Origin
Years ago in an alternate universe, a Crisis occurred where the Earth’s natural protective layer collapsed due to years of abuse and neglect resulting in The Earth being bathe in radiation. Whiles no one was killed by the radiation, 29 random individuals were given god like abilities. These individuals waged war against each other further destroying their world. A mass murder, Zumbado ended up conquering half the world.
Sometime later Naomi was born, the first child conceived from two gifted individuals. After hearing about her, Zumbado made it his mission to kill her due to her existence challenging his superiority. Naomi’s parent & aunt sent her to Earth 0 in hope she’ll be safe there. As a baby Naomi was rescued and adopted by a Rannian solider who defected during the Rann/Thangagar War.
Creation
Naomi was created by writers Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and artist Jamal Campbell in 2019. Naomi first appeared in Naomi #1 as part of DC Wonder Comics Imprint. Naomi’s last name McDuffie is a tribute to late comic writer Dwayne McDuffie. Bendis, having a Black daughter, wanted to create a character that was made in her mold.
Major Story Arcs
Naomi Vol. 1
Naomi McDuffie was a young girl living in Port Oswego, Oregon, a small, relatively uneventful town. One day though, Naomi witnesses a battle between Superman and Mongul. Superman's appearance causes Naomi to become curious about a similar metahuman event that had occurred years prior. Believing that the Dee, the local auto mechanic knows something, Naomi begins to follow and probe him. Dee reveals that the last event happened seventeen years earlier on the day she was adopted. When Naomi confronts her adopted parents with what she's learned, they feign ignorance. Unsatisfied with what her parents told her, Naomi elects to sneak into Dee's garage at night. It is here that she learns of Dee's Thanagarian heritage; Dee also puts to rest any suspicions that he is Naomi's biological father. As Dee was delving into his own history, the conversation was interrupted by Naomi's mom's entrance. Mrs. McDuffie verbally berates Dee and reveals that not only did the two know each other, but that they had some type of secret pact. Mrs. McDuffie forces Naomi to get in her car where Mr. McDuffie awaited. As the three drove away, they stopped near a wooded area and from there, Naomi and Mr. McDuffie walk through the woods and into a cave. Once inside, Mr. McDuffie shows Naomi his space ship. After turning around, she sees her father floating in midair, wearing Rannian armor.
It is here that Mr.McDuffie reveals that he used to be a Rannian soldier engaged in the Rann/Thanagar War. Mr.McDuffie was tracking a Thanagarian assassin and in doing so, sound his way to Earth. He would eventually find this assassin in a small, west coast town, Port Oswego. The assassin was Dee. While in Port Oswego, Mr. McDuffie met Naomi's adopted mother. The two would get to know one another until they were inseparable. Having fallen in love with Naomi's mother, Mr. McDuffie tells his superiors that he was going to abandon his mission.
One night, Mr. McDuffie's old Rannian gear alerted him to a massive energy surge. After driving to the site of the reading, Mr. McDuffie sees the sky explode with different people falling out of it. Dee had detected the same event so he was there as well. Of the people falling from the sky, the first was an injured woman swaddling what appeared to be a baby. Behind this woman were armed beings trying to kill them. Fortunately, Dee and Mr. McDuffie were able to take out the assailants and save the baby. Unfortunately, they were unable to stop them before they murdered the injured woman. This baby was young Naomi.
Mr. McDuffie shows Naomi the blanket that she was swaddled in and inside, there was a device with a unique symbol on it. Upon touching the mysterious device, Naomi's eyes begin to glow. Naomi transforms into a superpowered form and upon doing so, flies off to her friend, Annabelle. Naomi hurriedly explains everything she's learned to Annabelle before transforming once again to show her.
