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Titania
(I)
Real
Name: Davida DeVito Occupation: Professional wrestler, professional criminal,
agent of Roxxon Oil Identity: Publicly known Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with a criminal
record Other Aliases: None known Place of Birth: Unrevealed Place of Death: Grapplers' headquarters, Los Angeles,
California Marital Status: Unrevealed, presumed single Known Relatives: None Group Affiliation: Grapplers, agent of Roxxon Oil Base of Operations: Mobile, later Grapplers' headquarters,
Los Angeles, California First Appearance: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #54 Final Appearance: THING #33
History: Davida DeVito was a protégé of
Ann "Auntie Freeze" Fraley, one of the leading
female wrestlers of thirty years ago. After two decades
in the ring, Fraley retired from professional wrestling
to become a trainer of other female wrestlers. DeVito
was trained by Fraley and wrestled under the alias of
"Titania." DeVito teamed up with three other
wrestlers that Fraley had trained -- Hellen Feliciano,
alias Letha; Marian Pouncy, alias Poundcakes; and Mimi
Schwartz, alias Screaming Mimi -- to become the wrestling
team known as the original Grapplers. Titania became the
team's leader.
The original Grapplers became renowned for their colorful personalities
and ringside antics, but despite Auntie Freeze's tireless
promotion of her four protégés, the wrestling
federation denied them the opportunity to make the amount
of money their male counterparts made.
Titania, the leader of the team, was contacted by a representative
of the Roxxon Oil Company in charge of covert operations
whose identity has not been revealed but who happened
to be a wrestling fan. This representative offered the
four the opportunity to earn supplementary income by performing
a covert operation for the corporation. The four agreed
and were given special paraphernalia to assist them in
their mission. For example, Titania was given numerous
1-inch diameter discs that contained explosives and other
materials. The four wrestlers were sent to accompany the
woman warrior Thundra in invading Project: Pegasus, a
federal government energy research project. Roxxon wanted
a monopoly on major research into tapping new energy sources.
Therefore, following orders from Roxxon, once the four
Grapplers were inside the Project, they began sabotaging
and destroying equipment there. However, the mission failed,
Titania herself was defeated by the costumed adventurer
Giant-Man, and the four Grapplers were tried and jailed
for their misdeeds.
The four Grapplers were sent to the prison at Ryker's Island.
Eventually, they became the leaders of the other women
prisoners there and virtually ran the women prisoners'
area at night. However, they were overpowered in battle
by the Dazzler when she was imprisoned there for a night.
When the Grapplers were finally paroled, they discovered that
the women's wrestling movement had lost its momentum without
them. The Grapplers undertook certain petty crimes to
support themselves and at one point made an unsuccessful
attempt to take revenge on the Thing, who had helped thwart
their mission at Project: Pegasus. The Grapplers were
never caught and imprisoned during this time.
Auntie Freeze, in the meantime, was scouting out new candidates
for female wrestling stardom and succeeded in finding
several promising ones. When wrestling promoter Edward
Garner organized the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation
for the increasing number of wrestlers who were barred
from the other wrestling associations because of their
superhuman levels of strength, Auntie Freeze contacted
him to arrange for the formation of a women's division.
Auntie Freeze, like many of the managers and trainers
of male wrestlers, was contacted by Power Broker, Inc.,
an agency which promised to augment an individual's strength
to very high levels for a very high price. Auntie Freeze
sent all of her new clients as well as the original Grapplers
(except possibly Screaming Mimi) to the Power Broker to
undergo treatment. Thus Titania gained superhuman strength.
Titania and the other original Grapplers had by now returned
to being managed by Auntie Freeze. These original members
and Fraley's new female wrestlers were now all collectively
known as the Grapplers and were legitimate professional
wrestlers in the U.C.W.F. The original Grapplers resented
the newcomers to a certain extent but were mostly pleased
by now being able to earn a good deal of money without
having to resort to crime.
Titania remained the leader of this expanded Grapplers team.
During this team's first public exhibition match, Titania
lost a match which a new Grappler called Battleaxe, who
thus became the new champion of the women's division of
the U.C.W.F. Battleaxe then asserted that she herself
should be the new leader and spokesperson for the Grapplers.
Enraged, Titania attacked Battleaxe in the ring, in full
public view, even though their match was over. The other
Grapplers separated the two. It was then pointed out to
Titania that being champion did not automatically make
Battleaxe leader of the Grapplers. Nevertheless, Fraley
and most, possibly all, of the other Grapplers disapproved
of Titania's bad sportsmanship in this exhibition.
Shortly afterwards, Titania was taking a shower in the Grappler's
locker room when a new recruit to the Grapplers, named
Golddigger, entered and shot her with an explosive bullet,
killing her. Golddigger shouted, "Justice is served!",
the signature line of the mysterious vigilante Scourge,
and escaped. Realizing that Scourge was to blame, Titania's
friend and, fellow Grappler Letha sought to avenge her
death, only to be murdered by Scourge herself.
Captain America defeated a man who claimed to be Scourge, who
was himself then killed by someone who shouted, "Justice
is served!". All though this murdered Scourge is
known to have possessed the means to disguise himself
as a woman, it seems incredible that someone with his
build could have masqueraded as the slender Golddigger.
Moreover, it seems unlikely that a man disguised as a
women could have spent any length of time as a member
of the Grapplers without having to appear unclothed in
a locker room or some other circumstance. Hence, there
is reason to believe that not only is there more than
one Scourge, but that one of them is a woman.
Another female criminal took the name of Titania before the
demise of the Grappler Titania.
Height: 6 ft. 1 in. Weight: 194 lbs. Eyes: Blue Hair: Black
Strength Level: Before having her strength augmented
by the Power Broker, Titania possessed the normal human
strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who
engaged in intensive regular exercise. After undergoing
the Power Broker's treatment, Titania possessed superhuman
strength that enabled her to lift (press) about 2 tons.
Known Superhuman Powers: None apart from her superhuman
strength.
Other Abilities: Titania was a superb wrestler and hand-to-hand
combatant.
Weapons: While working for Roxxon, Titania carried one-inch
diameter discs that contained explosives or other materials
that could be used offensively, all of which were supplied
to her by Roxxon's covert operations division. She also
often carried a rope for help in scaling walls. Roxxon
also supplied Titania with a rod that fired concussive
bursts of energy of an unknown nature and intensity.
Paraphernalia: Roxxon gave Titania a costume containing
devices that somehow amplified her strength to an unknown,
but possibly superhuman level as long as she wore it.