A new body paint cosplay of Zatanna Zatara showcases the powers of one of DC’s most powerful magic users, with a short video showcasing her mystical powers. The current leader of the Justice League Dark and a longtime Justice League ally, Zatanna is famous for casting spells by reciting words backwards, and comes from a long line of the magically inclined, including Leonardo da Vinci.
Introduced in Hawkman #4 and created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, Zatanna is the daughter of powerful mystic Giovanni Zatara and Sindella, a member of the magical race known as Homo Magi. While her mother bequeathed Zatanna her immense power, it was Zatara who trained his daughter in both her true mystical abilities and the stage magic he had long used as a cover and source of income. After he died in a battle against the Great Darkness, Zatanna was able to free her father from Hell, and has gone on to become even more powerful – especially in recent comics, in which she’s been able to channel the abilities of the Upside-Down Man at the risk of being possessed by the interdimensional predator.
Zatanna’s iconic stage act comes to life in a new cosplay from Melissa Croft. A skilled body paint artist, Croft recreates characters from films, games, and comics, often going for deep-cut characters such as X-Men’s Rasputin IV and Superman’s forgotten daughter from the Injustice franchise. The cosplay recreates Zatanna’s iconic look, complete with white gloves, a black top hat, and a wand that’s effectively for show, given the hero tends to harness her powers vocally. Croft shared the cosplay in a short video on Twitter with more photo-shoot pictures added after the post reached 60 retweets. The effects on display are impressive, and show how Zatanna’s ‘fake’ magic has become a huge part of the hero’s aesthetic in DC Comics.
Of course, while Zatanna is a powerful hero, she’s also a magic-user, and that means she dabbles in darkness more often than her peers. Zatanna was at the center of DC’s Identity Crisis story, in which it was revealed a faction of the Justice League had been altering the minds of villains to prevent harm coming to their loved ones. Zatanna even altered Batman’s mind – instilling a longtime distrust of his fellow heroes – despite the fact that the two were actually friends when they were young. A recent comic revealed Zatanna and Batman meet up every few years to temporarily deal with an ill-judged spell gone wrong, and the Dark Knight has sought her help in the past to deal with problems of a magical nature.
Other allies include the mage John Constantine and Wonder Woman, who became an inspiration to Zatanna following her leadership of the magic-focused Justice League Dark. When Diana lost her life healing the multiverse in Dark Nights: Death Metal, Zatanna stepped up to lead the team. Recently, she’s been fighting against Merlin’s war on magic, and carefully navigating how much power to draw from the occult deity known as the Upside-Down Man, lest she become his bridge to Earth-0.
As the Great Darkness once again raises its head as a major threat in the DC Universe, Zatanna is being called on to battle the force that killed her father, weaponizing powers that can effectively reshape reality in her favor. Despite these epic deeds and more, Melissa Croft’s awesome body paint cosplay captures Zatanna as one of the rare comic characters who incontrovertibly loves their powers, even if she’s often called to use them against DC’s darkest villains.
Source: Melissa Croft
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