Naomi explains that her transformation triggered her mother's voice. Her voice explained to Naomi her past. Naomi learns that she's from a parallel Earth plagued by war that, after being bathed in radiation, granted twenty-nine individuals God-like powers. This empowerment led to metahuman conflict which in turn led to more death. Eventually though, the empowered beings split the Earth into territories and ceased confrontation. Except for one being: Zumbado. Zumbado wanted as much territory and power as he could and sought Naomi's parents to add their power to his own. He was successful and his designs on Naomi's parents would be the catalyst for Naomi's arrival on Earth 0.
As Naomi spoke with Annabelle, out of nowhere appeared. It was Zumbado. Zumbado, seeing Naomi, claims to come in peace and convinces her to follow him back to their home Earth. After a brief conversation, Zumbado reveals his true intentions. After a short conflict, a woman who helped Naomi's parents long ago, Akira, appears and opens a portal to Earth 0. Zumbado, attempting to follow her through the portal, is uppercutted back.
Action Comics Young Justice
Naomi tries her hand at flying, as opposed to the floating that she was able to pull off before. Before long, Naomi finds herself in Metropolis but discovers that she doesn't know how to properly land. As such, Naomi ends up crashing down in the middle of the city. Superman happens to be nearby. After fixing the damage Naomi's crash landing caused, Superman gives her a medical exam and determines that her flight is accomplished through via a combustible inner power source. From there, Superman gives her pointers on how to fly. Superman takes Naomi to the Hall of Justice where she meets the Wonder Twins and the Atom (Ray Palmer). After they examine her and try to find her home Earth, she and Superman bond over being orphans.
Batman arrives (out of nowhere as Batman is wont to do). Batman immediately realizes that Naomi can only control her combustion by concentrating. He also bonds with Naomi over their common orphan status. Suddenly, Superman dashes away, stating that he must stop Leviathan.
Superman lands near the Red Cloud. He engages the Red Cloud in battle, but the Red Cloud quickly gains the upper hand, using her powers to asphyxiate Superman. Back at the Hall of Justice, Naomi sees the battle on television and flies off to help Superman. After defeating the villain together, Naomi, Superman, and Batman travel to Port Oswego to meet Naomi's mother. After introductions are had and Superman and Batman leave, Dr. Glory of S.T.A.R. Labs arrives and introduces herself to Naomi.
Young Justice
The Young Justice team has been jumping from one unpleasant universe to the next. Eventually though, they find themselves back in their own universe in Port Oswego, Oregon. As soon as they pop in, they are met by a powered-up Naomi.
It is revealed that Dr. Glory began questioning Naomi about her powers as soon as she introduced herself. When the sky tore open to bring the Young Justice team home, Naomi believed it to be Zumbado making his return. Naomi introduces herself to the team, telling several members how she's a fan of theirs-before fainting.
Naomi wakes up in her house and as she looks around, she sees different members of the team sleeping around the house. Naomi wanders outside and sees Jinny Hex sleeping in her truck. When Naomi seeks to peek into her chest, Hex wakes up, telling her to not touch it because of its danger. They are soon joined by Tim Drake and Superboy. Naomi learns that it was Dr. Glory who trapped Superboy in Gemworld initially. Enraged, Connor flies off to confront Dr. Glory and finds her and another S.T.A.R. Labs scientist nearby. He tells them that they're under arrest. To that, Dr. Glory informs him that reality shifted underneath him, making it where he "doesn't belong" in this reality anymore; she even points him to a teleporter, telling him that he can use it to return to where she sent him if he likes. Curious about how it works, Connor approaches the machine, only for Dr. Glory to surreptitiously activate the teleporter with her handheld control. In an instant, Superboy is gone, blinking into Skartaris. Directly in front of him, he finds Warlord.
Naomi and the rest of the Young Justice team end up following Superboy and upon finding Dr. Glory, inquire about Connor's whereabouts. They are told that Superboy went back of his own volition. Later, Naomi, playing Devil's advocate, questions if maybe Dr. Glory was actually telling the truth.
