Dark Angel (initially Hell’s Angel) is a Marvel Comics series, published as part of the Marvel UK brand.
Shevaun Haldane became the hero known as Dark Angel after witnessing her father’s death at the hands of Mephisto and discovering Mys-Tech's occult ties.
Her father, Ranulph Haldane, was one of the original seven Mys-Tech board members - and, like the others, he was an immortal sorcerer who made a deal with the demon Mephisto a thousand years ago. He did a lot of bad things in that time, and many of them are now coming back to haunt his daughter.
Oh, and his surviving colleagues would also like a word…
The title was changed from Hell’s Angel a few issues into the run, following complaints from the bikers of the same name.
As well as her own series, Dark Angel was one of the key characters in the Mys-Tech Wars limited series, and returned many years later as a supporting character in Kieron Gillen’s Iron Man run and one of the protagonists in the Revolutionary War crossover event.
Tropes included in Dark Angel:
- Big Bad: Mys-Tech in general, Crowe in particular.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The “Assassination” arc. Crowe gives the order to kill Shevaun - using automated systems her father created in the 1950s - then realises that she’s essential to Mys-Tech’s research. And can’t cancel the order despite his best efforts, as there’s nobody left alive authorised to instruct Haldane senior’s machines.
- Cool Shades: She usually appears with goggles or eye-coverings of some kind.
- Death by Origin Story: Shevaun’s father, Ranulph Haldane. It’s his death that reveals the depth of Mys-Tech’s corruption and sets everything in motion. He returns as a spirit a few times, though.
- Evil, Inc.: Mys-Tech
- Hangover Sensitivity: Psylocke is very fragile after she and Shevaun go out partying in Newcastle. Averted with Shevaun, whose powers mean hangovers aren’t an issue.
- Hate Plague: Broadcast by some of Mys-Tech’s satellites.
- Intangibility: Shevaun is able to “dematerialise” herself, and can bring some of her companions with her when she does.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Tyburn uses the “I was never here” variety on two of Mys-Tech’s surveillance team.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Mys-Tech use them across the world, with colonies of genetically engineered insects feeding information back into their computers. Some of them grow as big as a large bird.
- Most Common Superpower: Her outfits highlight her generous bust.
- Mutants: After being empowered with a piece of the fabric of the universe, she was detected by Cerebro as a mutant of a new kind or strain.
- New Season, New Title: The series launched as Hell's Angel, but became Dark Angel when Marvel had to retitle it for legal reasons.
- Ominous Multiple Screens: A character watched many screens, and combined this with some form of ESP-type ability he referred to as heuristics to predict the future.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The immortal sorcerer Ranulph Haldane dies early in the first issue, killed by Mephisto to halt Mys-Tech's immortality research. It's his death that reveals his true nature to his daughter Shevaun, leading to her deal with Darkangel, her powers and her quest to atone for his deeds.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Flowing red hair, green eyes and is considered one of the most powerful beings in existence.
- Wolverine Publicity: Psylocke and the X-Men are regular guest stars.
