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- Biography
- Threat Assessment
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Biography[]
Doris Zeul: 1995 - 2010[]
Doris is the daughter of Francis and Beatrice Zeul, both veterinarians that emigrated from Vlatava in the early 90’s. At a young age, it became apparent that their daughter was a genius prodigy possessed by a peculiar mind and strong antisocial tendencies. Doris was prone to abnormal behavior, a morbid sense of humor, and acting out with little provocation. Her parents did eventually find an outlet for her strange forms of expression through animal therapy. The results were so promising that her parents decided to buy a small zoo, hoping that constant exposure to animals would further help their daughter… and it did, for the most part.
Doris’ life became more complicated when she was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. Doctors estimated she would be dead before she reached thirty. Though her parents took this news so hard that it eventually caused the two to get divorced, Doris seemed apathetic about her own short lifespan and continued to live her life as she had before. When Doris became symptomatic and grew weak, she put more focus on her academic studies and put in less time caring for the animals, though she insist on having daily visits with the zoo’s gorilla.
By the time Doris was a teenager, she was afforded a special scholarship to attend the special adolescent genius program at Ivy University. Specializing in anatomy, biology, zoology, and other biological sciences, Doris quickly became one of Ivy University’s treasured students, despite her awkward personality preventing her from being used to promote the program.
For whatever reason, Doris became infatuated with another participant in the program: Ryan Choi, and began to stalk him (I’m talking like borderline obsessive behavior here). Turns out that Ryan was just being too nice a guy to say something (or Doris was too unstable to get the message, if he did) and Doris’ pursuits went on for months, until her hounding got the best of Ryan and he blabbed the big secret that their professor, Ray Palmer, was The Atom. To keep Doris quiet, Ryan had to fork over a dinner, a movie, and a tour of the Atom’s disappointing lair.[1]
Giganta: 2010 - Present[]
In 2010, when Ray Palmer’s Bio-Belt malfunctioned, young geniuses Doris Zeul and Ryan Choi attempted to repair the belt. During their attempt, the Bio-Belt sent out a shockwave which soaked the genes of Doris, Ryan, and Ray. The energy may have given Ray and Ryan the innate abilities to alter their size anywhere from microscopic to their normal size; it had an entirely different effect on Doris.
When first exposed to the energy, Doris grew several hundred feet tall, destroying her clothes and much of the Ivy University campus in her bewildered, gigantic form. Doris would then later discover she had the ability to reduce her size back to her original form, but also found that her original form had been altered. No longer was Doris a sickly, frail girl of unimpressive stature, she was a 6’6” tall girl with abs of steel and superstrength. Also, the childhood illness that had affected her for most of her youth was gone.
With a new rockin' bod and little reason to conceal it, Doris began to flaunt her goods with little regard for any concept of a secret identity. Doris discovered that there was no apparent limit to the size she could grow. Furthermore, growing had affecting her brain chemistry, causing Doris to feel more elation the bigger she grew; but that same euphoria would cause her to lose what little concept of morality or sanity she already had.
Seeing a need to correct this, Ryan Choi crafted a suit made with nanotechnology based off the Martian bio-suits (that can be conceal as a leopard print belt when not in use). When worn, the suit did not only covered Doris’ naughty bits, but could also grow up to three-hundred feet and stabilize the energy in her body dampening the effect on Doris’ brain. Armed with this suit, Doris decided to use her powers for good (or at least to spend more time with Ryan) and took the name Giganta (which I heard she took from a gorilla at her parents’ zoo).
Now an alumna of the Titans and current member of the covert team called “Young Justice”, Giganta is both resident medic and all around powerhouse addition to any team she’s on… as long as said team doesn’t have Wonder Woman in it (seriously, those two bicker like you wouldn’t believe).[2]
Threat Assessment[]
Resources[]
- Size & Mass Alteration: Doris has the ability to enhance the size and mass of her body to varying degrees. While her stable limit is around 300 feet tall and 5 tons, there is no known unstable limit to her powers. It is believed that she can "borrow" this extra mass from a pocket dimension, similar to how Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi can store their mass when shrinking. While she normally assumes larger sizes with her mass, they are not necessarily exclusively synchronized, As a result, Doris can draw in extra mass to inflate her muscles without increasing her vertical height and can grow to two dozen feet tall without altering her weight. However, doing such feats seems to require extra concentration and cause additional effort to maintain.
- Physical Enhancement: Once a scrawny and frail girl with a weak immune system, Doris' power seems to have corrected this flaw, making her a 6'6" statuesque bombshell of a goddess with abs of steel and buns to match.
- Superhuman Strength: Without altering her size or mass, Doris is able to easily lift as much weight as enhanced persons such as Slade Wilson (ARGUS Class III: two to five tons (4,000 pounds US to 10,000 pounds US; 1,814.36 kilograms to 4,535.92 kilograms). When altering her mass, Doris can reached ARGUS Strength Classification levels as high as Class V or VI. At her stable maximum height, Doris can lift comparable weight to Kryptonians (Class VII and VIII).
