Bette Sans Souci (Prime Earth)

Plastique is a superhuman francophone terrorist and mercenary with the ability to project explosive blasts from her person. She has been a member of Firestorm's rogues' gallery, the Suicide Squad, and the Secret Society of Super-Villains.

History

Plastique was once an operative of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad, but eventually left the group, her status listed as "unknown" in Waller's files.^[1]

The New 52

Plastique was part of a coalition of supervillains—also including Multiplex, Killer Frost, Hyena, Typhoon, and Black Bison—that targeted the gestalt hero Firestorm, drawing him to a warehouse on the Monongahela River with the mother of Ronald Raymond, one of the hero's components, as bait. She used her explosive powers to fling Firestorm across the city,^[2] and kept him at bay by holding Raymond's mother hostage until she was knocked unconscious by Alvin Rusch, father of Firestorm's other component.^[3]

Plastique resurfaced as a member of the Outsider's Secret Society of Super-Villains, and was sent by the Society to prevent Madame Xanadu from interfering with their machinations with with her ability to predict the future. While her allies masked her true intentions, Plastique posed as a customer at Xanadu's fortune-telling parlor, complaining of frightening, destructive dreams. Once the fortune teller had demonstrated her gift, she engulfed the parlor in an explosion.^[4] Plastique was next sent to the headquarters of the United States Government's A.R.G.U.S. agency, gaining access to its morgue thanks to a mole within A.R.G.U.S., to plant an explosive on the body of deceased hero Doctor Light, detonating it once Superman and his allies entered the building.^[5]

Forever Evil

With her fellow Firestorm foes, she was summoned via coin-shaped communicator to a meeting between the world's villains and the Secret Society's masters, the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3, in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island to announce the Crime Syndicate's defeat of the Justice League and takeover of their Earth.^[6] Plastique's group was sent to make an example of Central City by wiping it out, but met resistance from local criminals the Rogues. Plastique engaged the pyrokinetic Heatwave, against whom her powers had little effect, and was struck down by a blast from Deathstorm of the Crime Syndicate.^[7]

After their failure against the Rogues, the group laid waste to an A.R.G.U.S. safehouse in Metropolis, while Plastique attempted to make contact with her missing colleague Killer Frost, to no avail. Instead, the Crime Syndicate's Grid tracked Frost via her coin and teleported Plastique's team to her location—a Pennsylvania cabin, where they found her working with Steve Trevor of A.R.G.U.S. and Doctor Martin Stein. Plastique set upon the traitorous Frost, charging her energy for an attack when she was knocked out by Stein, releasing an uncontrolled blast that allowed her quarry to flee.^[8] Reinforced by additional members of the Secret Society, Plastique's group was once more sent after the Rogues. She was swept off her feet by the Weather Wizard, and, identifying him as the greatest threat, directed her allies to target him accordingly. She and her group were defeated once more, however, when the Rogues combined their abilities to trap their attackers in the other-dimensional Mirror World.^[9]

DC Rebirth

Later, Plastique was one of several villains contracted by the Genie A.I. to kill the Justice League in Denver, Colorado, but they were defeated by the League and the android Amazo, hacked to fight alongside the heroes.^[10] Plastique was recruited by the United States Army's Doctor Shannon Crawford to bomb the wedding of Commander Etta Candy, at which Wonder Woman would be in attendance, and was hired by Hamilton Revere, another military scientist, to assassinate the hero. She attempted to force Wonder Woman to surrender to her under threat of destroying a Washington, D.C. neighborhood, but was knocked off balance by fellow bounty hunter Cheshire and buried in rubble from her own explosion. She was then made, with Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth, to reveal her involvement in the bombing and her channel of contact for her employer, before being struck unconscious by Candy in retaliation for the attack on her brother.^[11] She visited the nation of Zandia, a safe haven for supervillains, and gambled there at the casino of criminal kingpin Roulette.^[12]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Bio-Chemical Projection: Plastique possesses the ability to project explosive force from her body. Once she charges up one her blasts she must release it, even if she is unconscious.^[8]

Abilities

• Multilingualism: Plastique speaks both English and French.^[8]

Notes

• Plastique was created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick, first appearing in Firestorm (Volume 2) #7. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Plastique first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #18 by Dan Jurgens.
• In Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #28 and #29, Plastique resembles her counterpart from the Futures End timeline.
  

Trivia

• Plastique sometimes speaks with a French accent,^[2] and uses French words and expressions in English speech.^[8]
• Plastique's phone password is "kaboom4eva."^[11]

Related

• 22 Appearances of Bette Sans Souci (Prime Earth)
• 2 Images featuring Bette Sans Souci (Prime Earth)
• Quotations by or about Bette Sans Souci (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Bette Sans Souci (Prime Earth)

Footnotes

Firestorm Villain(s) This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Firestorm and any of his supporting cast or members of the Firestorm Matrix. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Firestorm Villains category."

Secret Society of Super-Villains member This character is or was a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, a cadre of super-villains who band together to accomplish feats no one super-villain can do alone, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Secret Society of Super-Villains members" category.

Suicide Squad member This character is or was a member of the Suicide Squad, a team of imprisoned super-villains who perform high-risk missions for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Suicide Squad members" category.