Golden Glider

Publication history

Golden Glider first appeared in The 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.

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 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. In the time since, her death had been a constant source of grief for her older brother.

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, but Cold is able to maintain control of his emotions of grief long enough to destroy the Black Lantern Glider.

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. She survives after the tumor is removed, but expresses shame over her brother's actions. 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. She recruits Heat Wave, The Trickster and Mirror Master to join her faction to exact revenge on Flash, but is stopped with the help of Pied Piper, and her brother.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Television