Art by Nick Bradshaw and Ian Herring
- Name: Iara Dos Santos
- Code Names: Shark-Girl
- First Appearance: Wolverine & the X-Men #20 (Jan ’13)
- Powers: She is like a werewolf but, you know, a shark
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men
About
The “mutant metaphor” is malleable and ever changing. From the red scare to civil rights it has always been used to shed a light on the disenfranchised. The less celebrated, but still relevant, use of mutation is an allusion to our changing bodies once they hit puberty. Everyone who has gone through it can attest that being a teenager kind of sucks, emotions are always in flux and there is a lack of clarity on who you should be as a person. From their earliest days as the world’s strangest teens, the X-Men have dealt was this from Angel having to hide his wings in public to half of Generation X being unable to fit in anywhere. Each successive group of new mutants has upped the ante ad become less and less “human” and Jason Aaron gave us that in spades with characters like Shark-Girl.
Iara Dos Santos was one of the first new mutants after the Decimation spell was reversed. A poor child in Recife, Brazil, she felt a strange hunger come over her one night and headed down to the docks for a snack. She found some freshly caught fish and dug in. The meat was raw and the blood trickled down her cheeks but she was unphased. The owners of the catch found her and tried to shoo her away but Iara’s blood began to boil when she discovered that these men were finning sharks to sell on the black market. She fought them but was taken aback when her body began to change. Her fingers webbed together, her skin became grey and slimy, and her teeth grew in size and number.
Art by Steve Sanders and Frank D’Armata
She was found by Angel who offered for her to join the Jean Grey School, but Iara was still frightened by her new abilities and the man with metal wings staring down at her wasn’t helping the situation. Angel still followed as Iara swam away, he claimed that he knew what she was going through but that only set her off. She was terrified of losing her humanity, and wasn’t going to be patronized and she was done with the conversation. Mystique had also come to recruit the new mutant and attacked Angel for a moment of privacy with the Shark-Girl. She talked of accepting this new change and reveling in the power it would bring. Still, Iara didn’t want to listen and began walking away. Mystique responded with force and tried to capture the girl but she underestimated Iara’s animal nature. Shark-Girl transformed, bit into Mystique and it awoke something inside of her. Bloodlust.
Art by Steve Sanders and Frank D’Armata
Angel rushed into action, grabbing Iara and trying desperately to restrain her. He flew hard and fast, trying to control the thrashing girl, but began to black out. When he awoke he saw Iara dressed in a school uniform. She wanted to try and control this strange change, she was inspired by the heroism that Angel had shown and wanted to be better than a beast.
Art by Steve Sanders and Frank D’Armata
She continued training at the school, becoming friends with Oya and Sprite. She joined the students in rescuing their teachers from Frankenstein’s Murder Circus and excelled in her studies in general. Trips to the Savage Land allowed Iara to unleash the monster inside of her and she grew more and more comfortable with her powers. Too comfortable for some. SHIELD sent agents posed as students to assess the students of the JGS and what they had to say about Shark-Girl was concerning. She had started using her human form less and less, she spent all of her spare time in the water, she was becoming angrier. The beast was winning.
Art by Pepe Larraz and Matt Milla
That animal nature came to the attention of the staff of the Jean Grey School and the enrolled Iara in Spider-Man’s special class. She couldn’t be less interested in it saying it was “totes totes lame” and was generally unreceptive to Spidey’s valuable life lessons about responsibility and power. He took the students to a field trip which was interrupted by Stegron the Dinosaur Man and Sauron, a vampiric never nude Pterosaur, who were embroiled in a plot to turn all of Staten Island into dinosaurs. Shark-Girl was intrigued by this plan from her primordial brethren to give the mighty their rightful place on the planet and joined them in the United Prehistoric Insurgency. She told the special class that she had found her real family with the teeth and rage and stuff and she had no need for them.
That, however, all turned out to be a ploy to rescue her friends from the clutches of the great lizards and Iara came through for the special class, even if she didn’t have much of a plan. They decided to pit the two lizards’ attraction for Shark-Girl against each other and Iara played them like a fiddle. They were able to stop the reptiles from taking over the world and Shark-Girl got an A+ (well, A- for getting Glob Herman turned into a dinosaur).
Art by Marco Failla and Ian Herring
Must Read
Shark-Girl hasn’t been in many comics, and even less that have her as more than set dressing. That being said her role in Spider-Man & the X-Men was a fantastic and funny addition to a great book. She was given more characterization than just being a girl who is also a shark and writer Elliot Kalan embraced the inherent hilarity of the character. While it was short-lived the series did a lot the flesh out a bunch of D-list students and made them endearing. You can find these issues on Marvel Unlimited or out in one trade.
Art by Nick Bradshaw and Ian Herring
Ranking
Liam pledged to Xavier Files for this article, I’m sure he is excited to see a character he really likes on this list and I am sure he wants her to go high. Liam, I am so sorry but I don’t like Shark-Girl at all. Shark-Girl is what I think of when I think of everything I disliked about Aaron’s Wolverine & the X-Men (a series I have VERY mixed feelings about). Her design is uninspired and goofy just for the sake of being goofy, she was always listed on the team roster but got next to no characterization, she was an idea that didn’t pan out and wasn’t really needed. The X-Men have such a deep bench that new characters get judged harshly because fans will always ask why a writer didn’t use someone who was already established. Shark-Girl easily ranks below Elixir, the lowest X-kid on the list so far and as I scroll down the list, I keep seeing names of characters that I would rather see again. Negasonic Teenage Warhead is 37 right now and just appeared in a book by Cullen Bunn (a book I otherwise don’t care about) and I am way more excited to read that than wherever Shark-Girl shows up next. The X-Cutioner is a similar character that I think has a higher upside than Iara, heck as I look at this I’d rather see freaking Unus again, at least he has some history behind him. Because of that, Shark-Girl becomes the new bottom feeder of the list at 41 in the Xavier Files.
Shark-Girl was requested by Liam on Patreon. Liam, thanks and I am so sorry. If you want to cut to the front of the line like Liam, we have a Patreon if you want to support it and get a line cutting reward for just a $1 pledge. Our first goal is only $15 and it gets rid of those ads and makes the hosting for Xavier Files entirely reader supported.
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— Xavier Files (@XavierFiles) August 25, 2016
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
