December 1984. One of the strongest points of the 1984 LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES series was that Paul Levitz (and Keith Giffen, toward the beginning and near the end) really elevated many of the Legion's female characters, including some who had previously been regarded as dispensable lightweights.
Probably the most dramatic example was Projectra, a princess from the medieval world of Orando with the power to cast illusions. One of four new characters introduced by Jim Shooter in his first published Legion story back in ADVENTURE COMICS #346, Projectra had always tended to undermine her own effectiveness, casting improbable illusions and then loudly telegraphing what she was doing. For a long time, her main narrative role was as the love interest of Karate Kid (Val Armorr of Earth), whom she eventually married. In the previous issue of this series, Val was killed by Nemesis Kid, another early Shooter creation and one of the Legion's most formidable opponents, with the alchemical ability to give himself whatever power would best equip him to fight a particular opponent. In this issue, Projectra, having finally been pushed too far, responds by simply killing Nemesis Kid with her bare hands:
She then left his body in the gutter for the dogs.
After this, Projectra withdrew Orando from Earth's dimension, but she subsequently decided that she needed to reassess her relationship with her powers, the Legion, and the universe at large, leading her to take on a new identity (as Sensor Girl) and develop an additional range of mystical powers. She was never a heavy-hitter in the way Mon-El or Ultra Boy were, but her greater maturity and insight made her formidable (and even intimidating) in a way she'd never remotely been before — quite a change, and a reasonably organic one at that.
Unfortunately, the end of this series in 1989 was basically Jeckie's last stand. She was absent for most of the subsequent series' "Five Years Later" run, and her treatment in the various Legion reboots has ranged from "inexplicable" (the 1994 reboot made her a snake!) to "character assassination."