In time, they are joined by the Wonder Twins, as well Miguel Montez and Summer Pickens, the new heirs to the hero dial. After a brief discussion, they all set out to take down S.T.A.R. Labs. It is not long before their ranks are expanded yet again with the arrivals of Aqualad, Spoiler, Arrowette, and Sideways, all of which were recruited by Impulse.
The team finally makes it to the desert where S.T.A.R. Labs's secret facility known as the Constellation is. Shortly thereafter, portals open up in the sky and monsters rain down upon the team. As they're fighting, Impulse races into the facility and checks Dr. Glory's computer for Connor's location.
In Skartaris, Warlord and Superboy had teamed up but were attacked by a group of Lizard-men and eventually a swordsman with a sword of kryptonite, draining Connor of his strength. It was at that moment that Young Justice was able to portal into Skartaris and retrieve Superboy. Just as Dr. Glory is collecting her data to escape, the team makes it back to stop her. After this ordeal, Dr. Glory is arrested and the Justice League arrives. Naomi has to fly off, as her dad saw her on the news and is worried.
Later, Naomi and other members of Young Justice are summoned by Drake when Spoiler has to go up against her father, Cluemaster. Ultimately though, Spoiler ended up not needing assistance. The team decides to grab food together when Wonder Girl arrives, asking for help. She claims that Zeus has gone mad and begins to recount what had happened. Zeus, wanting Cassie to officially join the Greco-Roman pantheon, became frustrated when she didn't want to and thus summoned the monster, Aegaeon to fight her.
As Cassie is telling the story, Poseidon emerges from the depths to challenge her, but after seeing that Wonder Girl wielded a sword that Zeus had gifted her earlier, realized that his brother was backing her and retreated. Zeus appears out of nowhere telling Cassie that, having bested Poseidon, she was worthy of joining the pantheon but she once again refuses.
Mount Justice
Later, the team decides to claim Mount Justice as their "official, unofficial" hideout. There, they see Red Tornado, seemingly recharging. He activates, views the team as intruders, and attacks. Red Tornado is able to immediately blow back Teen Lantern, Jinny, and Amethyst. While Superboy and Wonder Girl fair a bit better, they are also blown back. When Naomi engages Red Tornado, he classifies her as an unknown omega-level power. She does well, but Naomi is taken down-with Spoiler and Drake falling soon after. It is Teen Lantern that, after getting up, is able to take Red Tornado down, tearing his bodies into pieces. Outside, John Stewart arrives, having been alerted to the presence of intruders. Upon seeing Teen Lantern's tech, orders her to come with him. He backs down after the rest of the team rallies around her though.
Justice League
After a new villain named Brutus attacks innocents in Kahndaq, Black Adam saves them. He is soon joined by Superman, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, and Batman. Together, they are able to repel Brutus and force him to escape back into the portal he came from. Later that day, Naomi is approached by Black Adam, as he sensed that she and Brutus had the same type of power. Almost instantly, Superman appears and grabs Black Adam, thinking Adam means to harm Naomi. After some talking there and at the Hall of Justice about Black Adam and Naomi, Superman wants to invite Adam to join the Justice League.
Later, Brutus returns, this time attacking Themyscira. The Amazons attempt to repel him, but it is ultimately Queen Hippolyta that strikes fear into him, leading him to once again escape into one of his portals. Hippolyta attempts to follow him but is unsuccessful. After the Justice League meets up with the queen and learns of this, they ask Naomi to lead them to her birth world so they may end the threats originating from it. Once Naomi agrees, the Flash uses his cosmic treadmill to take the team to Naomi's Earth.
Naomi Season 2
Coming off of her time with the Justice League, Naomi is dealing with how her new life as a superhero is affecting her personal life. In particular, Naomi is frustrated with how her father, worried about Naomi's wellbeing, has become more domineering and abrasive as he trains her on the use of her powers. Conversely, Naomi has grown closer with Dee, as he has taken on more of a mentor role as well.
