Rebecca McNider

**Rebecca McNider** is a minor guest character in The CW and DC Universe series, *Stargirl*.

Rebecca is the daughter of JSA member Charles McNider and his wife Myra. Rebecca's tragic story is the catalyst of the JSA's downfall and their decades long feud with Eclipso.

## Biography

Rebecca was born to Dr. Charles McNider and his wife Myra in Melody Hills, Indiana. They lived a happy life, though Charles worked as a doctor and was often on call which often took him away from his family. One day, Rebecca desired to attend a birthday party across the street, but wasn't allowed due to a scene she caused at the store with Myra. Rebecca was annoyed and argued that her father would let her go if he were here, but Myra reminded her that he wasn't as he's on call. Rebecca sulked outside when she was lured across the street, coerced into stealing a doll, and ultimately murdered by the dark entity of vengeance called Eclipso.

## Series

Decades ago in Melody Hills, Indiana, a birthday party was held for a little girl named Susie. Across the street, a young girl named Rebecca begs her mother to let her attend the party. Her mother refuses as Rebecca had made a scene at the store over not getting a doll. The refusal upsets Susie who runs outside to pout on the porch. A young boy appears in her yard and introduces himself as Bruce. He asks her to the party but she can’t as her mom won’t let her. Bruce doesn’t see her mom anywhere and lures her out against her better judgment. She nearly runs into the street of excitement, and barely avoids a truck. She stands outside Susie’s house and longingly watches the happiness. She notices a pile of presents and Bruce appears behind her. He encourages Rebecca to take one of the presents; she didn’t get anything today and no one is looking anyway. Rebecca runs up, steals a package, and hides behind the bushes to open it. When she does, the doll inside is deformed and dirty. Its eyes glow red. She drops it in shock and it turns back into a doll. Bruce‘s face turns black and his eyes red. He raises a black diamond and shames her for stealing the doll. They are engulfed in purple light. Rebecca’s mother goes looking for her daughter and thinks she is hiding at the party against her wishes. When she goes across the street, she sees something in the yard that makes her scream. The name on the family’s mailbox is McNider.

In the present day, Eclipso has resurfaced and threatens a new generation of JSA members. Pat Dugan, who knew Rebecca as a child, reveals the tragic story of Rebecca to his wife Barbara Whitmore. They decide to keep Rebecca's murder a secret from Courtney for her sake. Later, Courtney accuses Richard Swift of killing Dr. Mid-Nite which makes him just as bad as Eclipso. Richard finds what Pat chooses to tell Courtney very interesting, before calling her a poor and diluted child. He tells her there's a difference between bad and evil. He reveals that Eclipso killed Dr. McNider's ten year old daughter, something that Courtney didn't know. She confronts Pat that afternoon and he admits that he did know what happened. The event was tragic and not something he wanted to talk about or wanted her to have on her mind. She makes him promise to tell him everything about Eclipso from now on, and he agrees.

Eclipso uses an illusion of Rebecca's body to attack Rick Tyler and make the teen believe that his volatile friend Solomon Grundy had killed a young girl. When Pat and Courtney find the girl's body in the river, Pat retrieves her and notices that it's Rebecca. The girls eyes snap open and she laughs before vanishing. The reveal of the body being Rebecca solidifies their suspicions that Eclipso is manipulating Rick into being violent.

With memories of Rebecca and the Golden Age JSA at the forefront of his mind, Pat remembers the events of Rebecca's funeral and how devastated Charles and his wife were. Mourners gather at the funeral, including civilian-clad JSA members Sylvester Pemberton, Pat Dugan, Johnny Thunder, Ted Grant, and Jay Garrick. Once the service is over, the JSA members discuss how to stop Eclipso as they can't let him get away with the murder of Rebecca. Jay is sure they will stop the demon, explaining that Eclipso comes from an island but was brought back by the explorer Bruce Gordon. They are distracted by an argument between Charles and Myra at the tombstone. Myra accuses Charles of not being there for Rebecca when it happened, as he didn't see the horrible things that he did to Rebecca. McNider instantly comforts his wife by hugging her. The JSA learns the only way to stop Eclipso is to kill his human host of Bruce Gordon. The team ultimately votes for the murder of Bruce to keep what happened to Rebecca from ever happening again.

After being sent to the Shadowlands, Charles learned that keeping his goggles on was the only way to keep from being taunted by Rebecca's voice, very rarely allowing himself to remove the goggles. One such time was when he discovered Courtney Whitmore and briefly gave her the goggles so she could see the Shadowlands' true form and recognize that he was not an illusion.

## Physical Appearance

Rebecca was a small child with a skinny frame, chin-length medium brown hair, pale skin and round green eyes. She dressed in a yellow flower-printed dress with a white belt and matching headband.

## References

1. ↑ "*Summer School: Chapter One*"
2. ↑ "*Summer School: Chapter Four*"
3. ↑ "*Summer School: Chapter Eight*"
4. ↑ "*Summer School: Chapter Nine*"
5. ↑ "*Summer School: Chapter Eleven*"