History: Peggy Allen started off as a police investigator. Frustrated by all the red tape of her job, Peggy created the costume identity of the Woman In Red. In her red floor length coat, hood and mask, Peggy fought crime more directly. [Note: It’s not quite clear if the police commissioner knew of Peggy’s identity as the Woman In Red]. During WWII the Woman In Red became a member of S.M.A.S.H.

After the war years Peggy came in contact with a ruby energy crystal. With it she was endowed with great powers and used them in her continuous fight against crime. In 1969 an alien menace invaded Earth. Peggy, along the other members of S.M.A.S.H., went to Antarctica to stop the threat. There she was imprisoned in suspended animation above the earth. After thirty years Tom Strange and his counterpart, Tom Strong, freed her along with the other surviving members of S.M.A.S.H. Peggy joined the other science heroes in stopping the threat of the alien menace.

During the years after the threat, Peggy had a hard time adjusting to the loss of time and the New World around her. S.M.A.S.H. disbanded and Peggy ventured out into a new career in entertainment. The start of a singing career came to a stand still as her constant contact with the power crystal suddenly changed her skin crimson.

Soon a new threat arose and the government called in former members of S.M.A.S.H. for help. Peggy, in a head-to-toe crimson costume to hide her new skin color, was one of them that answered the call. While heading to the nexus of an energy field that made all technology useless, Peggy was one of the heroes that lost their powers. Her costume had ripped and exposed her crimson skin to her fellow teammates. Determining the field affected science based heroes; Peggy was one of the team members left behind while others continued on. The threat was discovered to be the one-time hero Mystico, who was forced to end his god-like plans. With the crisis averted Peggy went into therapy and learned to accept her new skin color. Peggy resumed her singing career and has since become a member of the reorganized S.M.A.S.H.

Powers: Originally Woman in Red had no powers. She fought crime with her keen knowledge of the criminal mind and skilled handling of guns. Peggy would later discover a ruby gemstone, which granted her the power of flight and energy projection. The power crystal also ended up turning Peggy’s skin to a shade of red, adding more credence to her name.