Elasti-Girl: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Rita Farr

First Appearance: My Greatest Adventure #80 (June, 1963)

Powers: Can grow to hundreds of feet tall and shrink to the smallest of sizes.

Affiliation: Doom Patrol

Did You Know? Elasti-Girl is a founding member of the Doom Patrol 

A Little History

The creation of Arnold Drake, Bob Haney, and Bruno Premiani, Elasti-Girl first appeared in 1963 on the pages of My Greatest Adventure #80.

The former Hollywood actress turned superhero, Elasti-Girl is a quintessential member of the comic book team Doom Patrol.

While shooting a film in Africa, Rita Farr was inadvertently exposed to volcanic ashes. As a consequence of the exposure, Rita was unable to continue the shoot and had to take some time to recover. When she awoke after her recovery, she realized that she now possessed the power to manipulate her size. This meant that she could grow her body to hundreds of feet and shrink down to mere inches. At first she was unable to control her ability and as such, she was often found stuck in an inhuman size. Eventually, however, she did gain control over herself and could shrink, grow and return to normal size at will. As she learned more control, Rita actually discovers that she could grow or shrink individual parts of her anatomy rather than her entire body. 

Seen as an outcast of society, the once promising actor found that her career had lost all steam that it had gained. Due to this, she was no longer able to work in Hollywood. Distraught, Rita was approached by Dr. Niles Caulder, The Chief, and made a member of the Doom Patrol. While a member of the Doom Patrol, Rita falls in love with and marries fellow member, Mento. Shortly after this, the two adopt and bring Beast Boy into the team.

Elasti-Girl’s origin has been rebooted and reimagined numerous times, but each keeps constant her ability to shrink and grow.