Origin

Tiana is the granddaughter of Adrian Toomes, aka Spider-Man villain, The Vulture. She grew up in Detroit where Vulture would lay low between crime sprees. After Tiana’s dad (Vulture’s son) abandoned the family, Vulture helped support the family. He built Tiana her own suit and taught her how to fly. Believing that Tombstone was responsible for her best friend’s death, Tiana brought her flight suit to Brooklyn to hunt him down. She made quick friends with Spider-Man (Miles Morales), even though he wouldn’t share his secret identity with her. Thanks to Miles, she settled for getting Tombstone arrested instead of killed. Rather than return to Detroit, she decided to stick around in her grandfather’s Bay Ridge apartment.

Creation

Starling debuted in Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2019) #5 by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron.

Major Story Arcs

Relationship with Miles

Tiana continued being a hero around New York, occasionally running into Miles and teaming up with either him or Bombshell. They started to grow closer after Miles lost his uncle in a fight with Ultimatum and she found out that her grandfather was more than a petty crook but a murderer too. After an intimate heart to heart (and working together to take down Frost Pharaoh), Miles decides to reveal his secret identity to Tiana, who rewards him with a kiss. The two would start dating after this.

Outlawed

After the Champions respond to an attack on Ms. Marvel's school by Roxxon targeting a young child activist, "Kamala's Law" is passed requiring all superheroes under the age of 21 to get mentors in order to continue fighting crime. Tiana is rounded up with other young heroes by the Champions so they can plan their next move. Tiana believed they should protest it.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by C.R.A.D.L.E., the agency created to enforce Kamala’s Law. Tiana was the first to jump into action but CRADLE had recruited members of the New Warriors. Justice captured Tiana with his telekinesis. She was placed in a “reeducation center” along with other members and allies of the Champions.

The reeducation center was run by Roxxon. The free Champions were able to jailbreak Tiana and the others and expose Roxxon’s true motives. In light of this, enforcement of Kamala’s Law was temporarily paused, and Tiana was free to go home.

Trial By Fire

When Miles was having an existential crisis, he started to shut out Ti. When she finally got a text message asking her to meet and chat with him, she ended up lured into a trap by Rabble, a technopath who had it out for Miles. Rabble kidnapped her and Ganke Lee to be used as bait for Miles. Once Miles figured out she was in trouble, he sent Misty Knight ahead to save them, while he dealt with Rabble.

After confronting Rabble and then Carnage, Miles’ anxiety only got worse. They were attending a food truck block party in Brooklyn, when Miles started having issues with his spider-sense. His spider-sense was first overwhelming due to his anxiety registering danger everywhere until it just desensitized. This left him and Ti vulnerable to an attack by Hobgoblin, which they barely made it out of.

Gang War

During Wilson Fisk’s tenure as mayor of New York City, he outlawed masked vigilantism within the city. It proved so popular that even after Fisk was ousted for corruption, Luke Cage, as his replacement, was forced to keep it as policy. This set the stage for a gang war across Manhattan and Brooklyn. While Miles made a reluctant alliance with the Cape-Killers, New York’s anti-vigilante task force, to help quell the gang war, he asked Tiana to round up a few more recruits. She showed up just in time to a fight between Miles and the Enforcers (with new tech upgrades) along with the newly resurrected Ms. Marvel and Miles’ good-natured clone, Shift.

The Prowler had led the Enforcers into a trap, hoping that Miles and his allies would be able to stop them. He then recruited them all to help him take down Hobgoblin, who was trafficking Beyond Corporation tech to the street gangs of Brooklyn. Hobgoblin also hired a number of goons to secure the perimeter. Starling, Shift, and Scorpion are on goon duty, but Scorpion is able to reach some of them, convincing them that goblins never follow through on their promises. Shocker, Ricadonna, Mister Fish, Man-Bull, and Goldbug all join the Cape Killers to help Miles take down Hobgoblin.

In the ensuing fight, Hobgoblin's cache of explosives are triggered causing a massive explosion. Hobgoblin is assumed dead, and with Brooklyn safe again, Agent Gao reminds Miles that his truce with the Cape Killers is over.

Birds of a Feather

Tiana was approached by her grandfather, Vulture, about her relationship with Spider-Man. Vulture explained that those closest to Spider-Man always got hurt and that she should distance herself. Tiana was confident in her own abilities to defend herself and was still resentful of her grandfather's criminal ways. Miles shows up and lashes out at Vulture, thinking he was threatening Tiana, but Tiana convinces him to let him go.

Needing to explain his sudden outburst, Miles finally explained to Tiana that he was turned into a vampire during the recent Blood Hunt. His bioelectricity was holding back his thirst for blood, but the combination made his temper unstable. She accompanied him to Misty Knight's safehouse to hear if there was any progress on curing his condition, but its magical nature was ruining the science. Misty called in a new expert: Black Panther. After a combat test, Panther gifted Miles a new suit that would help regulate his bioelectricity. At the same time, Vulture finally caught up with them thanks to a tracker he had built into Tiana's suit.

Vulture had an upgraded suit and was determined to force Spidey to leave Starling. Vulture and Spidey's fight was ultimately stopped by Starling, who made her feelings for her grandfather crystal clear. She still had love for him but no trust. Vulture finally left them alone but promised to earn her forgiveness.

Powers & Abilities

Power Suit: Starling possesses a power suit based on designs from her grandfather the Vulture. The suit allows her to fly at high speeds and provides a certain amount of enhanced strength. The wings are also bulletproof.

Tranq Gun: Starling has a dart gun to tranquilize her enemies.

Variants

What If...? Miles was a Different Hero

• If Miles took after Captain America instead of Spider-Man, he would be partnered up with Tiana, who took the codename Falcon.
• If Miles was Thor and Brooklyn was part Asgard, Tiana was reimagined as Sif with flight armor, a member of his Warriors Three.