Warning! Spoilers ahead for DC Pride: A Celebration of Rachel Pollack #1!She’s been gone for over two decades, but DC Comics has finally brought Coagula, Doom Patrol member and the publisher’s first trans hero, back into continuity. Years after an unceremonious death, the trailblazing character created by Rachel Pollack lives once.

Coagula made waves when she was first introduced to the DC Universe and was one of the most high-profile trans superheroes among the Big Two. Unfortunately, Kate Godwin was taken just years after her debut, only to make sporadic appearances since. But after years away, Coagula has come back and there’s no telling what the future holds for her.

Robotman Helps Bring DC’s First Trans Hero Back to Life

In DC Pride: A Celebration of Rachel Pollack #1’s story “Shining Through the Wreckage” by Joe Corallo, Rye Hickman, and John Workman, Robotman meets with Will Magnus, the creator of the Metal Men. They discuss General Immortus and how he used Dorothy Spinner’s body to summon the Candlemaker’s power. Magnus then shifts the conversation to Robotman’s recent dreams about Kate and takes Cliff into Magnus’ lab. Robotman is told that a part of Coagula’s consciousness could still be in his mind, meaning she could be brought back to life.

Willing to bet on a slight chance of seeing Kate again, Robotman agrees and Magnus takes a deep dive into Cliff’s subconscious. Inside Cliff’s mind, Coagula spends her days with visions of people from her past, such as Crowdark and Foxfur, both of whom try to keep her mind distracted from thoughts of leaving. Kate, however, remains determined to get out into the world and see the Doom Patrol again. But Coagula is continuously haunted by visions of old faces, such as the False Memory, who creates a fake Doom Patrol to keep Kate from leaving.

After some encouraging words from an imagined Justice League, Coagula discovers Robotman searching for her. Cliff informs Kate that he’s come to bring her back to life, saying she can use his robot body to guide her home. Robotman and Coagula share a kiss, which allows Kate to channel her psychic energies back into the real world. Coagula uses her powers to crawl out of a body pit and makes her way to the lab where Robotman and Will Magnus are. Robotman retrieves Coagula and the two have a heartwarming reunion.

Who is Coagula and What Happened to Her?

Coagula was created by Rachel Pollack for her run on Doom Patrol that picked up after Grant Morrison’s run. During Pollack’s time on Doom Patrol, she introduced Kate Godwin, a trans woman who developed powers after sleeping with Rebis, Negative Man’s old composite form. Her time with Rebis gave Kate the power to rearrange the molecular stability of objects such as turning solids into liquids and vice versa. After gaining her powers, Coagula met several members of the Doom Patrol and helped them defeat a supervillain named Codpiece, gaining Kate membership on the team.

During her time with the Doom Patrol, Kate developed a special bond with Cliff Steele. Initially, Robotman had an angry reaction when he discovered Godwin had transitioned from male to female. However, he got to know her and the two became close. Though their experiences were quite different, Robotman and Coagula empathized with one another’s experience of being in a body that didn’t feel right. Coagula stayed with the Doom Patrol throughout Rachel Pollack’s run on the series. Unfortunately, she disappeared for years once the title was canceled.

Unfortunately, the next volume of Doom Patrol only featured Coagula in a flashback that revealed what had become of her. Robotman and Coagula attempted to reunite Dorothy Spinner with her birth mother, causing the psychic child to unleash a powerful explosion that put Dorothy and Cliff in comas. Coagula, unfortunately, didn’t fare as well and was killed instantly. Kate made sporadic appearances in various specials and one-off stories. But as of the most recent series, Unstoppable Doom Patrol, Kate was still dead in the current continuity.

What Coagula’s Resurrection Means for the Doom Patrol and the DC Universe

The sudden killing off of Coagula was a controversial decision to fans. Not only did it play into the infamous ‘Woman in Refrigerators’ trope, it killed DC Comics’ first trans hero at a time when LGBTQ+ representation was a much different landscape than it is today. There’s no doubt about it: Killing Coagula and robbing the DC Universe of its first trans hero was a mistake. But with how much the DC Universe has changed in the past two decades, now’s the perfect time to bring Coagula back.

Since her death, the DC Universe has come a long way and become a much more welcoming place. Not only are there more openly gay and lesbian heroes around, DC has put a concentrated effort lifting new trans and non-binary characters such as Dreamer and Xanthe Zhou. But while it’s always nice to see new characters, it was Coagula who paved the way for trans heroes in the DC Universe. As a trailblazing hero, Kate Godwin deserves to be an active hero, not a distant memory.

Fortunately for Kate, her old crew the Doom Patrol is still around. They’ve recently upgraded their operation to save the metahumans of the world and provide a home for those cast out by society. It’s exactly the kind of thing Coagula lived for and an opportunity she would eagerly jump at. The world may have changed slightly since Kate’s been gone, but the DC Universe is always going to need heroes like Coagula; heroes that are ready to fight for the disenfranchised.

DC Comics Has Finally Done Right by Coagula

The DC Universe lost out when Coagula was suddenly killed. But now she’s back and in a world where trans representation is more important than ever, it’s imperative that DC Comics not pass her over again. Whether she rejoins her old friends in the Doom Patrol or moves on to bigger and better things, Kate Godwin is a hero whose presence means a lot to both fans and the trans community. Hopefully, DC Comics has big plans for Coagula now that she’s alive and kicking once more.

DC Pride: A Celebration of Rachel Pollack #1 is available now from DC Comics.