Major Story Arcs
Valerie Beaudry was born in the post-Crisis universe to parents who had been exposed to radiation from nuclear testing. Valerie was born horribly disfigured with many physical deformities. This led to a lone existence. It was in her teenage years that she found a penfriend in a girl called Maxine Sterenbuch, but when Maxine asked to meet in person, Valerie ended the relationship.
Some years later, Valerie was examined by scientists working for Henry Cobb Armbruster, a wealthy business man. The scientists could erase Valerie's physical deformities by remaking her body from a molecular level. Armbruster was more interested in Valerie's dormant mutant sonic powers. He seduced her into the experiment that would give her great beauty and bring her power into play. He wanted to exploit her powers for his own gain in the arms industry. This brought him into conflict with the lead scientist, Benjamin Buchman. The two men often argued about using Valerie this way and in one heated argument, Armbruster accidentally killed the scientist while Valerie was in her treatment. When Valerie finished he led her to believe that it was her fault that the scientist had perished, that way she would be more compliant to his wishes.
With beauty now hers, Valerie now contacted her pen friend Maxine and set up a meeting. The two woman hit it off immediately although Maxine did not like Armbruster and with every meet, she witnessed Armbruster's bruises on Valerie's face. Little did Maxine know but Armbruster was grooming the insecure woman in industrial espionage. He used the feminine ideal that was Princess Diana, Wonder Woman to goad Valerie. Until she was finally unleashed on the public at the Wonder Woman Fair in Boston. She seemed to be a thief that was after the Fair's proceeds in a protest against the superficial beauty that Wonder Woman held. But unknown to anyone it hid the lucrative seizure of computer chips hidden in the money that would make Armbruster millions. Wonder Woman of course tried to stop the newly named Silver Swan, but was repelled by her increasingly powerful sonic scream. Her last scream separated the two woman and the Swan was found and taken back to Armbruster, having lost the Fairs money bags and hence the computer chips.
At the end of the alien Invasion, a gene bomb was detonated above the earth and its effects disrupted the powers of many metahumans. The bomb affected Valerie and she reverted to her deformed self again. Armbruster put Valerie through the same tests again to give her her beauty but more importantly her powers. Not for her welfare but for the good of his own operations. Although the process worked, Valerie was less powerful than she had been.
Elsewhere, the son of Benjamin Buchman, Solomon, approached Maxine to gain her help in destroying the Silver Swan. He believed, through old lab videos, that Valerie was responsible for his fathers death. Maxine convinced Solomon to get Wonder Woman on side as the Silver Swan attacked. Wonder Woman restrained Valerie in her lasso of truth. As Valerie told the Amazon her story and explained how Armbruster loved her and had changed her life for the better. Valerie refused to believe the truth about him from Wonder Woman or her friend Maxine. It wasn't until Wonder Woman captured Armbruster in her lasso and forced him to reveal the truth. That he found Valerie hideous and that the romance was part of a ploy to use her powers for his gain and that she was innocent in the death of Benjamin Buchman.
Months later Valerie donned her Silver Swan costume again to help Diana in the War of the Gods when she joined Suicide Squad in raiding Circe's base.
Still conflicted, Valerie was approached by Neron, to sell her soul to the demon for her fondest wish come true. But she found the inner strength of character to resist the temptation.
Post-Crisis
A woman calling herself Silver Swan, resembling the Valerie version, appeared post-crisis as a member of a large group of villains assembled by Circe to battle Wonder Woman.
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