Publication History

Shanna was originally created as a derivative of Sheeena. She had a short-lived series, which eventually got canceled. After that, Marvel made her the wife and partner of Ka-Zar. In 2005 Frank Cho wrote and drew a mini-series called Shanna the She-Devil. This Shanna is an alternate reality counterpart of the original character. This Shanna was a result of genetic experiments which gave her superhuman strength and agility. The series was originally supposed to be release as Marvel's MAX series (for mature audiences), which also included nudity. However, Marvel decided to release it as a regular title instead, and had Cho draw over the nudity.

Original Shanna

Shanna was a daughter of a diamond miner named Gerald O'Hara. She was born in Africa and spent most of childhood growing up in the jungle. One day her father had to go hunt rouge leopards that belonged to her mother, Patricia. While he was hunting the leopards, he accidentally shot Patricia. This caused Shanna to hate guns and never uses them. Shanna eventually moved back to the U.S. and became a licensed veterinarian.

Shanna back in the day.

When she completed college, she began working at a Zoo in New York City as a zoologist. Shanna raised many animals during her time as a Zoologist, she became like a mother to a leopard named Julani. Julani would soon later be shot and killed by a zoo guard, which resulted in Shanna quitting and taking Julani's cubs to Africa.

While in Africa Shanna started to protect the animal reserve from poachers and went by the name Shanna the She-Devil. Her father would soon be kidnapped by Mandrill. She would search for him until she was captured herself and brought to the Savage Land by Malgato. Ka-Zar would come to help Shanna against Malgato. When Shanna returned to Africa to look for her father, she found out that her father was killed by Mandrill. She returned to America and teamed with Daredevil and Black Widow to stop Mandrill and Nekra from overthrowing the American government.

When Shanna returned to Africa, she discovered that her Leopard cubs had been killed by a religious cult leader named Raga-Shah. Shanna would tracked down Raga-Shah and kill him.

Shanna eventually moved to the Savage Lands where she fell in love with Ka-Zar. They would get married and have a son named Matthew. Shanna and Ka-Zar would fight to protect that prehistoric wildlife reserve known as the Savage Lands.

Shanna in the tube

Modern Origin

Frank Cho's verion of Shanna takes place in an alternate reality so some parts are altered. This new story starts in an abandoned 70-year old Nazi base, where she was in a tube along with others that looked like her. These men who appear to be survivors from something, found her and quickly realizes that an incubator was keeping her alive. They discover that the Germans were doing some sort of genetic experiment. When the men entered the room, the turned on the equipment, and suddenly Shanna wakes up. They break the tube before Shanna could drown in the water. She lands on Doc, and he checks her pulse to make sure she is still alive. Doc also notices that she does not have a scratch on her despite the fact that she went through a two inch thick glass. Meanwhile, two other men was searching the base for rations and equipment heard a noise in the other room. They burst in to find a German woman who tells them to close the door quickly. However, it was too late and a raptor jumps and attacks them. One of them gets eaten and the other got half his face sliced. The woman was able to bring the man who survived back to their main group. Doc and Lieutenant Lieu took an oxygen tank and tossed it towards the raptor, Lieu shot at it and blew up the raptor, however it survived and jumped and bit Lieu’s head. The raptor jumps at Doc, but he is saved by Shanna, who grabs the raptor by the head and snapped its neck.

Perfect

Four months go by and it is revealed by Doc that they are surviving in a jungle that has been overtaken by Dinos. Shanna has been practicing how to control her strength, and her progression has been positive. Shanna only understood German at first, but she has also learned how to speak English in only two weeks, and mastered it by the fifth. Shanna helps defend the survivor’s base from the Dinos who attack. Doc examines her while she fights off the Dino that is attacking. Dr. Elsa (the German woman they saved) comes to check on Shanna and talk with the Doc, she asks why the men call her “Shanna.” The Doc tells her it’s because she resembles a certain comic book character. Doc is becoming worried about Shanna, because the more she fights, the more her eyes begin to look like a cold blooded killer. After she defeats the Dino, one of the men tells Shanna to do 100 jumping jacks, to which Shanna agrees since she does not know what is going on. When Dr. Elsa tells her to not let the perverts take advantage of her, she slams that man on the ground and almost beats him to death. Shanna leaves to go take a shower at the waterfall, where another one of the men peeped at her. She notices him, grabs him and tosses him into the lake. Shanna just looks at him as a crocodile swims towards him. Doc, Tex, and another arrive and begs Shanna to save him. She does not and Tex is forced to use his M16 and kill it just in time. Doc demanded Shanna to tell him why she didn’t save him, but Shanna just gave him a cold stare. Meanwhile, Dr. Elsa and some others were going through German rations, when one of them opened a package that leaked some sort of gas. Everyone started bleeding and fell to the ground. One survivor drags himself to the Doc and others to alert them of the disease.

