Amber Hunt (comics)

Amber Hunt
Amber Hunt from Phoenix Resurrection #0.
Publication information
Publisher	Malibu Comics
First appearance	Exiles #1 (August 1993)
Created by	Steve Gerber R.R. Phipps
In-story information
Alter ego	Amber Hunt
Team affiliations	The All-New Exiles Exiles
Notable aliases	En Flame, Moonchild, The Phoenix
Abilities	Pyrokinesis, Precognition, Light manipulation, Telekinesis, Astral projection, Flight

Amber Hunt is a fictional character from Malibu Comics' Exiles comic book series, created by Steve Gerber. She is a pyrokinetic super hero in the Ultraverse and was once host to the Phoenix Force.

Fictional character biography

Amber Hunt was your typical spoiled valley girl, a perfect "princess" who had everything she wanted in life. Until she was exposed to the Theta Virus, an alien disease that rewrites DNA, and gained fiery superhuman powers. She discovered that she could mentally create flames and even fly. At first, she joined a team of super-powered outcasts called the Exiles, under the alias of En Flame, until the damaged computer of an alien spaceship which had crashed on the moon centuries ago, turned her into the "Moonchild". Amber had dormant psi-powers that allowed her to control electromagnetic frequencies, and the alien computer, also known as the Entity unlocked those powers and used Amber to send a signal over the Earth, calling all superhumans (or "Ultras") to her. Unfortunately, the signal was lethal to ordinary humans, slowly driving them insane. After a hard battle, Amber was freed from the Entity's control, and Earth was saved.

Later, an interdimensional portal transported four villains from the Marvel Universe into Amber's home dimension, the Ultraverse. Juggernaut, Reaper, and Siena Blaze arrived in the Ultraverse, and actually became heroes, joining Amber on the Exiles team, where Amber began to have feelings for Juggernaut. But the Phoenix Force was pulled into the Ultraverse as well, and was critically damaged. Needing a human host to help heal the damage, the Phoenix Force bonded with Amber. The injury to the Phoenix Force made it insane, and Amber was unable to control it. She attacked her friends and would have destroyed the planet, if not for the arrival of the X-Men and new Ultra hero Foxfire, who after a long battle were able to separate the Phoenix from Amber and send it back to the Marvel universe.

Afterwards, a portion of Amber's powers were stolen by Maxis (an alien being whose arrival on Earth coincided with the arrival of the All New Exiles and the Ground Zero events which caused massive destruction to portions of Manhattan), and thus is no longer as powerful as she'd been previously. That hasn't stopped her from joining the latest/final incarnation of Ultraforce.

Powers and abilities

Amber Hunt originally had the power of pyrokinesis, a psychic power that enabled her to mentally increase the speed of the atoms moving inside an object, causing the object's temperature to rise until it burst into flames. She could use her power to ignite the oxygen in the air around her, to create an aura of heat and flames that would surround her and protect her from harm. She could focus her fiery aura through her hands as streams of fire that were strong enough to melt steel, yet precise enough that she could cauterize a bleeding wound. By focusing her flames downwards in a tightly focused jet, she could propel herself through the air and fly. She could psionically control flames in her vicinity, and was immune to heat and fire.

She also had a latent psionic power to manipulate the various frequencies of electromagnetic spectrum, such as visible light and radio waves. This ability was activated by the alien entity on the moon, and when the entity was removed from Amber, the power went dormant again.

Amber also has limited precognition, and can occasionally get glimpses of future events, such seeing that she would become the Phoenix. When the Phoenix Force possessed Amber, she gained the ability of telekinesis and could move objects with her mind. She also developed the power of astral projection. She retained a small vestige of these powers even after the Phoenix left her, until Maxis stole portions of her abilities. The remnant of this power is now gone from Amber, but she retains most of her powers at a reduced power level.