Valentina Vostok was a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union (though this may be retconend to Russia, due to the age of the character) who attempted to defect to the United States by stealing an experimental jet fighter. Although she was successful in crossing the ocean into U.S. airspace, she eventually crash landed in Codsville, Maine. The site just so happened to be the exact spot where the original Doom Patrol had sacrificed themselves to save the inhabitants of the town from General Zahl and Madame Rouge. Valentina found her body glowing with cosmic energy, and soon after discovered that her body had been possessed by the same negative energy creature that had possessed Larry Trainor. She also found the necessity to be bound in special bandages to contain the radiation in order to survive.