Sally Avril (Earth-616)

Sally Avril
Name	Sally Avril
Aliases	Codenames: Bluebird
Affiliation and Relationships
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	5′6″ (1.68 m)
Weight	110 lbs (49.9 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black, Blonde wig (as Bluebird)
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Forest Hills, Queens, New York
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	High School Student, Gymnast
Base of Operations	Forest Hills, Queens, New York
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
First	Amazing Fantasy #15 (June, 1962)
First	Amazing Fantasy #15 (June, 1962)

History

Sally Avril was part of a group of kids in Queens, New York, consisting of Liz Allan, Charlie Murphy, Tiny McKeever, Seymour O'Reilly, Jason Ionello, and Peter Parker who were friends since elementary school. But by the time they arrived at Midtown High School, Peter had been drifting apart for a while and the clique was taken over by new student Flash Thompson. From that point, Sally wanted nothing to do with Peter, shooting him down when he asked for a date in favor of "dream boats like Flash Thompson", and coaxing Liz away from Peter rather than offer sympathy after the death of his Uncle Ben.

Always craving excitement and fame, Sally got her kicks by being an accomplished, blue ribbon winning high school gymnast. She would also support practical jokers for the excitement it would bring. For instance, Sally was the only member of the group who approved of Jason's prank of stealing Peter Parker's clothes from his gym locker. Convinced that the others disapproved of this theft because it wasn't concocted by Flash, Jason came up with a new scheme and invited only Sally to join him. The Daily Bugle had previously offered one thousand dollars to anyone who could discover Spider-Man's true identity, and Jason planned to be the one to win that money.

On the lookout with Jason

Prowling the city at night with a pair of binoculars, Sally and Jason came upon a meeting between Spider-Man and Batwing. By this time, most of the enthusiasm for the project rested with Sally. While Jason was worrying about the safety of the part of town they were in, Sally reveled in the excitement. This difference of opinion was only expanded when Spider-Man discovered them and warned them off the hunt; but while webbing Jason's feet to the floor, Spidey merely gave Sally an affectionate pat on the cheek. Still trailing Spider-Man, Sally and Jason witnessed the wall-crawler committing a robbery unaware after Peter had been brainwashed by Dr. Winkler, who was working for Electro. When the villains first saw Spider-Man, they were afraid he had come to thwart their plans, but they quickly realized he was one of the countless people they had brainwashed to comit robberies for them. Jason, who was watching the whole thing with Jason from afar with Sally, rejoiced as Electro prepared to reveal Spider-Man's identity, but Sally suddenly wasn't so enthusiastic about it, realizing that it wouldn't be right to let the villains win just to get the reward. Snapping a picture to distract them, Sally inadvertently woke the web-slinger from his trance with the flash. Nonetheless, Spider-Man was still a bit woozy from the mind-control and was on the verge of being defeated by Electro, so Sally staggered the villain with a kick to the head; setting him up for defeat by a punch from Spider-Man. The wall-crawler showed his gratitude by taking a picture of Sally and Jason standing over the unconscious Electro. It appeared on the front page of the Bugle with the headline "School Kids Foil Super-Villain".

This success got Sally thinking that she could become a costumed crime-fighter, so she asked Jason's engineer father to develop some gadgets and went to the Bugle to learn more about Spider-Man's relationship with the newspaper. Once there, she found Peter Parker there and learned that he was their main Spider-Man photographer, a secret he asked her to keep.

With this newfound knowledge, Sally donned a white, blue and black costume with a blonde wig and became and showed up at Peter's house calling herself the Bluebird and asking him to take action photos of her. When Peter refused, Sally blackmailed him by threatening to reveal his Spidey photography to the rest of the gang, which forced Peter to reveal it himself at school. Stymied, Sally decided to become Spider-Man's partner, horning in on his fight with Electro and the Eel. Her new weapon, the Ether Egg, failed when she threw it at Electro because ether evaporated too quickly and even as Spidey defeated the villains, Sally's overenthusiastic coup de grace allowed them to escape.

As Bluebird

Undeterred by her mistakes and encouraged by her newfound fame when Liz Allan asked for her autograph, Bluebird joined Spider-Man's battle with the Scarlet Beetle, bringing Jason along as her personal photographer. She found herself in constant danger but was bailed out by Spider-Man, who used one of her Ether Eggs to stop the Scarlet Beetle by throwing it into his mouth. Now realizing that Sally felt invulnerable because she was so sure Spidey would rescue her, the web-spinner decided to do nothing in their next fight As a result, Bluebird was quickly punched into helplessness. Spidey laid it on thick, telling Sally she was in over her head and convinced her to quit being Bluebird. Finally getting his point, she decided to instead get famous taking pictures of the action. When Spider-Man took on the Black Knight, Sally talked Jason into driving her to the scene, urging him to drive recklessly. When she convinced Jason to run a red light, an oncoming bus hit their car. Jason escaped with only a mild concussion but Sally was killed in the wreck.

Flash, Liz and and a guilt-ridden Peter were some of the many people who attended her funeral. Even after a serious talk with Human Torch about these events, Peter still blamed himself, believing that Sally would still be alive if he had let her continue as Bluebird.

More than a decade later, Sally was one of many allies of Peter Parker brought back to life by the Jackal using a new cloning procedure, as part of an attempt to sway Spider-Man to his side. Although, most of the people returned to life by the Jackal would later die due to cell degeneration, Sally survived.

Attributes

Power Grid

Abilities

Sally was an accomplished gymnast.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Retracting Rope Line
• Insulated Boots
• Ether Eggs

See Also

• 24 appearance(s) of Sally Avril (Earth-616)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Sally Avril (Earth-616)
• 5 minor appearance(s) of Sally Avril (Earth-616)
• 7 mention(s) of Sally Avril (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Sally Avril (Earth-616)
• 8 image(s) of Sally Avril (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Sally Avril on Marvel.com