- Superhuman Durability: Without altering her size or mass, Doris' skin is extremely dense and if she is tensed up, her skin with deflect blades wielded by non-enhanced persons and even some low-caliber bullets or arrowheads which are not straight-on direct shots. If Doris has enhanced her mass, she can become bulletproof to anything beyond the highest caliber rounds and can even shrug off some explosive forces (having once shielded the Team from a missile strike).
- Superhuman Speed: Though most people think that Doris is quite slow when in her enlarged state, that is completely false. She maintains her normal reflexes and due to the length of her stride, she can cover an incredible amount of ground in a short period of time. Doris does tend to move with more deliberation out of concern for the environment and the shorter people around her, which is likely where this myth of being a slow giant originated.
- Savant Genius: Doris has a Ph.D. in biology and zoology; and is also fully licensed doctor of both veterinary and human medicine. She is also an assistant professor at Ivy University. She is considered to be a world-class genius and a leading expert in a number of scientific fields, particularly primatology.
- Multilingualism: Doris is fluent in over seven languages, including English, German, Spanish, Latin, "Gorhili" (the bastardized Bantu language spoken by the metagorillas of Gorilla City), Arabic, and French. Doris also knows American Sign Language.
- Stabilization Suit: Ryan Choi crafted a suit made with nanotechnology based off the Martian bio-suits (that can be concealed as a leopard print belt when not in use). When worn, the suit not only covers Doris’ naughty bits, but could also grow up to three-hundred feet and stabilize the energy in her body dampening the effect on Doris’ brain.
Weaknesses[]
- Autism: Maybe this isn't so much a personal weakness, but rather a problem with the rest of us. Doris is a high-functioning autistic savant. She has difficulty socializing and often comes across as someone without manners, but can be rather affectionate to those she considers part of her social bubble. Doris also tends to resort to violence when frustrated or when animals are threatened (she has a particular soft spot for apes and monkeys, especially gorillas).
- Mental Destabilization: Without her stabilization suit, Doris can become deranged due to an overdose of euphoric hormones released when she takes on larger forms. In such states, Doris is often prone to gleefully destroying public property and can even easily become dangerously violent if frustrated.
- Environmental Concerns: At her large size, Doris needs space to operate and often being a 300 foot tall woman restricts her usefulness for covert operations. There also needs to be consideration for her weight when she absorbs additional mass in operate in close-quarters. On more than one occasion, Doris has unexpectedly fallen through a weak floor while 'beefing up' for a brawl.[3]
Analytics []
Missing Data
Trivia and Notes[]
Trivia[]
- Due to Doris' bare-all debut in Ivy Town when first gaining her powers and the overall relaxed nature of the Ivy Town Heroes' approach to secret identities, Doris chooses not to use a mask and is very open with her students that she is the heroine Giganta. That said, Doris does not welcome the press' attempts to pry into her personal life and Ivy Town University's legal team have become quite adept at getting her off on lawsuits for destruction of media equipment owned by the more obnoxious members of the press.
- The name 'Giganta' was taken from a childhood 'friend' of Doris, a large female mountain gorilla that lived in her parents' zoo.
- Doris does not like Wonder Woman. She claims she was a longtime fan of Wonder Woman as a child, but when she met her idol she was very disappointed. The animosity remains in effect to this day. The two have quarreled and even come to blows a few times, but now mostly try to avoid one another.
- When a plague hit Gorilla City in spring of 2017, Doris was the only human allowed to enter Gorilla City to treat the disease. She was actually specifically requested by Grodd himself, by name. Doris did smuggle Ryan Choi in with her and he conducted a covert recon mission, gathering valuable intelligence for the Team in the process.
- Part of Doris' autism stereotypical behaviors is her stemming by chewing her fingernails when bored, ripping paper when agitated, and reciting the words of the following rhyme which her late father would often whisper in her ear as a child:
What are little boys made of? Snips and snails And puppy-dogs' tails That's what little boys are made of What are little girls made of? What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice And everything nice That's what little girls are made of
- Doris' stemming on the nursery rhyme "What are Little Boys Made of?" may be what had initially got her interested in biology and human anatomy. Her interest in animals stems from her love of animals.
Notes[]
- In Earth-27, Giganta's origin has been changed a lot from her comic book appearances, where she is usually a rogue to Wonder Woman, and sometimes even an evolved gorilla. Nods to these background had been added to her character: she constantly argues with Wonder Woman, she took her codename from a Gorilla in her parents' zoo, and her suit is concealed as a leopard print belt, which is also her dress style in comics.
- Having a rare blood disease is a nod to the New 52 version of the character.
- Her costume is based on her appearance in the New Earth continuity.
- Her relationship with Ryan is a nod to The All-New Atom Vol 1.
.jpg "Giganta (stealth).jpg (106 KB)")
Links and References[]