History
Zelda was a waitress at the Coffee A Go-Go, where she captured the eye of sixteen-year-old Robert Drake - secretly Iceman of the X-Men. After the original X-Men graduation, Drake took his friend Hank McCoy to the A Go-Go, claiming that the waitresses there were particularly pretty -indeed Zelda had already caught Drake's eye and praised one of his shirts, but Drake was too busy as a student to be a frequent customer up until then. Once there, Drake made his first advances toward Zelda. This movement was interrupted when the X-Men had to answer a red alert.[3]
Soon afterward, Drake finally asked Zelda for a date that same day after her shift, and she accepted. However, Drake then retracted his offer without explanation because Professor X, leader of the X-Men, was sending Drake a telepathic alert. Zelda was understandably angry as perceived by Drake and his friend McCoy.[4]
Giving Drake another chance, Zelda agreed to arrange a double date with him and his friend McCoy. As McCoy's date, she invited her librarian friend Vera Cantor, who was available and trying to avoid the uninvited attention of a Calvin Rankin. During the date, they met with Rankin - secretly the superhuman Mimic, who copied Drake's and McCoy's powers and used them to bruise the men. Drake and McCoy refused to use their own powers because they wanted to keep their identities a secret from their dates.[5]
Drake continued his relationship with Zelda, wooing her in several dates to her pleasure, but McCoy did not fare as well with Vera. During one of their double-dates, the four went to the movies and saw Thunderball, a film Zelda saw four previous times. Afterwards, Zelda offered to make a snack for all of them, however, McCoy abruptly declined due to an X-Men-related event. McCoy insisted that Drake stays with the ladies and smooth things over (Drake joined the X-Men investigation afterwards).[6]
In later double dates, Zelda finally assumed that Drake customarily apologized when paying for food and stuff, but she liked him enough to look past that.[7] She also enjoyed his company enough to indulge Drake's frequent abrupt departures during their dates, although it frustrated her. Zelda enjoyed Bernard the Poet's work and company, but Drake was jealous of her attention towards Bernard, so he discreetly used his mutant powers to send Bernard off when he got too close.[8]
Zelda was romantically approached by Rocky Rhodes, the leader of the biker gang Satan's Saints. She rejected his advances which infuriated him. Rhodes decided he would settle the score soon.[9]
One week later, Zelda paid for Drake's 18-birthday party, but the Saints literally crashed into the event on their motorcycles. The attending X-Men discreetly used their super-powers and skills to defeat and humiliate the riders, who were then arrested by the police. Zelda was upset that the party did not go as she planned, but Drake was very happy about it and they shared their first kiss.[9]
The girls shared a train travel with their boyfriends, but the villain Grotesk attacked the railway, causing a blackout - and the Beast and the Iceman went to fight him. Later, Zelda even assumed that Drake had his disappearing quirk, and she was only happy to know that he was not seeing another girl.[10]
During one of their double dates with Zelda, Beast, and Iceman, the two X-Men battled Maha Yogi at Yogi's hypnosis show - leaving the girls alone at their seats and angry at them when they re-joined (and also because they scarcely managed to get the tickets with the seller being too friendly with Drake). However, they forgave the boys and continued their date.[11]
Drake eventually started a new relationship with Lorna Dane[12] and stopped seeing Zelda.Trivia
- Zelda's surname was revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5. Kurtzberg was creator Jack Kirby's real surname.
See Also
- 17 appearance(s) of Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)
- 12 image(s) of Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Zelda Kurtzberg (Earth-616)