As the dictator of Bialya, Queen Bee rules her country with brutality and an iron fist, though she claims it to be a constitutional monarchy.[6]Her claim to the throne holds some legitimacy, but is also partly propaganda.[7] She is a power-hungry, unscrupulous and manipulative despot who will do anything to achieve her goals—even threatening the life of an 8-year-old boy.[3]
Physical appearance
Queen Bee is a slender, dark-skinned woman with dark blue eyes and long black hair, which she sports pulled back with a golden diadem on her forehead. She also wears golden stinger-shaped earrings and an armband on her right forearm. She dons a strapless gray mini-skirt dress with black pants and high-heel boots. Around her shoulders she dons a translucent pale blue veil.
History
Somewhere between 2006 and 2007,[8][9] Queen Bee joined the ranks of the Light.
When Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash broke into Cadmus, Mark Desmond requested an audience with the Board of Directors, and briefed them on the incident, also informing them that the three heroes had been apprehended. L-3 ordered Desmond to clone them and L-1 told him to dispose of the originals. This course of action ultimately failed and the boys broke out and took Superboy with them. L-1 dismissed the severity of the ordeal and remarked that the loss of the clone could be played to the Light's advantage.[10]
When Sportsmaster reported the loss of the batch of Kobra-Venom due to the young heroes' interference in Santa Prisca, L-6 conjectured that maybe they could reverse engineer the only salvaged vial. He then pointed out that this was not the first time the young heroes had thwarted their operations, recalling the breaking and entering of Cadmus and the destruction of Mister Twister, with L-1 now deaming the young heroes to be their new enemies.[11]
When Psimon reported the foiling of their experiments on extraterrestrial technology in Bialya at the hands of the young heroes, Queen Bee dismissed the loss of both Superboy and the Sphere. She claimed instead that their "new partners"' delivery system was operational and with it, they would acquire more technology that would hopefully overpower both the Sphere and Superboy.[4]
After the arrest of the Injustice League, Queen Bee was present with the other members of the Light to hear Vandal Savage's view of the Kobra-Venom-enhanced plant test and the heroes believing they had exposed the secret society.[5]
Queen Bee was attending a video conference, along with the rest of the members of the Light, when the Riddler and Sportsmaster arrived with the regenerated remains of the echinoderm.[13]
In the hopes of incorporating her neighbor Qurac into her realm, Queen Bee sent Psimon to enthrall Rumaan Harjavti, so the unification would come with little bloodshed and limited international outcry.[3]
As a skilled politician, Queen Bee makes use of rhetoric to cozen the public.
Queen Bee kept up the charade that the unification of both countries was a peaceful and the best solution for both. She gave a speech about it in her palace, lauding Harjavti for his courage to go through with the plan.[3]
The Team interfered, and with Miss Martian's shape-shifting help, Queen Bee was publicly disgraced. The monarch didn't take it well; but before he was taken out of commission, Psimon had informed her Miss Martian was a white Martian. She snuck into Garfield Logan's bedroom at the Logan Animal Sanctuary, waiting for Miss Martian to arrive. When she did, she laid out her plan to blackmail her. Queen Bee wouldn't tell anyone about Miss Martian's real appearance if she were to do what she said.[3]
When the time came and the Light wanted to play their cards, Queen Bee ordered Miss Martian to Santa Prisca. There, Superboy, Artemis and Miss Martian would all be forced to betray their Team. What Queen Bee didn't realize was that the Team had already told each other their secrets, and took their villains on. Queen Bee was knocked out by a telekinetic blast from Miss Martian early on. Lex Luthor carried her to safety and they escaped by helicopter.[14]
Queen Bee plotted to remove Noor Harjavti, who was becoming a thorn in the side of her puppet ruler Sumaan, from the equation. She got her chance when she enthralled Noor's bodyguard. After the heroes guarding Harjavti left her at Bibbo's Diner in order to deal with a situation regarding the Collector of Worlds, he immediately contacted his mistress. Queen Bee and her goons took Noor—and the sole eyewitness Bibbo Bibbowski—captive. Noor was defiant to the end, but Bee wasn't planning to kill her. Instead, she turned the captives over to the Kroloteans, who had already fabricated lifelike body doubles of the two.[16]
Queen Bee was present at the conference held with Black Manta, in which Vandal Savage lauded the latter for his efforts and officialized his induction into the group.[19]
Queen Bee organized the abduction of stray teenagers for the Partner. After taking them, they were brought to a facility in the desert and stored in special containers.
After the Team liberated the majority of the kidnapped children, Queen Bee came down to the base to personally assess the damage. Luckily, she reasoned, their credibility had not been completely destroyed, as there was still another shipment of abductees.[20]
Queen Bee was present with the rest of the Light as Sportsmaster aired his grievances regarding the death of Artemis and they revealed to him that Deathstroke had replaced Sportsmaster as the Light's new enforcer.[22]
In the aftermath of the Team's successful mission to cleanse Blue Beetle, Queen Bee met with Devastation, Mammoth, and Shimmer. She sympathized with their frustration at being told to throw the fight against the "children", but it was a necessary evil. Because of this, the Light could now proceed with their plans for the Reach, the League, and the Team.[23]
Powers and abilities
Queen Bee using her power to enthrall Marie Logan.
Pheromone control:[2] Queen Bee has the power to enthrall men, and to some extent women as well, to do her bidding, based on her quarry's sexual attraction to women.[24] Her power, however, only works in close proximity to her target,[3]and only affects humans.[25]
In the comics, there have been four villains with the name Queen Bee (not counting earlier one-issue characters).
The first, Zazzala, was an alien queen bent on destroying the Justice League of America. She has also acted as the commander of H.I.V.E. in later comics.
The second, on which the Queen Bee in Young Justice is based, was an adversary of the Justice League International, the leader of the rogue state of Bialya.
The third Queen Bee is Tazzala, Zazzala's sister. She fought the Creature Commandos.
The fourth was Beatriz, the sister of the Bialyan Queen Bee.
This is the human Queen Bee's first animated appearance. Zazzala appeared in the last season of Justice League Unlimited, as part of the Legion of Doom.
Queen Bee is voiced by Marina Sirtis, also known for her work as Demona, from Gargoyles, another Greg Weisman production. Both characters share similar physical traits: Queen Bee dons a veil around her shoulders, which mirrors Demona's wings when furled; she also wears a gold armband similar to the one that Demona used on her left arm, and a golden diadem that resembles Demona's headpiece; and both wear golden earrings. Weisman has denied any intended similarities between their appearances.