Shanna fighting the T-Rex

The disease has infected half the camp already, and they had to set up a quarantine. While the Doc and others were trying to figure out who should go to the base to find the antidote, Shanna was equipping herself to get ready. She goes outside and tells them that she will go with Doc. Two more volunteer and they get ready to head out. Doc goes over to Dr. Elsa to ask her what it is. She tells him that it is an airborne virus that attacks the respiratory system, which causes edema of the cells, which leads to suffocation, and eventually death. She tells him that the scientists created the virus and Shanna for medical purposes. Doc, Shanna, and the others set out on a two week journey back to the Nazi base. They are seen off by Colombo (the man who was sliced by the raptor in the beginning), and Shanna notices that he is infected. After they travel for a bit and set up camp for the night, Shanna tells Doc that Colombo is infected, which means the entire camp is too. Doc ignores her and asks if she wants to take the first watch or not. She tells them they’re all going to die anyways, but Doc is angered that she wants to just give it up, and tells her that they must at least try. Shanna decides to take first watch. While the other two men were gathering wood, one of them gets eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Shanna runs to them to try and save them, but it was too late for one of them already. She then battles the T-Rex, who overpowers her easily. Shanna was in trouble, and Doc shoots at the T-Rex’s neck to get his attention. Shanna grabs a spear and stabs the T-Rex before it could get to Doc. It then falls off a cliff. The three of them eventually arrives at the Nazi base on day 3.

The explore the base and eventually was able to find the cure, and only on day 3 which is at good pace. Shanna wanders off in the base and Doc finds her staring at one of the girls in the tube. Doc tells her that they have to go but Shanna continues to ignore him. The other guy tells Doc he found a vehicle and some dynamite. They take the vehicle and were able to get pretty far on it. However, it gets stuck in a mud hole, to which Shanna has to lift the car out of. They are then attacked by that same T-Rex that attacked earlier, it eats the other guy and as Doc went for a gun, the T-Rex almost eats him. Shanna was able to push him out of the way. Shanna was being beaten by the T-Rex hard, but she was able to hold off the T-Rex long enough for Doc to throw dynamite at its head. They get back in their car and were able to drive it for another day before it ran out of gas.

Fighting an overwhelming amount of raptors

They continue forward on foot. It’s day six, and Doc asks Shanna if she wanted some water. But she ignores him and continues starring forward. She tells him that something’s not right, she noticed the tracks on the ravine are fresh. Shanna decides to go ahead to make sure it’s safe. Shanna goes ahead and looks over a cliff to see an army of raptors. She tells him that they can’t go that way and they must go around the canyon. Doc disagrees because it will take at least three more days of travel, she then tells him there are hundreds of raptors. Doc tells her that they must continue forwards, because if they take the other way, everyone will be dead anyways. Doc’s plan is to open a path with the dynamite. They were successful in blowing up a path through the raptors. Shanna and Doc start running through them, slashing and shooting at any raptors near them. They were able to get clear of the raptors, Shanna tells the Doc to run towards the ledge while she holds them off. Doc is hit by a raptor, but Shanna saves him and throws him up the ledge. They were finally safe, but continued to run just in case. Unfortunately, they stepped on a landslide, Doc’s leg was stuck under a huge boulder. To add on the bad luck, a raptor has spotted the two of them. Shanna tries to get the rock off his leg, but she could not lift that huge boulder. Doc tells Shanna it’s too late, and that she must take the antidote back to the camp. But first, she must kill him to relieve his suffering.

Shanna relieved that Doc is fine.

Shanna was able to get the antidote back to the base on time, but it is not time for her to relax yet. She tells Colombo that they are about the be overrun by raptors, and that she is going to blow up the bridge. Shanna’s plan fails when the bridge does not break. She has to run back to the base as the raptors were already right next to her. However, she figures out another plan, she breaks off a large tree next to the bridge, and it successfully breaks the bridge in time. Shanna goes into her room and remembers about Doc. However, it turned out that Shanna cut off Doc’s leg and carried him back to the camp for medical attention. He greets her and she is relieved that he is fine.

Powers and Abilities

The original Shanna has the strength of an Olympic athlete. She is skilled in hand to hand combat, and is also very skilled at using all sorts of primitive weapons such as spears, knives, and a bow and arrow. She also has skills in hunting and gathering, as well as first-aid. Shanna was originally a veterinarian. Frank Cho's version of Shanna is a superhuman experiment. She has heightened strength, speed, and agility. She also has skills with primitive weapons also, displaying great skills with the spear and a machete.