power upgrade

What about calling her Decoy Damsel, wherein her original self or 2 selves still exist, but the other duplicates are inconsequential, that they only serve to distract.

As mentioned, the unlimited duplicates power was previously touched upon back in the ADV era, so I say YAY!

Anything that beefs up Lu is a good thing in my book. I also loved her upgrade to force-field powers and restoration of her second body back in TMK.

And I think the Duplicate Damsel name is cute!

Well, even though there are a couple of hours left for voting, I would say that most people like the powering up of Duo Damsel to Duplicate Damsel (even if you don't like the new name)

I still say (as I did on the previous page) this is not something that is going to last. As soon as Geoff Johns is off the Legion, Luornu will be back to her original power.

I think it was only done because the Countdown mess killed her off and they wanted her back...

This was really the easiest way to make that happen...

I responded to a similiar thread on another board...
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I'm disappointed with the way Lu's been handled.

Like someone previously posted, Lu had stated that it was unusual for a carggite to survive the death of one of their bodies. Very much like siamese twins. The others would have experienced sympathetic deaths. This point was mentioned enough that it left the impression that there were plans for Lu. I figured she would bring about some sort of evolutionary change among her people. With so many other characters, and changes in creative teams and such, Lu was put on the back burner.

I always imagined that, at some point, Computo would have been ressurected and then destroyed leaving behind an energy-type being that would then have merged with Lu's surviving bodies. Revealing that her first body hadn't really died, but instead had been absorbed by Computo. The *merge* would then result in a new entity, (Codename = Surge,) which would have been loads more interesting than *Duplicate Damsel.*

I just don't think it shows much creativity. Even if they had let Lu retain the powers imbued upon her by Querl's force-field belt, (Codename = Shield,) that still would have made for a more interesting character than *Duplicate Damsel.*

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That being re-stated. I think *Bunny* would be a better codename for the current interpretation of Lu.

If Lu has regained the power of unlimited multiplication, can Thora be far behind?

If Vi starts growing again, we'll know something's up!

I like the power-up and I like the name

The fact that the her name translates as 'replacement virgin' is kinda hilarious.

lol

That would be an excellant idea for a villain. Sort of like Galatea in the JLU cartoon.

That's also what may have happened to Sharn Nux in the DnA series, although we never found out.

Oh poop, I never got a chance to vote!

I like the power up but want more aspects of her power explored besides just multiple copies of her. Such as limited teleportation abilities and/or linked minds between her bodies, duplicating small objects, etc. Also would hate to see her become raygun fodder.

I also don't like the name Duplicate Damsel. She's not a damsel anymore, for one thing. Duplicate Dame? Not crazy about that either. Ditto IS kinda cool.

Damsel: a young woman or girl; a maiden, originally one of gentle or noble birth.

how's she not a young woman...she's not middle aged.

I think he's referring to the "maiden" thing. She's been married to Chuck for some time, after all.

I miss the smell of triplicate forms. Who knows what those nasty chemicals did to your gonads.

Her name should probably be upgraded to other outdated office equipment.

Dittograph Princess
Mimeograph Madame
CarbonCopy Kid
Selectric I, II, III
SlideRule Queen

How about Teen Telex?

I dunno ... I kinda like the name Duplicate Damsel. I never liked "Duo" in her name but that's because I hated when they killed one of her selves way back. The "Damsel" part of her name grew on me over time, so I rather like the new name, not to mention the enhanced power!

On the flip side the word "duplicate" does suggest a copying of a power (think: Duplicate Boy).