Character Profile: Zatanna

Name:
Zatanna Zatara

Alter-ego:
Zatanna

Universe:
DC

Birthday:
02/19

Family:
Giovanni "John" Zatara (father, deceased)
Sindella Zatara (mother, deceased)
Zachary Zatara (cousin)
Leonard da Vinci (paternal ancestor, deceased)
Alessandro Cagliostro (paternal ancestor, deceased)
Nicholas Flamel (paternal ancestor, deceased)
Nostradamus (paternal ancestor, deceased)
King Arion of Atlantis (ancestor)

Alliances:
Bat-Clan
Justice League

Relationship Status:
Single

Bio:
Zatanna is the daughter of adventurer John Zatara and his wife Sindella, and a member of the mystic tribe of sorcerers called the Hidden Ones, or Homo Magi. Zatanna inherited her mother's ability to manipulate magic and her father's penchant for heroism. Sindella later faked her own death to return the Hidden One's sanctum in Turkey, leaving her daughter in John Zatara's care.

Zatara traveled the world with his daughter and taught her to harness her magical abilities. Zatanna was later raised by strangers, however, when the evil witch Allura cursed Zatanna and prevented her from seeing her father. Zatanna was left to search fruitlessly for her natural parents.

Zatanna discovered her father's diary and created a stage persona for herself. Her quest to find her father led her into a brief affair with John Constantine. Later, with the help of the Justice League of America, Zatanna was able to lift Allura's curse and reunite with her father and later her mother. Tragically, Sindella died rescuing her daughter from the city of the Hidden Ones, while her father died saving her and the spiritual dimensions from the Great Evil Beast.

As a long standing member of the JLA, Zatanna fought countless super-villains and mystic threats. After the death of her father, however, she retired from active adventuring and continues to maintain her family home of Shadowcrest. She now lives in San Francisco, seeking a normal life while trying to preserve the balance of Earth's light and dark mystical community. In this role she serves as one of the Sentinels of Magic.

Powers:
Zatanna is a member of the Homo Magi race and is genetically gifted with great magical talent. She can cast an incredible number of spells, which she usually does by speaking backwards as a tribute to her father. However, the backwards-speaking is not always necessary for her to cast spells. Speaking backwards is as easy for her as it is to speak forwards. Zatanna has shown great control of her magic ability, which extends to an ability to elemental sorcery:

Pyrokinesis-Generation and control of fire.
Aerokinesis- Generation and control of air.
Cyrokinesis-Generation and control of ice.
Hydrokinesis- Control of water.
Geokinesis- Control of earth.
Chlorokinesis-Control over plants.
Thermokinesis- Able to manipulate the temperature of a place to stay warm in cold environments.
Zatanna's mastery of magic also grants her a wide range of other powers:

Flight, weather control, healing, illusion casting, telekinesis, telepathy,teleportation, force field generation, dimensional travel, size alteration, spectral sight, mystical invulnerability, probability manipulation, memory manipulation (erasing and altering people's memories), superhuman strength, superhuman durability and extraction and teleportation of souls (she only uses this ability in dire situations).

The upper limit of her spell-casting ability is unknown, but she is already considered among the most powerful magic users in the DC Universe. Despite this, Zatanna seemingly still has not lived up to her full potential yet. It is possible that her guilt over performing mind wipes may be subconsciously holding her back from attaining even greater levels of power. The only known limitation to her magic is that she cannot bring the dead back to life.

Zatanna is also a gifted stage magician and hypnotist who routinely enthralls audiences with her mystifying and entertaining performances. Though she usually has at least a couple hundred specific spells prepared at any given moment, she is adept at magical improvisation and can readily modify her spells to handle unpredictable situations. She often uses her magic to assist in performing everyday tasks, especially if she is too busy or fatigued to do them the mundane way. Zatanna is multi-lingual, being fluent in English, Spanish, and her trademark "backwards speech."

Strength level

As a magician, she is considered among the most powerful and knowledgeable in the world and often works alongside the most powerful magic-users on Earth, including Doctor Fate, Madame Xanadu, and Captain Marvel. However, the actual extent of her powers is not fully known. According to Green Arrow, she is the most powerful member of the Justice League. Of all the magicians and sorcerers on the planet, the JLA always go to Zatanna when they need magical assistance.

Weaknesses:

Mnemonic Incantation: Zatanna casts her spells by saying the words of her incantations backwards. Zatanna must concentrate on her magic to make sure she is using the proper spell. It is at this point where she is most vulnerable. Mnemonic incantation is the most complicated of the mystic arts. It appears that this is well known to her enemies. On one occasion, the assassin Deathstroke delivered a direct blow to her liver, initiating a regurgitation reaction. On a separate occasion, the Joker (disguised as the stage magician Loxias) shot Zatanna in the neck, rendering her magic useless. She must be able to speak or read backwards in order for her to focus her spells.

Higher-Level Magics: If the magic power-level of her opponent is higher than hers, then it would be extremely difficult for her to win a battle. In addition, it is difficult to impossible to affect a spell that was set in motion with higher-level magics.Powerful enchantments against beings of magic, like gods, are able to restrict her as well, preventing her from accessing enchanted places or dispel the adverse charm.