Golden Glider

Golden Glider (Lisa Snart) is a fictional character, a supervillain published by DC Comics. She is the sister of Captain Cold and an enemy of The Flash.

Publication history

Golden Glider first appeared in Flash #250 and was created by Cary Bates and Irv Novick.

Fictional character biography

Lisa Snart is a figure skater, known by the alias Lisa Star, who has help in her career from her secret coach and lover, The Top, a foe of Flash Barry Allen who dies from complications of dueling with the scarlet speedster. Furious over his death, Snart vows revenge. She adopts an orange ice-skater's costume, a mask, and ice skates which create their own ice flow, allowing her to effectively skate on air. She also has diamonds and jewels that can be used as explosives or hypnotic devices. The Golden Glider seeks revenge against the Silver Age Flash for several years. She frequently collaborates in her heists with her brother, who is very protective of her.^[1]

After the death of Barry Allen, Snart retires from crime (she blames Allen himself for the Top's death, not his successor Wally West). She and her brother embark on a career as mercenaries, forming the Golden Snowball Recovery Company. Eventually she returns to crime, with a series of partners, all code-named "Chillblaine", whom she supplies with a replica of her brother's cold gun. The last of these—described as more intelligent and ruthless than his predecessors—kills Snart^[2] with the weapon she gave him before holding Keystone for ransom with the aid of Doctor Polaris, with Flash only just managing to defeat them. Chillblaine is then himself killed by Captain Cold in retaliation.^[1] In the time since, her death had been a constant source of grief for her older brother.^[1]

In Blackest Night #1, she is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. She and her fellow Black Lantern Rogues attack Iron Heights Penitentiary,^[3] but Cold is able to maintain control of his emotions of grief long enough to destroy the Black Lantern Glider.^[4]

The New 52

In this timeline of The New 52, Lisa Snart's murder has been written out of continuity and she is alive again. In this continuity, she is now dying of a brain tumor.^[5] She survives after the tumor is removed, but expresses shame over her brother's actions.^[6] Later, she mysteriously appears in South America, now going by the name "Glider" and apparently wielding metahuman abilities. She is shown recruiting Weather Wizard for some unknown purpose after his battle with the Flash.^[7] She recruits Heat Wave, The Trickster and Mirror Master to join her faction to exact revenge on Flash,^[8] but is stopped with the help of Pied Piper, and her brother.^[9]

Powers and abilities

The Golden Glider is an Olympic level figure skater. Thanks to a pair of experimental skates that create their own ice, she is able to skate on any surface, including mid-air. She invented or acquired (depending on the item) a number of jewel-themed gadgets and weapons, such as poisoned rings or hypnosis jewels, and used these to great effect in her crusade against the Flash.^[1]

In the New 52, Glider has gained metahuman abilities due to being caught in the blast that also gave Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Heatwave, and Weather Wizard their powers. Glider has become separated from her body, giving her an astral form that allows her to fly and move at extreme speeds. She also has ribbon-like tendrils that can easily cut and kill a person without any evidence of an attack.

Alternate versions

Flash Annual

Glider and one of her Chillblaines are featured as one of the villains draining Wally of his speed. Despite being slowed, Wally defeats the pair and leaves them for the police.^[10]

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Lisa Snart and her brother, Leonard were being brutally beaten by their own father. Later, Lisa killed her father with a gunshot and was arrested for the crime.^[11] Lisa is taken to Iron Heights and is then kidnapped by the Rogues. Citizen Cold arrives to try to rescue her, but finds she has been killed by the Rogues member Fallout.^[12]

Teen Titans Go!

A teen version of Golden Glider named Ice Kate appeared in an issue of Teen Titans Go! as part of a supervillain duo consisting of herself and her brother, Kid Kold. The two villains were defeated by Kid Flash and Jinx after a botched robbery.^[13]

