| Zatanna | |
|---|---|
 Zatanna | |
| Basic Information | |
| Real Name: | Zatanna Zatara |
| Gender: | Female |
| Race: | Homo Magi |
| Relatives: | Zatara (father) Sindella (mother) |
| Affiliation: | Justice League of America |
| Abilities: | Magic |
| First Appearance: | Zatanna |
| Created by: | |
Zatanna Zatara is a magician and stage performer with real magical powers who was the daughter of the renown magician Zatara and a close friend of Batman who joined the Justice League after the Thanagarian Invasion. She was voiced by Julie Brown.
History[]
Zatanna[]
Zatanna was the daughter of Zatara, an excellent magician who taught Bruce Wayne, under the name of "John Smith", everything he knows about escape artistry and "magic". Zatara was a world renowned magician, and was considered quite possibly the best in his field. He also passed on his teachings to his only child, a daughter named Zatanna. Zatanna gained her talent from her father, and became an excellent magician herself.
She also had a romantic relationship with Bruce, despite never knowing his real name. Zatanna always had close ties with Bruce Wayne, although Bruce was cautious of this relationship by never giving her his real name.
Years later in a show in Gotham City, she made the contents of the Gotham Mint disappear, to show up magic debunker Montague Kane. Unfortunately for her, Kane had not only seen through her trick, but was a thief, and stole the money while framing her for the crime. She was freed from custody and assisted Batman in bringing Kane to justice.
After their collaboration with Batman, she eventually recognized him as her old friend from long ago. She then told Batman that Zatara, who had passed away by this stage, would have been proud of him, putting his arts to use in fighting crime.
Justice League Unlimited[]
Sometime later, she developed or discovered genuine magical powers, which she used to aid the Justice League, and occasionally sprinkled in with her normal stage tricks. It also became apparent that at some point, she found out Batman's real name as Bruce Wayne. After Wonder Woman was turned into a pig by Circe, Batman approached Zatanna for help, and she assisted him in tracking Circe down and reversing the spell. She was moved by Batman's song and was happy with his gratitude at her help.
During Darkseid's last invasion of Earth, Zatanna was one of many League Members called to help fight the invading Apokoliptian forces, and afterwards to pursue and capture the remaining members of the Legion of Doom.
Many years later, an elderly Bruce Wayne included her among a small group of women whom he remembered as special to him.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Stage Magician: Even before she discovered magical powers, Zatanna was an illusionist with no apparent magic powers.
- Magic: Sometime before This Little Piggy, Zatanna gained magical powers which she used to help preform her stage tricks. She can cast an incredible number of spells, which she usually does by speaking backwards as a tribute to her father. However, the backward 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. She can’t however undo powerful spells that were cast by sorcerers like Circe.
Background information[]
- In the comics, both Zatanna and her father, Zatara, have real magical powers, and most of their spells are performed by speaking words backwards. In her first animated appearance, in btas, she was portrayed as an ordinary magician, though she did say "Arba Dakarba" ("Abra Kadabra" backwards) during her show in Gotham. During her appearances in jlu, she displayed her powerful magic.
- Both of Zatanna's major appearances in the DCAU were written by Paul Dini. On the commentary to "This Little Piggy", Bruce Timm and others joked that Dini was secretly in love with Zatanna for years. In real life, Dini went on to marry Misty Lee, a magician.
Appearances[]
Batman the Animated Series
- "Zatanna"
The New Batman Adventures
- "Chemistry" (cameo)
Batman Beyond
- "Out of the Past" (cameo on file photo)
Gotham Girls
- "A Little Night Magic"
- "Hold That Tiger"
- "Baby Boom" (cameo as wax statue)
Justice League Unlimited
- "Initiation" (cameo)
- "This Little Piggy"
- "The Balance"
- "Hunter's Moon" (cameo)
- "Divided We Fall" (cameo)
- "Far From Home" (mentioned)
- "Destroyer" (cameo)
See Also[]
- Zatanna
- Zatanna (Serinda Swan)
- Zatanna (Young Justice)
- Zatanna (DC Animated Film Universe)
- Zatanna (DC Super Hero Girls)