America Chavez finally found out who her new enemy is, and the girl claims to be Catalina, America’s sister, and that America’s origin story was a lie
WARNING: Spoilers follow for America Chavez #3 by Kalinda Vazquez, Carlos Gomez, Jesus Aburtov & VC’s Travis Lanham, on sale now.
The new America Chavez series started rewriting her history from the very first issue. America never mentioned this before to anyone in any of her previous appearances, but she revealed a family that raised her when she first arrived on Earth.
This was the Santana family, and they raised her until America developed her powers and started working as a teenage vigilante. Her adoptive mother demanded she stop for the safety of their family, causing America to leave home and never mention them again. That was a pretty big change. Now, everything America Chavez knows about herself might be a lie as well. America hid her Earthly family from her friends because of the dysfunction that occurred when she left home. But, it appears much of America’s past remained hidden from her. This is true if Catalina, the new America Chavez villain, is to be believed. Catalina claims she is America’s younger sister, and neither of them are from the Utopian Parallel. Catalina claimed the Utopian Parallel is fake, a small island owned by a rich, eccentric white man. She explained that their mothers, Amalia and Elena, were two doctors from the Bronx who wanted to save America’s life.
Catalina said America’s two moms were medical researchers seeking a solution to a problem that wrecked their world. When they arrived on the island of the billionaire, Mr. Gales, he explained his research into Edges Syndrome showed it only afflicted female children. America’s diagnosis was four months prior to the visit on the island. Gales built a chamber that used unique energy, or magic, that passed through it to interfere with the disease’s damage to the girls’ bodies. When they passed through into the chamber, they entered the magical world of the Utopian Parallel. Catalina said the testing in this facility gave America her powers; that she was a guinea pig. Catalina remained angry because her mothers brought her there. She had the gene but had developed no symptoms. She could provide the key to the cure.
That isn’t what happened. Catalina said Gales never found the cure for Edges Syndrome. Their moms came close, but not close enough. The disease still afflicts both girls. America didn’t buy it, but her powers are still shorting out and Catalina said the treatment that gave them their powers only lasted a certain amount of time. When their powers go away, they will both die. America still refused to believe it, so Catalina showed her one more thing. She rebuilt the chamber from the ground up, working on a different prototype. Catalina restarted the experiments and had pods filled with girls in the chamber to finish what their moms started.
This is a slippery slope. Nothing here makes sense right now. Catalina claimed that she and America Chavez grew up in this chamber, called the Utopian Parallel. She claimed they gained their powers because of the testing done to cure them of their disease. But this doesn’t explain everything that America Chavez has been through. It would explain why she washed up on shore when the Santana family found her.
It doesn’t explain how America Chavez could hop through dimensions and find her grandmother, Madrimar, on Planeta Fuertona, where she found others like her. An explanation is the children on the island hopped into another dimension, believing they were from the Utopian Parallel. However, if this is true, is also means those girls are also dying and this could send Chavez on a mission to save everyone. It could also be a lie. America Chavez has to figure out if this girl is her sister. Otherwise, this could be an elaborate plan to hurt the former Young Avenger.
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