Black Orchid (character)

Black Orchid
Black Orchid's debut: Adventure Comics #428 (Aug. 1973), cover art by Bob Oksner.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Linden-Thorne: Adventure Comics #428 (July 1973) Black: Black Orchid #1 (December 1988) Suzy: Black Orchid #2 (January 1989) Garcia: Justice League Dark #9 (July 2012)
Created by	Linden-Thorne: Sheldon Mayer Tony DeZuniga Black, Suzy: Neil Gaiman Dave McKean Garcia: Mikel Janín Jeff Lemire
In-story information
Alter ego	Susan Linden-Thorne Flora Black Suzy Alba Garcia
Team affiliations	(Linden-Thorne) Justice League Suicide Squad (Black, Suzy) Parliament of Trees (Garcia) Justice League Dark A.R.G.U.S.
Abilities	Human-plant hybrid with superhuman strength, speed, agility, and durability Flight Reincarnation by mental transference to host bodies Mystical connection to the plant world via the Green

Black Orchid is the name of four superheroines published by DC Comics. The original version of the character first appeared in Adventure Comics #428 (cover-dated July 1973).^[1]

The character has undergone numerous changes in her biography and powers over the years. Initially, her identity was a mystery, and her primary power was mastery of disguise, often impersonating background female characters. Various speculations about her origins were presented, but ultimately refuted.

In 1988, writer Neil Gaiman introduced an origin story for Black Orchid, giving her the name Susan Linden-Thorne and the background of a human-plant hybrid, connected to other DC Universe plant-human hybrids like Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy. After Linden was murdered by her abusive husband, her DNA was used to create plant-human hybrids, one of which took up her mantle after Linden's death.

The character was relaunched again in 1993 as Flora Black, with the ability to manipulate pheromones and control minds, making her a femme fatale. This series saw Flora's demise and a younger version, Suzy, taking up the mantle of Black Orchid.

In the 2011 reboot of DC's continuity, The New 52, a new version of the character named Alba Garcia was introduced. Alba is a former army private whose arms were amputated, and she transforms into a purple Swamp Thing-like creature. Her powers seem to involve the ability to shape-shift and manipulate elemental forces.

Throughout all the different versions, the powers of the Black Orchid character have varied but generally include super strength, flight, durability, and the power of disguise or shape-shifting.