She’s dead but she doesn’t let that keep her down! She’s got ghost and gas powers along with amnesia. She’s Secret! Or Suzie! Or Greta Hayes, pending on when we’re at in her journey. So how does dying cause such a hero to arise? Let’s find out!
Greta Hayes was a happy child raised by her parents, Burt and Ellen, along with her older adopted brother, Billy. Unfortunately, Billy had a strong desire to become a villain and would even make ties with a demon. Billy was dangerous, he cut his father’s throat, nearly killing him. The demon who talked to Billy told him he would be granted powers if he sacrificed Greta. The nature of Greta’s death caused her to remain here instead of moving on to the afterlife, she also had no recollection of her former life.
Not knowing where or who she was, Greta would wander the Earth, often terrifying people like Casper the friendly ghost. This would gather the attention of the Department of Extranormal Operations who would do their best to keep her contained. They would even call in the earliest iteration of Young Justice, the teen team, to capture her again when she had escaped. The boys realized that Greta was just another teen who needed helped and would end up rescuing her, bringing her onto the team. She would join alongside Wonder Girl and Arrowette, becoming fast friends with them.
While her hero name was Secret, she would go by Suzie until she and the team would eventually find out her real identity. This would occur when confronted by the villain Harm, formerly Billy Hayes. While Harm proved to powerful for the team, he would be killed in a sneak attack by Greta’s father who realized what his son had done and become. This would not be the end of her brother though.
During her adventures, Greta would become an adult with all the other teen heroes while the adult heroes turned into kids. Greta found herself enjoying this time since she felt alive again, gaining the experience to age like a regular person. This was only temporary and she had to be talked down by Robin to assure her she would have him by her side. This was part of a long standing issue where Greta’s crush for Robin could become a bit dangerous for those around her.
The Spectre, Hal Jordan as God’s vengeance, would begin to train Greta to better use her powers. This was also when she would go visit her father in prison, for having murdered Billy, but didn’t know Billy’s spirit had possessed him. This would lead to a traumatic experience in which Billy would manipulate their father into mocking and tearing down Greta emotionally.
When Darkseid came around, Billy would take their possessed father and jump to their death in front of Greta, Darkseid was easily able to recruit the devastated Greta. She would begin working for him and prove to be a dangerous opponent with her new training from the Spectre and her empowerment from Darkseid. Young Justice couldn’t fight her head on when she came to attack the team but when confronted on a personal level she was able to be talked down.
This turned out to be a test by Darkseid who was displeased with her actions, seeing as she was already dead, he decided to strip her of her powers by bringing her back to life as a normal human. Darkseid would leave and Greta would be overjoyed to now get to live as a normal person once more. She would stay in touch with her teammates as she began to attend school once more.
There you have it! Secret was mostly confined to Young Justice comics and crossovers but played out a whole arc in the series original run. She’s appeared in a single episode of the Young Justice animated series. Will we ever see her make a live action appearance on the big or small screen? We’ll have to wait and see. Until then, see you next time!
Suggested Reading
Young Justice
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
