Flamebird's History
Thara Ak-Var was a Kandorian soldier who tried to stop the war between Earth and New Krypton. She became Flamebird, with Lor-Zod as Nightwing.
Kandor
Thara Ak-Var was a native of the planet Krypton and lived in the city of Kandor. She was the best friend of Kara Zor-El. A short time before the destruction of the planet, the renegade Coluan scientist Brainiac sent his deadly probes to Kandor to wreak destruction. A Kryptonian Black Zero unit led by Lt. Ursa was dispatched to respond to the crisis. As the Brainiac Probes began slaughtering soldiers, Ursa lost her nerve and was crippled with fear as two of her aspirants Ak-Var and his wife Tes Ak-Var were murdered before her eyes. Ak-Var's young daughter Thara witnessed the carnage, but was trapped behind the force field surrounding the city. Brainiac uprooted Kandor from the planet, miniaturized it, and placed it within his ship's laboratory for future observation.
In the years following Krypton's destruction, Brainiac came upon the surviving floating community of Argo City. He assimilated Argo City with Kandor and Thara Ak-Var met Alura and Zor-El. The Els took Thara into their home and treated her as one of their family. Thara grew very close with their daughter Kara.
As she grew older, Thara began having prophetic dreams of a legendary Kryptonian creature known as the Flamebird. These dreams drove her to join the Kryptonian Religious Guild and she became a devout worshipper of Rao. While living with the other guild members, Thara continued to have dreams. She dreamed of a boy conceived and born in the Phantom Zone and knew that it was her destiny to meet with him. She quit the Religious Guild and returned to Zor-El and Alura. When Kandor was reconstructed on Earth, Thara was reunited with Kara Zor-El. Thara Ak-Var was placed in charge of the Kryptonian Defense Council.
New Krypton
Although the resurrection of Kandor as "New Krypton" showed great promise at first, relationships between the Kryptonians and the people of Earth quickly destabilized, owing largely to the murders of several Science Police officers at the hands of militant Kryptonians such as Commander Gor. Things came to a head when Sam Lane of Project 7734 assigned the super-villains known as Reactron and Metallo the task of going to New Krypton and assassinating Kandorian leader, Zor-El. With the death of Zor-El, his widow, Alura (Superman's aunt), developed an extremely xenophobic attitude towards Earthlings and relocated all of the expatriated Kryptonians to a planetoid in direct opposition to Earth's orbit.
Thara continued to have dreams of the boy trapped in the Phantom Zone. With access to nearly any military equipment she could find, Thara donned a suit of armor and a miniature Phantom Zone Projector and journeyed into the Phantom Zone. She soon united with the boy from her dreams -- Lor-Zod. Lor-Zod was the son of General Zod and her parents' former commander, Lt. Ursa. Held prisoner inside of a material anomaly called Fort Rozz, Thara freed Lor-Zod and escaped from the Phantom Zone. Together, they assumed the costumed identities of Flamebird and Nightwing.
Thara Ak-Var remained on the New Krypton planetoid as Alura's chief of security, but she quickly grew disenfranchised with Alura's leadership capabilities; particularly her decision to exonerate and pardon convicted Kryptonian criminals, General Zod, Ursa and Non. Thara learned that Ursa was responsible for seeding the Earth with Kryptonian sleeper agents, and she knew that these agents posed a tremendous threat to the people of Earth.
Nightwing and Flamebird
As Flamebird and Nightwing, the two began patrolling major American cities, routing out Ursa's sleeper agents. This brought them into conflict with the criminal Tor-An as well as the psychotic Kryptonian lovers, Az-Rel and Nadira. Thara got uncomfortable with the female attention Chris got, especially after discovering a fan's phone number stuffed into Chris's armor. Thara denied feelings of jealousy, but Chris responded by impulsively kissing her. The two were then attacked by the Kryptonian sleeper couple. They chased them into the subway, only to find that it was really Metallo and Reactron in disguise. Thara and Chris were then swiftly defeated and captured.
The Hunt For Reactron
However, Chris and Thara were teleported away, along with Supergirl. Supergirl attacked Thara, for killing her father and trying to kill her. However, Chris stopped her and told her he was her cousin. The three were attacked by Guardian and the Science Police, for apparently killing Mon-El. Chris tried to tell Guardian that they did not murder Mon-El, but Guardian ignored him. The three managed to escape to Paris. Chris, Thara and Kara talked about what has happened. They then discovered that the two sleepers they were fighting were Metallo and Reactron. However, they were attacked by Squad K.
Escaping from Squad K, the three went to Lana Lang's apartment. They decided to get Lois's help in clearing their names. Chris and Lana went to find Lois while Kara and Thara stayed in Lana's apartment.
Once more while being left alone, the two girls argued over their perceived betrayals of another, with Supergirl blaming Thara for her father's death and Thara being angry due to Kara not believing her about the Flamebird entity. After a brief argument, the two along with Chris, were once more forced to flee. During the attempt to flee, they once more encounter Squad K however the three opted to surrender in order to clear their names. While they managed to persuade the Squad K commander, Reactron quickly murdered his teammates and attempted to kill the three.
During their conflict, Thara was injured while attempting to protect Supergirl. As Reactron was about to kill Chris and Kara, Thara manifested her Flamebird powers and personality in which she easily overpowered and defeated Reactron. The Flamebird decided to kill Reactron but was swayed to show mercy after Reactron revealed that Mon-El was alive and was talked down by Supergirl. The Flamebird was once more submerged after sharing a kiss with Chris. Following their battle Thara and Kara made up, deciding to renew their friendship.
Donning new costumes, Thara and Chris continued to protect the world, making sure to conceal their Kryptonian status. Thara showed slight jealousy over Chris getting fangirl attention, and in the ensuing argument, shared another kiss. On their return to their apartment, however, Chris undergone another aging spurt becoming an old man. Under Kimiyo Hoshi's direction, Thara took Chris to the renowned Dr. Pillings, who unbeknownst to anyone, was actually the Kryptonian sleeper agent Jax-Ur. "Pillings" intentionally subjected Chris to a treatment that causes him extreme pain, causing enough emotional stress in Thara for the Flamebird to become dominant again. Realizing who the doctor really was, the Flamebird was forced into an unspecified agreement with Jax-Ur, after which he ensured the Nightwing/Chris's survival.
Jax-Ur's grand plan was later revealed as he used Nightwing's essence to grant himself a connection to Vohc the Builder. He also unleashed a crude replica of Rao the Sun God on Earth. He was stopped by the combined might of Nightwing, Flamebird and various members of the JLA & JSA.
War of the Supermen
During War of the Supermen, General Sam Lane and Lex Luthor unleashed a weapon made from the dissected body of Rao to turn the Sun red. Thara sacrificed her life to turn the Sun yellow again and saved the Kryptonians stranded in space.