Injustice: Gods Among Us

In "Year Five" of the Injustice: Gods Among Us tie-in comic, Golden Glider appears as a member of the Rogues alongside Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, and Mirror Master. They agree to join Batman's Insurgency to stop a dictatorial Superman, because Batman respects their code against killing. Lisa mentions that her brother, Captain Cold went into hiding after escaping the Regime prison. When the Rogues begin their attack on the Regime and attack Regime bases, they succeed in destroying them after evacuating the people inside, but, during their last mission, they are intercepted by Bizarro, who attacks them. During the fight, Mirror Master gets knocked unconscious. When Weather Wizard mocks Bizarro, Bizarro becomes furious and incinerates Heat Wave and Weather Wizard, but Lisa survives thanks to her abilities. When Trickster arrives, he manages to distract Bizarro long enough for Lisa and Mirror Master to get to safety using his mirror belt. Later, the 2 of them hold a memorial service at the bar for Weather Wizard and Heat Wave, where Glider and Mirror Master are revealed to be in a relationship as they share a kiss. When the Flash arrives, Lisa and Mirror Master angrily confront him for coming over to mock them and turn them in while they're grieving. Flash though admits that he's always respected the Rogues as enemies and came here to pay his respects. He then promises to not turn them over to Superman and shares a beer with them.

In other media

Television

Peyton List as Lisa Snart / Golden Glider on The CW's The Flash.

• Lisa Snart/Golden Glider appears on The CW's The Flash portrayed by Peyton List. Described as sly, charming, a little sadistic, and not afraid to use her sexuality to get what she wants, this version is a wild child who is anxious to prove to her cold and calculating older brother, Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), that she has what it takes to be in his criminal gang.^[14] Lisa was mentioned, though not by name, when detective Joe West describes her brother's back story to Barry Allen, stating that their father abused Leonard and Lisa when they were children. She first appears, off-screen, at the end of the season one episode "Revenge of the Rogues", breaking Leonard and his accomplice Mick Rory/Heat Wave out of an armored car on its way to Iron Heights. Her on-screen debut is in "Rogue Time", where she uses her charm to abduct Cisco Ramon to have him recreate Leonard and Mick's guns, Leonard having kidnapped Cisco's brother, Dante, to ensure his cooperation. Leonard also forces Cisco to make another gun for Lisa, which can transmutate any matter into gold, that she first uses when she and Leonard attack the Santini crime family casino. Later she, Leonard and Mick use bikes to chase down a truck taking the Santini's money out of the city. However, she and Mick are toppled over by The Flash, while Leonard is taken away to discuss the matter of him knowing Flash's secret. In the episode "Rogue Air", Barry enlists Leonard's help to transport metahuman criminals from S.T.A.R. Labs to Ferris Air intending for them to be taken to Lian Yu. Leonard recruits Lisa for help, revealing that he hasn't told her the Flash's true identity, which she resents. Lisa attempts to flirt with Cisco and appears genuinely hurt when he rejects her. Lisa helps in the transport of the metas by driving the truck to the airport. During the transport, she asks Cisco to give her a nickname - he gives her "Golden Glider" - and seems to show some actual interest in him. However, Leonard and Lisa sabotage the truck, allowing the metahumans to escape and attack Barry. After parting ways with Barry, Leonard drives off with Lisa. In season two's "Family of Rogues," Lisa asks the Flash team for help rescuing her supposedly kidnapped brother from their father, Lewis. Barry learns that Leonard is actually working with Lewis, but not willingly. Unknown to Lisa, a miniature bomb was implanted in her neck by her father to get her brother's cooperation in a major robbery. Cisco is able to remove the bomb, leading Leonard to kill Lewis once the threat to his sister is removed. Lisa thanks Cisco for saving her as well as supporting her to the Flash team, giving him a kiss before driving away.
• Although Lisa does not appear in the spin-off series DC's Legends of Tomorrow, she is referenced. In the episode "Blood Ties", her brother visits his family home in 1975 to try and change the timeline, so that he and Lisa will not suffer the abuse Lewis inflicted on them. Leonard tells the younger Lewis that the only reason he doesn't kill him - despite his fervent wish to do so - is because his sister will never be born if Lewis dies now. When Rory betrays Rip Hunter's team ("Marooned"), Snart points out that returning Rory to 2016 would leave their family members open to his retaliation, including Lisa. After he becomes the Time Masters' bounty hunter Chronos, Rory captures Snart and shows him Lisa's face on a monitor. He tells Snart that he plans to kill her in front of him repeatedly, going back to earlier and earlier periods and killing her each time, extending his vengeance ("Left Behind"). Lisa is reportedly taken prisoner by the Pilgrim (although she never appears on-screen) alongside other team members' loved ones, to force the team to surrender their younger selves to the Pilgrim to be killed. After the danger has passed, Snart has an brief (off-camera) reunion with his sister ("Last Refuge").

References

External links

• Arrowverse entry for Golden Glider