When attempting to visit Dee, Naomi sees Dee's garage in shambles, a Thanagarian pin on the ground, and Dee missing. At that same moment, Naomi's father broke in as well and scolded Naomi for being there. Later, Naomi shows Dee's pin to Hawkgirl, hoping to get some clarification on what it was. Hawkgirl, upon seeing the pin, was distressed and angry, saying that those who earned such a pin would be the Thanagarian equivalent of the gestapo.
Getting into Superheroics
Naomi, seeking to fight crime more, begins to use her phone to catch headlines of ongoing crime. This leads her to fights with the likes of Solomon Grundy, Cyborg Superman, and more. It is later revealed that Dee was sighted at S.T.A.R. Labs. He broke in with multiverse coordinates in tow, and demanded to be sent to another world. Soon thereafter, Naomi arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs and learns of Dee's exploits. Shortly after arriving at the scene, Cyborg and a monster come spilling out of a portal. After fighting back the beast together, Cyborg and Naomi look at surveillance footage and spot Dee before Hawkgirl joins the two at S.T.A.R. Labs. Eventually, Cyborg and Hawkgirl send Naomi home.
The next day, Naomi is at school with friends when she hears a loud crash. Powering up, she flies to the location of the crash, only to find a badly injured Dee. Naomi flies Dee to the Hall of Justice for medical attention. When Dee eventually gains consciousness, he reveals that he traveled to her home world to assassinate Zumbado, that he failed, and that there may be people coming after him.
Multiversal Invasion
Naomi, returning to the scene of Dee's crash is verbally-assailed by some who are upset about the metahuman attention Port Oswego has been receiving because of Naomi. This scene does not last long before the skies are ripped asunder and a team of beings fall through. Zumbado and his colleagues, Brutus, Dragon, Jupiter, Kilgore, and an as of yet, unnamed acquaintance.
Despite Zumbado demanding more restraint, Brutus charges at Naomi. As he is charging at her, Naomi thinks back to her time with Cyborg. There, Cyborg explained to Naomi that she is an energy generator. This allows her to not only heal from injuries at an accelerated rate, but also proactively affect energy targeting her before it actually touches her, redirecting it at her assailant. Naomi dubs this ability the "double punch" and this is precisely what Naomi uses against Brutus. It leads to Brutus's quick defeat.
As soon as he sees that his comrade has been defeated, Zumbado charges at Naomi's father below, but is intercepted by Naomi. In time, Naomi is able to defeat Zumbado as well. Though triumphant, her fight with Zumbado leaves her on the ground, unable to stand. The remaining four invaders seize the opportunity, hoping to kill Naomi and use her corpse as a warning for the Justice League.
Naomi, still broken on the ground, receives a telepathic message from Akira, her mother's old best friend. While Akira is speaking to Naomi, the four viciously attack her and Naomi struggles against them. Akira explains that Naomi's abilities are evolving-this is what is allowing her to telepathically speak to Akira across a multiverse distance. As Naomi's powers further evolve, she is able to blast the deadly quartet away with a powerful blast of power and open a portal to her birth world. Naomi's armor also slightly changes, with a cape now being added to her armor.
Finale
Another portal opens, this time with the Justice League and Young Justice pouring through. The combined forces of the JL and Young Justice defeated the rest of Zumbado's forces.
The story fast-forwards a bit after the battle. Naomi, wanting to learn more of her birth world, is getting ready to live there. Dee and her parents see her off. Dee gives her his Thanagarian death axe before she disappears into her portal. On the other side, Naomi unites with her Aunt Akira.
Powers
Naomi is described as an "Omega Level Being" with the ability to generate extra dimensional energy. The unique nature of the extra-dimensional being make her a natural arcanum magnifier which strengthens magical beings. Nabu the Lord of Order used this in conjunction with other wizards and conjurers to banish Xanadoth from the earthly plane.
While Naomi powerset is undefined she has shown the following powers:
Other Media
Kaci Walfall plays Naomi in a CW adaptation developed by Ava DuVernay. The show ended after one season.
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