Dr. Vargas
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Real Identity: Dr. Lena Vargas
Affiliations: Detroit Zoo
Appearances: The Movie
Powers/Skills: Knowledge of Zoology
Voiced By: Maria Canals-Barrera
Dr. Lena Vargas is an animal behavior researcher at the Detroit Zoo. She truly cares about the welfare of animals and compromised herself to ensure it. Over the years, she bribed officials to make sure rescued animals from aboard made it to the Detroit Zoo without delay. She named an orphaned gorilla Caesar. Through his work at the Public Works Department, Chuck McCabe met Dr. Vargas. They went out on a few dates but nothing came further of it. Five years after Caesar's rescue, Mari McCabe went to the Detroit Zoo, on Chuck's recommendation, to seek out the help of Dr. Vargas to study animal behavior in an effort to better control her powers. McCabe went to the Detroit Zoo Operations offices and found Vargas' office in Animal Behavior Research. Vargas asked how Chuck was then changed the subject and asked how she could be of help. McCabe revealed she was doing research on animal behavior. Vargas was intrigued and guessed she was studying zoology as a post-grad. McCabe revealed it was more of an elective and asked her for an overview.
Vargas humored her and stated an animal's behavior was fiven by three factors: its genes, which drive its insticts, its ecology, how its environment spurs its activity, and its evolution, how it ultimately deals with all of the above over time. McCabe painted a scenario where she was a gorilla who wanted to do everything a gorilla does but Vargas suspected her time was being wasted. McCabe inquired about the job opening because she hit a rough patch. Dr. Vargas thought about it but stated it was up to "them." She took McCabe behind the scenes and introduced her to the resident gorillas. Caesar, the dominant gorilla, approved of her. McCabe wasn't amused with the name choice. Vargas joked gorillas were going to rise up and take over the world. McCabe was hired and tasked with cleaning the gorilla cages, filling their food troughs, and the like. Vargas checked in on McCabe's progress. Vargas looked at the gorillas and admitted she thought they were amazing creatures then revealed Caesar was an orphan and was rescued from the Congo.
Silk Tie, a smuggler, planned to use Vargas and her network of contacts to sell endangered species on the black market. He had his men mess up her office. McCabe checked on her and saw a shake down in process. After he left, McCabe tried to get Vargas to open up. She didn't want to put her in danger for Chuck's sake. McCabe got her to reveal what Silk wanted and admitted to bribing officials. McCabe understood she was doing what she had to do to rescue the animals. Vargas was worried the zoo's animals were in danger if she didn't help Silk. McCabe pledged to stop him. Vargas asked how she would do that. That night, she revealed her totem's power. Vargas started to understand McCabe's agenda. Instead of control, Vargas told her to embrace the Ashe and let the animals' instincts take over. McCabe had Vargas set up a meeting with Silk Tie in order to ambush him. Silk Tie took the bait and revealed he wanted Vargas to use her contacts to make sure a container on an incoming cargo freighter wouldn't be searched when it arrived the next day.
Vixen dropped down from the ceiling and battled Silk's men while Vargas ran away to call the police. Vixen and Caesar took down Silk and his men. The police arrested Silk Tie and Vargas agreed to testify against him. It turned out that Vargas' testimony was crucial in bringing down his global smuggling operations and she was given immunity. Vargas reconnected with Chuck and they started dating again.