Celsius was a thermokinetic member of the Doom Patrol and the ex-wife of Niles Caulder.
History
Arani Desai was born in India into a life of wealth and privilege. Due to the death of her mother during childbirth, Arani's father Ashok rejected her even though she possessed an excellent intellect and athleticism. Arani ran away from home after her father went insane. Life on the streets in Calcutta made Arani deathly ill until she was rescued by young American Dr. Niles Caulder. He gifted her with immortality on their wedding day and left her in the Himalayas while he tried to evade General Immortus.
Arani waited and realized that the serum augmented her powerfully, so that she could control her core temperature and project quantities of heat and cold. This ability, coupled with the mysticism and her monastery training made Arani a formidable martial artist. Discovering the death of the Doom Patrol, she created her own team to initially protect herself from General Immortus, who had momentarily restored his youth by experimenting upon Arani and torturing her. Arani then used the team to seek out her husband, whom she believed was alive.
During her leadership of the Doom Patrol, the team discovered Negative Man was a hostage of her now demonically controlled father Ashok Desai, now renamed Kalki. Like the terrorist known as Kobra, Ashok believed it was his destiny to bring about the Kali Yuga. Ashok Desai had originally worked with Niles Caulder to develop the immortality serum that Caulder would later perfect and use on Arani. Ashok tested an early version of the metagenic serum on himself. The formula triggered his metagene, and mutated his body, driving him insane. He was transformed into a living portal to a nether dimension that he believed was "hell."
He and Caulder devised a suit of armor to contain his deteriorating body and to control the dimensional portal. Kalki had established a hidden base on the island of Jamaica from which he intended to launch a satellite designed to eliminate all life on earth. Kalki died when Celsius damaged his armor, causing the "demons" on the other side of its portal to turn on him and drag his body through to the other side.
Celsius was the only member left fighting against an evil Lord of Chaos, hand in hand with Power Girl. Her arctic cold blast exploded the super-heated Metallo after he managed to control Robotman's actions to battle Superman. Arani later discovered that Niles Caulder was still alive and that Valentina Vostok was a covert operative for the United States government.
When Niles came out of hiding, he declared they were never married. He would later retract that statement, revealing that he and Arani had indeed been married, but he had manipulated her for his own needs (as he had many other members). He also admitted to experimenting on her with his immortality serum.
Celsius died during Invasion! fighting the Alien Alliance in the Arctic Circle. She sacrificed herself attempting to destroy a Gil'Dishpan spacecraft, and was killed by their fusion reactor. Her teammates were too late to save her, lest they would be killed themselves. Unfortunately, this was a futile gesture, and her actions were implied to be caused by a deteriorated mental state, possibly even self-destructive. The team claimed victory over a great number of enemies that day, but they still consider the battle a tragedy.[1]
Celsius was one of the deceased Doom Patrol members resurrected as a Black Lantern. She attacked Niles by freezing and shattering his legs. Before she can kill him, a man with a Black Hole for a face trapped her in an energy bubble and is sent through a warp gate.[2]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Immortality: Due to the serum given to her by Niles Caulder she was supposedly immortal.
- Thermokinesis: Celsius is able to control and manipulate her core temperature, projecting heat or intense cold from her hands after Niles Caulder's immortality serum triggered her metagene. Celsius was even seen to hold a Government helicopter aloft due to a power blast of super-heated steam.
Abilities
- Martial Arts: Superior martial artist due to her monastery training.
Notes
- Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
- Arani's codename Celsius is a reference to the centigrade temperature scale, because of her hot and cold powers.
Related
- 51 Appearances of Arani Desai (New Earth)
- 12 Images featuring Arani Desai (New Earth)
- 2 Quotations by or about Arani Desai (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Arani Desai (New Earth)
Footnotes
  Doom Patrol member |
 Black Lantern Corps member |