Celsius is a superhero in the DC Comics series Doom Patrol. She first appeared in Showcase #94 (September 1977), and was created by Paul Kupperberg and Joe Staton. She is among the very few superheroes of Indian heritage, and may be the first ever such hero created by DC Comics.
Celsius appeared in her first live adaptation on the first season of the Doom Patrol television series for DC Universe played by Jasmine Kaur and Madhur Jaffrey.
Background and creation
Celsius was created for the new, rebooted Doom Patrol which debuted in Showcase #94-96. Inspired by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum's "New X-Men", writer Paul Kupperberg wanted to have some heroes of different nationalities in the group. Artist Joe Staton used photos from National Geographic articles about India as the model for Celsius.
Fictional character biography
Arani Desai was born in India into a life of wealth and privilege. Her mother died while giving birth to her. She possessed an excellent intellect and athleticism. Arani ran away from home after her father went insane. Life on the streets in Calcutta made her deathly ill. She was rescued by young American Dr. Niles Caulder. He gave her immortality on their wedding and left her in the Himalayas while he tried to evade General Immortus. Arani waited and realized that the serum augmented her powerfully, so that she could control her core temperature and project quantities of heat and cold. This ability coupled with the mysticism and monastery training made her a formidable martial artist.
Doom Patrol
Discovering the death of the Doom Patrol, she creates her own team initially to search for her husband, whom she refuses to believe perished with the rest of the Doom Patrol in an explosion. Cliff Steele survived by virtue of his mechanical nature as Robotman (just enough of his body had been left intact, including his head, to keep his brain alive, and he was found by Will Magnus who built him a new form), and upon returning to Doom Patrol headquarters, finds the new team holding a meeting there. They are interrupted and captured by Immortus, who momentarily restores his youth by using the mind-probe on Arani to get the immortality formula from her. As the treatment she had been given was prepared specifically for her metabolism, it soon backfires on him.
Kalki
The Doom Patrol discovers Negative Man also survived both the explosion and the loss of his radio-energy being to Soviet defector Valentina Vostok (herself a member of the new Doom Patrol as Negative Woman), and was a hostage of Arani's now demonically controlled father Ashok Desai, renamed Kalki. Like the terrorist Kobra, Ashok believes it is his destiny to bring about the Kali Yuga. Ashok Desai had worked with Niles Caulder to develop the immortality serum. Ashok tested an early version of the mutagenic serum on himself, manipulated by Dr Niles Caulder as a part of his catastrophe curve and to secure getting the beautiful blue eyed 15 year old Arani for his young bride & vessel of the immortality serum. The failed formula of Ashok triggered his metagene, and mutated his body, driving him insane. He was transformed into a living portal to a nether dimension that he believed was "hell".
He and Caulder devised a suit of armor to contain his deteriorating body and to control the dimensional portal. Niles manipulated Arani to flee to the streets of Calcutta, only to find her later and marry her. Kalki had set up a hidden base on the island of Jamaica from which he intended to launch a satellite designed to eliminate all life on Earth. Kalki died in battle with his daughter Celsius, he taunted Arani that Niles manipulated her and that he was a pawn in his game, as they all were. Celsius' temperature blasts damaged his dimensional window, causing the "demons" on the other side of its portal to turn on him; they were then able to horrifically drag his body through to the other side.
Celsius was the only member left fighting against an evil Lord of Chaos, hand in hand with Power Girl. Her Arctic-cold blast exploded the superheated Metallo after he managed to control Robotman's actions to battle Superman. Arani later discovered that Niles Caulder was, as she had believed, still alive, and that Vostok had become a covert operative for the United States government.