Known Powers:

Nightingale is a powerful psionic with a variety of telepathic and telekinetic powers. She can strike others with the power of her own mind, create illusions in the minds of others, or even take control of other minds. Nightingale can even temporarily shut down the mind of another. Additionally, she can simply telepathically probe the minds. A portion of her telepathy is constantly active and can read the surface thoughts of those people around her. Nightingale's telekinetic powers include the ability to move objects by force of will and the power of flight. She can also sense other psionic powers in use around her. Lastly, strong use of her powers has the side effect of creating soft music around her, much like the singing of a songbird.

Nightingale is not a physically imposing woman, and is on the thin side. She is poor in straight physical combat, which she tries to avoid. Her costume is Kevlar-reinforced for protection.

Notes:

Christina Blackledge was a normal, happy teenager for the first sixteen years of her life. That all ended one day when she was struck by lightning. The bolt triggered the awakening of her mental powers. When she awoke from being struck, Christina could hear the thoughts of everyone around her. It was like a crowd of people all shouting at the top of their lungs all the time. It nearly drove her mad as she could not shut out the voices. The Blackledges were at a loss for what to do for their daughter. Then they were approached by a representative of a very special school for teens with unusual mental handicaps. Christina doesn't to this day know if her parents willingly sent her away to this school or if they were mentally coerced.

And so, Christina Blackledge was sent to the Paralogical Studies Institute, PSI for short. Of course, PSI was a front for an organization of psionics bent on world domination. Under the cover of a school for gifted children, they searched the country for suitable candidates to indoctrinate. The Blackledge's were killed some time after Christina arrived at the school. The exact details remain unclear.

Christina spent the next two years in a living hell. The instructors at PSI showed no mercy to her or any of the others drafted into their training program. They worked her to the point of exhaustion every day. In spite of all the cruelty, Christina did begin to control her powers. She could, for periods of time, block out some of the voices in her head. Large crowds still gave her problems, and terrible headaches. However, she grew strong and powerful with the other psionic disciplines. Powerful enough to the point where she could hold her own against her instructors.

One night, Christina and a fellow student by the name of Stacy Turner, decided to escape. They overpowered the guards and fled to nearby Buffalo, New York. As fate would have it, several heroes had been tracking the PSI school and were closing in. Led by the Hunter, the heroes assaulted the school, but most of the PSI operatives escaped. While on the run in Buffalo, Stacy abandoned Christina to escape on her own. Stacy surfaced later on as the supervillainess Mind Slayer. Christina was rescued from a PSI patrol by Black Diamond and this formed the basis of their long-lasting friendship.

Using information that Christina provided, many of PSI's tactics were publicly revealed. They could no longer pretend to be a simple school and much of their operations went underground. Christina became the telepathic heroine Nightingale and was a founding member of the Avengers.

Christina has intensely studied telepathy and psionics in general and is widely considered an expert in the field. Due to her mental powers, she learns much faster than a normal person could and now possesses several doctorates, including general medicine.

Nightingale has served on the Avengers and the Guardians for periods of time. Eventually, she would have to disappear from sight and get away from the strain of sensing so many minds around her. Christina was an active Avenger when the Crystal destroyed the Avenger's Mansion, and assisted Black Diamond when the team was reformed.

Recently, years of research finally paid off when Nightingale and Dr. Angelique Marin created a drug called Psychnocaine that they hoped would temporarily 'numb' the telepathic portions of the brain. At first, the drug seemed to be doing just that. But side effects creeped in and made her powers act erratically. Realizing what was happening, Christina took a leave of absence from the Avengers and recovered on Sanctuary.

While on Sanctuary, Chris temporarily had her psyche absorbed into a young girl called Jennifer. Nemesis absorbed some of 'Gales skills and memories, making her somewhat drawn to Chris. Having recovered from her episode with Psychnocaine, Nightingale has returned to the Avengers in a reserve capacity.

Nightingale was created by Spectrum and was drawn by Muskateer.

Appearances:

Avengers # 1-11, 14, 21, 23-28, 31 - 33, 35 - Present
Huntress # 9, 22, 25 - Present
Muskateer # 4, 6, 7
Spectrum #24, 26
X-Factor # 5-7, 9
Young Champions # 6-9, 11, 13-16

Lost Heroes Notes:

In the Lost Heroes setting, Nightingale left the Avengers to join Black Diamond's Defenders. Nightingale was killed when Firestar was transformed into Starfire.

Terra Nova Notes:

On the world of Terra Nova, Nightingale's counterpart is Kristine of Azrella. Kristine has limited telepathic abilities when compared to Nightingale, but these limitations are offset by her clerical spell casting ability in the service of Azrella. Kristine is a calm, non-violent healer on Terra Nova. Like all who serve Azrella, Kristine has been shaven bald.

While exploring the ruins of the hidden city, Kristine heard a voice calling her. Following the strange voice, Kristine was led to an abandoned Temple of Azrella. Azrella herself spoke to Kristine and told her faithful servant to take up a staff held by a statue. The staff is a powerful magic item created by Azrella to be used in Kristine's good works.

Terra Nova Appearances:

Troubleshooters #17, 18, 26-30