Publisher DC Comics First appearance Batman #481 (July 1992) Creators Jim Aparo, Doug Moench | Alter ego Shondra Kinsolving Supporting character of Batman | |
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Created by Doug Moench (writer)
Jim Aparo (artist) Abilities Limited telekinesis
Healing powers Similar Batman, Jack Drake, Sasha Bordeaux, Julie Madison, Silver St Cloud | ||
Shondra Kinsolving is a fictional supporting character in the DC Comics universe. She was created by Doug Moench and Jim Aparo and made her first appearance in Batman #481, (July 1992).
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Fictional character biography
Shondra Kinsolving was one of a pair of adopted children to a British family. Her adoptive brother, Benedict, found that Shondra had latent psychic powers and the two could combine their mental energies for enhanced effect, the two killing their abusive foster father (Her mother later speculating that her husband adopted a black child, despite his racism, in order to regularly beat something that he deemed evil). Although using her powers felt good, Shondra came to hate what she and her brother did, eventually fleeing from him.
Shondra appears in Batman #486, acting as physiotherapist for Jack Drake, father of Tim Drake aka Robin, and neighbor of Bruce Wayne. Drake had been paralyzed during a kidnapping a few months earlier. When Batman finds himself dealing with chronic exhaustion as a result of facing the entirety of his rogues gallery in rapid succession, he takes on Kinsolving as his doctor under his Bruce Wayne persona, and she continues to care for him after his back is broken by supervillain Bane. The two develop a romantic attachment over the course of his care, but before Wayne can fully commit to the relationship, Kinsolving is kidnapped by her half-brother Benedict Asp, who forces her to use her abilities for evil.
Asp reveals Shondra's healing powers and, along with his own psychic powers, uses her to telekinetically massacre an entire village. A newly healed Batman eventually defeats Benedict, but the events leave Shondra traumatized, causing her psyche to regress back into childhood, the last of her sanity being sacrificed to heal Wayne's broken back by reknitting the last of the damaged nerves. Wayne places her in an institution where she can be cared for, and she is later put in the care of a foster family, where she begins to slowly recover from her ordeal.
Kinsolving is mentioned in the "Hush" storyline; Barbara Gordon asks Alfred Pennyworth if they should contact Kinsolving to operate on Batman after he fractures his skull. Alfred asserts that she is not well, but Barbara informs him that "she got better", and Kinsolving does indeed appear during Wayne's surgery, assisting Dr. Thomas Elliot.
Powers and abilities
Shondra is a low level metahuman telekinetic with the ability to heal. Her powers can apparently be boosted (by other metahumans with psionic abilities) high enough to kill.