Strobe makes an entrance quite literally. Her heat can turn an obstacle into an opening, and the team can follow her through it. It is a straightforward use of a destructive pow…

Strobe makes an entrance quite literally. Her heat can turn an obstacle into an opening, and the team can follow her through it. It is a straightforward use of a destructive power, but it gives her a job beyond standing at the back and firing at whichever hero happens to be nearest. The protection that heat gives her is just as important. Ordinary gunfire does not present the same problem to someone who can melt bullets before they reach her. That helps explain the confidence, and the impatience she shows toward teammates who are having a much less comfortable time. Her treatment of Thumbelina is particularly revealing. It is easy to belittle somebody else’s fear when the thing frightening them barely affects you. The difference in their powers becomes a difference in how each of them experiences the mission. Strobe does not show much interest in making allowances for that. Her encounter with Cable also makes close contact dangerous. Reaching for an opponent who generates that kind of heat can turn an apparently strong move into a mistake. Her power changes what a safe distance means. Strobe gives the early MLF an aggressive forward presence. She can clear a path and punish anyone who tries to stop her. The character is still lightly sketched at this stage, but the scenes do establish a combination of confidence, usefulness and disregard for how vulnerable the people around her may be.