So over dinner at a local cafe Lady Chance and I were defining Kitty Pryde’s powers for our four year old.
Then we got perplexed. The kid asked if she could phase through a fire.
She phases through objects. That is, she can manipulate her own matter in such a way that it doesn’t interact with other matter. The allows her to pass through what would be, to us, solid objects.
So it occurs to me.
Heat is the result of molecules in motion. Cold is the absence of same.
When Kitty Pryde is ‘phasing’ she’s not actually in contact with anything. Ergo not motion of molecules against her skin and no ability to perceive heat/cold.
BTW, I think it’s awesom that you and your wife are teaching your daughter about the X-Men at the age of four. Gotta get her started on her geek cred early!
Can the sweet little geekette name the all the types of Kryptonite yet?
Just remember: A daily dietary does of Kryptonite helps build growin bodies 4 ways!
BTW–Superman’s dog, Krypto, will be getting his own animated TV series this April, aimed at ages just like your little one’s.
Thanks for the props, folks! It started because we had a table near the door and every time someone came in Kate complained that she was cold (it’s snowing here). So we told her the only way it WOULDN’T happen was if people phased through the door. And that led us, inexorably, to Kitty Pryde.
Wouldn’t it also imply that she can’t process oxygen while in phase? So no breathing! That should effectively limit the time she can spend in phase.
Well, there was a period where she…oh, I forget what happened, but she was phased as her default state and it took extra effort for her to become solid again. So I don’t think breathing is an issue.
Fantastic Four vs. X-Men #1-4. Somehow Kitty got trapped in her phased state (something to do with an attack during the Mutant Massacre?), and the X-Men had to form an uneasy alliance with Dr. Doom, who claimed to be able to save her.
As far as I know, heat and cold aren’t a problem. I’m pretty sure she’s phased through flames. Breathing is only a problem when she is phasing through something solid. Phasing through a wall wouldn’t be a problem but phasing through the planet would be impossible.
I’ve always assumed that she’s not so much in no contact whatsoever with normal matter, but is slipping between the atoms of normal matter while in phase state.
Of course, that doesn’t explain why that ability allows her to walk on air…
She was hit by an energy blast from the Marauder Harpoon while trying to save Rogue in UXM #211. She was gradually fading away. Dr. Doom was able to stop the process, but Kitty was left permanently phased. I had read the most recent issues, but I believe that’s still the way it is.
As for the OP, I’m 99% sure she’s been shown phasing through fire but can’t quote an issue. I’m actually in the middle of re-reading UXM now, but I doubt I’ll get to the issues involving her for a while
Or at all, for that matter. If she were intangible, she’d fall through the crust and straight to the core. Then we’d know for sure if heat’s a problem for her or not.
Put phased Kitty in a box with a tank of oxygen.
Put phased Kitty in a box with a wall of flame
Put phased Kitty in a box with 1920s Style Death Ray
Put phased Kitty in a box with a wall of flame, a 1920s Style Death Ray, and a tank of oxygen.
In the “God Loves Man Kills” graphic novel, Kitty phased just in time to avoid being killed when a store exploded. She was clearly in the explosion and fireball, so my guess would be that (at least as of the late 1980s) she was able to phase through fire.
Note this only applies while she’s inside another solid object. Presumably, since she can phase matter other than her own body (i.e. her costume, other people), when she breathes while phased and outside another solid object she phases the incoming air so that it’s in the same state she is, thus allowing her to metabolize oxygen.
Back in my geekier days I wrote a letter to the editor positing various extensions of Kitty’s powers, one of which was phasing a volume of air molecules adjacent to her body to allow her to breathe while inside a solid object. Never got any response though, not even a No-Prize.
Powers: Generate magnetic repulsion within her body to become ephemeral, allowing her to pass through solid objects, walk on thin air, utilize her magnetic distortion to scramble electronic systems, and extend her intangibility to anything she touches
She will be neither alive nor dead until you open the box, but if she is dead when the box is opened like all X-Men she’ll be alive again by the time you close it, and phase out of it.
